TYSONS CORNER, VA. — A joint venture between Rubenstein Partners LP and Griffith Properties has purchased The Rappahannock Building, a six-story, Class A office building located at 1550 Westbranch Drive in Tysons Corner. The joint venture purchased the 152,000-square-foot office building from Corporate Office Properties Trust for $27.8 million. Built in 2001, the property has been fully leased to The MITRE Corp. since it was built, but the company plans to move to another office campus in Tysons Corner in 2016. Once vacated, Rubenstein and Griffith plan to renovate the office building to attract new tenants. Malcolm Schweiker of CBRE represented the joint venture in the transaction. Schweiker will also handle leasing the office building.
BALTIMORE — Enterprise Homes has begun construction on Mulberry at Park Apartments, a new $22.3 million apartment community located within the Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment district in downtown Baltimore. The property will feature 34 one-bedroom, 27 two-bedroom and seven three-bedroom residences. Rents will range from $773 to $1,155 monthly. Upon completion, the apartment community will feature a cyber café, study room, fitness center and an outdoor terrace. Marks, Thomas Architects designed the community to meet Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and LEED Silver standards. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Bank of America, representatives from HUD, city and state officials and local economic development corporations. The project was financed with $15.8 million in construction financing, tax credit equity and permanent financing from Bank of America, as well as $1.5 million from the State of Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and $870,000 from Baltimore City.
ATHENS, GA. — Franklin Street Real Estate Services has brokered the sale of Athens Plaza, a 119,633-square-foot shopping center located at 474 North Ave. in Athens. Built in 1972, the property is anchored by a Piggly Wiggly. Mac McCall, John Tennant and Bryan Belk of Franklin Street’s Atlanta office represented the seller, MB REO-GA RETAIL LLC, in the transaction. Cideco Development Co. Inc. purchased the property for an undisclosed price.
BEAR, DEL. — Capital One has provided a $45 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Christiana Meadows located at 264 Bear Christiana Road in Bear, a suburb of Wilmington. Developed between 1987 and 1989, the 648-apartment property features an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, whirlpool, sauna, fitness center and a clubhouse with a kitchen, wet bar and social center. Individual units feature all electric appliances, including microwaves, full-size washer/dryers; private balconies or patios; spacious floor plans and large closets. Brian Sykes of Capital One originated the 10-year, fixed-rate loan for the borrower, Commonwealth/Emory Hill Management.
TRENTON, BEVERLY, CAMDEN, BRIDGETON, PEMBERTON AND STRATFORD, N.J. — Clearwater, Fla.-based Boos Development has selected Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Legend Properties to develop six Family Dollar stores in the Southern New Jersey market. Totaling more than eight acres of land, the locations are in various stages of development or construction. The properties are located in Trenton, Beverly, Camden, Bridgeton, Pemberton and Stratford.
NEW YORK CITY — KZA Realty Group has brokered two sales transactions totaling $4.7 million in the Bronx. In the first purchase, The Transit Worker’s Union acquired a three-story, 34,456-square-foot building located at 2475 Westchester Ave. for $3 million. The buyer will use the property to provide counseling on affordable housing, healthcare services, representation and related service to Transit Worker’s Union members. Michael Gilbert of Gilco Realty represented the seller, 437 East 165th Street Realty Corp., in the transaction. In the second deal, Azimuth Development Group purchased a 6,691-square-foot licensed parking lot for $1.7 million. The buyer plans to use the lot as a development site. David Simone of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, 1164 Wheeler Avenue LLC, in the transaction. Kathy Zamechansky of KZA Realty Group represented the buyers in both deals.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of a multifamily property located at 910 Prospect Place in Brooklyn. The eight-unit property sold for $2.5 million. Shaun Riney, Derek Bestreich and Lucien Sproviero of Marcus & Millichap’s Brooklyn office represented the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a developer, in the transaction.
MIDDLETOWN, PA. — The Clark Group has signed a 103,217-square-foot industrial lease at 400 Capital Lane, located within Capital Logistics Center in Middletown. The logistics provider for print media leased the space for a term of three years and four months and plans to use the facility to store publications. The 242,824-square-foot facility, which is owned by Woodmont Industrial Partners and AEW Capital Management, features 30 dock doors, three drive-in docks, T5 lighting, a six-inch reinforced concrete floor and a standing seam metal roof. Michael Hess, Patrick Lafferty and Bart Anderson of CBRE Harrisburg represented The Clark Group in the transaction.
Large blocks of space in the Connecticut office market have typically been associated with financial services firms and the wide open trading floors found in investment bank offices. However, for a new breed of tenant looking for sprawling, open and contiguous office space, the state of Connecticut currently offers a myriad of choices across multiple submarkets — from Trumbull to Norwalk to Stamford. And recent leasing figures suggest that prospective tenants are taking note. TAMI — or technology, advertising, media and information — tenants are no longer a Manhattan-only phenomenon. CBRE’s Westchester/Fairfield Counties office is increasingly seeing these tenants joining financial services tenants in cherry picking from an abundant group of large spaces. These TAMI tenants often favor the open spaces and giant floorplates that have become known for increasing collaboration and productivity among their employees. They can also offer consolidation and cost savings for companies. One of the most notable recent examples was 2014’s largest lease transaction for Fairfield County, which saw information technology firm Datto lease 100,398 square feet of space at Norwalk’s Merritt 7 Corporate Park. CBRE’s Paul Jacobs, Colin Reilly and Barbara Segalini represented Datto in the lease at the 22-acre campus, which Datto said it …
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Clevron Commercial has closed escrow on three sites located in Sacramento, Fairfield and Danville. The company plans to develop new retail centers on each site, with groundbreakings set to occur in the next 30 to 40 days. The properties include 1229 Howe Ave., a former TGI Fridays, in Sacramento; a vacant lot at 2700 N. Texas Ave. in Fairfield; and a site at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Church Street in Danville. Ariel Fox at Retail West is handling leasing for the Sacramento and Danville locations, while Adria Giacomelli of Newmark Cornish and Carey will handle leasing for the Fairfield project. Clevron Commercial is a co-venture of Urban West, Tate Diversified Development and Pegasus Development.