MONTCLAIR, N.J. — PMZ Realty Capital has arranged a $26.5 million construction loan for The MC Hotel, an Autograph by Marriott property, in Montclair. Situated within the CentroVerde development, the 150-room hotel will feature 7,500 square feet of office space, a farm-to-table restaurant, rooftop bar, lobby and outdoor plaza. The hotel is slated to open in third quarter 2017.
WAYNE, N.J. — Morristown, N.J.-based G.S. Wilcox & Co. has arranged $11 million in financing for an undisclosed repeat borrower. The loan is secured by a 255,253-square-foot warehouse building located in Wayne. The five-year loan has a 30-year amortization schedule and was provided by Thrivent Financial. Gretchen Wilcox and Al Raymond of G.S. Wilcox & Co. originated the loan for the borrower.
NEW YORK — The national apartment vacancy rate climbed 10 basis points in the fourth quarter to 4.4 percent, according to Reis. This marked the second consecutive quarter that vacancy ticked up for the multifamily sector, something that hasn’t happened since the third and fourth quarters of 2009. Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research at New York-based Reis, believes that the two-quarter decline represents a turning point in the U.S. apartment market. “With construction outpacing demand, the national vacancy rate should slowly drift higher over the coming years,” writes Severino in the report. Reis reports that while demand and supply have been largely in balance between mid-2013 and mid-2015, that has started to change over the last two quarters. Construction exceeded absorption by 12,350 units in the third quarter and 15,263 units in the fourth quarter. For comparison, construction only exceeded demand by 3,471 units in the second quarter. “With construction continuing to increase and net absorption generally stabilizing, this rift should continue to widen over time putting further upward pressure on the national vacancy rate,” writes Severino. For 2015, the total number of units completed was 188,306, according to Reis. This is the highest figure since 1999 when the total was …
PORTLAND, ORE. — Urban Renaissance Group (URG) has purchased a four-asset office portfolio based in Portland for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition brings URG’s portfolio to more than 10 million square feet throughout the Portland, Seattle and Colorado areas. The new assets include the 522,000-square-foot Pacwest Center; the 277,000-square-foot Liberty Centre; the 398,000-square-foot Moda Tower; and the 240,000-square-foot One Pacific Square. The seller was Langley Investment Properties (LIP). LIP plans to refocus its efforts on new investment and development opportunities, in addition to related portfolio asset management.
SAN DIEGO — Swift Real Estate Partners has purchased a three-property office portfolio in the San Diego submarket of Carlsbad for $30.4 million. The acquisition includes the 61,578-square-foot Carlsbad Airport Plaza; the 53,982-square-foot Camino West Corporate Park; and the 80,506-square-foot La Place Court. The portfolio was about 65 percent leased at the time of sale. Swift represented itself in this transaction, while CBRE’s Louay Alsadek, Hunter Rowe, Andrew Taylor, Roger Carlson and Larry Cambra represented the seller, Brandywine Realty Trust. Carlson and Cambra were retained by Swift to handle the leasing for Camino West Corporate Park.
PHOENIX — The Biltmore Financial Center, a 635,000-square-foot office campus in Phoenix, is set to undergo a multi-million-dollar renovation. The Class A campus is located at the northwest corner of 24th Street and Camelback. Owner ViaWest Group plans to add eight new speculative suites to the campus, in addition to a new 3,500-square-foot tenant lounge. It will also renovate Biltmore’s one-acre plaza and gym. The café’s offerings will be upgraded, as will elements of the lobby, corridors, bathrooms and elevators. The renovation commences this month. It is scheduled for completion in July. ViaWest purchased the Biltmore Financial Center this past summer for $163.1 million. At the time, the transaction was the largest multi-tenant office sale in the Phoenix area since 2007, and was the third largest sale ever in the metropolitan area, according to CoStar.
DENVER — HFF has arranged $23.7 million in financing for Market Center, a mixed-use office and retail property totaling 120,736 square feet in downtown Denver. Leon McBroom and Eric Tupler of HFF worked on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Urban Renaissance Group, Stars Investments and City Street Investors, to secure the floating-rate financing through First National Denver. The 36-month loan has two 12-month extension options and was used to acquire the asset.
LOS ANGELES — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has added eight professionals to the firm’s retail brokerage team specializing in the sale and leasing of suburban retail product in Southern California and the western region. Additions include Pete Bethea, executive managing director; Rob Ippolito, senior managing director; and Glenn Rudy, managing director, who will continue their capital markets focus on selling shopping centers for institutional clients and public and private investment companies in key western markets; John Jennings and Chris Walton, senior managing directors; Aaron Hill, managing director; and Justin Wessel and Kevin Hanson; associates. The combined leasing portfolio consists of over 9.3 million square feet covering a large portion of the region and throughout Southern California including San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles and Inland Empire.
ROLLING MEADOWS, ILL. — Alpha Alternative LLC has arranged an $18.3 million bridge and preferred equity loan for an office building in Rolling Meadows, approximately 30 miles northwest of Chicago. 1600 Corporate Center is a 12-story, Class A multi-tenant office building that is located at 1600 Golf Road. The asset has 255,440 rentable square feet and was built in 1986. Bank of America recently signed a lease to occupy more than one-third of the building, which brought the total occupancy to 89 percent. Alpha Alternatives utilized a securitized lender and private equity lender to provide the interest-only financing for a combined rate of 500 basis points over LIBOR. Anthony Longo of Alpha Alternative arranged the 85 percent loan-to-cost financing.
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — Conor Commercial Real Estate, a member of The McShane Cos., has broken ground on a 70-acre industrial business park in Bolingbrook, approximately 30 miles southwest of Chicago. The Fountain Square Commerce Center will consist of four speculative buildings that range from 109,088 square feet to 320,532 square feet and a 12-acre build-to-suit site. The speculative buildings are divisible by 30,000 square feet and will feature ample car and truck parking, substantial dock door positions, 32-foot clear heights, ESFR sprinkler systems and office space. The Class A industrial business park, slated for completion this summer, will be situated along the I-55 corridor. Brian Carroll and Jim Cummings of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) have been assigned to lease up the property.
