NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has brokered the sale of a development property located at 515 E. 86th St. in the Upper East Side. The 22-foot wide development site, which is part of an assemblage, sold for $11.2 million. The property has approximately 22,150 buildable square feet as of right for a rental or condominium development. A four-story, 6,060-square-foot vacant building currently sits on the lot. Victor Sozio, Howard Raber, Shimon Shkury, Randy Modell and Jesse Deutch of Ariel Property Advisors represented the seller, a private investor, and procured the buyer, a private investor, in the transaction.
The long-held perception of the Milwaukee office market is that it mostly trades tenants between buildings with one landlord winning at the other’s expense, while the overall pie remains the same size. However, with cranes dotting the horizon, large blocks of vacant space quickly leasing up, a number of major new developments waiting to break ground, and the inflow of outside dollars into Milwaukee, the market has recently experienced some amazing deal velocity. This activity is expected to continue as we head into 2016. However, the office market could slow down due to the completion of several projects currently under construction. The greater Milwaukee office vacancy rate stood at 15.5 percent in the third quarter, down slightly from 15.6 percent in the third quarter of 2014. The vacancy rate in the central business district (CBD) dropped from 16.2 percent to 14.9 percent during the same period. Meanwhile, rental rates have increased slightly in both the overall market and the CBD. Cranes in the skies Construction on the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons began in late 2014 in downtown Milwaukee and is scheduled for completion in late 2017. A 32-story office tower will adjoin a two-block-long, three-story space known as The Commons. The new development …
The office sector in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis shows clear signs of solid growth and stability with new construction and deeper tenant demand for space, particularly in the Class A segment. A number of factors contribute to this trend, including job growth, availability of land for housing and favorable demographics. Decision-makers live in the northern suburbs along with families, empty nesters and educated workers. Nearly 90 percent of all suburban office space in greater Indianapolis is located north of 71st Street in five key submarkets: North/Carmel, Keystone, Northwest, the Fishers/I-69 Corridor and Northeast/Castleton. Five I-465 interchanges define these five northern suburban office submarkets of Indianapolis, providing workers efficient access to 17.5 million square feet of office space. Through the third quarter of this year, overall occupancy in these five suburban submarkets stood at nearly 85 percent. The occupancy rate for Class A space was considerably higher at 89 percent. There are only seven blocks of contiguous office space 100,000 square feet or greater available in the suburbs and downtown — four of which are located in the northern suburbs. These spaces include 133,000 square feet at Two Concourse, 10194 Crosspoint Blvd.; 113,000 square feet at the former Charles Schwab …
Traverse City may be known as a small resort town on the shores of Lake Michigan, but each year it grows in popularity. And more commercial real estate players are taking notice. In the past year, Traverse City has been named one of the “Top 20 Best Small Towns in the U.S. to Visit” (Smithsonian); “One of the 50 Best Places to Live in America” (Men’s Journal); “One of the 10 Must See Cities in America” (Horizon Travel Magazine); “One of 10 U.S. Destinations on the Rise” (TripAdvisor); and “One of America’s 20 Most Romantic Towns” (Travel + Leisure). Tourism is on the rise as we become known as a region not only for cherries, but also for great restaurants, wineries, microbreweries, recreational trails for hiking and biking, skiing, festivals and a great place to live. With increasing notoriety comes pressure for development, and Traverse City is no exception. We have seen more development and projects in the pipeline in the past 12 months than we have seen since the height of the real estate boom 10 years ago. Tourists will be happy to note more hotel rooms in the downtown area as the new Hotel Indigo nears completion. The …
NEW ORLEANS — HFF has arranged a $27.7 million loan for Algiers Plaza, a recently renovated, 236,389-square-foot shopping center located along General deGaulle Drive in New Orleans. The Winn Dixie-anchored shopping center has recently added Petco, Ross Dress for Less, T.J. Maxx and Burke’s to its tenant roster. Existing tenants include Payless Shoe Source, Buffalo Wild Wings, Mattress Firm and Walgreens. Algiers Plaza was 85 percent leased at the time of financing. De’On Collins and Travis Anderson of HFF arranged the floating-rate loan through BBVA Compass on behalf of the borrower, N3 Real Estate. N3 will use the loan proceeds to pay off a construction loan, acquire all of the minority partnership interests and fund future capital improvements and leasing costs at the property.
Improving real estate fundamentals in the St. Louis office market are opening the floodgates to new construction that is greatly needed as large occupiers are finding limited, if any, existing available options. Over the past few years, the gap between rent for existing office properties and new properties was too great to justify construction. Until now, that is. The St. Louis employment base is finally reaching a pre-recession level with continued growth in the healthcare, information technology and engineering industries. The centrally located and more affluent residential areas — the West County and Clayton submarkets in particular — are experiencing higher occupancies and increasing rental rates. Clayton historically has been the best-performing submarket in St. Louis and still is today, while West County is situated near mid- to upper-level income workers. Development has and will continue to follow these highly sought after submarkets as they offer the metro area’s best real estate fundamentals and returns. Add to all of those factors a lack of new product in the past several years — plus a Class A vacancy rate of 10 percent — and you have an ideal climate for new construction. Pivotal project is catalyst The announcement that St. Louis-based …
ELKHART, NAPPANEE AND WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — UMH Properties Inc. has closed on the second portion of its previously disclosed agreement to purchase six manufactured home communities. This tranche consisted of three communities located in Indiana for a total purchase price of $36.1 million. The three communities contain 1,254 developed home sites situated on 316 acres. The average occupancy rate for these communities is 56 percent. Freehold, N.J.-based UMH Properties is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 98 manufactured home communities with approximately 17,800 developed home sites.
LOS ANGELES — CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance team (NYSE: CBG) has arranged $156.8 million in financing for the acquisition of a six-property, 1,413-unit multifamily portfolio located in Washington and Oregon. The properties included in the transaction are: Alderwood Park, located in Lynnwood, Wash.; 188 units Boulder Creek, located in Wilsonville, Ore.; 296 units Bridge Creek, located in Wilsonville, Ore.; 315 units Ridgegate, located in Kent, Wash.; 153 units Ridgetop, located in Silverdale, Wash.; 221 units The Wellington, located in Silverdale, Wash.; 240 units Brian Eisendrath and Cameron Chalfant of CBRE’s Beverly Hills office arranged the financing from a single lender on behalf of Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily. CBRE secured seven-year, fixed-rate loans with three years of interest-only payments on four of the properties, with a blended interest rate of 3.85 percent. The remaining two properties were financed with floating-rate loans with three years of interest-only payments and a starting rate of 2.6 percent. TruAmerica will implement a value-add renovation program upon acquisition. “[Eisendrath and his team] provided aggressive financing and were able to increase proceeds by more than $5.4 million from application to closing, which will help us to reposition these well-built assets,” says Robert Hart, CEO …
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged a $592 million financing for the purchase of 24 multifamily properties located throughout New York City. The loan was made on behalf of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII and Fairstead Capital. The portfolio consists of 979 units with properties located in the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Midtown West, Midtown South and Murray Hill in Manhattan. The five-year loan, provided by a balance sheet lender, features a LIBOR-based floating rate and interest-only payments for the full term. Drew Anderman of Meridian Capital Group negotiated the transaction.
WILLOWBROOK, ILL. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of the 140-unit Willowbrook Apartment Homes located at 7440 Tennessee Drive in Willowbrook, approximately 20 miles west of Chicago. The property sold for $14.4 million, or $103,400 per unit. Scott Harris and Nick Hillard of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer. The property consists of 56 one-bedroom/one-bath units, 68 two-bedroom/one-bath units, and 16 three-bedroom/two-bath units. Unit amenities include tile floors, ceiling fans, cable and broadband Internet access. Community amenities feature controlled building access, on-site management, 24/7 emergency maintenance, laundry facilities and package receiving.