PHILADELPHIA — Local REIT Brandywine Realty Trust will open a 13,000-square-foot food hall at its Schuylkill Yards mixed-use development in the University City area of Philadelphia. Gather Food Hall & Bar will feature six eateries and a bar and will be housed on the ground floor of the historic Bulletin Building at 3025 Market St., which was converted to a life sciences facility in 2021. Hospitality HQ, a platform operated by New York chef and restaurateur Akhtar Nawab, will operate the venue, which is scheduled to open in the fall.
BELLEVILLE, MICH. — Dwight Mortgage Trust, the affiliate REIT of Dwight Capital, has provided an $88.5 million bridge acquisition loan for The Waverly on the Lake in Belleville, a western suburb of Detroit. Spanning 99 acres along the shores of Belleville Lake, the garden-style multifamily property features 1,046 units. The waterfront community offers residents exclusive access to a boat launch and 42 private boat slips in addition to a newly renovated clubhouse, fitness center, barbecue grills, firepits, a pool and picnic areas. The asset also features over two miles of walking trails and dedicated dog parks. Loan proceeds will facilitate the acquisition of the property, fund capital expenditures for unrenovated units and cover closing costs for Pepper Pike Capital Partners. David Scheer of Dwight originated the loan.
NORTH CANTON, OHIO — Axiom Realty has acquired The Venue at Belden, a 157,632-square-foot shopping center in North Canton, about 18 miles south of Akron. Situated in the heart of the Belden Village trade area, the property is home to anchor tenants Burlington, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Earth Fare, which collectively occupy more than 60 percent of the center’s gross leasable area. The asset has undergone significant redevelopment in recent years. Axiom says it plans to enhance the tenant mix, optimize operations and drive long-term value.
DARIEN, ILL. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of The Jade Residences of Waterfall Glen in Darien for an undisclosed price. Built in 2024, the apartment complex features 70 units and is situated on 2.8 acres at 2305 Sokol Court. Units average 977 square feet. Amenities include a fitness center, party room, dog park and barbecue area. Ryan Engle, Kyle Stengle and Andrean Angelov of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a private investor. Engle and Angelov procured the buyer, a private investor.
MANCHESTER, MO. — Holland Construction Services and architect HDA have completed an exterior renovation of Mungenast Lexus of St. Louis, a 70,000-square-foot auto dealership in the western St. Louis suburb of Manchester. The project included metal cladding, dark column accents and a new entryway with a prominent Lexus logo. The building features a two-story showroom, 32 service bays, a café and car wash/detail area. HDA originally designed the facility in 2009 as the first LEED Silver-certified Lexus auto dealership in the country.
WHEATON, ILL. — SVN Chicago Commercial has arranged the sale of a 35,400-square-foot office building located at 330 S. Naperville Road in downtown Wheaton for $1.9 million. The transaction closed at 97.5 percent of the asking price. The property features 23 executive suites, and was 72 percent occupied at the time of sale. Karen Kulczycki of SVN represented the seller. Buyer information was not provided.
Gerald Divaris, chairman and CEO of Divaris Group of Companies and a panelist at last week’s Entertainment Experience Evolution (EEE) conference, produced by France Media’s Shopping Center Business and InterFace Conference Group, has a Shakespearean take on today’s retail environment. It’s that all the (retail) world’s a stage. “Retail is essentially entertainment,” he told a crowd of 500 attendees during the Leading Retail Landlords Panel at EEE, which was held Feb. 25-26 at the J.W. Marriott LA Live. “Otherwise, you’d be buying on Amazon.” Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Divaris expanded upon this notion, citing that even supermarkets have entertaining “stations,” TJ Maxx provides the opportunity to treasure hunt and Barnes & Noble has made a major comeback by doing little more than allowing guests to thumb through books. Panel moderator Nick Egelanian, president of SiteWorks, noted much of the current retail experience can be divided into two categories, though it may not be an even split. There are the items consumers want to buy quickly and easily (and arguably cheaply) online, and …
HSINCHU, TAIWAN —TSMC (NYSE: TSM), a Taiwanese manufacturer of semiconductors, has announced plans to invest at least $100 billion in the United States, which would bring the company’s total investment in its U.S. manufacturing base to $165 billion. As part of the new round of investment, TSMC plans to develop three more fabs (i.e. manufacturing plants), two advanced packaging facilities and a major research-and-development (R&D) center in Arizona. Once fully realized, the project will be solidified as the “largest single foreign direct investment in U.S. history,” according to TSMC. The construction timeline was not disclosed, but U.S. President Donald Trump and TSMC CEO C.C. Wei announced the investment at a press conference on Monday, with Trump saying the investment will be made “over the next short period of time.” TSMC’s expanded investment is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years and create tens of thousands of high-tech jobs in advanced chip manufacturing and R&D, which Trump said would range between 20,000 and 25,000 jobs. Yahoo! Finance reported that Intel is currently the only computer chip manufacturer with a dedicated R&D center in the United States. TSMC is currently building out its 1,100-acre campus in north Phoenix, …
— Dave Carder, Senior Vice President, Kidder Mathews — The state of Phoenix’s office market is not easily summed up with a catchy headline or a few brief bullet points. Along with most large metropolitan areas across the country, Phoenix has struggled with lower demand, rising vacancies and a shift toward hybrid workweeks. However, several emerging trends are creating positive shifts in the market that should be noted as we look to 2025 and beyond. The average vacancy rate of the Phoenix office market over the past decade was 18.5 percent. That includes a low of 13.9 percent in 2019 and a high of 24.8 percent in 2024. Gross leasing absorption averaged nearly 7 million square feet annually, with a high of nearly 7.9 million square feet in 2019 and a low of 5.5 million square feet last year. Net leasing absorption showed a similar pattern, peaking at 3.1 million square feet in 2019 and declining to negative 2.2 million square feet in 2024. These trends point to 2019 being the market’s best-performing pre-pandemic year across all three metrics. Despite 2024’s gross leasing absorption (5.5 million square feet) being close to the 10-year average, the significant rise in vacancy and …
— By Sebastian Bernt and Erick Parulan of Avison Young — The Orange County office market continues to show resilience, particularly compared to urban centers like Downtown Los Angeles. Its suburban environment, coupled with higher office utilization rates, has made it an attractive option for businesses adapting to evolving workplace strategies. As a result, leasing activity has remained steady with availability stabilizing and tenant demand holding firm. Total leasing volume reached 1.6 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing the annual total to 7.8 million square feet. Notable transactions included Willow Laboratories, which signed a 63,440-square-foot lease at 121 Theory Drive in Irvine, and Acrisure, which secured 59,409 square feet at 611 Anton Blvd in Costa Mesa. While leasing slowed slightly in the fourth quarter, demand for modern, amenity-rich office spaces remained strong as companies continued implementing return-to-office strategies. This demand has pushed average asking lease rates to $35.05 per square foot, reflecting a broader shift toward high-quality, collaborative work environments that prioritize employee engagement and workplace experience. Orange County’s growing residential appeal has further fueled office demand as young professionals and families increasingly opt for a suburban lifestyle. As a result, companies are prioritizing locations with …