Here is a roundup of the latest leases, sales and other transactions in the Northeast middle markets.

NEWS & NOTABLES

JERSEY CITY, NJ—Officials with 3 Journal Square Apartments officially opened the development here, a milestone moment touted by city officials and business leaders as the latest sign of the renaissance underway in the historic Journal Square neighborhood here.

The new 13-story building located steps from the Journal Square Transportation Center opens with 160 of the 240 apartments pre-leased since marketing began in late March, according to joint-venture partners Hartz Mountain Industries and Panepinto Properties. More than 40% of the building is occupied, with additional move-ins scheduled.

The grand opening ceremony also marks the completion of 3 Journal Square's onsite leasing center and magnificent lobby, as well as a full floor of social and recreational amenities unrivaled in the local marketplace.

“Thank you to Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, Panepinto Properties and Hartz Mountain Industries for being big believers in Jersey City early in the process,” remarked Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. “Today, you see massive change and what we're most proud of is what's happening in Journal Square. Four years ago, we started to talk about ways to incentivize development away from the waterfront. It was really our primary objective to bridge the gap between communities. When you look forward just a few years from now, Journal Square will once again become the center of Jersey City. This is another step in that direction.”

Designed by Hoboken, N.J.-based Marchetto Higgins Stieve, the LEED Silver-designed building's grey and black exterior was created to add a stylish and modern landmark to the Journal Square streetscape. 3 Journal Square features a collection of studio, one, two- and three-bedroom residences spread throughout 12 floors plus a penthouse level, with grand opening monthly rents beginning in the $1,900s for a limited time.

CLIFTON, NJ—Andrew Abramson of Value Companies and Alan Goldstein of The Goldstein Group, the principals of New Jersey-based real estate companies, have announced a new joint-venture partnership providing full-service management for retail, industrial and commercial property owners in New Jersey and New York State.

Called Corestone Management, the new firm will offer a complete package of advisory services and customized asset management. Corestone will draw on more than 100 years of combined experience in construction, operations, repair and maintenance, customer service, budgeting, demographic research and leasing to create an approach that blends traditional business methods with innovative techniques to effectively market and manage properties.

NEW YORK CITY—Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz, Jr. and representatives from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development, Bank of New York Mellon, First Sterling Financial, the Community Preservation Corp. and the Bronx Community Board recently joined with Yuco Real Estate Co. to unveil a newly constructed affordable housing development in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

Brook Avenue Apartments consists of a two-building, 66-unit development constructed on vacant, formerly city-owned land. The 78,806-square foot project was built at a development cost of $24.4 million and was financed under Mayor Bill de Blasio's “Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Housing Plan.”

Bronx Borough President Diaz Jr. said, “Since 2009, we have invested $1.6 billion towards the creation of over 6,100 affordable units across 68 projects, mostly for low-income families, and this project is testaments to the hard work we are putting in; alongside partners like Yuco Real Estate, who have shown a very strong commitment to work with our office, the residents and the neighborhood of Mott Haven, to make sure everyone has a fair shot at affordable housing.”

NEW YORK CITY—LeFrak is returning to Manhattan with Murray Hill Marquis, a 37-story hotel-to-rental conversion project at 150 East 34th St.

The Murray Hill Marquis is a 37-story rental building, located at 150 East 34th St. It has been converted from a hotel into spacious rentals by affiliates of LeFrak, which is growing their portfolio of signature Marquis brand properties throughout Manhattan. The Murray Hill Marquis will offer 260 completely renovated no-fee studio and one-bedroom residences.

The building is undergoing an extensive renovation that will transform the interiors with sleek modern upgrades and finishes. Pricing will range from $2,575 a month for studios to $3,425 a month for one-bedroom units. Leasing is expected to launch in late July 2017

DEALTRACKER DAILY

NEW YORK CITY—The leasing team of Faith Hope Consolo at Douglas Elliman was awarded the exclusive agency to lease the retail space at 815 Broadway in Brooklyn, known as the Globe Exchange Bank Building, located on the northwest corner of Ellery Street, where Bushwick borders Williamsburg.

“The Globe Exchange Bank Building is undergoing an intensive renovation that is paying homage to the building's rich history, including the full restoration of the double-height retail space on the ground floor,” says Consolo. “This area is changing rapidly, and the recent signing of a 30,000-square-foot lease for a new Brooklyn Commons co-working space on the block testifies to the intense demand.”

Designed by turn-of-the-century architecture firm Mowbray and Uffinger— responsible for the classic Dime Savings Bank at DeKalb Avenue and Fleet Street—the Globe Exchange Bank Building was considered to be the area's largest and most modern office building when inaugurated in 1927.

The retail space at 815 Broadway features approximately 6,815 square feet on the ground level, with 20-foot ceilings, plus a 1,850-square-foot mezzanine level and 8,000 square feet on the lower level.

CARLSTADT, NJ—NAI James E. Hanson reports it has negotiated a lease for 29,770 square feet of space to Katz's Delicatessen at a 145,000-square-foot industrial building here.

NAI Hanson's Steve Leitner represented the tenant, Katz's Delicatessen, in the transaction. Scott Belfor and Kevin Dudley of CBRE represented the landlord, 100 Group Ind., LLC.

Since 1888, Katz's Delicatessen has been an institution on the Lower East Side of New York City serving thousands of residents and tourists each week at its 205 East Houston St. location. Its newly launched e-commerce store enables them to ship their products to customers across the world. Katz's sought out a space with direct access to New York City and major arteries to the west to house its offices, warehousing and distribution operations. The lease in Carlstadt, NJ provides the firm with an ideal location to support its physical New York City location, while also offering the firm the storage and distribution space to quickly fulfill e-commerce orders, NAI Hanson states.

MARLTON, NJ—Commercial brokerage firm WCRE exclusively represented Charny Karpousis Altieri & Donoian in its lease of approximately 5,000 square feet of Class A office space at 10 Lake Center, 401 Route 73 North in Marlton, NJ.

CKA&D selected 10 Lake Center due to its location off of Route 73 with immediate access to I-295, Route 70 and convenient access to all points in Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. CKA&D is one of South Jersey's largest boutique law firms. The mid-rise office building is owned and operated by Tequesta Properties. Chris Henderson, VP of WCRE, exclusively represented the tenant in the transaction.

CAMBRIDGE, MA—Boston-based Longfellow Real Estate Partners announced recently that it is the operating partner in a venture that has acquired three office and tech buildings: 100, 125 and 150 CambridgePark Drive here.

The Longfellow team will manage the three properties. Combined, the three buildings total 605,873 square feet.

The five-story 100 CambridgePark Drive measures 135,615 square feet and has a tenant roster that includes: Prometrika, Cambridge Savings Bank, Modo Labs and ICF International, Inc. 125 CambridgePark Drive totals 201,922 square feet. Some of the tenants at the six-story office building include: Boston Scientific, TriNetX, Bitsight Technologies, Inc. and Regus. The 10-story 150 CambridgePark Drive measures 268,336 square feet and counts among its tenants: HP Inc., Intuit Inc., PointRight Inc. and MAK Technologies.

With this new venture, Longfellow increases its presence in Greater Boston to 827,908 square feet under management.

The CambridgePark addition grows the company's overall portfolio of owned and managed properties to 2.7 million square feet of science and technology properties in Greater Boston and the Research Triangle in North Carolina.

NEW YORK CITY—Newmark Holdings reports that full-service management and consulting firm Greystone Management Solutions has renewed its 7,400-square-foot lease on the third floor of 505 Eighth Ave.

The 25-story, 275,000-square-foot building is located at the corner of 35th Street and Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The announcement was made by Newmark Holdings co-CEOs Brian Steinwurtzel and Eric Gural. Allen Gurevich of Newmark Holdings acted on behalf of the ownership. Greystone was represented by Matthew Leon of Newmark Knight Frank.

HARRISBURG, PA—CBRE Group, Inc. has arranged a 63,133-square-foot long-term lease for PFM Asset Management at 213 Market St. in Harrisburg, PA. The company will be relocating from its current location at 100 Market St., where it has been operating for the past 20 years.

CBRE's Jeremy Shyk negotiated on behalf of the tenant. “This transaction represents PFM's long-term commitment to the city of Harrisburg as one of the leading businesses in the region,” said Shyk, CBRE first vice president.

Built in 1989, the property is currently undergoing renovations and once completed, will be one of the most modern office spaces in the city of Harrisburg, CBRE states. PFM Asset Management's more than 150 employees will occupy floors three through six and floor 14 in the new building. The company is expected to move into its new location by the end of this year. The CBRE Project Management team has been hired to oversee all of the logistics of the construction and move.

PHILADELPHIA—CBRE Group has brokered the sale of three Pennsylvania shopping centers. The brokerage firm reports that it successfully arranged for the sale of the Lower Makefield Shopping Center, a 74,953-square-foot property at 700 Stony Hill Road in Yardley, PA.

The CBRE team of Brad Nathanson, EVP, and John Colussi, sales associate, negotiated on behalf of the seller, TriGate Capital, LLC, and identified the buyer, Inland Institutional during the transaction.

The sale comes roughly two and a half years after TriGate Capital purchased the Bucks County property from PDSI, an affiliate of Public Service Electric and Gas Co. of Newark, NJ, in a national portfolio of seven properties.

CBRE Group also arranged for the sale of Town Square Plaza, a 215,610-square-foot power center located at 1100 Town Square Road in Pottstown, PA.

The CBRE team of Nathanson and Colussi negotiated on behalf of the seller, Retail Properties of America and identified the buyer, Bluejay Management during the transaction. Town Square Plaza was 98% occupied during the time of sale.

Built in 2004, Town Square Plaza is anchored by a 134,574 square-foot Lowe's Home Improvement warehouse, on a long-term ground lease. Additional national and credit retailers include: PetSmart, Michaels, Rite Aid, BB&T Bank, Mattress Firm, Hair Cuttery, LongHorn Steakhouse, AT&T and H&R Block.

The third shopping center deal CBRE Group brokered was the sale of the 226,894-square-foot Midway Shopping Center at 1026 Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming, PA.

CBRE's Nathanson negotiated on behalf of the seller, SIN Ventures, and procured the buyer, Endeavor Equities, during the transaction. The sale marks the fifth property that Nathanson has sold on behalf of SIN Ventures over the past two years to close out its retail fund.

Built in 1970 and renovated in 2000, the community retail center is currently 93% occupied and anchored by a 53,277-square-foot Price Chopper grocery store, a 64,000 square-foot Bon-Ton Department Store, Harbor Freight Tools, CVS Pharmacy and Dollar Tree.

MONEY MOVES

PATERSON, NJ—Hudson Valley Property Group officially commemorated the completion of an $11-million renovation project at Colt Arms Apartments in Paterson, NJ. Dean Santa, division director of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development joined the development team at the ribbon cutting ceremony held on June 20^th.

The property is located at 52 Godwin St. in Paterson, and was acquired in January 2016 by Hudson Valley Property Group, a New York City-based developer that is dedicated to the preservation of quality, well-managed affordable housing throughout the tri-state area. Colt Arms is one of the early preservation projects in the nation utilizing the Rental Assistance Demonstration II (RAD II) program, which included the issuance of a new 20-year, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) contract. The “project-basing” of the apartments not only ensures that Colt Arms will remain quality, affordable housing for decades to come, but it also made additional rental assistance available to residents that did not previously receive subsidy, Hudson Valley Property Group states.

The Colt Arms deal required several sources of financing, including 4% low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. R4 Capital syndicated the credits to raise approximately $10 million in equity and Red Stone Tax Exempt Funding did a private placement to purchase the bonds, providing approximately $20.5 million, including a $1.9-million interest reduction payment loan. Metro Co. acted as consultants for this transaction, and the Nixon Peabody and Berman Indictor law firms collaborated on the deal.

UNIONDALE, NY—Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. a REIT and national direct lender specializing in loan origination and servicing for multifamily, seniors housing, healthcare and other diverse commercial real estate assets, announced the funding of six loans totaling approximately $138 million under several FHA financing product lines.

The financings involved the following properties:

• Briar Club Apartments, Memphis, TN—The Class B/C, 272-unit multifamily property, consisting of 17 multifamily apartment buildings, received a 35-year refinance loan totaling approximately $9.87 million, including approximately $1,28 million for critical repairs, renovations and upgrades. The financing is funded under the FHA 223(f) product line.

• Bridford Lake Apartments, Greensboro, NC—A 320-unit garden-style multifamily property received a 35-year refinance loan of $33.02 million funded under the FHA 223(f) product line.

• College Towne West, Lansing, MI—The 532-unit multifamily property, now known as Towne Square Apartments and Townhomes, received a 29-year refinancing loan of approximately $16.6 million funded under an interest rate reduction program. Michael Jehle, VP of Arbor's Oklahoma office, originated the refinance loan.

• Champions Club, Glen Allen, VA – The 212-unit garden-style multifamily property received a 35-year refinance loan of nearly $20.02 million funded under the FHA 223(f) product line.

• Madison at Adams Farms, Greensboro, NC –The 500-unit multifamily property received a 35-year refinance loan of $31.11 million funded under the FHA 223(f) product line.

• Clearfield Station, Clearfield, UT – The Class A, 216-unit multifamily property received approximately $27.35 million funded under the FHA 221(d)(4) product line. The 24-month non-recourse construction loan converts to a 40-year self-amortizing permanent loan. Clearfield Station is part of a larger 72-acre master-planned development adjacent to the Clearfield FrontRunner commuter rail station owned by the Utah Transit Authority. The developer has planned a mixed-use for the property including office and residential spaces, an industrial park, a school and a park, as well as parking to support the existing rail station.

Instant Insights /

Middle Market Digest–The Northeast

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