RICHMOND, VA. — Shamin Hotels has purchased the 700 Building, an 18-story office building located at 700 E. Main St. in Richmond’s central business district, for $7 million. The 181,790-square-foot property was recently named to the National Historic Register Listing. Shamin Hotels is planning on converting the building into two Hilton-branded hotels — a Hampton Inn and Suites and a Homewood Suites. The new property will feature a new restaurant and will continue to house the U.S. Post Office. The seller was BH Rosenberg LLC. Mark Douglas of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the sale negotiations.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — Virginia Beach-based Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. has acquired a freestanding retail property in Virginia Beach for $1.4 million. Wheeler purchased the 5,600-square-foot property from Fairfield Investors LLC. The retail property is fully leased to Starbucks Coffee and Verizon Wireless. Starbucks’ lease will expire in 2023 and Verizon’s lease will expire in 2022, both with three five-year options to renew. The property is located at the intersection of Providence and Kempsville roads.
GLENVIEW, ILL. — Regency Centers Corp. has begun development on Glen Gate, a 102,876-square-foot retail center located in Glenview, a northern suburb of Chicago. A 75,564-square-foot Mariano’s Fresh Market, slated to open in fall 2014, will anchor the shopping center. The project will also include one outlot with an additional 24,000 square feet for retail and restaurants. Glen Gate will be located on two land parcels totaling 21 acres, 7.6 of which were sold by Regency to Atlantic Realty Partners, Focus Development and The Carlyle Group, which plan to build 238 luxury apartments north of the shopping center. Situated at the northeast corner of Waukegan and Golf roads, Glen Gate is surrounded by a population of approximately 140,000 within a three-mile radius. Regency currently has more than 300,000 square feet of retail shopping centers under construction in metro Chicago.
WINONA LAKE, IND. — Holladay Properties, a South Bend, Ind.–based commercial real estate firm, has been selected to develop an 80-bed, townhouse-style dormitory for Grace College and Seminary. The new dormitory will be located at the entrance to Grace’s main campus in Winona Lake, about 40 miles west of Fort Wayne. Grace College will master lease the project from Holladay Properties to provide on-campus housing for primarily upper-classmen.
MCCOOK, ILL. — Dermody Properties and AEW Capital Management have acquired 34 acres in the McCook II Business Park in suburban Chicago. The partnership plans to develop LogistiCenter McCook, which will include two industrial properties totaling 662,7000 square feet, on the site. The project is slated to break ground later this year, with a completion date set for the third quarter of 2014. The site is located at 1st Avenue at 47th Street in McCook, about 11 miles from downtown Chicago.
WOODBURY, MINN. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $2.8 million sale of Ashwood Ponds, a 36-unit apartment property located in Woodbury, an eastern suburb of Minneapolis. Dan Linnell and Mox Gunderson, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Minneapolis office, marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a limited liability company. Ashwood Ponds is located at 6725 Ashwood Road. Constructed in 1996, the multifamiliy community features six one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom units.
DANBURY, CONN. — Meridian Capital Group has arranged an $85 million loan for the refinancing of Matrix Corporate Center, a 1.1 million-square-foot office property in Danbury. Tal Bar-Or and Michael Ottomanelli of Meridian Capital Group arranged the CMBS loan on behalf of Matrix Realty Group. The five-year loan features a fixed interest rate of 4.6 percent. The Matrix Corporate Center is the largest office building in Danbury, accounting for 30 percent of total Class A office space in that market, according to New York City-based Meridian. Constructed in 1981, the property underwent a more than $10 million renovation in 2012 resulting in upgraded common areas and new façade. Tenants at the building, which is located at 39 Old Ridgebury Road, include General Motors, Boehringer Ingelheim and Praxair Inc.
TROY, N.Y. — United Group of Cos. has opened College Suites at City Station East, which offers 157 beds to graduate students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The opening of the East building — the West and South buildings opened in earlier phases — puts the project, College Suites at City Station, at full capacity with a total of 151 apartment suites to accommodate up to 396 students. The three residential buildings are within walking distance of campus. Like West, the new East building's ground floor includes multiple retail spaces. Plum Dandy frozen yogurt and Birkmayer Travel will move into two of the spaces later this fall. An enclosed underground parking garage with 88 spaces dedicated to retail customers opened in August. There are an additional 98 resident parking spaces now available in a parking lot at the rear of the East building. So far, $60 million has been invested in the approximately 247,000 square feet of the City Station neighborhood. BBL Campus Facilities was the general contractor, and QPK Design was the architect.
WESTERLY, R.I. — New England Hotel Realty (NEHR) has arranged the sale of the 112-room, full-service Pleasant View Inn in Westerly. NEHR represented the seller, a family that has owned and operated the hotel since 1965, in the transaction. The buyer was an affiliate of Linchris Hotel Corp., which plans to renovate the property. The Pleasant View Inn is an oceanfront hotel located on Misquamicut Beach and is within close proximity to nearby shopping, multiple golf courses and the Mystic Seaport and Aquarium in nearby Connecticut. Linchris is one of the largest hotel owners, operators and management companies in the Northeast, according to NEHR.
NEW YORK CITY — River Drive Construction has completed two tenant fit-outs, totaling 63,594 square feet, at 125 Broad St., a Class A office tower in downtown Manhattan. New Jersey-based River Drive completed the projects on behalf of Mack-Cali Realty Corp., which owns nearly half of the 1.3-million-square-foot building. The fit-out of 41,594-square-foot space on the second and third floors will be occupied by the Institute for Community Living Inc., a nonprofit corporation that assists individuals with disabilities. Designed by Gener Kronick + Valcarel, Architects and engineered by Syska Hennessy Group, the fit-out included the construction of drywall, ceilings, lighting, HVAC, millwork, sprinklers, plumbing, ceramic tile and flooring. River Drive also completed the fit-out of a 22,000-square-foot space, which will be occupied by security brokerage firm Loeb Holding Corp. Designed by Spector Group and engineered by MGE Engineering, the fit-out included the demolition of existing offices and the construction of new offices with features including glass office fronts, wood flooring in the reception, gallery areas and new window treatments. Gary Suber, project manager, led the River Drive team that served as general contractor for both projects.