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NEW YORK — Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, has sold 1375 Broadway to Westbrook Partners for $310 million. A 510,000-square-foot office building, 1375 Broadway is located on the northwest corner of 37th Street and Broadway. Savanna acquired the property in December 2010 and completed an extensive repositioning that included a redesign of the lobby and entrance and a renovation of the façade, roof and retail storefronts. Savanna leased over 190,000 square feet during its ownership. Average rents increased from $22 per square foot at acquisition to around $60 per square foot today. Marty Meyer, Eric Meyer and Michael Thomas of Colliers International represented Savanna in office leasing transactions, and Steve Baker of Winick Realty represented Savanna in retail leasing. “Savanna has transformed 1375 Broadway into a standout office property in the Broadway corridor through our intensive repositioning along with the Colliers and Winick leasing teams’ hard work, which has paid off with a great roster of new office and retail tenants,” says Cooper Kramer, managing director at Savanna. “These tenants represent major growth industries in New York including technology, beauty and fashion. Westbrook is acquiring a high-quality asset in a great location.” Tenants at …

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WESTLAKE, OHIO — TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSE: TA) has agreed to sell 30 travel centers to Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT) to fund its continuing expansion program. The sale-leaseback transactions total $397 million. TA expects to receive net cash proceeds of approximately $352 million before transaction costs. TA, based in Westlake, Ohio, also will purchase from HPT five travel centers now leased by TA and subleased to TA franchisees for approximately $45 million. TA’s travel centers operate under the TA, TravelCenters of America, Petro and Petro Stopping Centers brand names and offer gasoline and diesel fuel, restaurants, truck repair services, travel and convenience stores, and other services at locations in 43 states. The centers are located primarily at exits from the U.S. Interstate Highway System and in Canada. TA also operates convenience stores and retail gasoline stations primarily under the Minit Mart trade name. The company highlights several benefits from the transaction. Among the advantages: A significant portion of the gains to be realized from these transactions will result from sales of travel centers that were developed, or acquired and redeveloped, by TA. TA believes these gains will be amortized as a reduction of rent expense during the lease …

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Economic indicators should continue their upward swing through 2016, which is good news for property owners, according to the Commercial Real Estate Outlook Report recently released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The quarterly analysis, compiled by NAR’s research division, measures a variety of economic factors to predict the near future of the commercial real estate industry. All signs point to strong results over the next 19 months, the report suggests. “Net absorption rose across the property types, driving rents higher,” according to the report. “As employment gains are expected to continue into 2015, demand for commercial space is expected to advance.” In the office sector, the report predicts absorption will reach 51.8 million square feet in 2015 and over 60 million in 2016, lowering vacancy rates 20 basis points to 15.4 percent by the end of 2016. Rents in the sector should rise 3.4 percent in 2015 and an additional 3.7 percent in 2016. In the industrial sector, meanwhile, new supply is struggling to keep pace with the large amount of space getting absorbed. “Industrial markets — especially ports and intermodal distribution centers — have been positioning for the [expansion] of the Panama Canal,” says the report. “Demand …

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Holiday Inn Express Bethany Oklahoma

VANCOUVER — American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP, a Vancouver-based company that is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: HOT.UN), has agreed to acquire a portfolio of nine branded, select-service hotels in the Midwest for an aggregate purchase price of USD$53.5 million. The properties are located in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma and total 632 guestrooms. The average age of the portfolio is approximately five years. American Hotel Income Properties’ (AHIP) portfolio comprises seven Holiday Inn Express properties, including a 69-room hotel in Bethany, Okla.; a 62-room hotel in Chickasha, Okla.; an 87-room hotel in Dubuque, Iowa; a 68-room hotel in Emporia, Kan.; a 69-room hotel in Jacksonville, Ill.; a 69-room hotel in Mattoon, Ill.; and a 68-room hotel in Nevada, Mo. The remaining hotels include a 63-room Hampton Inn in Chickasha, Okla., and a 77-room Country Inn and Suites in Norman, Okla. “This acquisition diversifies our portfolio into new U.S. markets coupled with the introduction of the Holiday Inn Express brand to the AHIP portfolio,” says Rob O’Neill, CEO of AHIP. “It is one of the fastest growing brands in the industry, opening an average of two hotels a week.” The portfolio will require brand-mandated property …

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TOPEKA, KAN. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has broken ground on the $835 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in the Topeka submarket of Manhattan. The 574,000-square-foot facility will be located in the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world, according to DHS. The 29-acre site will house advanced research, diagnostic testing and validation, countermeasure development and diagnostic training departments. The countermeasure development team will work to develop vaccines and anti-viral therapies at the facility, while the diagnostic training department will focus on high-consequence livestock diseases. “The NBAF laboratory will provide the nation with cutting-edge, state-of-the-art lab capabilities and help protect our food supply and the nation’s public health,” says Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security. “NBAF addresses a serious vulnerability. The economic impact of a bio agricultural threat — deliberate or natural — could have a substantial effect on the food supply of this nation and have serious human health consequences. We will soon be able to ensure availability of vaccines and other rapid response capabilities to curb an outbreak,” continues Johnson. “With the NBAF, our nation will have the first Bio Level 4 lab facility of …

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NASHVILLE, TENN. AND GLASTONBURY, CONN. — Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) has acquired three assisted living and memory care communities in Tennessee and Connecticut for $110 million. Hearth Management, which previously owned the property through a joint venture partnership, has been retained by PREI as the property manager. The acquisition is the first investment for Senior Housing Partners (SHP) V, PREI’s newly launched fund focusing on seniors housing properties. PREI is the real estate investment and advisory business of Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU). The three Class A communities, which comprise 341,000 square feet across 391 units of recently constructed communities for seniors, include: The Hearth at Hendersonville located in Hendersonville, Tenn., northeast of Nashville, which opened in April 2012 and has 130 units; The Hearth at Franklin located in Franklin, Tenn., southwest of Nashville, which opened in October 2014 and has 126 units; The Hearth at Glastonbury located in Glastonbury, Conn., southeast of Hartford, which opened in September 2014 and has 135 units. “We are pleased to add the Hearth Portfolio, a high-quality seniors housing portfolio with strong income potential, as the first investment for our SHP V portfolio,” says Noah Levy, who heads PREI’s senior housing business. “We …

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ATLANTA — Real GDP grew at 0.2 percent for the first quarter of 2015, but Rajeev Dhawan of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business doesn’t think the factors that drove this stagnation are here to stay. “After I read the GDP report, the word ‘WOW’ escaped my lips,” Dhawan wrote in his Forecast of The Nation, released on May 20. “‘WOW’ here stands for weather, oil and the world economy. The report showed clear damage from these three factors.” Unusually cold weather in the Northeast drove non-durable goods consumption growth down to negative 0.3 percent (especially grocery purchases) in the first quarter. On the flip side, spending on utilities (heating) rose, but overall gasoline savings were socked away. Dhawan says that the weather factor is temporary, except for the Western drought, but the low oil price will start to creep up as U.S. fracking production declines. “We’ve almost reached the bottom, with oil rig counts having dropped sharply with only a little bit to go,” wrote Dhawan. “But prices will not reach the heights of $120 a barrel anytime soon. I expect oil to start creeping up to $70 a barrel by …

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NEW YORK — A joint venture partnership between NorthStar Healthcare Income Inc. and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE: NRF) has acquired an $875 million portfolio of independent living facilities, following an SEC filing reported in April. NorthStar Healthcare and NorthStar Realty are both real estate investment trusts (REITs) externally managed by NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc. (NYSE: NSAM), a New York-based asset management firm focused on managing real estate and other investment platforms. The portfolio is comprised of 32 independent living communities spanning 3,983 units and is 100 percent private pay. The communities are located in 12 states, with the largest concentration of facilities within California, Texas and Washington. As of March 31, the portfolio’s overall resident occupancy was approximately 93 percent. The joint venture has retained Holiday Retirement Communities, one of the largest operators of independent living communities in North America, to operate the portfolio. Holiday Retirement is the operating name of the portfolio’s seller, Harvest Facility Holdings LP. NorthStar Healthcare acquired a 40 percent interest in the portfolio, and NorthStar Realty acquired the remaining 60 percent interest. “The experience of our healthcare team and its extensive relationships within the healthcare industry have and will continue to play a …

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beachwalkresort2-web

HALLANDALE, FLA. — Beachwalk Resort, a 33-story, $150 million resort developed by Miami-based The Related Group and managed by Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, opened today in South Florida. Beachwalk Resort is comprised of 300 units, 216 of which are two-bedroom suites. Each of the units is a privately owned condominium. The resort’s owners and guests have access to a three-story beach club with pool, lockers, showers, restrooms, an outdoor bar and restaurant with chaise service and beach facilities, all accessible by a complimentary, electric trolley. “Because of their deep understanding of the luxury residential market, The Related Group has developed a vacation resort that speaks to the needs and desires of the modern family,” says Thomas Prins, principal of Gemstone. “With two more similarly positioned resorts coming on line in 2016 and in 2018, I expect that we will dramatically shift the mix of vacation options in this part of South Florida, and perhaps even define a new standard.” Beachwalk features interiors designed by Italian car design firm Pininfarina and contemporary Italian furnishings. The hotel also features original works of art from the collection of Jorge Pérez, patron of the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Other amenities on the property include …

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When David Campbell started Boxman Studios in 2009, it was out of curiosity. A former real estate broker and developer, he was looking for a new concept after the 2008 crash of the real estate market. Campbell came across an article on shipping container architecture and saw the promise in potential uses, from hospitals to foodservice to retail. “He got a container, found a yard, had a buddy who could weld, and started cutting into it to see what he could come up with,” says Vinay Patel, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company’s marketing strategist. Boxman Studios ended up on the front end of a major trend: custom-fabricating shipping containers into portable shops and booths. In its first six years, the company has already moved four times to larger spaces. In 2014, Inc. magazine named Boxman the fastest growing company in Charlotte, noting that the company increased annual revenue more than 3,000 percent from 2010 to 2013, bringing in $4.3 million in 2013 alone. Clients purchasing customized shipping containers from Boxman include Google, Red Bull and Samsung.   Going to the Consumer As online retailers continue to take market share away from brick-and-mortar shops, Patel says small, mobile, pop-up shopping is one …

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