COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — SVN International Corp. and Riverstone Commercial Real Estate have established a partnership that will create a full-service franchisor of the SVN brand known as SVN | Riverstone Commercial Real Estate. Jim Jones and Jess Buenger will lead the new company, which will be based in College Station. The firm will offer brokerage and advisory services to commercial real estate buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants across the Central Texas markets, as well as consultancy services on investments and development projects.
ORLANDO, FLA. — Michelle Kidd has joined Crossman & Co. as its new director of client services. Kidd has lived and worked in Orlando since 1997, most recently as a partner at TSCG. Crossman specializes in commercial property management, leasing and investment sales. “I feel a responsibility to make our team stronger through hands-on training and support,” says Kidd. “My goal is to build a concierge service that’s extended to all of our clients as we continue to strengthen the relationships, by identifying individual goals and manage the asset with that objective in mind.” Kidd is on the Legislative Committee for the Orlando Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and is seeking the organization’s Real Property Administrator (RPA) designation. Kidd is also an active member of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), serving on the Special Events Committee.
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS — Sterling Construction Co., a general contractor based in the Houston area, has entered into an agreement to acquire Georgia-based specialty contractor Plateau Excavation Inc. for $400 million. The sales price includes $375 million in cash and $25 million in Sterling’s common stock and seller notes. The deal is expected to close near the end of the third quarter. Plateau had revenues of approximately $290 million in 2018.
ROCHELLE PARK, N.J. — Avenue Stores LLC will close all 222 of its Avenue stores across 33 states after failing to procure a buyer for the plus-size women’s clothing chain. It was not made immediately clear if the retailer will continue to operate its e-commerce platform. Philadelphia-based Versa Capital Management acquired Avenue Stores LLC in bankruptcy in 2012 when the retailer operated 433 stores. Avenue will hold liquidation sales in all of its stores, offering 30 to 50 percent off clothes, accessories and even store fixtures. Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers have been hired to oversee the inventory sales. Footwear News reported that Rochelle Park, N.J.-based Avenue Stores LLC filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the New Jersey Department of Labor in early August. WARN requires employers to provide 60 days’ notice in advance of mass layoffs. According to Coresight Research, there has already been 29 percent more store closures in 2019 than in all of 2018. The Avenue store closing announcement comes on the heels of Barneys New York filing for bankruptcy in early August. Additionally, in July, GNC and Charming Charlie announced they would close hundreds of stores. Versa Capital, a Philadelphia-based private equity …
MCLEAN, VA. — In its 2019 Midyear Outlook, Freddie Mac projects the multifamily rental market to have strong volume growth in the second half of 2019. Combined with a strong labor market and low interest rate, the McLean-based agency believes loan originations will reach $336 billion for the year, which would be an 8 percent increase from the prior year’s total. “A strong labor market and a persistent housing shortage have continued to fuel a robust rental market,” said Steve Guggenmos, who leads Freddie Mac’s multifamily research and modeling team. According to the report, vacancy rates are expected to inch upward as new supply comes on line. The U.S. Census Bureau reports five-plus unit multifamily completions are on pace in 2019 to exceed the previous few years. Freddie Mac’s updated forecast calls for multifamily developers to add up to 365,000 units in 2019, compared with the 345,000 units completed in each of the prior two years. RealPage reports multifamily absorption has averaged about 290,000 units per year over the past three years. Rent growth is also expected to grow approximately 4 percent for the year.
ATLANTA — Mark Hollan, executive vice president, principal and founding partner with the Atlanta office of Lee & Associates, died July 27 due to complications from cancer. Hollan was 61. In his 35-year commercial real estate career, Hollan racked up more than $300 million in transaction history. While at Lee & Associates in Atlanta, Hollan garnered the title of the firm’s top broker 12 times and finished in the top five 25 times. Hollan also earned numerous industry awards including Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors (ACBR) Top Land Broker and an ACBR Million Dollar Club member (20-plus years). “Mark’s business acumen and work ethic were not only an integral part of the firm’s financial success, but also contributed to the achievements of many younger associates, and to the friendly and supportive culture of our corporate environment,” says Dick Bryant, president and CEO at Lee & Associates’ Atlanta office. “His legacy lives on at Lee & Associates — Atlanta.”
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Pizza Hut will close as many as 500 dine-in stores over the next 24 months as part of a broader strategy to bolster its delivery and carryout services, company executives said during the second-quarter earnings call. Food Business News first reported the announcement. Pizza Hut, which is owned by Louisville, Ky.-based YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM), operates about 7,500 locations across the United States and 18,000 worldwide. In the United States, roughly 6,100 of the company’s locations are dine-in restaurants. The remaining locations are express units, which feature limited menus and minimal to no in-store seating to prioritize delivery and takeout services. All shuttered stores will be dine-in locations. “We plan to accelerate the transition of our Pizza Hut assets to a more modern delivery carryout and delivery asset base,” YUM! Brands CEO Greg Creed said on the call. “We are excited about collaborating with franchisees who have a growth mindset to accelerate the closure of underperforming dining stores and replacement with new delivery or fast-casual delivery assets.” YUM! Brands owns Pizza Hut and several other restaurant chains, including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Wingstreet. Pizza Hut express units sometimes share building space with these concepts. All …
IRVINE, CALIF. — Steadfast Apartment REIT (STAR), Steadfast Income REIT (SIR) and Steadfast Apartment REIT III (STAR III) have entered into definitive merger agreements in which STAR will acquire SIR and STAR III in separate stock-for-stock, tax-free transactions. The merger will create a combined company with approximately $3.3 billion in gross real estate assets. The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, subject to certain closing conditions, including the approval of the respective mergers by SIR and STAR III stockholders. The merger transactions are expected to close concurrently, but are not conditioned on the consummation of each other. The merger agreements were negotiated on behalf of STAR, SIR and STAR III by their respective special committees, each of which is composed exclusively of independent directors, along with each special committee’s independent financial and legal advisors. “We believe the strategic merger of these three highly complementary portfolios with similar investment strategies will create an enhanced and diversified portfolio, concentrated in high-growth markets,” said Rodney Emery, chairman of STAR, SIR and STAR III. “The enhanced size, scale and prominence of the combined portfolio will greatly improve the company’s access to attractive capital sources, which can be used to …
HOUSTON — Walker & Dunlop, a commercial real estate finance and brokerage firm based in Bethesda, Md., has expanded its platform by adding five debt and equity finance professionals in Houston. Mike Melody, Tom Melody, Tom Fish, Paul House and Jonathan Paine, formerly with JLL, will join Walker & Dunlop and comprise the firm’s first office in Houston, where they will be responsible for securing financing for commercial owners and developers across the Southwestern United States.
NEW YORK CITY — Luxury department store retailer Barneys New York has voluntarily filed for bankruptcy protection and has disclosed plans to close 15 of its 22 brick-and-mortar stores. The Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York indicated that Barneys had more than $100 million in assets and more than $100 million in debts, according to The Wall Street Journal. Barneys plans to keep five of its flagship locations open, including its famous Madison Avenue store. The retailer will also continue operating its downtown Manhattan, Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Boston stores. The company will also keep two Barneys Warehouse locations open in Woodbury, N.Y., and Livermore, Calif., as well as the Barneys.com and BarneysWarehouse.com websites. Barneys will close all other locations, including flagship stores in Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, Calif. This is the second high-end retail concept to file for bankruptcy this week, the other being luxury movie theater company IPIC Entertainment. Veteran retail consultant Jeff Green says that American shoppers are shying away from uber-luxury retailers like Barneys and IPIC, which saw its same-store sales drop 21.7 percent in first-quarter 2019 compared to …