NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Forest City Realty Trust and Madison International Realty has completed the sale of Steinway Street Theaters, known locally as UA Kaufman Astoria Cinemas in Astoria, Queens. An affiliate of Kaufman Astoria Studios acquired the property from the joint venture for $45 million. The 84,000-square-foot movie theater complex opened in 1999.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Tulfra Real Estate, along with its partner The Hampshire Cos., has completed the sale of an industrial facility located at 2 Cranberry Road in Parsippany. An undisclosed buyer acquired the 181,000-square-foot property for $17.5 million. The property recently underwent a $2.1 million renovation, including upgrades to the façade, parking lot resurfacing, addition of loading docks and building system improvements. The property is currently occupied by a variety of warehousing, R&D and production tenants, including Aphena Pharma Solutions, Applechem Inc. and IWK Packaging Systems. Jeffrey Dunne, Kevin Welsh, Brian Schultz and Steve Sander of CBRE represented the seller. Additionally, Igor Derbaremdiker provided in-house representation for The Hampshire Cos.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — City Center Investment Corp. has purchased a 250,000-square-foot office building, located at Sixth and Linden streets in downtown Allentown, for $8.5 million. Approximately half of the building is long-term leased to The Morning Call, which uses the property as office space and to print the daily paper. The buyer plans to lease out the building’s vacant space. The acquisition also includes a nearby parking deck. City Center Investment Corp. purchased the property from Tribune Media using financing through Peoples Security Bank & Trust Co.
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — NorthMarq Capital has arranged the $5 million refinancing of Lohman Village, a seniors housing property located at 1 Wartburg Place in Mount Vernon. The loan features a 5-year term and 30-year amortization schedule. The 31-unit property is part of a large seniors housing campus in Mount Vernon known as Wartburg that offers a full spectrum of senior living options. Robert Ranieri of NorthMarq arranged the financing through NorthMarq’s relationship with an undisclosed regional bank.
SAN ANTONIO — JLL has entered into an agreement to acquire Travis Commercial, a San Antonio-based real estate leader in property leasing and management, multi-market corporate services, tenant representation, investment sales and construction management. The acquisition is scheduled to close in the next few weeks, subject to customary closing conditions. Commercial principals Mark Krenger, Chuck King and Jeff Miller will join as managing directors and share leadership positions of the combined business. Senior team members Roger Hill and Lisa Mittel will join the firm along with more than 30 industry experts and staff. Krenger and King will oversee agency leasing, and Miller will lead the tenant representation and markets corporate solutions groups. The leadership trio will work under the direction of Jeff Staubach and David Carroll, president and market director of the south-central region. Travis Commercial was co-founded by Krenger and King in 1998, with Miller joining in 1999, and has since grown into a full-service commercial real estate firm.
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — Ventures Development Group LLC has closed a $29 million loan and broke ground on a 247-unit apartment community located at 3090 Outlet Parkway in Grand Prairie. Leasing is expected to begin in spring 2017, with completion of the property expected by the following fall. The project is located at the northeastern quadrant of I-20 and Texas Highway 360. The one-, two- and three-bedroom residences will include granite countertops and in-unit washers and dryers. Amenities will include a fitness center, clubroom and tenant lounge, swimming pool and a structured parking garage with direct access to all residential units, which will range in size from 650 to 1,400 square feet. Humphreys & Partners Architects designed the project. Dallas-based Realty Capital Partners LLC provided a portion of the equity capital, and San Francisco-based Realty Shares Inc. provided the preferred equity capital. Dougherty Mortgage provided the construction and permanent financing. Stream Residential, a division of Stream Realty Partners, will manage leasing and marketing efforts.
EL PASO, TEXAS — Dallas-based Covington Group Inc. has begun a multi-million dollar capital improvement project for the six-building, 548,629-square-foot Butterfield Trail portfolio in El Paso. Affiliates of Covington Group acquired the portfolio from Butterfield Trail Trust 1 earlier this year for an undisclosed price. Covington Group has hired Christian Perez Giese and Chad McCleskey of CBRE’s El Paso office as the portfolio’s leasing agents. The portfolio, made up of warehouse and flex buildings, was 69 percent occupied at the time of purchase. The most significant capital improvements are underway at 19 Leigh Fisher Blvd., where there is a 120,000-square-foot vacancy. Improvements include a white box inside the warehouse area, new exterior and interior lighting and exterior paint and landscaping, as well as removal of a former tenant’s manufacturing infrastructure and overall deferred maintenance to the property. Covington expects to complete improvements to the entire portfolio by the end of this summer.
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Steve Doyle has been promoted to vice president of business operations at Hill & Wilkinson General Contractors. Doyle will serve as the firm’s general counsel and oversee all legal activities of Hill & Wilkinson, including risk management and contracts. Steve’s experience includes the application of construction law and developing an understanding of the risks in the construction industry. Prior to joining Hill & Wilkinson, Steve served as corporate counsel for Austin Industries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law. Steve teaches a construction law course at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He is a member of the construction law section of the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association Forum on the construction industry. He is also a past chair of the construction law section of the Dallas Bar Association.
SAN ANTONIO — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of North Central Federal Clinic, a 34,500-square foot office property located in San Antonio. Joshua Murphy and Kenneth Hartmann of Marcus & Millichap’s San Antonio office marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor, and also secured and represented the buyer, a private equity fund. North Central Federal Clinic is located at 17440 Henderson Pass. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense built the property to serve the medical needs of veterans.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has arranged the 315,450-square-foot lease relocation and adaptive reuse project for ServiceMaster, a home and commercial services provider whose products and services include home warranties, home inspections, furniture repair, residential cleaning, disaster restoration and termite and pest control. The publicly traded company plans to transform the former Peabody Place mall in downtown Memphis into Class A office space for its global headquarters. ServiceMaster will consolidate its office operations currently headquartered in four buildings within the suburban Poplar Avenue Corridor in Memphis. Neal Golden and Aaron Sommer of NGKF represented ServiceMaster in the two-year site selection process and lease transaction. ServiceMaster was considering relocating its corporate headquarters to other markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, Orlando and Tampa before selecting Memphis. The company plans to move approximately 1,200 employees to the renovated building by the end of 2017.