HOUSTON — Ilan Investments has broken ground on Arella on Jones, a 229-unit seniors housing community in northwest Houston. The property will offer units averaging 975 square feet. Amenities will include a pool, dog park, outdoor putting green, gaming area, theater room, fitness center, library, salon, business center and a library. Meeks + Partners is the architect for the project, and Spring Valley Construction is the general contractor. The opening is scheduled for summer 2022.
FRANKLIN, MASS. — TMC Holdings & Development LLC will develop a 50,000-square-foot industrial property in Franklin, about 30 miles southwest of Boston. Formerly the site of a glass recycling facility, the property is located in the Marijuana Overlay District with frontage on I-495. TMC Holdings plans to demolish the facility and build a 50,000-square-foot warehouse with 22 to 24-foot clear heights. Construction is slated to begin in fall 2019. John Eysenbach of R.W. Holmes represented TMC Holdings in the transaction, as well as the seller, Strategic Materials Inc.
PITTSBURGH — Amazon will construct a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Pittsburgh, a move that will create 800 new full-time jobs. The property will be Amazon’s 15th operations facility in Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Amazon will invest $30 million in the facility and that once the jobs are in place, Amazon will receive $1.6 million in job creation tax credits from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Hillwood, a Fort Worth-based industrial firm, will lead the development of the project, a construction timeline for which has not yet been established.
MONTVALE, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield Markets has arranged $26.5 million of institutional equity capital from a private equity fund for the development of a 203-unit seniors housing project in Montvale, about 30 miles north of New York City. The community will feature a four-story building on an 11.5-acre site. Cushman & Wakefield acted as exclusive advisor to a joint venture between Pike Properties, Thrive Senior Living and Gallium Real Estate. Construction debt financing of $54.6 million has been secured an undisclosed seniors housing lender and is expected to close in late August. Richard Swartz, Jay Wagner and Jim Dooley of Cushman & Wakefield handled the debt placement.
BENSENVILLE, ILL. — Darwin Realty has begun development of a Bo Jackson Elite Sports Facility in Bensenville. The 114,140-square-foot indoor sports training center will be the third Bo Jackson facility in the United States and the second in Illinois. Completion is slated for the end of the year. The facility is designed to accommodate training for sports such as baseball, soccer, football and lacrosse. The building will also include a track, weight room and climbing wall. Sports legend Vincent “Bo” Jackson attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, July 18. Jackson, a graduate of Auburn University, is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Triumph Construction is the general contractor and Charles Smith of Arete Design Studio Ltd. is the architect.
BARTLETT, ILL. — Meridian Design Build has broken ground on a 100,560-square-foot industrial build-to-suit for Cathay Industries in Bartlett. The property will be situated on a 6.8-acre site within Abbott Land & Investment’s Blue Heron Business Park. The building will feature a clear height of 30 feet, eight loading docks, two drive-in doors, 70 car parking spaces and 4,000 square feet of office space. It will be the fourth building within Blue Heron Business Park. Cathay is an iron oxide manufacturer. Harris Architects and Mackie Consultants make up the project team. A timeline for completion was not disclosed.ggg
ST. LOUIS — The Opus Group has broken ground on a 155,000-square-foot speculative warehouse at Soulard Business Park in St. Louis. Completion is slated for the second quarter of 2020. The development, which will sit on approximately eight acres, will feature a clear height of 32 feet and 24 trailer parking stalls. Patrick Reilly and David Branding of JLL will market the property for lease. Soulard Business Park is a project led by Environment Operations Inc. and involves the redevelopment of a former manufacturing facility.
BETTENDORF, IOWA — The Cambria Hotels brand, franchised by Choice Hotels International Inc., has opened its first location in Iowa. The four-story, 112-room hotel is located at 5061 Competition Drive in Bettendorf within the Quad Cities. Amenities include a bistro, full-service bar, pool, fitness center and meeting space. Frontier Hospitality Group developed the hotel. There are currently more than 40 Cambria hotels across the U.S. The Bettendorf property is the first of seven Cambria hotels expected to open this summer.
WOOD VILLAGE, ORE. — Pacific Oak Capital is funding the $33 million development of Wood Village Apartments, a multifamily and retail property located in an Opportunity Zone in Wood Village, a suburb of Portland. The property will feature 172 units in a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, ranging from 361 square feet to 1,325 square feet, spread across seven three- and four-story buildings. The asset will also include a more than 10,000-square-foot, two-building neighborhood retail center, a community clubhouse and pool. Construction is slated to begin later this year, with completion scheduled for summer 2021.
DENVER — Hyatt Hotels Corp. plans to develop Thompson Denver, the first Thompson Hotels property in the state of Colorado. Slated to open in 2021, Thompson Denver will be located at 1600 Market St. in Denver’s LoDo district. T2 Hospitality is developing the 11-story hotel as a modern-day chalet. Denver-based DLR Group is designing the property, with interiors by Parts + Labor, in collaboration with the Thompson Hotels design team. The hotel will features 216 guestrooms, including 15 luxury suites and the signature Thompson Suite on the seventh floor; a grab-and-go café, which converts to a bar and lounge in the evening; and a 90-seat, ground-floor restaurant. Additionally, the hotel will feature an indoor/outdoor terrace with a 140-person lounge and bar area, and function and meeting spaces.