NEW YORK CITY — Ready Capital Structured Finance has arranged a $12.1 million loan for the refinancing, renovation and stabilization of a mixed-use building located at 926 Southern Blvd. in the Woodstock neighborhood of the Bronx. The undisclosed borrower will use the loan to complete a gut renovation and reconfiguration of the loft apartments and street-level retail suites. The 50,700-square-foot building features residential units and 6,700 square feet of retail space. The non-recourse, interest-only loan features a 24-month term with one extension option, flexible pre-payment and is inclusive of facilities to provide future funding for capital expenditures and interest and carry reserves. David Cohen of Ready Capital negotiated the financing.
NEW YORK CITY — Global fashion retailer Michael Kors has agreed to acquire Jimmy Choo, a London-based luxury footwear and accessories brand, for approximately $1.35 billion. Jimmy Choo PLC (LON: CHOO) has approximately 150 company-operated retail stores, 560 multi-brand locations and more than 60 franchise stores in locations worldwide. The company has a strong presence in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. With this acquisition, Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE: KORS) hopes to grow Jimmy Choo sales to $1 billion; balance its portfolio with greater product diversification; enhance the company’s position in the men’s and women’s luxury footwear segment; and enhance exposure to global markets, with a particular focus on Asia. Michael Kors expects the transaction to close during fourth-quarter 2017. “Jimmy Choo [is] an iconic brand with a rich history as a leading global luxury house,” says John Idol, chairman and CEO of Michael Kors. “We believe that Jimmy Choo is poised for meaningful growth in the future and our company is committed to supporting the strong brand equity that Jimmy Choo has built over the last 20 years.” Michael Kors has committed bridge financing from JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. and Goldman Sachs Bank USA to satisfy fund requirements of the U.K. Takeover Code. The transaction is expected …
Fannie Mae started off the year with a bang, producing $17.4 billion in multifamily financing in the first quarter, up about 38 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016. The quarterly total was also up 20 percent from its fourth-quarter 2016 production. Compared to its counterpart, Freddie Mac had a slower start to the year, producing $12.7 billion in the first quarter, down about 28 percent from both first-quarter and fourth-quarter 2016. Hilary Provinse, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president of customer engagement, says the driver of Fannie Mae’s hot start is the increased activity in its green product lines, which incentivize borrowers to perform energy and water efficiency improvements at their properties to qualify for financing with reduced interest rates. “Fannie Mae is the market leader in green rehab financing,” says Provinse. “In 2016, we did $3.6 billion in green financing volume. In the first quarter of 2017 alone we did $5 billion.” David Brickman, executive vice president of Freddie Mac’s multifamily business, says that Freddie Mac’s first-quarter production was more affected by the “pause” in the market in late 2016 and early 2017 than Fannie Mae. “There was a little disruption in the fourth quarter of last year …
It is no secret that Atlanta has been a booming market in the post-recession era. Metro Atlanta added more than 85,000 jobs in 2016, while the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.9 percent, back to a prerecession level (2007). Atlanta has ranked near the top of the largest 10 office markets in annual job growth, outpacing the likes of New York, Los Angles and Chicago. There was 3.3 percent job growth in 2016, outpaced by only one large metropolitan peer, Dallas-Fort Worth. Rent Growth The Atlanta office market has shared this success as rents have continued to climb to record levels and vacancy levels have dropped. Since the end of 2012, overall gross asking rents have risen 22.1 percent, or $4.41 per square foot. Thanks to major relocations by companies such as Honeywell, GE Digital and Synovus, and major expansions by Kaiser Permanente, Sage, Anthem and Kabbage, among others, Atlanta’s overall office vacancy rate has plummeted 540 basis points from the end of 2012 (from 22.3 percent to 16.9 percent in the first quarter of 2017). Construction With market fundamentals in a stronger state than at any other time in recent history, the introduction of new product presents a litmus …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An investment group led by Ocean West Capital Partners and Hana Asset Management Co. Ltd. has purchased Two Independence Square in Washington, D.C. The seller, Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE: PDM), has invested roughly $50 million to renovate the building. Constructed in 1992 as the headquarters for NASA, the nine-story, 606,000-square-foot property is located at 300 E St. S.W., about three blocks off the National Mall in Washington’s Southwest submarket. Two Independence Square houses NASA leadership, who provide overall guidance and direction to the U.S. government. The building’s James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium hosts agency news conferences and social events. Designed by Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, NASA’s headquarters also feature a lending library, NASA Exchange store, the history office and archives and production facilities for NASA TV. The agency occupies 99 percent of the building and renewed its lease in 2011 with a lease term running through 2028. Hana Asset Management, a subsidiary of Hana Financial Group, is the largest financial group in Korea. The firm comprises 21 subsidiaries, including banks, securities, trusts, asset management firms, investment banks and life insurance companies. The company employs 23,000 professionals worldwide and manages $5 billion of assets throughout Asia, the …
PASADENA, TEXAS — Houston-based retail brokerage firm Baker Katz has acquired a 22,000-square-foot retail asset located at the intersection of Fairmont Parkway and Beltway 8 in Pasadena. The property was 70 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Supercuts, Leslie’s Pool Supplies and Mattress Overstock. The seller and other terms of sale were not disclosed.
PORTLAND, ORE. — Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) has acquired Jantzen Beach Center, a 746,000-square-foot open-air shopping center in Portland, for $131.8 million. The property is located at in northern Portland near the Oregon-Washington border. Jantzen Beach Center was 96 percent occupied at the time of sale. Notable tenants include Home Depot, Target, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Ross Dress for Less, Burlington, Petco, Best Buy, DSW and Michaels. Jantzen Beach Center was built in 1972. It underwent more than $40 million in renovations and upgrades between 2010 and 2014. The center’s location near the Oregon-Washington border allows it to pull visitors from more than 70 miles away due to Oregon’s lack of sales tax. “The center pulls customers from the 9 percent sales tax state of Washington into the no-sales-tax state of Oregon,” says Nick Kassab of HFF, who, along with Brian Ley, represented the unnamed seller in this transaction. “Given that opportunities to acquire a top-performing center of this size and scale in the Pacific Northwest are few and far between, the sale received significant interest from institutional investors across the country.” Kimco purchased the center free and clear of any existing debt. The New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based REIT acquired …
ORLANDO, FLA. — Amazon has unveiled plans to open an 850,000-square-foot fulfillment center at Lake Nona, Orlando’s 17-square-mile master-planned development. Slated to open in 2018, the new site will create 1,500 full-time jobs. The project is being developed in a partnership between Seefried Industrial Partners and an affiliate of USAA Real Estate Co. Tavistock Development Co., master developer of Lake Nona, sold the site and will develop the infrastructure for the project. The property will utilize automated processes supported by Amazon Robotics, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of robotic fulfillment systems. The new fulfillment center will bring Amazon’s workforce in Florida to more than 9,000.
KENT, WASHINGTON — Real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) has sold Rock Creek Landing, a 576-unit apartment community in Kent, about 20 miles south of Seattle, for $109 million. The buyer was not disclosed. The cash proceeds of $73 million from the transaction will be used to fund the company’s recent acquisition of 90 East, a 573,000-square-foot, Class A office development in the Bellevue, Washington, area. Rock Creek Landing is located at 1024 Central Ave. North in Kent. The property offers an indoor and outdoor pool, business center, community clubhouse and a coffee bar. Kennedy Wilson purchased Rock Creek Landing in 2014 for $58 million as part of a $127 million acquisition of a three-property portfolio of multifamily assets located across several submarkets south of Seattle. The company has since invested about $6 million in upgrades to the community’s leasing center, unit interiors and common areas. During its time under Kennedy Wilson’s ownership, Rock Creek Landing generated net operating income of approximately $5.3 million. Combined, the sale of Rock Creek Landing and acquisition of the 90 East office property in Bellevue are expected to increase annual net operating income by about $7 million. “The sale demonstrates our ability …
LOS ANGELES — Apartment Investment and Management Company (Aimco) (NYSE: AIV) has acquired the remaining interest in a Los Angeles multifamily portfolio for $451.5 million. Aimco already owned 53 percent interest in the properties, and bought the remaining 47 percent from its joint venture partners, institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The acquisition now gives Aimco complete ownership of three Palazzo communities. These include the 521-unit Palazzo at Park La Brea, the 611-unit Palazzo East and the 250-unit Villas at Park La Brea. All three communities are situated in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, about two miles from Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Century City, and six miles from downtown LA and Santa Monica. “We appreciate the mid-Wilshire submarket with its highly educated and high-income customers who value the proximity to transportation, job centers and upscale retail … and where we can see clearly that future development is increasingly difficult,” says Terry Considine, CEO and chairman of Aimco. “We expect to continue the operation of the properties and to redevelop each, over time and at the right time, to serve different and distinctive market segments.” The average age of the units within the Palazzo portfolio is 12 years, …