HFF Arranges $24M for NJ Warehouse

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) announced this week that it had arranged $23.8 million in construction financing for a 138,642-square-foot built-to-suit warehouse in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The construction/perm loan was provided by The Provident Bank to a partnership between Elberon Development Group and The Avidan Group that is developing the new state-of-the-art freezer warehouse. The HFF team representing the borrower was led by director Michael Klein and senior managing director Jon Mikula. HFF previously marketed the property on behalf of the former owner, Oakmont Hayward I LLC, and procured a buyer, Fairmount Redevelopment Group, selling the redevelopment site for $5 million in January 2014. Fairmount Redevelopment Group is led by Josh Avidan of The Avidan Group and Dave Gibbons of Elberon Development Group.

"The borrower was looking to take interest rate risk out of the equation given the tenant's 20 year lease and engaged HFF to secure a construction loan that would roll right into a long-term perm loan," Klein said. "The Provident Bank clearly understood this specialty use product as well as the tenant's business model and was able to provide a loan that best met the borrower's short and long term needs."

Located at 900 Fairmount Ave., the cold storage facility development is expected to be completed in June 2016. Seafrigo NA Cold Storage, a logistics company for the food business, will occupy 100% of the space, according to a NJBIZ article. The property is less than five miles from Newark Liberty International Airport and the port of Elizabeth/Newark, and also in close proximity to an extensive highway network that allows ready access to Interstate 78, Interstate 278 to Staten Island and Brooklyn and State Highway Routes 1 and 22.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Denholtz Associates Secures $29M Refinancing Loan

Denholtz Associates, a privately-held development, investment and management company, secured a $29.05 million refinancing for a five-property portfolio in Illinois and Florida with proceeds used to repay the existing mortgage. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through Natixis Real Estate Capital, Inc.

"The portfolio's diverse tenancy and strong suburban locations made this an attractive assignment," said HFF director Michael Klein. "Natixis believed that the subject properties had strong leasing velocity and was confident in Denholtz's experience and track record with these assets."

The properties included in the portfolio include four buildings in suburban Chicago and one in Winter Park, Florida. The portfolio is currently 84% leased to 117 tenants. 56% of the portfolio is office space, 30% flex space, and 13% is warehouse/industrial space.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

CBOT Building Sold for $151.5M

CME Group announced this week that it had sold two of the three buildings that comprise the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) complex for $151.5 million to a joint venture between GlenStar Properties LLC and USAA Real Estate Company. The sale price for the north and south towers, totaling roughly 1.3 million square feet of space, came in at the low end of an anticipated range of $150 million to $180 million reported by The Wall Street Journal in February. As part of the sale, CME Group will lease back the 150,000 square-feet of space it currently occupies in both buildings for a 15-year term, including the Agricultural Trading Floor as well as office and trading floor support space. According to the WSJ, the property initially had been expected to fetch as much as $210 million, but its value was seen affected by economic uncertainty stemming from the European debt crisis as well as the collapse of brokerage firm MF Global Holdings Ltd., a major tenant.

"CME Group, which has been headquartered in Chicago for more than a century, continues to be committed to this city and to maintaining our trading floors and office space in the 141 W. Jackson building," said CME Group Chief Financial Officer Jamie Parisi. "We are extremely pleased to be able to sell our landmark building to the GlenStar Properties and USAA Real Estate Company consortium who will be great landlords for us and the other tenants. It will also allow CME Group to continue to focus on what we do best - running our exchanges and providing risk management tools to the world."

The new owners of the property plan to use its infrastructure to attract "a wealth of new technology companies," according to a statement from Michael Klein, principal at GlenStar, as reported by Fox Business.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.