the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
1.1MSF New Jersey Research Compound’s First Building Gets Underway
A major step in the development of the Picatinny Applied Research Campus in Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has been taken with the start of construction on the 1.1 million square-foot office and research park’s first structure. Developer Advance Realty Group is behind the massive Class A development, the first component of which is a 27,500-square-foot flex building. PARC boasts a location off Route 15 and near I-80 in Morris County, about 30 miles from New York City. The flex building is part of the project’s first phase, which will ultimately encompass 100,000 square feet of office and lab space. ICS Builders…
Carr’s D.C. Office Building Gets $104M Funding
The speculative office development at 901 K Street (pictured), in Washington, D.C.’s CBD, has gotten a $104 million construction loan, according Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P., which arranged the financing. The structure, under development by Carr Properties, will have a total of 261,000 square feet of space. HFF’s Bill Asbill, Bob Donhauser Cary Abod worked exclusively on behalf of Carr Properties to secure the 36-month loan with a consortium of banks. The facility is co-led by Wells Fargo Bank National Association as administrative agent and PNC Bank National Association as syndication agent. The bank group also includes US Bank National Association…
Boston Capital Invests in Colorado Apartment Properties
Boston Capital Real Estate Partners has wrapped up investments in two apartment projects in Colorado. Boston Capital has partnered with Trammell Crow Residential on the developments, which account for an aggregate 741 units.One of the Class A properties involved is the Alexan Broadway Station in Denver. The multi-family project will occupy a five-acre parcel Trammell Crow acquired late last year from Cherokee Denver and will feature 419 residences. The other property is Alexan Briargate Apartments, also in the construction phase, which will offer a total of 322 units in Colorado Springs. A garden-style community, Briargate’s apartments will be divided among…
Cook Pharmica to Add 80,000 SF in $80M Expansion
Cook Pharmica, a contract biopharmaceutical manufacturer and wholly owned subsidiary of Cook Medical, will spend $80 million to add 80,000 square feet to its facility in Bloomington, Ind. When complete, the expansion will accommodate 200 new professional, hourly, and management employees. Plans call for the construction of four plant lines. Two will fill syringes and vials with biopharmaceuticals, while the other two finish and package the materials for shipment. Construction will begin at mid-year, with the new facilities coming on line in early 2010. “Our industry is seeing phenomenal growth,” Jerry Arthur, president of Cook Pharmica, told CPN today. “Four…
Interstate, Harte Holdings JV Completes $207M Hotel Buy
Interstate Hotels & Resorts has completed the acquisition of four US hotels from affiliates of the Blackstone Group for a total of about $207.8 million. The deal was structured as a joint venture with partner Harte Holdings of Cork, Ireland. The four properties included in the JV are the 198-room Sheraton Frazer Great Valley in suburban Philadelphia; the 327-room Hilton Lafayette in Lafayette, La.; the 142-room Latham Hotel Georgetown in Washington, DC; and the Sheraton Mahwah in Mahwah, NJ (pictured). Interstate invested about $11.5 million, for a 20 percent equity interest in the four hotels. The partnership plans to invest…
HEI Hotels’ Development Pipeline Hits $500M
It’s further evidence that, at least for some players, the hospitality market isn’t slowing down. With the acquisition of a one-acre parcel in Bellevue, Wash., HEI Hotels & Resorts, Norwalk, Conn., now has more than $500 million in its development pipeline. In addition to the 378-room, 15-story Marriott Bellevue, which should break ground mid-year, HEI has under planning or construction a 305-room W Hotel at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood, Calif., and an historic adaptive re-use 202-room Le Meridien in Philadelphia. The Hollywood project also includes 143 residential condos and approximately 15,000 square feet of retail space. In a prepared…
Education Company Signs Leases for 290,000SF in San Diego
Kilroy Realty has just locked Bridgepoint Education Inc. into two leases for an aggregate 289,800 square feet of space at the REIT’s Kilroy Sabre Springs Campus in San Diego. Presently consisting of two structures totaling approximately 300,000 square feet, Sabre Springs sits in San Diego’s I-15 corridor near the intersection of Ted Williams Parkway and I-15. The first lease agreement allows Bridgepoint to expand its occupancy at the building at 13500 Evening Creek Drive by over 22,000 square feet to a total of 142,200 square feet. A second lease will give the school sole occupancy of Phase III of the…
Developer Takes Major Step for 928-Acre Project in New York State
A major mixed-use resort has been in the works for the Town of Brasher in Upstate New York, and the project is now moving ahead with Northway Island Associates submission of its Planned Unit Development to the city. Dubbed the North County Entertainment Complex, the project has been designed to encompass a wide range of offerings, including a casino, five hotels, a 30,000-seat motor sports oval, an amphitheater, a golf course, a water park, an equestrian center and a drag strip. Northway has already secured the 928 acres the development will occupy, having closed the acquisition in late June of…
Studley’s Ducharme, 58, Dies from Deadly Infection
Studley Inc. veteran Jacque Ducharme, vice chairman of the western region and past president, has died after a sudden illness, the company has announced. Ducharme, 58, died of a sudden systematic infection that ultimately caused organ failure, according to an e-mail from Studley chairman & CEO Mitchell Steir, who said, “There was nobody like him. He pioneered the idea of working as a team where, historically, brokers worked as individuals. He was a true professional and visionary; respected, admired and loved by all those who had the pleasure of working with him.” Ducharme joined Studley’s Chicago office in 1972, and…
Latin America, Mexico Hotspots for International Investors
Latin America is certainly piquing interest from investors, judging from the crowd of over 200 attendees at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s Latin American Capital Markets Perspective conference, held this morning at the Jumeirah Essex House in Manhattan. “The proportion of (foreign) investment was 25 percent in 2002, was up to 45 percent last year and is increasing rapidly,” said Colin Dyer, the company’s president & CEO, at the start of the panel discussion.Mexico has been a large part of the region’s growth, pointed out Pedro Azcue, president & CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Latin America region, who noted that the…