NEW YORK CITY — ORIX Real Estate Capital, a New York-based business unit of ORIX Corp. USA, has rebranded as Lument. In making this change, Lument is unifying its legacy brands — Hunt Real Estate Capital, Lancaster Pollard and RED Capital Group — under a single banner. ORIX acquired RED in 2010, Lancaster Pollard in 2017 and Hunt in 2019. The company announced plans earlier this year to combine the three real estate finance companies under one banner.
PLANO, TEXAS — J.C. Penney has drafted and filed an asset purchase agreement (APA), effectively moving the Plano-based retailer one step closer to concluding negotiations for its acquisition by Brookfield Asset Management and Simon Property Group, a $1.75 billion deal that was announced in September. J.C. Penney CEO Jill Soltau described this filing as “another important milestone in our restructuring plan” that should help the company shed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy status in time for the holiday shopping season. A hearing to seek court approval for the transaction is expected to be scheduled for early November 2020. If court approval is received and other closing conditions in the APA are met, the sale of J.C. Penney’s retail and operating assets should close by December, company officials said.
NEW YORK CITY — Newmark Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NMRK) has rebranded itself as Newmark, a strategic move that reflects a more forward-thinking vision for providing a full suite of commercial real estate services, company officials announced on Monday. Newmark’s primary impetus for rebranding is to outwardly reflect the organization’s evolution into a global commercial real estate leader on the forefront of industry trends, with a progressive standout industry culture. Newmark will maintain its alliance with London-based global real estate consulting firm Knight Frank, both domestically and abroad.
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS (NYSE: CVS) intends to hire 15,000 new employees during the fourth quarter in anticipation of communities seeing greater incidences of COVID-19 and the flu during the upcoming winter months. More than 10,000 of these positions are for full- and part-time licensed pharmacy technicians, some of which will be offered on temporary bases with the possibility of becoming permanent. Rhode Island-based CVS is also recruiting qualified candidates to work as pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, member benefit case professionals and distribution center employees. Lastly, the company is seeking to hire several thousand customer service representatives across the country, the majority of which will work from home.
SAN ANTONIO — California-based beer brewer Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) will relocate its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to downtown San Antonio, according to multiple news sources including CultureMap San Antonio and the San Antonio Business Journal. According to the former publication, PBR was headquartered in San Antonio between 1996 and 2006 and still maintains an office there. Local cable news outlet WOAI reports that PBR currently has about 60 employees in San Antonio and plans to grow its workforce to more than 115 employees in the coming months. PBR owns several different brands, Old Milwaukee, Rainier and National Bohemian.
HOUSTON — Hines has launched Willowick Residential, the Houston-based real estate giant’s new multifamily property management service. Named after founder Gerald D. Hines’ first residential development in Houston’s River Oaks area, Willowick Residential currently has nine properties in its portfolio. Hines, which has offered some sort of property management services since its inception in 1957, has a multifamily portfolio of 63 properties across 38 U.S. cities.
ATLANTA AND SCHIPHOL, NETHERLANDS — Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD) has agreed to acquire Agro Merchants Group, a privately held cold storage warehouse owner based in The Netherlands, for $1.74 billion. Atlanta-based Americold entered into the agreement with Agro Merchants’ owner, an investor group led by funds managed by Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management LP. The move will give Americold its first cold storage properties in Europe. Agro Merchants, which has its North American headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga., owns and operates 46 cold storage properties in 10 countries. The company is the fourth largest cold storage owner in the United States and third largest in Europe. Agro Merchants serves more than 2,900 customers across multiple industries. “We are confident that by joining Americold, we will accelerate our growth and by combining our complementary networks, we will be able to provide a more comprehensive range of solutions to customers around the world,” says Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of Agro Merchants. Americold is the only publicly traded REIT specializing in cold storage, which is seeing an influx of investment and leasing demand since the onset of the pandemic. According to a June report from Vyzn Research, the global cold storage sector is estimated …
SAN FRANCISCO — Columbia Property Trust and Allianz Real Estate have completed the formation of a joint venture to recapitalize 221 Main Street, a LEED Platinum- and Energy Star-certified office building in San Francisco’s South Financial District. Allianz contributed $180 million in cash for a 45 percent ownership in the joint venture, which values 221 Main Street at $400 million. Columbia will retain a 55 percent ownership stake in the property, function as general partner for the venture and continue to oversee day-to-day operations of the asset. Acquired by Columbia in 2014, 221 Main Street features 381,000 square feet of office space, Bay views and abundant outdoor space. The property is fully leased, primarily to tech tenants such as DocuSign and Prosper Marketplace. With this transaction, Columbia and Allianz now own five properties as joint venture partners. The joint venture portfolio has a collective gross asset value of $2.3 billion.
GOODLETTSVILLE, TENN. — Dollar General will launch popshelf, a new shopping concept that will offer seasonal and home décor, health and beauty must-haves, home cleaning supplies, party goods and entertaining needs. The Goodlettsville-based retailer says 95 percent of the items will be priced at $5 or less. Each popshelf location will average 9,000 square feet and will house up to 15 employees. The first two locations will open near Nashville this fall with the company expecting to open another 30 locations by the end of fiscal year 2021, which will be Jan. 29, 2021. According to Dollar General, initial targeted customers are primarily female and are located in diverse suburban communities with a total household annual income ranging from $50,000 to $125,000.
NEWTON, MASS. — Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ: SVC), a hospitality management firm based in metro Boston, has terminated its management agreements with Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) for 122 hotels. Pursuant to its agreement with Marriott, Service Properties Trust is selling 24 of the 122 Marriott-branded hotels, including eight TownePlace Suites hotels totaling 834 rooms; 13 Courtyard by Marriott hotels totaling 1,813 rooms; and three Residence Inn hotels totaling 342 rooms. The eight TownePlace hotels are scattered across four states and will be sold for $45.3 million, and the 16 Courtyard and Residence Inn hotels feature locations across nine states and will be sold for $107.8 million. The majority (89) of the other hotels will be transferred to Sonesta on January 31, 2021 and operated under Sonesta’s various brands moving forward.