CHICAGO — The U.S. industrial vacancy rate dropped to its lowest level in nearly 14 years during the last months of 2014, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The overall industrial vacancy rate ended 2014 at 6.8 percent — the lowest level since the first quarter of 2001. Vacancies dropped 70 basis points year-over-year and 400 basis points from the recent peak of 10.8 percent in early 2010, according to the commercial real estate services firm. Today, four markets boast vacancy rates below 4 percent: the San Francisco Peninsula (3 percent); Greater Los Angeles (3.4 percent); Lakeland, Fla (3.7 percent); and Orange County, Calif. (3.7 percent). To view the rest of the top 10 with lowest fourth-quarter vacancy rates, view the chart above. “The industrial real estate market expansion has been driven, in part, by the ongoing evolution of demand-driven and information-enabled supply chains,” says John Morris, leader of Cushman & Wakefield’s Industrial Services for the Americas. “Responding to dynamic changes to how people shop, where they work, and how and where they live, new models and new requirements continue to emerge. An improving economy, the expansion of e-commerce and the growth of domestic manufacturing further fueled the rapid advancement we …
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retail Properties of America Inc. (NYSE: RPAI), a retail REIT based in Oak Brook, Ill., has acquired two shopping centers located in the metro Washington, D.C., area for a combined purchase price of $121.5 million. The properties were acquired through an off-market negotiation on an unencumbered basis. Merrifield Town Center in Falls Church, Va., was acquired for a gross purchase price of $56.5 million and consists of 85,000 square feet of street-level retail beneath two high-rise residential buildings. The center sits at the main entrance to the Mosaic District, a 31-acre mixed-used development that is comprised of retail, office, residential and hotel uses. Merrifield Town Center was developed in 2008 and is currently 100 percent leased to tenants such as XSport Fitness, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread and Noodles & Co. Fort Evans Plaza II in Leesburg, Va., was acquired for a gross purchase price of $65 million. The property is a 229,000-square-foot power center that is currently 98 percent leased to tenants such as Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dollar Tree and Five Below. Year to date, RPAI has closed on $284.3 million of acquisitions, including the previously announced acquisition of the retail portion of Downtown …
Toledo, Ohio-based seniors housing and healthcare real estate giant Health Care REIT (NYSE:HCN) has purchased nine assisted living communities in New England for $360 million, according to The Boston Globe. The communities are all part of Benchmark Senior Living, which operates over 40 seniors housing communities throughout New England. The nine facilities sold include 691 total residences. The seller was Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. of Boston. According to The Boston Globe, the sale is the largest in Intercontinental’s history. It purchased this portfolio 10 years ago for about $152 million, then spent an additional $20 million renovating the facilities. “We are more than pleased with this sale, a record setter for assisted living,” Peter Palandjian, Intercontinental’s chief executive, told The Boston Globe. “Benchmark has been a tremendous partner. We appreciate that these nine senior living facilities will remain under stable ownership.” The nine facilities purchased were Benchmark’s communities in: Billerica, Chelmsford, Haverhill, Leominster, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, and Waltham, Mass.; Ridgefield, Conn.; and Nashua, N.H. — Jeff Shaw
SHERMAN OAKS, CALIF. — Jim Fisher and Mike Smith, principals of Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, have arranged the $481.3 million sale of a Southern California multifamily portfolio consisting of 14 buildings and 2,666 units. Fisher and Smith represented the seller, JH Real Estate Partners Inc., a Newport Beach-based private investor, in the transaction. Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily was the buyer. The portfolio includes five properties in Los Angeles County, six buildings in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and three assets in San Diego County. “Portfolios of this size and geographic scope rarely come on the market. Correspondingly, there are only a few buyers able to accommodate them,” says Fisher. “As a result, our marketing efforts had to be sharply targeted to just a dozen or so institutional and private investors. We chose TruAmerica because we were confident they could get to the finish line.” TruAmerica has been active in the multifamily market since its founding in 2013, acquiring 4,444 apartment units in the western United States. The company, in partnership with Capri Capital Partners LLC, most recently purchased the 464-unit Vermont, consisting of two high-rise towers in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, for $283 million. The properties in the …
HONOLULU — Walker & Dunlop has structured a $145 million first trust mortgage for Moanalua Hillside Apartments in Honolulu. Allan Edelson, managing director, led Walker & Dunlop’s team, who arranged the financing using a Fannie Mae, adjustable-rate mortgage. After repaying the existing first mortgage, the financing provided net proceeds of approximately $30 million, which the borrower intends to use for interior renovations and construction of 496 additional apartments. “The borrower was interested in favorable prepayment options. With our team’s expertise in multifamily financing, we were able to offer a unique prepayment feature of a one-year lockout period, followed by 1 percent for 12 months, 0.5 percent for the following six months, then open at par,” says Edelson. Originally built in 1968, Moanalua Hillside Apartments includes 700 units. Renovated in 2004, the garden-style apartment complex features one- and two-bedroom apartments. Moanalua Hillside Apartments consists of 25 buildings spread throughout a nearly 28-acre site. Amenities include gated access, kitchens with breakfast bars, sundecks, ocean views, two swimming pools, volleyball courts and a brand new fitness center. Pearl Harbor, Tripler Army Medical Center and downtown Honolulu are located only a few miles away from the complex. With a regulatory agreement in place from …
The U.S. office sector, already on an upward trend for several years, saw even more gains in absorption during the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a report from DTZ, a global commercial real estate service provider. The country saw a net absorption of 22.4 million square feet of office space, a 48 percent increase from the same time a year prior. Meanwhile vacancy fell 30 basis points to 14.5 percent since last quarter. New construction skyrocketed, with 103.8 million square feet under construction — a 74 percent increase over the same time last year. New York City leads the way, with a net absorption of 9.3 million square feet for 2014, more than 3.5 million of that in the fourth quarter alone. It was the metropolis’ third consecutive year of multi-million-square-foot growth. Houston and San Jose saw the next biggest numbers for 2014, with 6.6 million square feet and 4.4 million square feet, respectively. The report suggests that the positive trends will continue into 2015 as a strong economy and low gas prices stoke the fire. Although the report notes that there are some weak economies globally that could have a slowing effect on the U.S., the country has …
BOSTON — Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT) and its real estate advisor, Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership (Bentall Kennedy), have acquired $250 million of property in Boston’s South End and Seaport District submarkets. MEPT is a $7 billion real estate equity fund that invests in a portfolio of institutional-quality real estate assets in 25 metropolitan markets across the United States. In three separate transactions, the Washington-based fund acquired nine buildings totaling more than 650,000 square feet. One portfolio purchased by the fund is adjacent to the Boston Medical Center and is comprised of two fully leased medical office buildings, three properties intended for redevelopment, and two acres of land for potential multifamily development. The buildings are located at 660 and 720 Harrison Ave., 575 Albany St., 100 East Canton St., and 123 East Dedham St. This portfolio was acquired as part of a joint venture with Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties. A second portfolio contains three operating office buildings (313 Congress St., 330 Congress St. and 300 A St.) totaling 220,993 square feet in Boston’s Fort Point Channel submarket of the Seaport District. Additionally, in the Fort Point Channel submarket, MEPT acquired the Necco Street Garage, a six-level, 588-space parking garage. Bentall …
IRVINE, CALIF. — Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Inc. has completed the acquisition of 19 healthcare properties for approximately $340 million. The acquisitions were comprised of 17 medical office buildings, an acute care hospital and a seniors housing facility. “These latest acquisitions represent high-quality assets leased by very strong tenants and operators with whom we look forward to sharing mutually rewarding business partnerships,” says Danny Prosky, president, chief operating officer and one of the largest stockholders of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III. “They also add tremendous diversification to our rapidly growing portfolio.” Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III’s most recent acquisitions include: • Southlake Hospital in Southlake, Texas: Built in 2013, Southlake Hospital is a 70-bed acute care hospital spanning 142,000 square feet and 10.6 acres. The site includes a three-story, 400-space parking garage. The hospital is leased through April 2033 to Forest Park Medical Center, a physician-owned hospital system that currently operates four medical facilities comprising a total of 280 beds in the Texas cities of Dallas, Frisco, San Antonio and Southlake, with campuses in Fort Worth and Austin currently under development. Forest Park will operate Southlake Hospital under an absolute net lease with annual rent escalations tied to the U.S. Consumer Price …
NEW YORK — One of the most recognizable buildings on Manhattan’s skyline was purchased today. Montreal’s Ivanhoé Cambridge and its partner, Callahan Capital Properties, purchased three Bryant Park from Blackstone Group LP for $2.2 billion. The 1.2-million-square-foot office building, located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas between 41st and 42nd streets, has a trademark green façade and currently features MetLife and Verizon as major tenants. “The opportunity to acquire a truly iconic property like Three Bryant Park is extremely rare,” says Arthur Lloyd, executive vice president of global investments for Ivanhoé Cambridge. Three Bryant Park is now the second largest sale of an office building in U.S. history, according to The Wall Street Journal, trailing only a 2008 sale of Manhattan’s General Motors building for $2.8 billion. The Ivanhoé/Callahan partnership continues to grow its Manhattan portfolio, which already featured 1411 Broadway and 1211 Avenue of the Americas, according to The Wall Street Journal. Tenants at those two buildings include The Wall Street Journal and News Corp. “When we considered the quality and unique characteristics of this property, along with the continued enhancements in the immediate area around Three Bryant Park, it was clear this is a compelling long-term investment opportunity,” says …
NEW YORK — Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY; TSX: BPY.UN) has begun construction on a 62-story residential tower at Manhattan West that will contain 844 units with 20 percent of the studio, one- and two-bedroom units priced at affordable rates. Brookfield has closed on $479 million in Housing Finance Agency (HFA) credit enhanced bonds through the Bank of China with a seven-year term to fund the construction. Credit enhancement provides security for the holders of HFA bonds and insures an investment-grade rating for the bonds. Designed by SLCE, the Manhattan West residential tower is an $800 million structure slated to welcome its first residents in the first quarter of 2017, with substantial completion in 2018. Located at 435 W. 31st St. between Ninth and Dyer avenues, it will feature an array of amenities including a regulation-sized basketball court, a climbing wall, kitchens and dining rooms available for private entertaining, and a roof deck with grills. Hunter Roberts is the construction manager of the residential project. When completed, the $4.5 billion Manhattan West development will include two new Class A office towers, retail, a five-star hotel, rooftop gardens, restaurants and cafes in addition to the residential building. A two-acre public park …