GREENBURGH, N.Y. — ALMA Realty Corp. has acquired a 207,968-square-foot office building located in Greenburgh. The three-story, Class B building is situated on 3.64 acres at 10 County Center Road, within walking distance of downtown White Plains. Current tenants include Verizon, Westchester County Child Care and Westchester County Social Services. Cushman & Wakefield arranged the transaction between ALMA and the seller, SSK VP County Seller LLC. The brokerage team included Thomas O'Leary and Michael Gordon of Cushman & Wakefield's Stanford, Conn., office; Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut and H. Gary Gabriel of the firm's East Rutherford, N.J., office; and Edward Weiss, Joseph Cabrera and Robert Thuss, Jr., of its Midtown Manhattan office. The acquisition price was not released. — Coleman Wood
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The multifamily component of the Meadowmont of Chapel Hill master-planned community has traded for $37 million, the highest per unit price ever for the Chapel Hill market. The Apartments at Meadowmont contains 258 garden-style units. It was 96 percent occupied at the time of closing and has had strong performance since being developed in 2001 by the seller, Charlotte-based developer Crosland. Dean Smith and Blake Okland of the Charlotte office of Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA) represented Crosland in the sale to Greensboro, N.C.-based Bell Partners. The deal was financed through ARA's recently launched debt platform, ARA Finance. Equity was arranged through Bell Partners' latest investment fund. “The Chapel Hill market is one of the highest barrier-to-entry markets in the Southeast,” said Smith in a statement. “Only 827 units have been added to the market since 2000, largely due to the local planning department's desire to fiercely protect the college town's charm and infrastructure.” Smith adds that the existence of three major research universities, two university hospital systems, state government offices and Research Triangle Park create a diverse and stable employment base that is able to provide a hedge against market downturns and create a top-tier market …
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., AND WESTWOOD AND RIVER VALE, N.J. — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has brokered two multifamily sales in New York and New Jersey for a total of $149.5 million. Hartz Mountain Industries was the buyer in both deals, which were completed to satisfy a 1031 exchange. The first deal is 255 Huguenot Street, a 25-story, high-rise apartment tower located in downtown New Rochelle. It features 412 units. Amenities include a fitness center, an indoor basketball court, an outdoor swimming pool and a gated entrance with controlled access. “Hartz Mountain has acquired, in 255 Huguenot Street, a trophy-quality, Class A apartment community immediately adjacent to the Amtrak/Metro North rail station and the many retail amenities in downtown New Rochelle,” said Jeff Dunne of CBRE's New York Institutional Group, who represented Hartz Mountain along with Christopher Leonard and Brian Shulz, also of the Institutional Group. The second deal included a portfolio of four, mostly garden-style communities located in New Jersey's Bergen County. The 103-unit Coventry Square Apartments, the 71-unit Stanford Court and the 56-unit The Madison are located in Westwood. The fourth property is the 47-unit Village on the Green, which is located in River Vale. James Gunning and Donna …
ORLANDO — Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA) has brokered the sale of a luxury garden apartment and townhome community in Orlando for $43.25 million. The Estates at Park Avenue is located at 2801 Biltmore Park Drive within the MetroWest master-planned community. It was 93 percent occupied at the time of the sale. The Class A community consists of 170 townhomes and 262 garden-style apartments. Amenities include vaulted ceilings for some of the garden units and direct-acces garages for almost half of the townhomes. Community amenities include a resort-style swimming pool. Kevin Judd of ARA's Orlando office, Patrick Dufour of the firm's Tampa, Fla., office and Richard Donnellan of its Boca Raton, Fla., office represented the seller, an institutional fund advised by Prudential Real Estate Advisors. The buyer was also not disclosed. “This sale represents one of the few institutional-quality, non-distressed properties to trade over the last 18 months,” said Judd in a statement. “The quality of the asset and its location in one of Orlando's most desirable, core submarkets enabled ARA to secure over 30 written offers.” Judd added, “The Estates at Park Avenue was the last rental project built within MetroWest, and no land is available for future multifamily development. …
NEW YORK CITY — SL Green Realty Corp. has entered into agreements for three major office deals in Midtown Manhattan. First, the company will acquire 125 Park Avenue, a 26-story office tower, for $330 million. The building contains 651,000 square feet of Class A space that is 99 percent occupied by tenants such as Meredith Corp., FGIC Holdings, Reed Elsevier, Newmark Knight Frank and Canon Business Solutions, among others. In addition, SL Green has agreed to sell its 45 percent, non-managing interest in 1221 Avenue of the Americas to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $576 million. The REIT first acquired an ownership interest in the tower in 2003. Finally, SL Green has formed a joint venture with CPPIB for the ownership of 600 Lexington Avenue. CPPIB will purchase a 45 percent stake in 36-story, 303,515-square-foot tower. Last month, SL Green agreed to purchase the property for $193 million. Occupancy is currently 93.6 percent. The 600 Lexington Avenue and 1221 Avenue of the Americas deals are expected to close this month, and the 125 Park Avenue deal is expected to close in the third quarter. SL Green plans to use the proceeds from the two sales to fund …
HARRISBURG, PA. — Reckitt Benckiser decided to remain in Pennsylvania by renewing its lease for 812,425 square feet at Allen Business Park in Harrisburg. The renewal carries a 7-year term and was brokered on behalf of the tenant by David Simson and Mitchell Katz of Newmark Knight Frank. According to Simson, Reckitt Benckiser was planning to move its distribution operations to New Jersey, but a final push by the state of Pennsylvania convinced the company to remain in its current location. The building, which is situated on 44.31 acres, contains 28-foot clear ceiling heights, 50-foot by 50-foot column spacing, 82 docks and two drive-in doors. The landlord for Allen Business Park is an investment arm of New York Life Insurance Co. It was represented internally in lease negotiations by Ron Petit. Reckitt Benckiser is famous for producing brand-name products such as Lysol, Airwick, Woolite, Clearasil and Easy Off, among others. — Coleman Wood
SAN FRANCISCO — The SFJAZZ Board of Trustees has announced plans to construct a permanent home for the San Francisco-based jazz organization. The SFJAZZ Center is a $60 million project that will be located at 205 Franklin St. within the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The project will consist of the construction of a 35,000-square-foot structure with a transparent façade. The building will contain an auditorium with flexible seating for 350 to 700 people, an 80-seat multipurpose room, three rehearsal spaces, a digital learning lab, and a sidewalk-level restaurant/café. The center will also contain advanced performance recording and digital broadcasting equipment. In addition to performances, the new SFJAZZ Center will host educational lectures, panel discussions, clinics, professional development workshops and provide rehearsal space for musicians. It will be applying for LEED-Gold certification. “The SFJAZZ Center represents a major transformation for SFJAZZ,” said Srinija Srinivasan, chair of the SFJAZZ Board of Trustees, in a statement. “It's more than a new home for the organization; it represents a place where the world of jazz music and education can be expressed and enjoyed in all its diversity, by all its global characters. The SFJAZZ Center is our way of giving it the home it …
LOS ANGELES — In less than one week, Corona, Calif.-based Watermarke Properties has acquired two major Los Angeles apartment properties for a total of $158 million. Most recently, Watermark purchased 705 West Ninth Street for $110 million. The 35-story tower, originally a condo tower later converted to apartments, was acquired from Meruelo Maddux Properties, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. All of the tower's 214 units were vacant at the time of closing. Watermarke has already commenced a leasing campaign, renaming the property Watermarke Tower in the process. Prior to the closing of 705 West Ninth Street, Watermarke closed on the $48 million acquisition of The Gardens at Wilshire Center, which is located in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown submarket. The six-story, 159-unit property was sold by a joint venture between Burbank, Calif.-based Chandler Properties — which developed the property in 2008 — and Denver-based Amstar Group. The deal was brokered by the Irvine, Calif., office of Moran & Co. Both communities feature an extensive amenity package. The two properties contain resort-style swimming pools, fitness centers, movie screening rooms, lounges and landscaped outdoor areas. Both buildings also feature ground-floor retail space. The purchases are part of an long-term acquisition program …
ROCKVILLE, MD. — BioMed Realty Trust has acquired the life sciences campus that houses the J. Craig Venter Institute for $53 million. The campus, which comprises five buildings and 218,000 square feet of space, is located at 9704-9714 Medical Center Drive in the DNA Alley corridor of Rockville. The Venter Institute, which previously owned its campus and occupies all of its space, will lease the facility back from BioMed for a 10-year term. In a statement, J. Craig Venter, the Institute's founder and president, said, “We are pleased to be working with BioMed as a real estate partner, as it will enable us to remain financially sound for the foreseeable future and ensure that we can continue our groundbreaking genomic science.” This most recent purchase increases BioMed's Maryland portfolio to six properties, which comprise 15 buildings and 1.4 million square feet of space. Most recently, BioMed acquired two life sciences buildings in Gaithersburg, Md., also within DNA Alley, for $14.4 million. The buildings total 83,400 square feet and are occupied by GenVex and an affiliate of AstraZeneca. — Coleman Wood
WESTON, FLA. — RREEF has acquired a 679,918-square-foot industrial portfolio on behalf of an institutional client. Weston Business Center is located approximately 30 miles northwest of Miami in Weston. It consists of four Class A warehouse and distribution buildings situated along Weston Road and West Corporate Lakes Boulevard. The complex is fully leased. The seller in the transaction was a joint venture between Industrial Developments International and a group of institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The acquisition price was not disclosed. — Coleman Wood