CHICAGO — A partnership between Riverside Investment & Development and Convexity Properties has broken ground on BMO Tower, also known as Union Station Tower. The 50-story office building is part of the Union Station redevelopment project in Chicago. Global architecture firm Goettsch Partners (GP) designed the property, which will be situated on 2.2 acres directly south of the Union Station headhouse building. The office tower will feature 1.4 million square feet of office space. The tower and new public space are part of the larger redevelopment of Chicago Union Station, which originally opened in 1925. Riverside and Complexity unveiled plans for the $1 billion project in September 2018, beginning with the demolition of a 404-unit apartment building and the design of a 1.5-acre plaza and park. “This project will activate a prime site that has been largely underutilized next to Chicago’s busiest commuter station,” says James Goettsch, chairman and co-CEO at GP. “The office tower and park will bring vibrant, complementary additions to the city.” As the name indicates, Montreal-based BMO Financial Group will be the building’s anchor tenant. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2022. Although development costs were not disclosed, the Chicago Tribune reports that the developers received $476 million …
Development
HJ Sims, Duncan-Williams Arrange $219.3M Financing Package for Seniors Housing Project in Tennessee
by Alex Tostado
COLLIERVILLE, TENN. — Herbert J. Sims & Co., Inc. (HJ Sims) and Duncan-Williams have arranged a financing package totaling $219.3 million for the construction of The Farms at Bailey Station, a continuing care retirement community in Collierville. The borrower for the development at 3382 Grand Central Circle E. is Retirement Cos. of America (RCA). The development will be a sister community to Kirby Pines Estates in nearby Memphis. When completed, The Farms will feature 176 independent living units, 63 garden homes, 52 assisted living units, 32 memory support suites and a health center consisting of 60 private skilled nursing suites. The units are already 70 percent pre-sold. Construction has commenced throughout the campus. The apartments will be delivered in stages, with the first resident occupancy planned for June 2021. The health campus is slated for completion in April 2021. Nine of the garden homes are already completed, with seven more currently under construction. REES Architects and Renaissance Group served as architects. Memphis-based Dalhoff Thomas design studio assisted as landscape architect. Linkous Construction Co. Inc. is the general contractor. Greystone is the project manager, with RCA as asset manager. Sims and Duncan-Williams were co-managers on the transaction, which was structured as …
Third & Urban, FCP Acquire 15.2-Acre Site Along Atlanta BeltLine for Adaptive Reuse Project
by Alex Tostado
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Third & Urban LLC and Chevy Chase, Md.-based FCP have acquired 15.2 acres along the Atlanta BeltLine. The joint venture partnership will develop a 275,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 950 W. Marietta St. The seller and price of the property were not disclosed. Designed by Perkins and Will, the development will focus primarily on converting an existing warehouse on the site into adaptive reuse space featuring both offices and retail. The project is directly across from the King Plow Arts Center, adjacent to The Foundry at Puritan Mill and near the Westside Park at Bellwood Quarry, which will be Atlanta’s largest green space after its planned opening in spring 2020. Construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2020, with an anticipated occupancy in the third quarter of 2021. Atlanta Paper Co., which was originally Elsas, May Paper Co., built the warehouse on West Marietta Street in the 1940s. It was once used to create packaging for The Coca-Cola Co. Later, it was owned and operated by Atlanta-based WestRock, a corrugated packaging company.
WENDELL, N.C. — East West Partners and G.H.K. Developments Inc., the developers behind Wendell Falls, unveiled that Publix will occupy a 48,387 square-foot, freestanding grocery space in Wendell, approximately 11 miles east of Raleigh. Wendell Falls is one of the largest master-planned developments in the Research Triangle. CBRE | Raleigh’s Retail Services and Land Services groups represented the ownership group in the transaction. The store will employee approximately 130 people. An opening date has not yet been announced. Located at the northwest corner of Wendell Falls Parkway and Taylor Road, Publix will join the project’s existing tenants that include KinderCare Daycare, Farmhouse Cafe and Cruizers Convenience Marketplace. Publix at Wendell Falls be the grocer’s seventh store in Wake County. East West and G.H.K. will soon debut a collection of shops and restaurants at Wendell Fallas known as Treelight Square, as well as an office park named The Collective.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Sunchase Holdings has completed the disposition of Scottsdale Entrada, a 30-acre former auto mall at the northeast corner of 64th Street and McDowell Road in Scottsdale. Los Angeles-based Banyan Residential acquired the site for an undisclosed price through a qualified Opportunity Zone fund. Banyan Residential plans to redevelop the site into a speculative mixed-use development, which is slated to break ground in April 2020 and deliver mid-2021. Scottsdale Entrada will feature 735 multifamily units, 7,000 square feet of retail space, and a three-story, 245,000-square-foot office building. The office plans call for floor plates of approximately 80,000 square feet, high ceilings, full-height windows and indoor-outdoor space. Office amenities will include an on-site fitness center, game lawns, dog park, pedestrian walkways with direct access to the Arizona Crosscut Canal and tunnel access to Papago Park. Tom Adelson and Erin McClure of Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) handled the transaction. Mike Garlick and Jimmy Hoselton of Newmark Knight Frank will represent the project’s office leasing. DPC Cos. is serving as developer for the project.
CIM Provides $120M Construction Loan for Redevelopment of Manhattan Residential Tower
by Alex Patton
NEW YORK CITY — CIM Group has provided a $120 million construction loan for the redevelopment of 685 Fifth Avenue, a 115,330-square-foot multifamily and retail property in Manhattan. The borrower, a partnership of developer-owners SHVO, Bilgili Group and Deutsche Finance, will redevelop and rebrand the residences as 69 Mandarin Oriental and will construct 10 additional floors for the tower. Originally built in 1928, the 20-story building was the former headquarters of Gucci, and current retail tenants include apparel and accessory retailers Coach, Stuart Weitzman and Tag Heuer. Construction is slated for completion in 2021.
Capstone, University of Southern Maine to Develop 577-Bed Residence Hall, Student Center
by Alex Patton
PORTLAND, MAINE — A partnership between Capstone Development Partners and the University of Maine System will develop a 577-bed residence hall and student center on the University of Southern Maine’s (USM) campus in Portland. The proposed 209,000-square-foot community will offer apartment-style units alongside academic support space. The partnership hopes to break ground on the project in spring 2020, with Capstone providing financing for the student housing component and the university providing financing for the student center. The design-build team for the community includes architectural and engineering firm SMRT Architects and Engineers, architectural firm Elkus Manfredi Architects and general contractor PC Construction. Capstone Management Partners, the management subsidiary of Capstone Development, is the proposed maintenance and operations provider for the community upon completion.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. will develop a 60-story mixed-use tower at 311 and 321 W. 6th St. in downtown Austin. Designed by Page, the building will rise 770 feet and span 530,371 square feet. Levels 12 through 17 will comprise 120,000 square feet of Class A office space. Levels 20 through 60 will consist of 363 multifamily units, 75 percent of which will be studio and one-bedroom residences. The remainder will be two- and three-bedroom units. The other floors will be reserved for parking and retail. Residential amenities will include a pool, fitness center, media room, pet park and a 3,000-square-foot clubhouse on the top floor. A construction timeline was not released, but Ryan Cos. plans to propose the project to the Austin City Council before the end of the year. BBVA currently occupies a bank branch at the Sixth Street site and plans to lease 4,000 square feet in the new development. CBRE advised BBVA on this project.
TOPEKA, KAN. — Darland Construction Co. has completed the conversion of a former Kmart store in Topeka into Wanamaker Hills Shopping Center. The 108,546-square-foot retail property is now home to Ulta, Old Navy, DSW, Five Below and Petco. Equity Investment Group, an Indiana-based developer, bought the property in 2014. Schwerdt Design Group was the project architect.
Del Buck, vice president of preconstruction at Hoar Program Management (HPM), an affiliate firm of Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction, has the challenge of saving construction costs in the face of a significant labor shortage that’s hobbled the construction industry. According to research from Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), 1.5 million construction jobs were lost during the Great Recession. While the industry is still working to fill the void, labor and materials costs have increased dramatically. Turner Construction Co. reports that construction costs have increased 5.9 percent since 2018. Buck emphasizes the importance of developers and owners not accepting the “false premise” that construction costs are outside of their control. Instead, he says that costs can be salvaged using third-party project management firms during the planning stages. These firms can provide preconstruction services, which help stakeholders realize the scope, costs and schedule of a project before breaking ground. Outside of cost savings on the front end, he says owners and developers can also benefit from program management firms as they can help mitigate costs once construction is already underway. Buck spoke with REBusinessOnline about the ever-changing construction industry, outlining his firm’s creative workarounds for lowering costs. What follows is an edited …