National
Essex Property Trust Closes Multifamily Deal with Kauri, Which is Also Set to Begin Construction
Kauri Investments sold the 56-unit residential community, part of a larger project that also includes a Hyatt Place hotel. Kauri did not include the 160-key hospitality property in the deal perfected with Essex. Developed in 2010, the complex is located at 110 Sixth Avenue N., near the Seattle Center. According to PSBJ, the sale was not planned by Kauri but the inquiry by Kidder Matthews representatives Giovanni Napoli and Phillip Assouad, working on behalf of Essex Property Trust eventually got the deal going. According to Kauri’s CEO, Kevin Angier, the multifamily rental property had an occupancy rate of 95 percent at the time the transaction was completed.
Rumpke Invests $32M to Rebuild Former St. Bernard Recycling Center
Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately owned residential and commercial waste and recycling firms, has announced on January 10 it plans to invest $32 million to build a recycling center in St. Bernard, Ohio. The new center will replace the former recycling facility destroyed by a fire in April 2012.Rumpke will build one of the largest and most technologically advanced residential recycling systems in the country. It will be 85,000 square feet and capable of sorting 55 tons of material every hour, more than doubling the capabilities of the previous system.
Alexander & Baldwin Completes Construction of Hawaii’s Largest Solar Farm
Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (A&B) and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) have recently announced the completion of Hawaii’s largest photovoltaic energy plant. The 6-megawatt solar farm is located on Kauai’s sunny south shore, on a 20-acre parcel of land owned by A&B nearby KIUC’s Port Allen Station power plant. Electricity from the facility began flowing on Dec. 7. Developed and operated by A&B’s subsidiary, McBryde Sugar Company, LLC, the project is expected to generate approximately 10,200 megawatt hours of electricity per year. KIUC and its members will be provided with renewable solar energy at a fixed rate for at least the next 20 years.
Transwestern Team Sells Three Maryland Apartment Communities for Almost $100M
Transwestern’s Bethesda, Md.-based Mid-Atlantic Multifamily Group, the only fully-integrated, collaborative multifamily brokerage team serving the entire Mid-Atlantic region, finished 2012 strong. In December, the group headed by Co-Directors Dean Sigmon and Robin Williams closed three deals in Maryland, totaling almost $100 million.Transwestern represented the sellers in all three transactions. Two of them are located in the Washington, D.C. metro area, in Wheaton and Rockville, while the third is in Owings Mills.
New York Opportunity Fund Closes on $5.2M Acquisition of Long-Vacant Downtown Building
In a $5.2 million deal, real estate investor Howard Lavitt and his partners at LRC Opportunity Fund of New York have acquired the long vacant, 11-story office building in downtown Raleigh. The Triangle Business Journal reports that the transaction closed on Dec. 21. Ben Kilgore with CBRE in Raleigh represented the sellers, New York businessmen Morton Rosenfeld and Milton Schwartz. Located at 227 Fayetteville Street, the 100,000-square-foot property has been empty since its former tenant, Wachovia Bank, moved out in 2003. Wachovia developed the building in 1964, after signing a 50-year ground lease with the owners of the lot. The contract expired in January 2011 and the ownership of the structure was transferred to the land owners’ heirs. Plans now call for the interior renovation of the building, which should be complete by the fourth quarter of 2013. Project manager Steve Weitnauer with Solutions PDM is in charge with the demolition and reconstruction, while Davidson and Jones Construction Co. is the general contractor.
Single-Tenant Office Complex in Tucson’s East Side Sells for $17.8M
A California non-profit group paid $17.85 million for an office complex located near east Speedway and north Kolb Road, on Tucson’s east side. The buyer is the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, based in Palm Desert.
Work Imminent on Mixed-Use Tower in Meatpacking District
Property Group Partners and landlord Romanoff Equities have joined forces to replace a former meat processing facility in New York’s Meatpacking District with a mixed-use complex that would stand as a prominent structure in the neighborhood. Designed by James Carpenter Design Associates architectural firm in cooperation with Gerner Kronick & Valcarcel Architects, the project is set to begin development immediately, with a delivery date tentatively set for 2015.
SunCal Buys Manor Master-Planned Community, Plans to Finish Project
SunCal, an Irvine, Calif.-based residential development company, closed the deal on the 758-acre ShadowGlen master-planned community in Manor, an eastern suburb located just 14 miles from Austin’s city center.
Closed Hotel to be Reintroduced to Market as Le Meridien Chicago at Oak Brook
A shuttered Renaissance-branded hotel next to the Oakbrook Center shopping center in Chicago’s Oak Brook suburb will reopen in early 2014 under the Le Meridien flag. The announcement was made last week by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., who teamed up with real estate investment firm RockBridge Partners of Columbus, OH, to transform the closed facility into an upscale hotel for both business and leisure travelers.
Forest City Enterprises Offloads Coveted Office Property in Downtown San Jose
One of San Jose’s largest office buildings recently traded hands after Forest City Enterprises Inc. agreed terms with CBRE Global Investors for the sale of Fairmont Plaza. CBRE Global Investors paid $93.1 million for the Bay Area asset. The property, also known as the Knight-Ridder building, was sold in order to generate net cash proceeds for the Cleveland-based owner. Also part of this strategy was the recent sale of the company’s Emerald Palms apartment community in southwest Miami.