● CBRE
Comfort JV sells waterfront office building
Rubenstein Partners, in partnership with George Comfort & Sons, announced the $33.5 million sale of 181 Harbor Drive, a waterfront property in Stamford, CT currently leased to Vineyard Vines as the brand’s world headquarters.
A joint venture between The Melohn Group and Drake Street Partners purchased the property.
181 Harbor Drive is a 91,040 s/f newly renovated office building within the 17-acre, six-building, 780,445 s/f Shippan Landing waterfront office campus.
Affiliates of Rubenstein Partners and George Comfort and Sons will maintain ownership of the remaining five buildings within the campus, where they are in progress on a $40 million capital improvement campaign that will deliver new lobbies, building systems, outdoor collaborative space, and a waterfront amenity center.
The 181 Harbor Drive building benefits from the broader Shippan Landing campus’ amenities, including an on-site marina, a beer garden, outdoor athletic offerings and a waterfront walking path, a full-service fitness center and a 275-seat cafeteria with outdoor dining.
The campus sits on the Stamford waterfront and Long Island Sound at Shippan Point. Jeffrey Dunne, Steven Bardsley and Travis Langer of CBRE’s Institutional Properties Group represented the seller and procured the buyers in the transaction.
● CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
Milvado bolsters industrial holdings
Milvado Property Group, one of Long Island’s leading owner/managers of commercial and industrial property, has acquired 6801 and 6901 Jericho Turnpike in Syosset for $18.7 million.
The two office buildings, totaling 224,309 s/f, are located on Jericho Turnpike in Nassau County, 30 minutes from JFK, LaGuardia, and MacArthur Airports.
“These are two superior properties that belong in our portfolio,” said David Hercman, director of asset management for Milvado.
“They are centrally located to major highways and within easy reach of the Long Island Railroad, making these buildings very attractive to current and future tenants.”
Hercman added, “These acquisitions reflect Milvado’s approach that calls for locations that will enable our tenants to maximize their productivity, strengthen their bottom line, have easy access to their markets and take advantage of the quality of life offered by the surrounding community.
“We will continue to add to our Long Island portfolio when we see similar kinds of value.”
The sale was brokered by Cushman and Wakefield’s Gary Gabriel and his team — David Bernhaut, Andrew MacDonald and Phil D’Avanzo.
● JLL
RXR offloads Princeton property
RXR Realty has sold University Square, the 330,000 s/f office campus it built in Princeston, NJ, in 2008.
JLL brokered the sale on behalf for RXR and The Blackstone Group, and procured the buyer, NYC-based Argent Ventures.
University Square is a five-story, trophy office building that is 85 percent leased to tenants including BlackRock, Axis Reinsurance and Mercer. The sale also included the adjacent one-story, 33,600 square foot 115 Campus Drive.
University Square features a two-story cherry and granite atrium lobby, cafeteria, conference room and fitness center.
Located on 18.5 acres at 1 University Square Drive, it is equidistant to Philadelphia and New York City along Princeton’s Route 1 Corridor. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller included senior managing directors Jose Cruz, Andrew Scandalios and Kevin O’Hearn and senior directors Stephen Simonelli and Michael Oliver and associate J.B. Bruno.
“The quality of University Square along with its location and tenant line up brought investors from all over the country,” Cruz stated.
“We are seeing many more buyers for suburban office product these days as attractive current going in yields and upside in the leasing continue to drive interest.”
● CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
Cushman marketing midtown development site
Cushman & Wakefield has been retained to market 245-247 West 34th Street, a 45,090 s/f development site in Midtown.
Ownership is currently seeking proposals for the unimproved developable land and will consider a long-term ground lease, joint venture or an outright sale.
A team consisting of John Ciraulo, Craig Waggner and Diana Boutross will lead the marketing effort.
“This development site is situated at the confluence of many thriving Midtown neighborhoods and a strong and established retail corridor,” said Ciraulo.
245-247 West 34th Street is a 4,509 s/f vacant lot located on the north side of West 34th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
The lot is zoned C6-4M (R10), with a 10.0 FAR for hotel, office, residential, community facility, retail or a multitude of mixed-use options. Another 2.0 FAR can be added through the Inclusionary Housing Program by acquiring CB5 air rights.
The site features forty-five feet of retail frontage along 34th Street between two of the busiest intersections in Manhattan on Seventh and Eighth Avenues at 34th Street.
The site is directly across from Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Macy’s and the Herald Square shopping district.
● NKF
Fidelco buys Newark office tower
Fidelco Realty Group has purchased 550 Broad Street, a 294,242 s/f 18-story class A office tower, located in an opportunity zone in Downtown Newark.
The sale was brokered by an NKF team of Steven Schultz, Tony Georgiev and Josh Malka, and leasing expert Jeff Kolodkin in conjunction with ReallNSIGHT Marketplace, a live-bid commercial real estate sales platform.
550 Broad Street, a modernized office building built in 1966, is located within walking distance of both Newark Penn Station and Newark Broad Street Station.
The recently renovated building offers views of the Manhattan skyline, 24-hour security and freshly built amenities including a new lobby, state-of-the-art fitness center and café.
“We are excited to add 550 Broad Street to our expanding portfolio of Newark office buildings”, said Marc Berson, chairman of Fidelco Realty Group.
“With the aggressive capital improvement plan we intend to implement over the next two years, along with the planned renovations to Washington Park across the street, we expect this building to lease up quickly and add more high quality corporate tenants to the burgeoning community that is developing in the northern end of Downtown Newark”.
According to Schultz, “New capital investors are entering the market and really changing the landscape of the city.”
In addition to the corporate headquarters of Panasonic North America and Prudential, Newark is now home to the offices of Broadridge, Audible, M&M Mars and Gateway as companies find transit-oriented downtown Newark an ideal location for retaining and attracting new talent.
“We are continuing to see an active market in Newark across office, retail and residential properties,” said Kolodkin.
NKF brought the property to auction with a $12 million starting bid. No information was released on the final sale price
● LEE & ASSOCIATES NJ
TA Realty buys NJ warehouse
Lee & Associates New Jersey brokered the sale of an 81,000 s/f industrial warehouse building at 80 Essex Avenue East in Avenel, NJ,
The property is located on 4.28 acres in the Exit 12 submarket off the New Jersey Turnpike.
A team that included Crista Governara, Drew Maffey and Rick Marchisio, represented both the seller and the buyer. TA Realty has also tapped Lee & Associates to market the property for lease.
80 Essex Avenue East offers 7,557 s/f of executive office space, 26 ft. clear ceiling height, 11 loading dock doors, expandable to 19, and car and truck parking.
It has direct access to the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 440, the Goethals Bridge, Route 1 & 9, and the Garden State Parkway. Port Newark/Elizabeth is located just 2 exits north of the building.
“This first class industrial facility is well-suited for the operations of an e-commerce/last mile delivery company like Amazon or a national transport company like Fed-Ex or DHL,” said Governara, a partner at Lee & Associates NJ.
Boston-based TA Realty is among the nation’s largest and real estate investment management firms.
