TODAY’S DEALS: Toll Brothers and AECOM Announce Luxury Jersey City Project
Toll Brothers and AECOM to break ground this spring; Lincoln Property Co. and Phoenix Property Co. land $150 million for a 420-unit development in Los Angeles; and HFF closes a $29 million sale of a development site on Biscayne Bay in Miami.
Jersey City, N.J.—Downtown Jersey City is getting 417 new luxury rental units thanks to a development venture between Toll Brothers Apartment Living and AECOM Capital. Provost Square, located in the city’s Powerhouse district a block from the Grove Street PATH station, will break ground in early 2013 with leasing projected to commence in early 2015. The project is being financed through a $120 million construction facility from PNC Bank, Wells Fargo and Comerica Bank.
“We are very pleased to be working with AECOM to kick off the Provost Square project,” says Douglas Yearly Jr., chief executive officer at Toll Brothers. “AECOM’s diversity of expertise and reputation for excellence in the real estate industry make it an ideal institutional-quality partner for a project of this scale.”
Provost Square is just the first segment of a three-building complex that is planned to total 925 units. When finished, the complex will feature a 24,000-square-foot, 550-seat performing arts center, 45,000 square feet of ground floor retail, a 26,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza and 917 parking spaces. Toll Brothers owns the two remaining sites, which are planned for development as condominiums.
Toll Brothers Apartment Living will oversee marketing, leasing and property management at Provost Square. Tishman Construction Corp., an AECOM subsidiary, along with Toll Brothers City Living, will oversee construction.
Lincoln, Phoenix land $150 million in construction financing
Los Angeles—Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has arranged $150 million in construction financing for Runway, an urban mixed-used development in the West Los Angeles community of Playa Vista. The development team of Lincoln Property Co. and Phoenix Property Co. has begun construction on the site, which will feature 420 units of apartments and 250,000 square feet of mostly retail space. The project is scheduled for a grand opening in 2014. Retail anchors include Whole Foods, Cinemark Theaters and CVS.
The loan was secured through a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America. HFF also arranged the equity financing through Alcion Ventures, a Boston-based real estate private equity firm. Runway will be the entertainment and retail hub of Playa Vista, the first new community to be established on the westside of Los Angeles in more than 50 years. The community features residential, commercial, retail and open space.
HFF closes $29 million sale of development site on Biscayne Bay in Miami
Miami–HFF announced that it has closed the sale of a 4.5-acre development site along Biscayne Bay in Miami.
HFF marketed the property exclusively on behalf of the seller, Equity Residential. The Related Group purchased the site for $29 million.
The property is located between NE 31st and NE 32nd Street in the Biscayne Corridor close to the American Airlines Center, Arsht Center and downtown Miami. The 3.1-acre south parcel abuts Biscayne Bay with 180 linear feet of water frontage. The north parcel has 1.4 acres and can be developed with a maximum of 219 residential units. Once developed, the units will feature direct views of Biscayne Bay, Miami Beach, downtown Miami and Brickell and the Atlantic Ocean.
The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by executive managing director Manuel de Zárraga and director Jaret Turkell, and supported by real estate analysts Scott Wadler and Maurice Habif.
“This is a favorable transaction for both parties and further evidences the strength of the Miami real estate market,” Turkell says.
HFF’s Florida multihousing and land group has closed more than $780 million of multi-housing transactions for the 12 months ending December 31, 2012, and the firm was also ranked as a top capital markets intermediary nationally by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the past five years.