BOSTON, MA – John Hancock Real Estate has bought HarborView at the Navy Yard, located on Boston Harbor in the historic Charlestown Navy Yard.

The 224-unit, Class-A high-rise multi-family property, constructed in 2007, is part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Navy Yard, once one of the oldest shipbuilding yards in the United States. Situated overlooking downtown Boston, HarborView also is a neighbor of the famed USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship in the US Navy.

“HarborView at the Navy Yard is a solid addition to the John Hancock Real Estate portfolio and brings our residential footprint in the Boston area to nearly 1 million square feet,” said Kevin Adolphe, President and CEO of John Hancock Real Estate. “We have a long history in Boston, so we are particularly pleased to make this acquisition and highlight our continued commitment to the City.”

HarborView’s units feature high quality finishes and building amenities. The property is less than a mile from downtown Boston and offers simple access to public transportation and to major regional thoroughfares.

Since 2012, John Hancock Real Estate has grown its Boston area real estate portfolio by nearly 1.5 million square feet through strategic acquisitions and developments. In addition to HarborView, John Hancock made an equity investment in the 295-unit, 17-tale multi-family residential development at Boston Landing and bought 535-545 Boylston Street, a 13-tale office building located at the intersection of Boylston and Clarendon Streets in Boston’s Back Bay.

Operating as John Hancock Real Estate in the U.S. and Manulife Real Estate in all other parts of the world, the Company’s real estate portfolio is diversified by both geography and asset type, consisting primarily of prime office and industrial properties, as well as select retail and multi-family residential properties, in key metropolitan centers throughout Canada, Asia and the United States.

With this new acquisition, the global real estate portfolio now represents assets under management of more than US$16 billion with properties totaling more than 61 million SF. Other key markets in the United States include Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and Atlanta.

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COLLEGE STATION, TX – Nearly two years to the date of opening construction, The Weitz Company finished building the largest student housing development in the United States one week ahead of schedule.

Located in College Station, Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M University, Park West is a 50-acre, 3,406-bed, 2.2-million-square-foot community that was organized through a public-private partnership between the Texas A&M University System; Irving, Texas-based developer Servitas; and Weitz.

Construction started August 1, 2015. In less than two years, Park West was turned over to Servitas at the end of July to operate and manage under a 30-year agreement with the Texas A&M University System.

“Most projects of this size have a much longer duration. To end in two years, we engaged our in-house experts and subcontractor partners early in the design-build process and also implemented Lean construction practices, keeping all parties fully committed throughout the build process,” said The Weitz Company Vice President Shane Bauer.

At its peak, there were upwards of 1,000 construction workers on-site every day at Park West. Coordinating schedules and maintaining a predictable workflow for the 58 subcontractors Weitz directly supervised (and approximately another 50 that were indirectly overseen) was driven by Lean and the Last Planner® system. Selecting the major trades early; involving them in the quick-track design-build strategy; pulling information to identify and plot critical paths; and holding firm to Weekly Work Plot and 6-Week Look-Ahead meetings kept everything progressing in unison.

In addition to utilizing Lean disciplines, the project team leveraged Building Information Modeling (BIM) to identify constraints and clashes with structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing subcontractors prior to work being performed. Technology such as Bluebeam and virtual reality (more than four million square feet of Park West was replicated in a virtual environment) were instrumental in enabling quick, timely decisions.

This supreme level of collaboration and communication gave confidence to all stakeholders involved, including those from the Texas A&M University System and Servitas who weren’t witnessing all the day-to-day activity but were extremely invested in the project’s quality and schedule.

“Park West is a milestone project both for us and for the Texas A&M University System, which will see benefits from this incredible development for many years to come. We are exceptionally proud of this project and thankful for Weitz’s part in delivering such a gorgeous development,” said Servitas CEO Rafael Figueroa.

The systematic approach Weitz applied to the build process was also evident to Texas A&M University System Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Phillip Ray, who has helped engage the A&M System in more than 20 P3 projects across Texas under the leadership of Chancellor John Sharp.

“The construction professionals at Weitz have been top-notch, and they delivered a high-quality product that will serve Aggies for decades,” Ray said. “This public-private partnership has led to the best student housing development in the country – maybe the world – to be constructed without the university taking on any debt as well as allowing the System to strengthen our core mission of teaching, research and service.”

Orchestrating every aspect of construction was a group of project leads (managers, superintendents and engineers) who possessed more than 125 years of experience combined. They were paired to perfection with a young, keen project team of Millennials that had the necessary attributes to maintain accountability and deliver on the commitments made within the P3.

In the truest form of the Last Planner system, it all started before the first piece of equipment arrived on the jobsite when work was divided into manageable pieces and matched to the staff’s talents to optimize productivity and success.

“Finishing ahead of schedule is a direct reflection to how well our team performed as a unit with subs, Texas A&M, Servitas and others that had a role in this project,” said The Weitz Company Senior Project Manager Frank Dascanio. “Park West will be remembered for a long time, and every employee we had working on it will carry its success with them throughout their careers.”

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HOUSTON, TX – ClearWorth Capital announced its recent acquisition of The Hamptons and Las Brisas on El Dorado, a 549-unit class C+ multifamily portfolio located in the Clear Lake submarket in southeast Houston.

The Hamptons, built in 1974/76, consists of 347 units and offers one, two, and three-bedroom floor plans, with a large average unit size of 947 sf. Las Brisas, built in 1979, is located approximately 1 mile northwest from The Hamptons and consists of similar amenities and floorplan sizes. Residents at both properties delight in convenient access to numerous retail, employment centers, entertainment, and the nearby University of Houston- Clear Lake campus.

Clear Lake is one of Houston’s premier outlying regions, consisting of prime employment, exemplary schools, and innumerable outdoor and water-based recreational opportunities, bordered on the east by Galveston Bay and on the west by Interstate 45. The multifamily industry in particular has benefited from this stable economy, as it continues to be one of the strongest submarkets in the Houston area.

New ownership will implement an extensive renovation plot to both interior and exterior features of the properties, including improvements to existing social amenities and making new amenities. All unit interiors will receive a full upgrade package, including new flooring, appliances, cabinets, countertops, window treatments, fixtures, and kitchen backsplash. Plotted exterior enhancements include new patio fence enclosures, full exterior paint, façade treatments, landscaping redesign, and addressing deferred maintenance items.

This will be ClearWorth’s second and third Houston acquisitions in the past 10 months.

“We remain optimistic in the Class C to B value-add multifamily space in Houston, especially in historically strong submarkets such as Clear Lake,” said Jim Marfuggi, a partner in ClearWorth Capital. “The attractive going-in basis provides strong cash yields upon acquisition, with robust returns to our investors post-renovation. These assets have excellent floorplans, footprints, visibility, and location, but their physical attributes have fallen behind their nearby peers, which is largely contributing to their current performance. We believe these properties are primed for a full re-positioning program through our targeted capital improvements and through the execution of strong management practices.”

NOIPM, an affiliate of ClearWorth, is the new management company.

The seller was represented by HFF-Houston.

Nathan Stone with the Dallas Office of Northmarq Capital arranged acquisition financing for both properties.  

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