ALAMEDA, CALIF. — NorthMarq has arranged $166 million in joint venture equity and construction financing for The Launch, a 368-unit waterfront apartment community in Alameda. The Launch will be located at 1777 Clement Ave. at the northern edge of Alameda Island along the Oakland Estuary. The property is located 16 miles from San Francisco and 39 miles from San Jose. The project will feature a mix of market-rate, below-market-rate and work-live units along with an onsite leasing office. Amenities will include four interior courtyards with a pool, spa, dog runs, barbecue area, fire pits, lounge seating, rooftop decks, a fitness room and a club room. The Launch will have 416 off-street parking spots provided for residents, along with bike parking. The building offers a street-level connection from Clement to the Bay Trail and other marina amenities through a double-height, 20-foot-wide pedestrian corridor. John Kerslake, Briana Harney and Griff Whitlock of NorthMarq secured the debt and joint venture equity for the development of The Launch. The financing package totaled $166 million, of which $62 million is joint venture equity and $104 million is construction financing. Bay West Group/Pacific Development and the investor, an institutional real estate manager, formed a joint venture …
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Cordish Cos. to Break Ground on Two Multifamily Developments in Kansas City’s Power & Light District
by Katie Sloan
KANSAS CITY, MO. — The Cordish Cos. has announced plans to break ground on two multifamily developments in Kansas City’s Power & Light District. Projects include Three Light Luxury Apartments, a $140 million, 26-story tower set to offer 288 units at the corner of Truman Road and Main Street; and Midland Lofts, a repositioning of the historic Midland office building to offer 139 affordable housing units. Three Light Luxury Apartments will feature 19 floors of studio, one- and two-bedroom units alongside penthouse-style apartments; a seven-story garage with 472 parking spaces; and 7,600 square feet of ground-floor retail. Amenities are set to include a deck overlooking 14th Street, an infinity pool, bar, demonstration kitchen, theater room and a sky bridge above Walnut Street linking to the company’s Two Light multifamily community, allowing residents of both towers to share building amenities. The groundbreaking for the project to be built by JE Dunn Construction is scheduled to take place this May, with completion slated for May 2023. The Midland office building has been vacant for more than 20 years. Following renovations, Midland Lofts will offer a mix of studio and one-bedroom units with rents starting at $700 per-month. Amenities will include a coffee …
BURLINGAME, CALIF. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged $750 million for the refinancing of Burlingame Point, a Class A office, R&D and life sciences campus located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Burlingame. The property includes four buildings totaling approximately 771,000 rentable square feet, along with a 33,000-square-foot amenity building and more than 2,300 onsite parking spaces. The waterfront property is centrally located between Silicon Valley and downtown San Francisco. The LEED Gold-certified asset is situated on 18 acres and provides tenants with common areas and open green space. Affiliates of Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Athene Annuity & Life Co. (via Apollo Global Management) provided the 9.3-year, fixed-rate financing. Steve Kohn, Chris Moyer, Terry Daly, Rob Rubano, Keith Padien, Alex Lapidus and Meredith Donovan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the borrower, Kylli Inc. The new financing retires construction financing that Cushman & Wakefield arranged on behalf of Kylli in April 2019. Mike Moran and Clarke Funkhouser of Cushman & Wakefield served as leasing agents for the property, which is fully leased to Facebook. Gensler was the project architect. Kylli is a full-service investment holding firm focused on the development, operation and management of institutional-quality real estate assets …
BioMed Realty Wins Municipal Approval for 910,000 SF Expansion of Life Sciences Campus in Bay Area
by John Nelson
EMERYVILLE, CALIF. — The City of Emeryville in Northern California’s Bay Area has approved BioMed Realty’s proposal to expand its Emeryville Center of Innovation life sciences campus. The 12-acre property is located about four miles north of Oakland and 10 miles east of San Francisco. The expansion will add 910,000 square feet of Class A laboratory and office space to the development. Phase I of the expansion, which BioMed Realty expects to begin in 2022, will span 265,000 square feet. “We are grateful for our partnership with the City of Emeryville to develop purpose-built lab research facilities that support the growth of the industry and help our business partners attract and retain talent,” says Salil Payappilly, vice president of BioMed Realty. BioMed Realty is currently modernizing an existing 303,000-square-foot building at Emeryville Center of Innovation. The building, which is not part of the newly announced expansion, will be fully occupied by Zymergen Inc., a biomanufacturing company and Emeryville’s largest employer. Zymergen signed a lease in 2019 for its new corporate headquarters and to accommodate the expansion of its operations. BioMed Realty expects to complete Zymergen’s building in early 2023. Emeryville Mayor Dianne Martinez says that the origin of the life …
CHERRY VALLEY, CALIF. — Bank OZK has provided a $105 million construction loan for the development of I-10 Logistics Center, a 1.8 million-square-foot industrial project located near the crossing of Interstate 10 and Cherry Valley Boulevard in Southern California. The borrower is a joint venture between locally based developer Shopoff Realty Investments and Artemis Real Estate Partners, an investment management firm based in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Mark Strauss and Rob Quarton of Walker & Dunlop arranged the debt, specific terms of which were not disclosed, on behalf of the joint venture. Situated on 155 acres, I-10 Logistics Center will consist of two buildings spanning approximately 815,000 and 1 million square feet. The development will feature 40-foot clear heights, 665 car parking spaces, 585 trailer parking spaces and 296 dock-high doors. Site work is set to begin in April, and construction is scheduled for completion by summer 2022. CBRE is marketing the project for lease. “This project represents one of the few opportunities to develop much-needed logistics product in Southern California,” says William Shopoff, president and CEO of Shopoff Realty Investments. “This state-of-the-art logistics center with I-10 freeway access will be in high demand as users continue to require …
SEATTLE — Seattle-based commercial real estate firm Urban Renaissance Group LLC (URG) and global investment firm KKR have acquired 300 Pine St. in downtown Seattle for approximately $580 million. Taking up a full city block between Third and Fourth avenues, the property is a 770,000-square-foot, eight-story, mixed-use building that features 85,000 square feet of renovated ground-floor retail designed to accommodate retail flagship stores. The property has a new Fourth Avenue entrance to access the 682,000 square feet of commercial office space currently 100 percent leased to a single tenant. The office portion features 80,000-square-foot floorplates, seismic retrofitting and over 20 skylights including two light wells providing additional light for the top two floors. The asset was originally home to Seattle’s Bon Marché department store. The art-deco style building was constructed in 1929 with four additional stories added in 1955. Between 2015 and 2017, then-owner Macy’s sold the upper six levels of office space, and in 2020 the department store closed. The renovated landmark building features a 20,000-square-foot rooftop deck and 15-foot ceilings. The ground-level retail space is located above the underground Westlake light rail station with bus stops at the west and east entrances. The property will offer retail suites …
ASHBURN, VA. — A joint venture between Novais Partners and the Hanover Co. has announced plans for Rivana at Innovation Station, a 4.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development located 30 miles outside Washington, D.C., in Ashburn. The 103-acre, transit-oriented project will be developed adjacent to Loudoun County’s extension of the Metro Silver Line, one stop from Washington-Dulles International Airport. Current plans for the project include 2,000 multifamily units; 1.8 million square feet of Class A office space; a 185,000-square-foot retail village; a 265-room boutique hotel; and a network of green and public spaces, including an 11-acre park. At the center of the project will be Rivana Village, a walkable network of retail and creative office space inspired by the communal villages that dot Virginia’s landscape. Tenants for this portion of the project will include creative, independently-owned restaurants and local retailers. The development’s office space will include hotel-quality amenities as well as post-COVID-era design and engineering, with advanced filtration systems, upgraded air filters and enhanced cleaning protocols. Each office building is targeting LEED certification. The project’s development team plans to submit a land use application next week for consideration by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. Pending legislative approval, Novais expects to break ground …
MIAMI — Melo Group has started construction of Downtown 1st, a transit-oriented multifamily development at 22 SW 1st St. in Miami’s central business district (CBD). The 57-story tower will include 560 market-rate apartments, 10,000 square feet of office space and 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Completion is slated for 2022. Downtown 1st will include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Units will feature glass balconies with bay and city views. Building amenities will include two swimming pools, a fitness center, business center, social room/game room, 24-hour concierge/security and a multi-level garage with valet service. The site for Downtown 1st is in close proximity to Miami-Dade County’s Government Center, the Main Public Library, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, the New World School of the Arts and Brightline’s MiamiCentral Melo is also building Downtown 5th, twin 52-story apartment towers in Miami’s CBD. Pre-leasing is underway for the 1,042 units, which are slated for completion this summer. The firm is planning a third multifamily project nearby dubbed Downtown 6th that will total roughly 800 units. All told, Melo Group is expected to deliver nearly 2,500 residential units to Miami’s CBD over the next two years. “We’re bullish on downtown Miami’s CBD,” says Carlos Melo, co-principal of …
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Jamestown, an Atlanta-based developer and owner of adaptive mixed-use developments around the world, has partnered with Southeast real estate developers William Cogswell and Jay Weaver to redevelop the 45-acre North Charleston Navy Yard. Decommissioned in 1996 but still home to dozens of companies, the waterfront campus will be reimagined into a 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use neighborhood called Navy Yard Charleston. The project will add new office space, residences, shopping and dining to the nearby Park Circle neighborhood, as well as new green spaces, a concert hall and an outdoor events venue. The development team expects to break ground and begin renovations this year. No other construction timelines or associated costs were disclosed. While Navy Yard Charleston will go through extensive renovations, the team has made a commitment to preserve the area’s architectural detail and history, and bring new amenities to the community. The team also plans to establish a neighborhood employment program, which will reserve project-specific positions for local residents who live within the neighborhood and include a training program to help job seekers enhance their skills. Beginning its operation as a working dry dock in 1901, the Navy Yard maintained a naval presence on the North …
MENLO PARK, CALIF. AND NEW YORK CITY — Flexible office space provider WeWork has entered into an agreement with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) BowX Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: BOWX) to be taken public at an initial valuation of $9 billion. A SPAC is a business entity with no commercial operations that is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for the purpose of acquiring other companies. Menlo Park, Calif.-based BowX Acquisition Corp. is an affiliate of Bow Capital, a venture capital firm begun by Vivek Ranadive, the founder of TIBCO software and owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. The transaction, which is expected to close by the third quarter, will provide New York City-based WeWork with approximately $1.3 billion of cash to fund future growth initiatives. The transaction will be funded with BowX’s $483 million of cash in trust, in addition to $800 million in private investment from capital sources such as Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group and others. SPACs have recently grown in popularity among private and institutional investors alike as vehicles for taking companies public. According to Forbes, which recently analyzed the U.S. activity of SPACs, these entities raised as much …