NEW YORK CITY — Besen & Associates has brokered the sale of a four-building multifamily portfolio located in the Bronx for $4.5 million, or $121 per square foot. The 36,918-square-foot portfolio consists of four walk-up apartment buildings located at 723 Oakland Place, 2078 Vyse Ave., 2408 Webster Ave. and 2420 Webster Ave. The portfolio contains 34 apartments and 177 rooms. Amit Doshi and Richard Torres of Besen & Associates represented the seller, Prana Investments, and procured the undisclosed buyer in the transaction.
BRISTOL, CONN. — Sentry Commercial has arranged the lease of 33,000 square feet of industrial space at 360 Minor St. in Bristol. Benjamin International, a wholesale import, manufacturing and design company, is relocating from its 16,000-square-foot facility at 125 N. Benson Road in Middlebury, Conn. The relocation and expansion of the tenant to the 208,000-square-foot industrial complex is expected to bring more than 30 new jobs to the area.
The retail market in Los Angeles is demonstrating exponential growth. Rents are going up, cap rates are going down and occupancy is soaring. Naturally, as lease prices rise, so do sale prices. As such, it is becoming increasingly difficult for investors to find opportunities where substantial rent growth is possible. Tenant competition is also fierce, and landlords are benefitting from extremely high demand throughout the market. Competition Abounds It’s only natural that retailers are competing over space as occupancy rises. One trend that has emerged in Los Angeles is competition among not only direct competitors, but indirect competitors as well. For example, a small grocer might compete with a Ross Dress 4 Less for the same location. Fueling this competition is an increase in large national retailers seeking out smaller urban spaces in downtown areas. Target, for example, is opening a store in LA’s Koreatown on Vermont and 6th streets at the base of a high-rise apartment building. When national soft goods chains open in urban hubs, there will be an evolution of retail surrounding those stores. Smaller discount stores and mom-and-pop retailers will likely suffer, which will lead to vacancies that tend to open the doors for new specialty …
TUSCON, ARIZ. — CBRE National Senior Housing has arranged a $25 million construction loan for Hacienda at The River, a 129-unit assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing community in Tuscon. A joint venture of The Freshwater Group and Watermark Retirement Communities is developing the community on a 5.75 acre plot. When completed, Watermark will manage the community. Aron Will, executive vice president of CBRE National Senior Housing, and Jim Sellers and Tim Prouty, both senior vice presidents of the CBRE Debt & Structured Finance office in Tucson, secured a three-year, floating-rate loan that then converts to a three-year, mini-perm loan. The loan was placed through a regional bank. Based in Tuscon, Watermark is the 13th largest operator of seniors housing communities in the U.S. with 38 communities comprising 7,483 units, according to 2015 data from the American Seniors Housing Association.
SIERRA VISTA, ARIZ. — Friedman Integrated Real Estate Solutions, in a joint venture with its institutional equity partner, has acquired Plaza Vista Mall, a 227,110-square-foot retail power center located in Sierra Vista. The center is 95.8 percent occupied by tenants including Cal Ranch, Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, Dollar Tree, Cato, Payless ShoeSource, Ross Dress for Less and Sally Beauty.
MURRIETA, CALIF. — Developer and operator Anthem Memory Care has broken ground on Vineyard Place, a $12.6 million memory care community in Murrieta, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Anthem expects to open the 38,000-square-foot, 66-unit community in summer 2016. Working with Anthem on developing and building Vineyard Place are CM Consulting, Markham Development Management Group, CBTwo Architects, Consolidated Contracting and LTC Properties, which is providing financing. Anthem, based in Lake Oswego, Ore., also operates a dementia care community in Chico, Calif., and four in Denver. It is currently developing three communities in the greater Chicago area.
MARINA, CALIF. — AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC has opened The Promontory, a 174-suite, 579-bed off-campus student housing development near the campus of California State University at Monterey Bay. The development is comprised of three four-story buildings featuring 174 fully furnished suites, in which students share a common kitchen and living room in the two-, three-, and four-bedroom housing pods. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, and each individual bedroom locks for privacy and security. Each of the three buildings also features an interior courtyard for studying and socializing. The community shares 6,500 square feet of interior common amenities that include study rooms, a cyber cafe with kitchen facility, computer lab, theater, game room and fitness center, as well as an outdoor basketball court. AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC purchased the 8.27-acre parcel of land from the City of Marina in January 2014. The project is privately funded by Bank of the West and private equity financed. Construction was completed in 18 months, which included the demolition of the abandoned Fort Ord Motor Pool. The development will be managed by the University Corp., the nonprofit that manages all of the campus’ student housing. AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC negotiated and signed a 20-year master …
LAKE FOREST, CALIF. — Lake Forest-based Del Taco is set to develop 27 new locations with three groups in central California. Three new locations are set to open within the next six months. Mike Sater, one of BP/Tesoro ARCO and AM/PM’s largest west coast franchisees, has signed a 20-store development agreement for six counties in the central valley. Sater’s first two Del Taco stores will open in Fresno and Clovis, with a third planned for Merced.
ROUND ROCK, TEXAS — W2 Real Estate Partners is set to move forward with a 400,000-square- foot, Class A office campus called Frontera Ridge. The development will be located on the last major land parcel within the 328-acre La Frontera mixed-use development, directly fronting State Highway 45 in Round Rock. The $100 million office project, which can be expanded to 800,000 square feet, is expected to receive both city of Round Rock and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality site development permits within the fourth quarter of this year. Frontera Ridge will target LEED Silver certification and will include a structured parking garage with five spaces per 1,000 square feet. Developer W2 has partnered with STG Design and TBG Partners to handle the architecture and land planning, respectively. The two buildings, designed with 40,000-square-foot floor plates, will rise five stories.
HOUSTON — HPI Holdings will expand its real estate portfolio with the purchase of a 34-building business park that offers nearly 865,000 square feet of office, warehouse and industrial space. The business park is located in north Houston along West Hardy Road near the North Sam Houston Tollway and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The park will also be renamed and renovated. Caldwell Brokerage Co. will handle leasing and property management for the park.