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SOUTH BEND, Ind.Construction is continuing on a new mixed-use building on South Bends East Bank even as winter arrives.

Developer and Founder of Matthews LLC, David Matthews, said that the crews of mostly local carpenters will continue working through cold and wet weather, though on windy days the crane is not able to operate.

Theyre laying between 40 to 60 yards of concrete per day, Matthews said.

The $45 million development project at 300 E. LaSalle Ave. is not slated for completion until spring of 2021 but Matthews is already sharing his big plans for the space.

Its a mid-rise development in downtown South Bend with a grocery store, a parking garage, some Class A office space and 144 apartments, Matthews said.

The 144 apartments will be a mix of one, two and three bedroom units. Most units will feature a balcony with gas hookups for grills.

On the first floor of the 10-story building, 15,000-20,000 square feet of retail space will be primarily occupied by a grocery store. Unused retail space left following the grocery stores construction process will open up the opportunity for additional retail establishments.

A couple of hundred parking spots will be available in the buildings parking garage and about a hundred more spots will be included in a surface lot.

Matthews said the decision to build the development on LaSalle was simple.

Were trying to build up downtown South Bend, Matthews said. In order to have more customers for shops, for parks, for restaurants, we need more people living downtown in walking distance.

Multiple city parks are within a 20 minute walking distance from the new development, including the newly renovated Howard Park.

Matthews has not shared what grocery store will live in the building, but he did say that the development will be more than just a place for the community to shop and live.

Its not just giving the people who live here a spot to go. Its helping reinforce the urban fabric of downtown so when you visit or take a stroll along the East Race, theres more people, theres more restaurants, theres more activity that makes downtown South Bend feel like a city we want to visit, Matthews said.

Next door to 300 E. LaSalle, in the Atrium of the Commerce Center, another project of Matthews is headed to fruition.

Weve had a lot of people who visit and say I want to open a restaurant but they lack the financial means to do a restaurant buildout, Matthews said. How do you take someone who is driven and competent but doesnt have the financial backing yet or the reputation to do a full fledge restaurant? Our approach is weve created three of these small restaurant incubators.

Comparing it to the new ramen noodle bar inside of the Emporium building, Matthews explained that the three completed stalls will serve as venues of experimentation for those who want to give their culinary business ideas a test-run with month-to-month leases.

The idea is that within two years, or even sooner, the pop-up restaurants will have evolved to where they can afford and attain their own, more permanent, spaces, Matthews explained.

Were just trying to create that pathway for people to have a shot, Matthews said.

One of the stalls is waiting for the first pop-up restaurant operator to set up shop while the other two await completion.

Down the hallway from the restaurant incubator, the local farmer-owned River Valley Farmers Market, which opened to the public in October, is already making big expansion plans.

Theyll be tripling in size in the beginning of 2020, Matthews said.

Read more:
Construction continues into winter months for new mixed-use building on E. LaSalle - ABC 57 News

Construction has wrapped up on 80 East 10th Street, a 26,000-square-foot mixed-use building in the East Village. The ten-story mixed-use building is designed by NAVA Companiesand developed by Parametric Development Group. Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing is responsible for sales of the 12 condominiums, which include a five-bedroom spread. Each home averages 2,000 square feet and range from $4.15 to $8.25 million. Cushman & Wakefieldis marketing the ground-floor retail space, which has yet to find a tenant.

Photos show the main entrance with the address illuminated next to the main lobby. The letters and numbers are formed from a pattern of circles that reflect the design of the pitted metal panels between the buildings floor-to-ceiling curtain wall.

80 East 10th Street. Photo by Michael Young

80 East 10th Street. Photo by Michael Young

80 East 10th Street. Photo by Michael Young

80 East 10th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The main entrance and sign for 80 East 10th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The ground-floor retail space is broken up into two parts measuring 850 and 1,450 square feet, for a total leasable area of 2,300 square feet. A majority of the frontage is along the wider northern elevation on East 10th Street. The basement measures 600 square feet, while the egress corridors and elevator are on the southern perimeter of the property.

Amenities for residents include a shared rooftop terrace, a package room, private cellar storage, and a bicycle room. 80 East 10th Street is located on the corner of East 10th Street and Fourth Avenue, four blocks away from Union Square Park and a short walk to Astor Place. The closest subways include the 6 train at the Astor Place station and the R and W trains at the 8th Street-NYU station.

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The rest is here:
Construction Wraps on 80 East 10th Street in the East Village - New York YIMBY

In well over a decade, Richmond hasnt seen a single new hotel project in city limits, Lina Velasco, the citys Director of Planning and Building Services told City Council at its Nov. 19 meeting.

But Richmonds ongoing development boom has the city currently reviewing not one, but two hotel projects: one in Marina Bay, and the other in Hilltop.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, the citys Design Review Board is set to review proposed designs for a four-story, 102-room Home2 Suites Hotel by Hilton in a vacant lot at 2121 Meeker Ave., adjacent to the CVS store and across from Armistice Brewing Company.

A fitness center, indoor pool and 134-stall parking lot are included in the hotel design, according to city planning officials. The site is designed to accommodate two future commercial pad building locations, and the project also features a civic space along Meeker Avenue.

Also in the works is a 104-room Marriott Residence Inn proposed to locate in the parking lot adjacent to Macys at the Shops at Hilltop, which is undergoing a significant transformation that includes proposals for two hotels, 3,500 residential units, office and retail on a re-imagined mall property.

They are just two of many recently completed, under construction, and under review projects providing a growth spurt in Richmond. As of October, there were 434 residential units under construction, 1,023 residential units approved and 745 under review, Velasco told City Council at the Nov. 19 meeting. Also, over 120,000 square feet of warehouse/logistical space were recently completed, while an additional 417,500 square feet are under construction and another 446,000 square feet are under review.

The largest single project under review in Richmond is the controversial Point Molate Mixed-Use Project, a proposal that includes 1,500 residential units and 624,000 square feet of flex space that could include commercial and/or additional residential. That square footage includes rehabbing the existing historic buildings and incorporating at least 40,000 square feet of retail space, city staff said.

What follows is recently completed, under construction and under review projects in the city as of Nov. 19.

See original here:
After many years without a hotel project, Richmond is reviewing two - Richmond Standard

A team of real estate investors are planning a $5 million project on the citys West Side.

Leonard Street Partners unveiled plans today for a mixed-use building at the corner of Leonard Street NW and Broadway Avenue NW.

The new three-story, 24,000-square-foot building with two floors of office space and ground-floor retail space would help anchor the West Leonard Business District and serve as a gateway project for the business corridor.

The development project, which will break ground in January 2020, came together through a collaborative effort of investors, including the father-son duo of Johnny Brann Jr., owner of Kitchen67, Branns Restaurants and Interphase Interiors, and Johnny Brann Sr., owner of Branns Steakhouse.

My dads long-standing commitment to the West Side has been a part of our family for almost 50 years, Brann Jr. said. This project will help inspire exciting change this corridor of the city for the next 50 years.

Brann Sr. added that his family has a legacy of providing jobs and serving the community and the families who live here.

We are proud to be part of an investment team that seeks to provide opportunities for future generations of entrepreneurs, Brann Sr. said.

Other partners include Mike Houseman, president of Wolverine Building Group, Dan Henrickson, president of Henrickson Architects & Planning, and Bill Hadlock, CEO of Paradigm Design

First Ward Commissioner Kurt Reppart said theproject was important to the growth of the West Side.

The projects architect, Paradigm Design, also announced its planto be the building'slead tenant.

Paradigm Design would occupy the second and third floors of the building.

Our firm has been growing and expanding into new markets, and we are excited to bring 45 professionals to this new space and continue to create success for all of our clients, said Joe Greco, president, Paradigm Design.

Paradigm also has offices in Grand Rapids, Traverse City and Phoenix.

Brann Jr. said Leonard Street Partners should have information on the ground-floor space in the coming weeks. There is about 7,500 square feet that could be used by one or two retail tenants.

Construction is expected to wrap up in September 2020.

Wolverine Building Group is the general contractor on the project.

Financing is through Mercantile Bank of Michigan.

Link:
Partners plan office and retail space on West Side - grbj.com

On the corner of Sixth Street and Fourth Avenue, the ruins of the Flycatcher stand surrounded by fencing. Now a construction site, the space is the future home of a multi-unit residential complex. Initially marred in controversy, the proposed building was met with neighborhood resistance and speculation about its zoning designation and purpose. The Union on 6th development appears to be on a set track to becoming another high-rise housing complex.

Despite comments by developers Greystar Real Estate Partners, who worked on the District on 5th building, fears are still present that the Fourth Avenue development will end up as another student housing development for Tucson. With only a designation for local businesses to have priority for the ground-level retail space put in place, the development has taken little into account for the surrounding community and only business interests have won, albeit minor. Like many other new high-rises in town, it is targeted towards a young adult crowd. It is in all facets another case of gentrification, now present on the Historic Fourth Avenue.

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After the demolition of the Flycatcher ended, in an effort to fill in the void and brighten the community, an event was set up. PaintStick, a celebration of Woodstocks 50th anniversary, was created to invite artists to collaborate on various murals for the space. Some of these murals were hung up on chain link fences, essentially barring view into the construction site. In-between the hand painted panels hangs an advertisement for the future building, a sleek design amidst the historic street.

Since the event, seven of the murals have been stolen and another business, the 4th Avenue Delicatessen has announced theyre closing their doors. Cut from the chain-link fence, the most recently stolen mural vanished and left a gap in the fence, revealing the construction sites interior. While intentions of beautifying may come from a good place, the efforts to cover up reality push away the issue and give destruction an easier entry. Distracting from the eyesore that is a construction site softens the view of the impact that construction has. The site of gentrification is turned into a community location in transition covered up by murals and reconfigured as a community space until the building is complete. In this process, gentrification gains a helping hand as resistance is converted to a false sense of community that turns the bare walls into places of art too pretty to be harmful.

While its hard to resist the temptation to revitalize a space producing a void in the community, spaces of construction and gentrification arent dormant. Theyre active sites of conflict that cant be concealed. Bones of buildings toppled over and replaced still lay in the site, and whether pleasant or not, they are an active reminder of the communitys destruction. Without it, gentrification is given an inconspicuous entry painted over by murals. Murals should not act as an attempt to beautify the destruction of a community. It gives developers an easy means for transition.

RELATED: OPINION: What are we trying to accomplish with cancel culture?

Developers are given the opportunity to claim they compromised with the community, and in the end, the art is repurposed as a tool and weapon of gentrification. Where murals do exist in spaces of gentrification, they should be active voices of resistance, something not possible when they are raised in partnership with the gentrifiers.

Neighborhoods arent about aesthetics, theyre built from communities. Sites of destruction should not be painted away only to soften the blow of gentrification. Art made to beautify in the place of active upheaval only turns eyes away from the change being undergone. It gives gentrification a soft spot and fills it with murals so the passerby doesnt have to interact with it or acknowledge its destruction. With businesses continuously being pushed out, like the recent announcement from the 4th Avenue Delicatessen, who cited construction as a main detriment for business, the plan of action has to be resistance and not concealment of the active gentrification at hand. Seeing a community being actively torn apart is difficult, but covering the wounds until theyve been replaced only helps those tearing it apart in search of profit.

Nathan Gosnell is a senior majoring in East Asian studies: Japanese language and minoring in political science

See the original post:
OPINION: Beautifying gentrification in Tucson - Arizona Daily Wildcat

A Twin Cities hotelier prolific throughout the metro area over the past few years will now be one of the first in to build on Edinas Pentagon Park redevelopment site.

Bloomington-based JR Hospitality, along with Iowa development partner Hawkeye Hotels, plans to start construction next spring on a dual-branded Marriott hotel in the southern half of the site, named Pentagon Village. The five-story, 235-unit hotel will be the largest JR Hospitality has built in the Twin Cities and is part of the hoteliers 1,000-plus room pipeline of metro-area hotel projects currently in development.

An entity related to Hawkeye paid $3.45 million for the 1.8 acre site at 4931 77th St. W., according to a certificate of real estate value made public late last week. The property is in the northeast quadrant of Interstate 494 and Highway 100. The deal, which closed on Sept. 13, works out to $1.9 million per acre.

Work is expected to start next February or March, said JR Hospitality principal Jay Bhakta. The hotel will contain two hotel brands, a Towne Place Suites and a Fairfield Inn and Suites. The two hotels will be in the same building. Construction will take up to 16 months, Bhakta said in a Wednesday interview.

JR Hospitality and Hawkeye committed early this year to building on the site, he said. JR Hospitality recently opened a 209-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel a few blocks away at 4460 W. 78th St. Circle in Bloomington.

Pentagon Village is appealing as a location for the hotel due to its proximity to major highways, and for the amenities it will have at full buildout, Bhakta said. Those amenities will include park space and onsite retail and restaurants.

They want all those things within walking distance, Bhakta said of future hotel guests.

The bulk of the hotels rooms will likely be filled with business travelers most of the time, he said. But he also expects them to draw vacationers as well. The Fairfield will cater primarily to overnight guests, he said, while the extended-stay Towne Suites will likely accommodate people staying a minimum of four nights.

Prior to February, the hotel had been planned to be four stories tall and to have 193 rooms. The city approved a modification to the planned unit development plan for Pentagon Village to include the larger hotel at the request of Pentagon Park master developer Solomon Real Estate Group.

JR Hospitality and Hawkeye have not yet chosen a general contractor to build the new hotel. The project architect is Boca Raton, Florida-based Base 4.

JR Hospitality operates 887 hotel rooms in six Twin Cities properties, as well as a number of hotels outside Minnesota.

Construction is already underway on the 12.5 acre Pentagon Village site. A 423-stall parking structure is nearly complete, while work on two new retail buildings near the entrance to the site are out of the ground. Those buildings are planned to total 12,020 square feet of space, according to a city staff report.

Other buildings planned for the site include a 153-unit Waterwalk extended-stay hotel, an office building that could be as large as 215,000 square feet of space and an 18,000-square foot office and retail building.

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Hotel coming to Pentagon Park - Finance and Commerce

CINCINNATI A week after a building under construction partially collapsed at 4th and Race street, crews are scheduled to return to work at the site where one worker died and four others were injured.

According to a statement from Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), Thornton Tomasetti, a structural engineering consulting firm, thoroughly reviewed the construction site at the corner of 4th and Race street and found work could continue in parts of the site.

Their review found levels one through five and the eastern parts of the sixth and seventh levels were safe for work to resume. Workers will set up barricades around the unsafe western portions of levels six and seven where the collapse happened.

Once the barricades are up, one crew will work to remove the remaining debris from the collapsed areas.

While this is happening, other crews will begin pouring concrete for four additional columns to help support the eighth level, as well as other prep work. No other concrete will be poured, however, until the Department of Buildings and Inspections and an independent third party have signed off on a new shoring plan.

"We did get permission to pour four concrete columns for the 8th flood," said Joe Rudemiller, vice president of marketing and communications for 3CDC. "However, no other concrete pours are permitted at this time until we have the city building inspections department, as well as independent third party come in and approve a new plan."

3CDC also wrote that project partners are still working to figure out why the collapse happened.

The building being constructed is a $44 million mixed-use development meant to include a parking garage, retail space and apartments when complete. 3CDC employed Turner Construction as a contractor and Turner Construction and Gateway Concrete Forming as sub-contractors to work on the site.

According to a statement from 3CDC, workers had been pouring concrete from the unfinished seventh floor to the sixth below when part of the structure gave out. Three were quickly transported to hospitals: Two to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and one to Christ Hospital.

A statement from Turner Construction said all three had been treated and released from various hospitals without incident. The statement also mentioned a fourth injured worker also treated and also released for the first time.

The search for the fifth worker lasted more than 30 hours before emergency crews pulled the body of 58-year-old Preston Todd Delph out of the rubble.

The heart of the City of Cincinnati goes out to the family and friends of the deceased, Cincinnati City Manager Patrick Duhaney wrote in an email to other members of City Council. I cannot imagine the grief this family must be going through at this time.

Delph, who worked for subcontractor Gateway Concrete Forming, had been checking for concrete seepage on the sixth floor of the Fourth and Race garage around 1:15 Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman from Turner Construction. When other workers began to pour concrete from the seventh floor to the sixth, the floor above him collapsed.

One resident has taken the struggle of the workers, including Delph's family, to heart and is working to raise money for everyone involved.

"When I found out, I was just really really moved by the situation," said Rachel Jackson, who has currently raised more than $1,000. "I've never been so close to something like that happening."

Jackson works near by, and felt she needed to do something to help. She said she hopes part of the money she's raising will go to the charity listed in Delph's obituary: The Alzheimer's Association. But the other part of the donation, she hopes, will go to buy the workers coffees and lunches to help take the stress off their days as they head back to work.

Gateway Concrete Forming officials released a statement mourning Delph and thanking the teams who spent the day searching for him.

"This is an extremely sorrowful time and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and co-workers at this difficult time," a company spokesman wrote. "We want to thank the regions first responders, emergency service workers and the American Red Cross volunteers for their tireless and selfless efforts through this entire ordeal. We are encouraging workers to utilize the grief counseling services that are available to them in the difficult days and weeks ahead."

Excerpt from:
Work resumes on 4th and Race development one week after partial collapse - WCPO

Fourteen subway lines serve the Lower Manhattan neighborhoods of Soho and Noho (South of Houston Street and North of Houston Street, respectively), making them among the citys most transit-accessible areas. Nonetheless, due to restrictive zoning and New York Citys widespread designation of historic districts, these areas have experienced much less new construction since the 1960s than many surrounding neighborhoods. A recent city study examines the uniquely antiquated and convoluted zoning restrictions that turn real estate development into a lot-by-lot, and sometimes even floor-by-floor, community battle. It suggests that Soho and Noho could someday become normal neighborhoods, where people live, work, and shop, and enjoy access to more housing, including some affordable housingbut to get there, New York City first needs to overcome demands for new zoning restrictions.

In 1961, still actively industrial, Soho and Noho were designated as manufacturing zones, where no new housing would be permitted. By the late sixties, though, industry was in decline and artists and other bohemians were moving into former factory loft spaces. The city faced pressure to permit the residential presence, but it wanted to preserve industrial businesses, too. The solution: invent a new use of space, a hybrid of residence and manufacturingthe joint living work quarters for artists (JLWQA). The idea was that artists needed large loft spaces for their creative work but also needed to live in these spaces because they could not afford separate residences. The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) took responsibility for certifying that people who needed these spaces were, in fact, artists.

JLWQAs were legalized in Soho in 1971 and in Noho in 1976, but problems arose immediately because designating housing by vocation is impractical. Artists may die, get divorced, have children, or stop making art; and many people who moved into the areas had never been artists. In the 1980s, the city and state legislature responded with a series of amnesties that legalized non-artists living in JLWQAs; soon it became hard to know who was an artist, who was a legal successor to an artist, who was amnestied, and who was living in the area illegally. According to the city, only about 30 percent of the housing units in Soho and Noho today are JLWQAs, and only a fraction of these are occupied by artists. Yet JLWQAs remain the only kind of residential use allowed as of right in Soho and Noho, and DCLA is still certifying artists to comply with the law.

Soho and Noho have another set of restrictions on ground-floor spaces. In the 1970s, the City Planning Commission allowed JLWQAs on upper floors but wanted to preserve ground floors for factories and warehouses. Ground-floor retail was prohibited in much of Soho and all of Noho. Nonetheless, the citys study identifies these areas as major retail districts. As with residences, various mechanisms have been used to legalize ground-floor retail, but much retail space remains in a kind of zoning limbo.

In a 2018 study of Noho, I recommended fixes to the current arcane zoning. Residences (where anyone can live) should be permitted wherever JLWQAs are today. Retail should be permitted on ground floors. New housing construction should be permitted on lots that are vacant or being used for parking or single-story retail. Taller buildings with more floor space should be permitted. Many of these recommendations can apply equally to Soho.

The citys study accepts the need for new housing and notes the possibilities for affordable housing but is ambiguous about the appropriate size for new buildings. In an area with so much transit access and where most buildings are preserved in historic districts, the few new buildings should maximize housing potential. The city, responding to local constituencies, suggests that artists should retain their preferential treatment for space in the areabut this designation has never worked, and the city shouldnt devote enforcement resources to micromanaging who lives in one small, affluent neighborhood.

The city should advance its recommendations with vigor. New York cant credibly advocate growth and change in less fortunate neighborhoods while strangling two affluent neighborhoods in red tape. The zoning change needs to be cleanly done and not tied up in new, unworkable restrictions. In any event, Soho and Noho will be heavily regulated to preserve their distinctive nineteenth-century commercial architecture. Within those limitations, though, the neighborhoods should be able to evolve, diversify, and regenerate, as a mix of old and new.

Eric Kober is a retired New York City planner and currently Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

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On the Need for Rezoning Soho and Noho in Lower Manhattan - City Journal

Brandywine Realty Trust is developing Metroplex Two, a 280,000-square-foot office building in Plymouth Meeting, near Philadelphia. Strong job growth in the area has led to greater demand for more quality office space after years of limited construction.

Office vacancies are falling across the big metros of the Northeast as robust user demand outpaces the supply of new construction. Deliveries in the last year have primarily been limited to Class A, build-to-suit properties and mixed-use developments. Meanwhile, office tenants are seeking high-end amenities at favorable prices.

Nationally, the office vacancy rate stood at 16.8 percent in the second quarter, up slightly from 16.6 percent a year ago, according to real estate research firm Reis. Net absorption for the quarter totaled 3.2 million square feet, down from 3.9 million square feet a year ago. The average asking rent was $33.79 per square foot, up 2.2 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Approximately 11.1 million square feet of office space was under construction at the end of the second quarter across Philadelphia, New York and Boston, according to CoStar Group. Helped by approximately 8.3 million square feet of absorption in the second quarter, the average vacancy rate across all three markets was 8.1 percent.

Rather than undertake costly new ground-up construction projects, many developers are choosing to redevelop existing assets and efficiently incorporate office space into mixed-useprojects.

Coworking tenants occupied 54.2 million square feet of office space nationally at the end of the secondquarter, according to CoStar. In Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the tech and coworking sectors dominate office leasing and set the standard for Class A office development.

Key features of these spaces often include access to public transit and surrounding retail and restaurant options. Even single-tenant offices are moving away from classic cubicles in favor of flexible, or collaborative, environments where employees are not assigned to specific desks and can freely work wherever they feel comfortable.

Philly Market Undersupplied

A decade of minimal office construction in Philadelphia is driving up demand for new supply and putting upward pressure on rents.

According to CoStar, the vacancy rate in metro Philadelphia was 8.7 percent in the second quarter, with 784,000 square feet of net absorption. A lack of buildable land in the city proper has driven developers to the suburbs, and most of those projects are preleased before building begins.

Of the nearly 1.9 million square feet under construction during the second quarter across metro Philadelphia, approximately 221,000 square feet was speculative office space, or 12 percent of the total amount.

Demand for Class A office space in Philadelphia is high, but theres nothing out there for tenants that want new product, says Les Hagget, first vice president of advisory and transaction services at CBREs Philadelphia office. Even as the population has steadily grown, the city has maintained its character of passion and grit. Its a great place to live and work, and that increases the demand for great office space.

Higher education and medical facilities have historically led Philadelphias economic growth, but more recently there has been an uptick in demand from life sciences and biotech companies. Lab space is in especially high demand in the University City submarket, which includes The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, the University of the Sciences and the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

Tenants in Philadelphias office market value amenities related to wellness and quality of life. Employees who walk and bike to work value onsite gyms with lockers and showers to change clothes before or after work. New construction and renovation projects are incorporating large windows for natural light, higher ceilings and larger rooms.

The supply of coworking and flexible office plans in Philadelphia has increased by 20 percent in the last year, and its only going to increase more, says Hagget. The good news is the demand for that type of space is keeping up with the new supply, and larger companies want to have a more flexible office space.

A joint venture between PREIT and Macerich recently launched Fashion District Philadelphia, a 900,000-square-foot mall redevelopment bringing dozens of shopping, dining and entertainment destinations to the Center City area. Within the development, coworking office providers REC Philly and Industrious will occupy 10,000 and 47,000-square-foot spaces, respectively.

Rents in Center City are growing 5.5 percent year-over-year, averaging $33 per square foot as of the second quarter. By comparison, CoStar reports that rent growth in Philadelphias central business district has averaged 3 percent annually for 15 years.

Keystone Property Group has begun construction on Sora West, a 427,333-square-foot mixed-use project in Conshohocken that will also include restaurant, retail and hotel space.

In the suburbs of Plymouth Meeting, Brandywine Realty Trust plans to develop Metroplex Two, a 280,000-square-foot Class A office building. The property will join the existing Metroplex One at the site, but construction will not move forward until an anchor tenant is secured, according to CoStar.

Building Skyward in NYC

As tech and coworking powerhouses absorb much of the highest-quality office space in New York City, developers in the area are turning to mixed-use projects and vertical construction to keep up with the demand for new space.

CoStar reports that New York Citys vacancy rate stood at 8.3 percent in the second quarter, with net absorption totaling 4.8 million square feet.

Meanwhile, approximately 27 million square feet of office space was under construction. The $26 billion Hudson Yards mixed-use development in Manhattan accounted for roughly half of that amount. The diverse mix of tenants preleasing space at Hudson Yards including BlackRock, Time Warner and Pfizer has spurred speculative construction and redevelopment of office space in the area.

The 1.9 million-square-foot Two Manhattan West office that is currently under construction is slated for completion in 2022. Moynihan Train Hall at the Penn Station Complex will offer 767,000 square feet of speculative office space catering to tech tenants by the end of 2020.

WeWork was the largest office tenant in the market in the metro area at the end of the second quarter, occupying more than 5 million square feet. The company recently leased 362,000 square feet at 437 Madison Avenue but will not move in until January 2021.

The tech boom is continuing this year, says Eric Anton, associate broker at Marcus & Millichaps New York City office. Tech companies are flexible, and they usually value amenities more than square footage. New York City has an extremely limited amount of land to build on, so building owners and developers are instead choosing to amenetize existing assets.

Outdoor amenities seem to be the most highly prized office features from the incoming millennial workforce, according to Anton. Developers are incorporating green space, balconies and terraces into Class A office buildings, along with indoor lounges and media rooms. Coffee bars, either staffed with baristas or automated, are another popular trend. Office gyms are in lowerdemand as condo and multifamily properties are increasingly supplying that amenity.

People didnt used to care as much about amenities in an office space, but now its super important, says Anton. I dont see a big pipeline of new product being delivered over the next few years, but thecoworking and tech sectors have driven demand for flexible workspace.

Silverstein Properties completed the development of 3 World Trade Center in June 2018. The 80-story, 2.5 million-square-foot tower is anchored by advertising media company GroupM, which occupies 700,000 square feet. Now, Uber is set to lease 300,000 square feet for a new headquarters office on seven floors of 3 World Trade Center.

The Related Companies is currently developing 50 Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The 2.9 million-square-foot building will be New York Citys fourth-largest commercial office tower when completed in 2022. Global investment firm BlackRock will relocate its corporate headquarters to the 58-story building, where it will occupy 850,000 square feet on 15 floors.

Boston Market On Fire

Growth in the education, technology and medical fields has led to strong tenant demand for flexible workspace in metro Boston. In particular, the life sciences and coworking sectors are generating a significant amount of leasing activity.

The Boston office market is on fire, says Aaron Jodka, managing director of client services at Colliers Boston office. Vacancies havent been this low since the fallout of the dot-com bust. Coworking has been a massive disruptor in the Boston area, and mixed-use is primarily driving new construction.

CoStar reports that Bostons office vacancy rate registered 7.3 percent in the second quarter, with net absorption totaling 2.7 million square feet. Wayfair, DraftKings and Verizon Wireless were among the major space lease signings in 2018 while tech and coworking firms accounted for half of all leasing in Boston, says Jodka.

From late 2018 to mid-2019,WeWork absorbed approximately 1.6 million square feet of office space, and the coworking giant is now the second-largest tenant in Boston behind Fidelity Investments.

Boston has access to a workforce of 250,000 college graduates from world-renowned institutions such as MIT, Harvard and Boston University, says Jodka. This, along with an abundance of new residential housing, has prompted new office construction throughout the city, with an increasing number of those developments being speculative in nature.

There was approximately 10.1 million square feet of office space under construction in the Boston metro area at the end of the second quarter. Of that total figure, approximately 4.3 million square feet wasspeculative space.

New developments are responding to a high demand for quality-of-life office amenities such as gyms, bike storage and green space. The workforce is driving demand for shared conference facilities, coffee lounges and especially access to public transit.

Millennium Partners is developing the Winthrop Center, a more than 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development in the Financial District, which will include 750,000 square feet of office space as well as residential and retail tenants. The developer is expected to deliver the project in early 2022.

HYM Development Group is developing One Congress, a 1 million-square-foot office tower in the Bulfinch Crossing mixed-use development. When construction is complete in 2023, financial services firm State Street Corp. will anchor the tower with a 510,000-square-foot lease for 15 years.

Office tenants in Boston are hyper-focused on making their employees experience the best it can be, says Jodka. The latest differentiator in the amenities arms race is access to food halls. Since most dedicated office assets are not able to accommodate that kind of service themselves, mixed-use leasing is the name of the game today.

By Alex Patton. This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Northeast Real Estate Businessmagazine.

Link:
Developers Adapt to Tight Office Market in Northeast - REBusinessOnline

Onni Group president Rossano de Cotiis and a rendering of 369 West Grand Avenue (Credit: Brininstool+Lynch)

Onni Group has secured another huge loan for its latest Chicago endeavor, a 41-story residential tower in River North.

The developer has secured a $150 million construction loan from Goldman Sachs, Cook County records show. This is the second large loan Onni Group has taken out this year for a property in the Chicago area.

Though the company has made waves on the West Coast, they are now investing significantly into the Chicago residential market. In July, the company took out a $165 million refinance loan from Citibank for the first tower in its Old Town Park megaproject, which has the citys priciest rental listing at $45,000 a month. That loan replaced a former $110 million construction loan from 2017 from Wells Fargo.

The project at 369 W. Grand Avenue, which replaced a vacant hardware store at 353 W. Grand Avenue, broke ground earlier this year and is currently under construction. Called The Grand, it adds to the spate of new apartment buildings the Vancouver-based firm is working on near the river, including a 373-unit building in West Loop and a massive potential development project at 900 North Halsted on Goose Island.

The $150 million loan will aid the construction of the 41-story building, which will have a retail space on the ground level, 250-space parking garage and 356 units rising above the River North area. The facade will be made of glass-clad panels and recessed balconies the architect of the project, Brininstool + Lynch, said on their website.

The project went through many phases and was initially rejected by Alderman Bendan Reilly (42nd) in 2015. The revised plan, which passed this fall, includes more green space. Onni paid just under $9 million to acquire the land in 2012.

Goldman Sachs and Onni Group did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Onni Group lands big loan for 41-story River North tower - The Real Deal