WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $69.5 billion, exceeding the $68.7 billion projected by analysts, as the Rhode Island-based drugstore and pharmacy expanded its COVID-19 testing and vaccination services. CVS also reported quarterly net income of $975 million, down from $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. In addressing the earnings report, CEO Karen Lynch said that the company expects to roll out a wider range of healthcare services in 2021. The stock price of CVS, which operates about 10,000 stores across the United States, opened at $73.57 on Tuesday, Feb. 26, up from $71.19 per share a year ago.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Walker & Dunlop has acquired FourPoint Investment Sales Partners, an Austin-based brokerage firm specializing in student housing and traditional multifamily properties. The FourPoint team of Chris Epp, Chis Bancroft, Kevin Dufour, Matthew Chase, Craig Miller and Kyle Peco will lead and scale Walker & Dunlop’s student housing investment sales division, with a goal of growing sales volume to $25 billion by 2025 for the Maryland-based company. The two firms have partnered as correspondents on student housing deals in the past.
ATLANTA — Chicken Salad Chick, a Southern-inspired, fast-casual chicken salad restaurant chain, will relocate its headquarters from Auburn, Ala., to Atlanta. The move is slated to take place during the first quarter. Chicken Salad Chick’s new office will be located in the city’s Vinings district at the Overlook II building, which is situated at 2839 Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta. The company’s new office is 21 miles north of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Scott Deviney, president and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick, says the company’s decision to move to Atlanta is the next step in its growth model. “This relocation positions Chicken Salad Chick to scale at an accelerated rate and meet aggressive growth goals, while allowing us to broaden our vision for the future,” says Deviney. “We’ve seen increased interest from Atlanta’s diverse and talented workforce, and the city’s airport allows us swift access to prospective vendors and a growing pool of interested franchisees.” Chicken Salad Chick isn’t the first restaurant chain to target Atlanta in order to grow. In September, Papa John’s announced it was moving its regional headquarters to Atlanta. The pizza giant chose The Battery Atlanta for its new offices. The new headquarters will house …
GREENVILLE, S.C. — United Community Bank, a retail and commercial bank, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Blairsville, Ga., to Greenville and expand operations in the Upstate area. The $24.8 million investment will create 227 new jobs in the Palmetto State. By establishing Greenville as its corporate headquarters, United Community Bank will be the largest bank headquartered in South Carolina. The bank has 160 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee and nearly 290 employees. United Community Bank was founded in 1950 in Blairsville. In 2012, the bank began building its presence in Greenville County and now has three office locations in downtown Greenville apart from its branch network. United Community Bank’s new downtown office will be located at 200 E. Camperdown Way and will house a retail branch. The new office will be located near Falls Park and the Reedy River, as well as the upcoming Camperdown mixed-use development downtown. United’s new headquarters is expected to be completed by 2024.
DENVER — Avistone, a Denver-based commercial real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of multi-tenant industrial properties nationwide, has appointed Charlie Muller as managing director of its newly formed Avistone Hospitality Division. “With the travel industry facing continued headwinds, a number of owners are opting to divest their properties and portfolios versus riding out the troubled forecast,” says Richard Kent, president of Avistone. “This creates opportunity for investment firms such as our own. “While we historically have focused on more industrial properties and business parks, our core expertise remains real estate investment, including identifying opportunity, capitalizing investments, repositioning properties, improving cash flow and enhancing value at disposition.” With nearly four decades of hospitality experience in operations, acquisitions, development, asset management and dispositions, Muller has completed more than $7.5 billion in transactions, including acquiring more than 75 hotels, developing/redeveloping 19 hotels and overseeing asset management practices for over 200 hotels and recreational properties. Prior to joining Avistone, Muller served at First Hospitality, Omni Hotels & Resorts, CNL Hotels & Resorts and CNL Lifestyle Properties. “Creating and utilitizing private equity funds, we will seek investments in limited-service, extended-stay, full-service and resort hotels throughout the United States,” says Muller. “We …
LOS ANGELES — CIM Group, a Los Angeles-based real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer, has announced that its open-end core real estate fund has been added to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries’ (NCREIF) Open-End Diversified Core Equity Index (NFI-ODCE). The fund’s inclusion started during fourth-quarter 2020. Launched on Dec. 31, 1977, the NFI-ODCE is a capitalization-weighted, gross of fee, time-weighted return index. As of Dec. 31, 2020, the index consisted of 26 funds, totaling $209 billion of net real estate assets. According to NCREIF, the term diversified core equity style typically reflects lower risk investment strategies utilizing low leverage and generally represented by equity ownership position in stable U.S. operating properties diversified across regions and property types.
NEW YORK CITY — Knotel Inc., a New York City-based flexible workspace provider, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Knotel concurrently has agreed to sell the business to an affiliate of commercial real estate services firm Newmark Group Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), which is providing Knotel with $20 million of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to help fund day-to-operations. The DIP financing, provided by a Newmark-backed entity known as Digiatech LLC, is subject to court approval. Founded in 2016, Knotel provides custom offices for company’s using an in-house team of architects, interior designers and workplace strategists. The total number of existing Knotel locations was not available, but Knotel has a presence in several global cities, including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Boston, Dublin, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C. Amol Sarva, co-founder and CEO of Knotel, cites the COVID-19 pandemic as a black swan event for his firm, which was hampered by companies opting to work from home during the outbreak. “The pandemic created a uniquely challenging operating environment, with significant impacts on leasing velocity and the rate of renewals in key markets, particularly New York …
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based mortgage banking firm Meridian Capital Group and global investment manager Barings have launched a new multifamily lending platform that will be headed by former Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman, who left the agency late last year. Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will acquire the assets and liabilities of Barings Multifamily Capital and operate that entity’s origination and servicing businesses for its portfolio of agency loans. The philosophy behind the new venture centers on leveraging the depth and reach of the platform of Meridian Capital, which in 2020 closed approximately $40 billion in loans via deals with more than 250 unique lenders. The newly created platform will be operated as a standalone business under its own name and branding, which will be announced prior to the transaction closing. Meridian will own a majority of the newly created platform, the day-to-day operations of which will be overseen by Brickman. “Our partnership with Barings will enable us to join forces with one of the world’s leading asset managers and reintroduce Meridian to the direct agency lending arena,” said Ralph Herzka, chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital. “The addition of David Brickman to our executive …
NEWARK, N.J. — The U.S. arm of beauty retailer L’Occitane en Provence has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey and announced plans to close several stores in an effort to optimize the company’s U.S. footprint. L’Occitane currently operates 166 stores nationally. At least 23 stores are being targeted for closure in the U.S. and the company is taking a closer look at its other leases in hopes of better positioning L’Occitane for success over the next few years, according to reports by the New York Business Journal. Stores are set to remain open through the restructuring process. L’Occitane is the latest regional mall mainstay to struggle under strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was recently sued by Simon Property Group — one of the largest shopping mall operators in the U.S. — for more than $3.7 million in back rent, according to reports by Crain’s New York Business. While L’Occitane has seen year-over-year growth in online sales, the business continues to feel the impact of high rent obligations, which the company deems no longer tenable. “Today’s action is a pivotal step forward in achieving the full potential of …
STOCKHOLM AND CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. — EQT AB, a private equity firm based in Stockholm, has agreed to purchase Exeter Property Group, an industrial real estate owner and developer based in the Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken. EQT plans to purchase Exeter using $800 million in EQT shares and nearly $1.1 billion in cash for a total acquisition price of nearly $1.9 billion, including the refinancing of Exeter’s existing $300 million in debt. Founded in 2006, Exeter has approximately $10 billion in assets under management. In addition to industrial properties, Exeter also owns life sciences and office space in the United States and Europe. Exeter has 37 offices in North America, Europe and Asia. EQT expects Exeter’s revenue in 2020 to total $135 million. Exeter’s recent acquisitions include Creekview Corporate Center in metro Dallas, a 193,000-square-foot industrial building in Illinois and a new distribution center in Pennsylvania totaling 1.2 million square feet. The company also recently developed a 673,920-square-foot speculative industrial building in the St. Louis suburb of Edwardsville, Ill. Upon completion of the transaction, Exeter will operate as EQT Exeter and will be part of the EQT Real Estate Assets division, which comprises EQT Infrastructure and EQT Real Estate. EQT Exeter …