The Thesis Driven TL;DR | Week of August 4th

Everything you need to know about real estate in one little email

🛍️ Onyx drops $1B on JCPenney assets for reinvention (TRD)
☀️ America’s turning warehouses into power plants (WSJ)
🏨 Cain nears $175M deal for iconic Dominick Hotel (TRD)
📚 September courses & workshops announced!

Data Viz of the Week: NYC's New Subway Line

New York is getting a new subway line.

This week, Governor Hochul announced that the Interborough Express (IBX) was moving out of the design phase. The new line will connect Brooklyn and Queens, spanning from Bay Ridge to Roosevelt Avenue. The new line is expected to have 160,000 passengers per day, making it the most-used light rail line in the US.

Critically, the IBX makes use of existing track and right-of-way, so the line could be operational as soon as 2030.

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Three Articles We Loved from Last Week

It’s not easy keeping up with everything. Here are three articles we loved from the past week that you may have missed:

  1. (The Real Deal) Onyx Partners pays $947M for JCPenney portfolio

    Onyx Partners bought 119 former JCPenney retail properties spread over 30 U.S. states for $947 million—averaging nearly $8M per asset. This ranks among the largest retail portfolio acquisitions in recent CRE history.

  2. (WSJ) Warehouse rooftops seen as solution to U.S. power shortage

    Commercial rooftops across U.S. warehouses are being eyed for solar installations to meet surging energy demand. Over 500 sites targeting 630 MW capacity could generate 16% of household electricity. Policy uncertainty weighs on future expansion.

  3. (The Real Deal) CIM near $175M sale of Dominick hotel

    CIM Group is in advanced talks to sell the 391-key Dominick Hotel (formerly Trump Soho) to Cain International for more than $175 million. The deal reflects renewed interest in prime urban hotel repositioning.

Developer of the Week: Fulton Street

You're probably familiar with office-to-resi conversions, but this week's developer of the week is doing something far more contrarian: a resi-to-office conversion.

Chicago-based Fulton Street will be converting the city's long-vacant Lake Street Lofts into 92,000 square feet of office space and 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail.  A different developer had previously considered a hotel conversion before abandoning those plans last year.

You can read more about Fulton Street on the Thesis Driven GP database here.

901 W Lake St via CoStar

Know about a developer doing something cool? Reach out to [email protected] with the tip!

—Brad and Paul