Middle Market Digest – The Northeast

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

Deal Tracker Daily

NEW YORK, NY—Fisher Brothers is partnering with office services provider Convene to create an exclusive tenant amenity center at 605 Third Avenue, its 1.1 million-square-foot, Class-A office tower in Midtown Manhattan. Designed by Convene’s in-house architecture and design team and serviced by its hospitality professionals, the amenity center will feature a gourmet café and a terrace with comfortable lounge seating areas to work independently, hold collaborative discussions, or relax in an outdoor setting. The amenity center will open in early 2019 on the 28,612-square-foot seventh floor of the building, where Convene signed a 10-year lease. Separately, Cushman & Wakefield arranged a long-term, 5,183 -square-foot lease renewal for The Institute of International Bankers at Fisher Brothers’ 299 Park Avenue. The IIB will relocate on the 17^th floor of the property, where it will maintain its headquarters through 2029. A Cushman & Wakefield team consisting of executive director Jonathan Schindler, managing director Aron Schreier, and director David Mainthow represented the tenant in the transaction. Fisher Brothers was represented in-house by Marc S. Packman, managing director, head of leasing, and Charles P. Laginestra, director of leasing.

BOSTON, MA—Newmark Knight Frank helped relocate Slalom to 399 Boylston Street in Boston, MA. NKF senior managing directors Jason Cameron and Jim Brady of the firm’s Boston office, and senior managing director Daniel Levine of the firm’s New York office, represented Slalom in the 30,075-square-foot lease. The firm is combining offices and relocating from its two Boston locations at 181 Newbury Street and 312 Stuart Street.

CRANBURY, NJ—The New Jersey office of Duke Realty signed a long-term lease with RAB Lighting, a manufacturer of indoor and outdoor LED lighting and controls, for 100 percent of its building at 10 Broadway Road in Cranbury. RAB Lighting will relocate and expand its northeast distribution center operations into the newly developed, 264,085-square-foot building. Duke Realty added 10 Broadway Road to its portfolio last October as part of a 3.1 million-square-foot New Jersey industrial portfolio acquisition comprised of six buildings and two development sites. All the properties are class A buildings and located along I-95 from the Exit 8A submarket north to the Meadowlands submarket.

EDISON, NJ – The Residence at Roosevelt Park, a renovation and adaptive-reuse of the original 1937 Roosevelt Hospital in Edison, officially marked its reopening as an affordable housing community for seniors aged 62 and older. The revitalized building, developed by Pennrose and Middlesex County, includes 85 apartments for senior residents with income limits ranging from $36,900 to $56,940. Twenty-two units are prioritized for veterans, and five are set aside for homeless individuals. Residents have already begun to move in within the last several days. Situated on 11 acres adjacent to Menlo Park Mall and Roosevelt Park, the Residence at Roosevelt apartments feature combined living and dining areas and fully-equipped kitchens. The building also features a community room, roof deck, fitness center, on-site management, laundry facilities, and a resident lounge on each floor. Rents for one-bedroom apartments range from $897 to $1,095 and from $1,071 to $1,308 for two-bedroom apartments. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency awarded the Residence at Roosevelt Park the very competitive nine-percent federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, which are expected to generate nearly $14 million in private equity for the project which cost approximately $24.9 million to develop.

NEW YORK, NY—The Durst Organization signed the National Basketball Players Association to an 18-year lease for 8,893 square feet for a portion of the 12th floor of 1133 Avenue of the Americas. The NBPA signed its first lease at the property in 2015, and this deal increases its total square footage to 56,187 square feet. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service’s lease expired at 1133 Avenue of the Americas, leaving 30 percent of the building vacant. The NBPA was the first tenant to lease floors formerly occupied by the IRS, one of which now houses a regulation-sized basketball court. The new lease brings the building to 100 percent office occupancy. 1133 Avenue of the Americas recently underwent a $40 million capital improvement program and is LEED Silver certified under LEED v4 Existing Buildings: Operations + Maintenance (O+M).

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ—A 41,500-square-foot mixed retail and warehouse facility at 2 Claire Road in East Brunswick was recently acquired by New Jersey-based HSJE Realty, an investment group with a broad portfolio of commercial, industrial, and residential properties. While the transaction was managed by Sheldon Gross Realty’s Jonathan Glick, executive vice president, and Glenn Jaffe, senior vice president, HSJE Realty was represented by Howard Applebaum, president of Corporate America Realty & Advisors. The East Brunswick facility has three tenants, each of which uses a portion of the premises for warehousing and retail. The property is conveniently located approximately mid-way between New York City and Philadelphia, just off the New Jersey Turnpike’s Exit 9 and immediately adjacent to Route 18. In addition, it’s only a 30-minute drive from Newark Liberty International Airport.

JERSEY CITY, NJ—Ironstate Development Company, long known for transforming downtown Jersey City with iconic residential towers, is expanding its efforts west of the waterfront to the City’s Lafayette neighborhood. The Hoboken-based real estate firm and joint venture partners Brookfield Property Group and Landmark Developers have broken ground on a new 309-unit luxury rental building. The mixed-use project will also include 3,800 square feet of street-level retail space and 8,000 square feet of commercial space that will serve as the new headquarters for the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Located at 100 Monitor Street, the new five-story building will occupy a now-vacant 2.7-acre site just steps from the Liberty State Park Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station and within walking distance of the Liberty Science Center and Liberty State Park. The project will create over 600 construction jobs and take approximately 22 months to complete. The $84 million development reflects a growing interest in Lafayette and is expected to fuel further investment in a neighborhood that continues to attract multifamily development, new businesses and restaurants like Grind Shop and The Oak on Pine and expanded recreational amenities like the 17-acre Berry Lane Park.

HARRISBURG, PA—Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, has been retained as exclusive advisor for the sale of The Shoppes at Susquehanna Marketplace, a 110,365-square-foot open-air shopping and dining destination in Harrisburg, PA. The price is $38.172 million. The property will be delivered free and clear of debt. Tenants at The Shoppes at Susquehanna Marketplace include Athleta, Banana Republic, Chico’s, J. Crew, JoS. A. Bank, Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar, Loft, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Talbots, White House Black Market, and Williams-Sonoma. Athleta, Loft, and Williams-Sonoma are the only retailers of their kind in the trade area. Bill Rose, senior managing director, Mark Taylor, senior managing director, and Rick Lechtman, first vice president, capital markets, are representing the seller, an institutional advisor.

Money Moves

TRENTON, NJ—New Jersey Future says James J. Florio, the 49th governor of New Jersey, will be presented with the organization’s Cary Edwards Leadership Award as part of its Smart Growth Awards celebration. Since his return to the private sector, NJ Future says, Florio has continued to elevate conversations on issues that affect New Jersey’s future, including the importance of coordinated planning and the need for investment in upgrading infrastructure in our older communities to support growth. He recently sat for an exclusive TV interview with GlobeSt.com about his areas of interest.