News

AFA Real Estate Partners

Business News

02 Feb, 2024
Yardley, PA – November 21, 2023 – AFA Real Estate Partners (AFA) purchased two Class A Office buildings in Saucon Valley’s Stabler Pathways corporate park on November 7, 2023. Located at 3701 and 3773 Corporate Parkway in Center Valley, PA the two-building portfolio comprises 146,000 rentable square feet of Class A Office space. The purchase price was $21,000,000. The combined portfolio is 76% leased with the primary tenants being Aesculap, Inc., a surgical devices company, and Fisher Clinical, a pharmaceutical and drug development company. AFA adds to its Lehigh Valley portfolio with the acquisition accompanying the 2020 purchase of 3477 Corporate Parkway in Center Valley. “Given the macroeconomic backdrop, we felt as though any opportunity to add to our portfolio had to present such potential that we could not say no. Our familiarity with and bullishness on the Lehigh Valley geographic subregion was a critical reason for this purchase,” said Robert Connell, Managing Member of AFA. “This project offered the right mix of in-place stability and asymmetric upside. We are never afraid to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work that needs doing, and we are confident that our efforts on this project will offer long-term rewards.” On the heels of its 2022 purchase of Arlington Center in Arlington, TX, and its 2023 second purchase in Blue Bell, PA, this acquisition now brings AFA's total commercial real estate portfolio to around 1.4 million square feet. The seller was PennCap Properties out of Bethlehem, PA. Financing for the purchase came from AFA investors and Community Bank out of Canton, NY.
13 May, 2021
Yardley, PA – May 13, 2021, AFA Real Estate Partners (AFA) purchased Montecito Towers in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 7, 2021, for $48,600,000. The 177,341 square foot, six-story property in the northwest suburbs of Las Vegas is a trophy Class A office building boasting fine finishes, high ceilings, and a 7-to-1000 parking ratio. The property's anchor tenant is Asurion, one of the leading cell phone insurers in the United States. The recent sale of AFA's BJ's location enabled a 1031 exchange opportunity for AFA's investors, and the remaining financing secured was a $33,300,000 CMBS loan at an attractive 10-year fixed rate of 3.64%. AFA utilizes cost-segregation studies to optimize tax efficiency for our investors. "In a world of little to no yield, we are striving to find excellent quality diversification opportunities for our investors. Robert Connell, Managing Member of AFA, says "We view real estate as a cornerstone part of our clients' portfolios because they have the ability to provide excellent cash flows and tax benefits in today's times. The unprecedented low-interest-rate environment allows us to finance our properties at rates which enhance our investor's returns." This transaction was the second in a series of large commercial real estate transactions planned this year by the Yardley-based firm. AFA's commercial real estate portfolio consists of six properties located throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Las Vegas. AFA's total commercial real estate portfolio surpasses one million square feet. Important Disclosure Information Please Note: This is not a solicitation to invest in any future investment product. Private investment funds generally involve various risk factors, including, but not limited to, the potential for complete loss of principal, liquidity constraints, and lack of transparency. Investment in private funds is generally limited to qualifying investors. Unlike liquid investments, private investment funds do not provide daily liquidity or pricing. Please remember that past performance, success, or experience may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy or product (including those recommended or undertaken by Apex Financial Advisors, Inc.), will be profitable, be suitable for an individual's portfolio, or prove successful. Losses can and do occur. A copy of Apex's current written disclosure Brochure discussing its advisory services and fees remains available upon request or at www.apexfinancialadvisors.com .
13 May, 2021
Yardley, PA – May 13, 2021, AFA Real Estate Partners (AFA), on April 30, 2021, sold the BJ's located at 131 East Kings Highway in Maple Shade, NJ. This building housed a top-performing BJ’s store that included a liquor license and a retail tire shop. AFA purchased the building in August of 2016 for $15,600,000 and sold it to Realty Income, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust (NYSE: O), for $21,639,125. AFA Investors received cumulative annual cash flows of 8% and, utilizing the 1031 rolled over $2.09 for each $1.00 invested. The sale of the Maple Shade location enabled a 1031 exchange opportunity for AFA's investors. AFA utilizes cost-segregation studies to optimize tax efficiency for our investors. "In a world of little to no yield, we are striving to find excellent quality diversification opportunities for our investors. Robert Connell, Managing Member of AFA, says "We view real estate as a cornerstone part of our clients' portfolios because they have the ability to provide excellent cash flows and tax benefits in today's times. The unprecedented low-interest-rate environment allows us to finance our properties at rates which enhance our investor's returns." This transaction was the first in a series of large commercial real estate transactions planned this year by the Yardley-based firm. AFA's commercial real estate portfolio consists of six properties located throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Las Vegas. AFA's total commercial real estate portfolio surpasses one million square feet. Important Disclosure Information Please Note: This is not a solicitation to invest in any future investment product. Private investment funds generally involve various risk factors, including, but not limited to, the potential for complete loss of principal, liquidity constraints, and lack of transparency. Investment in private funds is generally limited to qualifying investors. Unlike liquid investments, private investment funds do not provide daily liquidity or pricing. Please remember that past performance, success, or experience may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy or product (including those recommended or undertaken by Apex Financial Advisors, Inc.), will be profitable, be suitable for an individual's portfolio, or prove successful. Losses can and do occur. A copy of Apex's current written disclosure Brochure discussing its advisory services and fees remains available upon request or at www.apexfinancialadvisors.com .
By Website Editor 30 Sep, 2020
Yardley, PA – September 30 th , 2020 – AFA Real Estate Partners, through its subsidiary AFASAU LLC, has acquired Saucon Valley Plaza (“Saucon”), in Center Valley, PA for $19.65 million. The property is an 83,056 square foot Class A commercial office building located in Lehigh Valley’s premier office park, the Stabler Corporate Center. Saucon is fully leased and anchored 70% by Lutron Electronics, a leading manufacturer in energy-saving light, shade, and temperature controls for homes and offices. Lutron’s US Headquarters is located just 5 miles from the project. Saucon Valley is in an ideal location, just minutes from the Route 309 interchange of Interstate 78, providing easy access to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, New Jersey, and New York. Financing for the purchase of Saucon was provided by Univest Bank, along with investments from AFA Real Estate Partners principals and investors. Investor capital was raised from accredited investors through private equity and notes from IRAs and pensions. AFASAU anticipates paying 8% distributions to equity investors while providing additional benefits as a result of depreciation and amortization. The purchase of Saucon Valley expands AFA’s commercial real estate portfolio to six properties located throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This acquisition follows AFA’s April 2020 purchase of 518 Township Line Road, a 123,087 square foot building in Blue Bell, PA. Saucon is not only the second property purchased this year, but it also brings AFA’s total commercial real estate portfolio to almost 1,000,000 square feet. Robert Connell, Managing Member of AFA Real Estate Partners, comments on the acquisition of Saucon, “We are pleased to provide additional investment opportunities for our loyal investors. In today’s times, we view real estate as a cornerstone part of our clients’ portfolios providing excellent cash flows and tax benefits. The unprecedented low interest rate environment allows us to finance our properties at rates which enhances our investor’s returns.”
By Website Editor 12 Jun, 2020
By Natalie Kostelni – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal Jun 9, 2020, 2:40pm EDT Nearly a year after negotiating an exit for Unisys Corp. from its decades long home at the Great Valley Commerce Center in Malvern, the landlord is steadily backfilling the 123,000 square feet the technology company vacated and putting the office complex back on stable footing. The 33.5-acre Great Valley Commerce consists of two office buildings. One property totals 280,000 square feet at 2476 Swedesford Road and another structure, which totals 80,000 square feet, at 1000 Cedar Hollow Road. Unisys (NYSE: UIS) built the complex in 1968 and until about 2009, it had been called the Unisys Technology Center as a result of the company occupying all of its space. When Apex Financial Advisors Inc. bought the complex just off Route 202 for $78 million in 2017, Unisys occupied 123,000 square feet at 2476 Swedesford Road and 19,000 square feet at the Cedar Hollow building. It was then that Apex began negotiations with Unisys about its eventual departure. The lease was expected to expire this December. “As their business changed, they needed less and less space,” said Joe Weidenburner of Apex. “These big tech companies needed a much bigger footprint than they do now.” Last August, Unisys vacated space and relocated those operation to its headquarters in Blue Bell. Apex then moved forward with gutting the interior space, installed a new roof and mechanical systems and launched an effort to lease up the vacant 123,000 square feet of space. So far, the Yardley real estate company has spent $15 million on those combined efforts and it has paid off. It landed Zoetis Inc., (NYSE: ZTS) an animal health spinoff from Pfizer Inc. based in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company signed a 10-year lease on 65,179 square feet that started in April. BioTelemetry Inc., which was in 1000 Cedar Hollow and had a lease expiring in March 2021, needed more space. Apex negotiated an 11-year lease on 25,000 square feet lease for the company to relocate to 2476 Swedesford. BioTelemetry’s (NASDAQ: BEAT) began to occupy the space this month. The company also extended its lease on 60,529 square feet at Cedar Hollow in a deal that will commence April 2021. There’s about 30,000 square feet left to be leased at 2476 Swedesford. Though it relocated the bulk of its Malvern operations to Blue Bell, Unisys still occupied 19,000 square feet at the Cedar Hollow building. On March 13, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) of Reston, Virginia, closed on a $1.2 billion cash deal to acquire Unisys Federal, a cloud operating business unit that occupied that space. SAIC last month renewed that lease until 2023. Exeter Property Group bought the Great Valley Commerce Center in 2009 for $19.5 million from Unisys and launched a multimillion-dollar renovation to the buildings and renamed it the Great Valley Commerce Center. A couple of years after that DaVita Inc., which operates DaVita Dialysis, leased 120,000 square feet of office space at 2476 Swedesford and later expanded by another 16,000 square feet in the building.
By Website Editor 09 Apr, 2020
By Natalie Kostelni – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal 5 hours ago Kairos Real Estate Partners has sold a 124,000-square-foot office building in Blue Bell for $24.85 million after buying the property four years ago for just $3.3 million. AFA Realty Partners, an affiliate of Apex Financial Advisors in Yardley, bought 518 Township Line Rd. It was 80% occupied at the time of sale. The deal was initiated in December before the pandemic affected the global economy and state mandates closed nonessential businesses. AFA Realty put the property under contract with a non-refundable deposit and began due diligence in earnest. By February the transaction was on track and projected to close April 1. The date was set. Confident in reaching the finish line though still hedging, AFA Realty spent $1 million to lock in a 10-year loan with Univest when interest rates dropped earlier this year. “I felt it was opportunistic,” said Robert A. Connell, CEO of Apex. “I was happy to get a low rate.” In recent weeks, some real estate deals have started to falter or fall apart altogether. What had been a routine matter of getting documents signed has turned into complicated logistics amid physical distancing recommendations. To complete the sale, Kairos President Stephen J. Gleason had to drive to the Jenkintown home of a representative from a title company involved in the deal. Standing on the front porch, the deed was signed and notarized. “He was on one side of the storm door and I was on the other,” Gleason said. “It’s definitely memorable. I didn’t expect this to be challenging because it’s a pretty clean property, but then again no one expected COVID-19.” Kairos and Artemis Real Estate Partners of Chevy Chase, Maryland, bought the property in 2016. At the time, the building was 27% occupied and had been foreclosed upon. “It was in great shape physically but had no amenities,” Gleason said. Consistent with its strategy, Kairos spent $4 million making a series of renovations to the interior and exterior of the building and adding amenities including a café and fitness and training areas, which tenants seek out in office buildings. The company spent more money leasing and fitting out tenant spaces. New tenants to the building include: RSM, a global accounting firm, for 45,000 square feet; Jefferson Blue Bell Surgery Center for 18,000 square feet; Ostroff Injury Law in 10,000 square feet; Skanska USA renewed on 11,000 square feet; Arraya Solutions leasing 8,000 square feet; and Mutual of Omaha occupying 5,000 square feet. “We like the property,” Connell said. “It boarders 476 and we just think it’s a nice building." But then again, Connell said, he also "always gets a deal.” Kairos continues to own a 150,000-square-foot building at 980 Jolly Rd. in Blue Bell and is on the hunt for its next deal. Doug Rodio, Brett Segal and Brett Grifo of JLL represented Kairos and Artemis in the transaction.
By Website Editor 12 Mar, 2019
YARDLEY, PA, May 6, 2019 – Bryant Hill has joined AFA Real Estate Partners as a Senior Vice-President and Asset Manager. Mr. Hill, formerly of Hill Properties, LLC, Brandywine Realty Trust, and Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, brings over 25 years’ worth of experience in commercial real estate to the rapidly-growing Yardley-based commercial real estate investment and management firm. Mr. Hill will be responsible for all aspects of Asset Management, including Property Management, Accounting, and Leasing. “Bryant brings an exceptional track record as an asset manager and extensive knowledge of the Philadelphia-area commercial real estate marketplace, especially in South Jersey and suburban Philadelphia, where our current portfolio is concentrated,” said Joseph Weidenburner, a Partner with the firm. “As we continue to grow our portfolio and our footprint within the region, Bryant’s experience and capabilities will be a tremendous value-add to our team.” About AFA Real Estate Partners AFA Real Estate Partners is a privately-held real estate investment and operating company located in Yardley, PA. The firm currently manages capital on behalf on high net worth individuals and institutions, including family offices and registered investment advisers.
By Website Editor 12 Mar, 2019
YARDLEY, PA, April 10, 2019 – AFA Real Estate Partners, through its subsidiary AFAMAR LLC, has acquired Lippincott Centre (“Lippincott”) in Marlton, NJ, for $32,000,000. Lippincott is a two-building, 165,742 square feet Class A office complex located at 301 & 303 Lippincott Drive in Evesham Township, Marlton, NJ. The seller, represented by HFF, LP, was Greenfield Partners, a private equity real estate investment firm located in Westport, CT. Lippincott is a fully-leased, Class A, office campus situated on 14 acres in the heart of vibrant Marlton, NJ, surrounded by top-notch amenities and providing immediate access to Route 73 along with proximity to Routes 70 and 38, Interstate 295, and the New Jersey Turnpike. The corporate headquarters of Virtua Health, Inc. (“Virtua”), South Jersey’s leading healthcare system comprised of a network of hospitals, surgery centers, and physician practices, occupies 83% of Lippincott. Additional tenants include Friedman, LLP, a leading accounting firm with its headquarters in New York City, and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Financing for the purchase of Lippincott was provided by Investors Bank, along with investments from AFA Real Estate Partners principals and investors. Investor capital was raised from accredited investors through private, non-qualified funds, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s and pensions. AFAMAR projects to pay approximately 8% bi-annual distributions to equity investors while providing additional benefits as a result of depreciation and amortization. For AFA Real Estate Partners, the transaction expands its commercial real estate portfolio to four properties following the July 2017 acquisition of the 356,000+ square foot Great Valley Commerce Center in Malvern, PA, the January 2017 acquisition of the 124,000+ square foot Corsair I office building in King of Prussia, PA, and the August 2016 acquisition of the 109,000+ square foot BJ’s Wholesale Club in Maple Shade, NJ. AFA Real Estate Partners’ total portfolio consists of over 756,000+ square feet of commercial real estate with an asset value of $144,000,000. Robert Connell, Managing Member of AFA Real Estate Partners, says, “AFA Real Estate Partners continues to build a growing and vibrant real estate investment operation with a Greater Philadelphia and New Jersey footprint. We are delighted to acquire a truly picturesque property with the highest quality tenants we could find in Virtua, Friedman, and Morgan Stanley. Virtua is a tremendous addition to our expanding roster of healthcare-related tenants providing important and necessary services in their communities.” For inquiries and information, please contact info@afarep.com, (215) 493-1900, or visit www.afarep.com.
By Website Editor 12 Mar, 2019
YARDLEY, PA, August 17, 2017 – Apex Financial Advisors (“Apex”), through its subsidiary AFAGV LLC, announces the acquisition of Great Valley Commerce Center (“Great Valley”), a 356,223 square feet Class A office complex located at the intersection of Swedesford Road and Cedar Hollow Road in Malvern, PA, in the Exton/Whitelands submarket of Chester County. The seller was Exeter Property Group, a private real estate investment firm located in Conshohocken, PA. Great Valley is a fully-leased Class A office complex situated on 33 acres surrounded by the Vanguard campus in Malvern, PA. DaVita, the leading kidney dialysis services provider in the U.S., is the anchor tenant. Tenants also include fast-growing BioTelemetry, the NASDAQ-listed, leading wireless medical technology company, and Unisys, the information technology firm that houses on-site satellites used in providing weather data to the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA. Financing for the purchase of Great Valley was provided by KeyBank, along with investments from Apex principals and clients. Investor capital was raised from accredited investors through private, non-qualified funds, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s and pensions. The transaction, Apex’s third commercial real estate project closed in the last 12 months, represents a milestone for the Yardley-based registered investment advisor as its real estate portfolio now exceeds $110 million. The Great Valley purchase follows the January 2017 acquisition of Corsair I, a fully-leased, 124,000+ square foot Class A Commercial Office Building in King of Prussia, PA, for $24 million, and the August 2016 acquisition of a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Maple Shade, NJ, for $15.6 million. Joseph R. Weidenburner, Esq., a Principal at Apex, said, “Great Valley is a significant achievement for Apex. We acquired an exceptional Core property in a strategic location for an attractive price. Our mix of lease term and tenant quality will provide excellent near-term and long-term cash flows.” Robert Connell, Apex’s CEO, added, “The Great Valley project is an incredible opportunity for our clients and investors. It’s a truly extraordinary campus that checks every box we have for the type of real estate investment we want for our clients – excellent economics, high-quality tenants on attractive long-term leases, and a great location. We couldn’t be more pleased with the investment and we believe we have developed a differentiated niche that will continue to provide our clients with the highest quality financial services.” Founded in 2010, Apex is an SEC registered investment adviser for high net worth individuals. For more information, go to www.apexfinancialadvisors.com.
Share by: