The backlash over the retailer’s Pride Month collection could prove to be only a passing cloud compared with the potential chill in consumer spending.

The retailer’s quarterly sales fell, in part because of boycotts over Pride-themed displays, and it cut its forecast for the full year.

Climate change, inflation and global instability have thrust companies that sell insurance to insurers into the spotlight.

Buyers should focus on what they can control rather than try to predict mortgage rates.

Sterling Investors picked up a fully leased warehouse in Pompano Beach, amid an uptick in South Florida industrial investment sales. 

The New York-based real estate investment firm paid $24.3 million for the building at 4000 North Dixie Highway, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. The selling entity ties to Bellevue, Washington-based Farmers New World Life Insurance Company and to Zurich Insurance Group’s New York-based investment arm Zurich Alternative Asset Management, state corporate records show. 

Jose Lobón and Trey Barry were part of the CBRE team that represented the seller. 

Sean Bannon and Gala Liana were part of the Zurich Alternative Asset Management team that represented their firm. 

The nearly 128,000-square-foot building is fully leased to sea salts and seasonings manufacturer and supplier The Spice Lab. The family run and woman-owned company is led by Jennifer Cramer.

The warehouse was completed in 2015 on 7.5 acres, according to Vizzda. The sellers had paid $15 million for the building in 2017. 

Led by Khaled Kudsi, Sterling’s real estate investments are focused on industrial and self-storage properties, its website shows. Prior to starting Sterling in 2020, Kudsi was principal at Blackstone and then senior managing director at Northwood Investors. 

Sterling’s website lists no other South Florida properties. 

Over the past year, investment sales of industrial real estate have nosedived across the tri-county region due to expensive financing created by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. While deal activity hasn’t rebounded to the boom times of 2021 and early last year, industrial sales have started to pop up in recent months. 

New York-based Blackstone has been an active buyer and seller. In July, its Link Logistics subsidiary paid $162 million for seven buildings at 710-750 South Powerline Road and 3155-3161 Southwest 10th Street within the Quiet Waters Business Park in Deerfield Beach. That came on the heels of Blackstone’s $50.9 million sale to Prologis of the Pan American North Business Park building at 10733-10763 Northwest 123rd Street in Medley. The sale was part of a $3.1 billion portfolio deal between Prologis and Blackstone. 

In July, Walton Street Capital bought three warehouses at 3455 Northwest 54th Street, 5530 Northwest 32nd Court and 5400 Northwest 32nd Court in Miami-Dade County’s Brownsville neighborhood for $51.5 million. 

Read more

The post Sterling buys Pompano Beach warehouse, amid uptick in industrial deals appeared first on The Real Deal.

It’s like a condo for your cars. Garages of America plans to build a $30 million luxury storage facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Carrollton.

The Dallas-based firm has built nine locations for its concept, all in Texas, and has two others under construction, according to its website. It offers ownership of climate-controlled garages, which buyers can finish out themselves. This 124,000-square-foot project works out to almost $242 per square foot and is adjacent to another Garages of America building at 2323 Tarpley Road. Construction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

A California investor went big with its latest industrial acquisition in North Texas. Westcore Realty bought the Railhead Business Station, which spans 520,000 square feet across four buildings in North Fort Worth, the Dallas Morning News reported. The buildings are part of the 366-acre Railhead Industrial Park. Stream Realty Partners brokered the transaction. This is only Westcore’s latest deal in Dallas-Fort Worth. The San Diego-based firm bought a 300,000-square-foot warehouse in Rockwall last month and the three-building, 485,000-square-foot North Quarter 35 in North Fort Worth earlier this year, the outlet said.

Scout Capital plans to invest almost $18 million to develop an 88,000-square-foot cold storage building in Lancaster, south of Dallas. That’s about $204 per square foot. The Florida-based firm expects to start construction in September and finish in May 2025, according to a TDLR filing.

A China-based supplier of electric vehicle parts has leased 55,000 square feet of industrial space in Fort Worth. Junchuang North America, a subsidiary of Suzhou Junchuang Auto Technologies, plans to employ about 120 people in the 46 Ranch Logistics Park, the Dallas Morning News reported. Jackson Shaw developed the complex after buying the land in 2020. 

A Japanese investor is backing Falcon Commercial Development’s latest project in southeast Fort Worth. Dallas-based Falcon plans to build the 240,000-square-foot Oak Creek Distribution Center at 4851 East Loop 820, the Dallas Morning News reported. Newmark helped the firm arrange a joint venture equity agreement with Diamond Realty Investments, the real estate arm of Mitsubishi Corporation. 

Read more

Meanwhile, residents in that part of Fort Worth are fed up with industrial development in their neighborhood and have asked the Fort Worth City Council to take action. At the same Aug. 8 council meeting where neighbors from Echo Heights complained, city council voted unanimously to give Empire Holdings permission to start four new light industrial developments in the neighborhood, the Fort Worth Report reported.

Microsoft is investing almost half a billion dollars to build data centers in the San Antonio area. The tech giant has two projects in the works totaling $446 million, the San Antonio Report reported. Since 2015, Microsoft has invested about $1.2 billion building eight data centers in the region, the outlet said.

Carr Lane Manufacturing recently moved into a 50,000-square-foot building 17 miles from its previous location in Austin. The St. Louis-based parts manufacturer spent $12 million to build the facility in the Elgin Business Park on Roy Rivers Road.

The post Industrial condos for gearheads in Carrollton appeared first on The Real Deal.

First deal in federal program helps fund $1.5 billion wind-energy transaction.

There’s been plenty of chatter around office-to-residential conversions in New York, but there are also questions about who is actually pulling it off.

The Real Deal looked into it and found several properties scheduled for the major overhauls. And an analysis of alteration permits filed between 2022-2023 revealed the five biggest office-to-residential projects. Here’s a closer look.

25 Water Street

After the March ribbon cutting for Harry Macklowe’s One Wall Street, 25 Water Street has taken the title for the country’s largest office-to-residential conversion with proposals to alter more than 900,000 square feet of the building’s 1.1 million total square footage. Formerly known as 4 New York Plaza, the 22-story office used to house the New York Daily News, American Media and J.P. Morgan Chase, all of which cleared out during the pandemic. Owners GFP Real Estate and Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft Management nabbed the historied property for $250 million in December with plans to add another 10 floors while gutting its insides to offer new courtyard spaces. The eventual 1,200 rentals will range from studios to four bedroom apartments, squeezing 50 market and luxury rate units per floor. Some of those homes will offer 10 foot ceilings as well as windowless home office spaces.

160 Water Street

Gensler is the architecture firm behind a 487,000-square-foot conversion in the Financial District. Five new floors will be added to the 24-story former office building, offering 586 rentals that will have access to a communal rooftop terrace, a gym, coworking and dining spaces, a bowling alley and a spa. The massive redesign and expansion is thanks to a $272.5 million loan from Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners, which will also allow its developer Vanbarton Group to reskin the building’s facade. Doors are expected to open and welcome tenants beginning September 2024, according to its construction website.

55 Broad Street

Steps from the construction site of Lower Manhattan’s soon-to-be tallest residential tower at 45 Broad Street, Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management have planned to convert an office building at 55 Broad Street into 571 market-rate rental units. The pair paid $172.5 million to Rudin Management for the property in July 2023, allowing the former owner to retain a stake in the project. Permits filed in August and signed by Metro Loft list 49 Broad Street as the location for more than 400,000-square-feet in construction, adding six additional floors to the 30-story building. Amenities will include a private club, a gym, coworking spaces and a 45-foot-long rooftop pool with landscaped sundeck and grilling area. Construction is expected to start this month, according to the developers.

650 1st Avenue

Lalezarian Properties scooped up this eight story office building for $33.5 million on March 23, one day after the New York City Department of Buildings gave them the green light to bring housing to the Murray Hill property, according to records. Once complete, the building will include 23,000 square feet of commercial space and upwards of 116,000 square feet of housing, according to DOB filings.

330 West 42nd Street

In Midtown, Resolution Real Estate has big plans for a partial conversion to its McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street. The 33-story art deco tower, which was designated as a New York City landmark in 1979, will convert more than 560,000 square feet into 224 rental units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms from its 12th to 32nd floors. But the dramatic, $100 million renovation won’t nix office contracts — corporate tenants will continue to rent space on the building’s lower floors. Previously, its owners had spent $40 million to remove non-historical windows to restore the space’s iconic appearance along one of the city’s major arteries.

Read more

The post GFP, Metro Loft’s 25 Water Street leads the pack of NYC’s largest office-to-resi conversions appeared first on The Real Deal.

It takes a lot of time and determination, but the payoff from the IRS could be huge. Here’s how to do it.

The two men posed no threat and were handed over to the police, officials said.