OPELIKA, ALA. — Jim Chapman Construction Group has broken ground on Creekside Cottages, a 304-unit build-to-rent (BTR) project at the intersection of Society Hill Road and Gateway Drive in Opelika, about eight miles east of Auburn. The developer is an undisclosed, publicly traded REIT. The general contractor recently finished clearing and grading on the 67.6-acre site and will begin vertical construction in late December. Phase I of Creekside Cottages will comprise 225 attached townhomes, with leasing set to begin in spring or summer 2026. Units will range in size from 1,000 to 1,439 square feet and feature two- and three-bedroom configurations. Each home will include attached garages, vinyl plank flooring, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and in-unit washers and dryers. Amenities will include gated access, a clubhouse, swimming pool, dog park, sidewalks, streetlights and onsite property management and maintenance teams.
Development
STAMFORD, CONN. — Miami-based lender 3650 Capital has provided a $32 million mezzanine loan for The Coastline, a 198-unit multifamily project that will be located in the southern coastal Connecticut city of Stamford. The Coastline, which will be located in the city’s downtown area, will rise 13 stories and will include 17 units that will be subject to income restrictions, as well as 4,500 square feet of retail space. The amenity package will consist of a fourth-floor pool and outdoor lounge, a 14th-floor rooftop deck with a dog run, fitness center, a children’s play area, tenant lounge, multiple conference rooms and a bocce ball court. Perkins Eastman is the project architect, and KL Masters Construction Co. is the general contractor. Bank OZK is the senior lender. Newmark arranged the mezzanine loan on behalf of the developer, a partnership led by local developer F.D. Rich Co. Completion is slated for summer 2027.
SAN DIEGO — PSRS has arranged $13.4 million in construction financing for the development of a multifamily complex in San Diego. The nine-story development will offer 70 apartments, including 69 studios and a one-bedroom/one-bath unit, with an average unit size of approximately 360 square feet. Financed through a debt fund, Trevan Swierczewski and Alexander Santulis of PSRS secured a nonrecourse loan at a 75 percent loan-to-cost ratio, with a 24-month term and two six-month extension options.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between two local owner-operators, Foxy Development and Selfhelp Realty Group, has broken ground on The Perennial, a $150 million affordable housing project that will be located in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. The project is a conversion of the former Parkway Hospital building, which has been shuttered since 2008. Of the 145 total units, 124 will be senior units, 44 residences within which will be reserved for formerly homeless individuals. The remaining apartments will be family units. All residences will be reserved for households earning 50 percent or less of the area median income. Project partners include architect Newman Design, Cityscape Engineering, Suffolk Construction and MEP engineer Mottola Rini. TD Bank provided construction financing for the project, and The Community Preservation Corp. will provide permanent financing. Construction is expected to be complete in late 2027.
Atlantic Residential Gives Update on 47,000 SF Retail Plaza at Crossing at Coal Mountain in Metro Atlanta
by John Nelson
CUMMING, GA. — Atlantic Residential has made progress on Phase I of the retail plaza at The Crossing at Coal Mountain, a 140-acre mixed-use development underway in Cumming, a northern suburb of Atlanta. The project sits in the Coal Mountain region of north Forsyth County and will feature apartments, retail space and for-sale homes being developed in partnership with Toll Brothers. Atlantic Residential broke ground in July on the 47,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment space at the development, with plans to complete construction in summer 2026. Food-and-beverage concepts at The Crossing at Coal Mountain will make up 60 percent of the retail offerings, while the remaining 40 percent will include soft goods and services such as spas, salons, fitness concepts and a 20,000-square-foot pad ideal for a small-format grocery or market anchor, as well as other service-based businesses. Atlantic Residential has selected Jennifer Steffen and Matt Maloney of JLL to handle the retail leasing assignment at the development. Construction progress to date includes framing of the project’s mixed-use building up to its fifth level, two of the multifamily buildings and installation of roads and infrastructure.
Columbia Residential Completes $35M Redevelopment of Affordable Seniors Housing Community in Atlanta
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — Locally based Columbia Residential, in partnership with Atlanta Housing and other public and private stakeholders, has completed a $35 million redevelopment at Legacy at East Lake in Atlanta. Originally built in the 1970s, the newly reopened property features 149 studio and one-bedroom apartments across eight stories. Units are reserved for residents age 55 and older and households earning at or below 30, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). Rents are capped at 30 percent of household income through project-based vouchers. Financing for the redevelopment included $12.4 million in equity from Truist Community Capital via 9 percent low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) allocated by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; a $10.5 million construction-to-permanent loan from Atlanta Housing; an $8 million construction loan and $5.6 million permanent mortgage from Truist Bank; $4 million in National Housing Trust Funds from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; $1 million in housing opportunity bond financing from Invest Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s economic development agency; a $1 million seller note from Atlanta Housing; and $400,000 in deferred developer fees by Columbia Residential. Dash & Dwell coordinated resident relocations during construction, and a partnership with Matter Health now provides …
GILBERT, ARIZ. — Wood Partners has opened Alta 87 in Gilbert, a southeastern suburb of Phoenix located about 23 miles from downtown. Alta 87 is a 257-unit development comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Amenities include two pickleball courts, electric vehicle charging stations, a pool and hot tub and a two-story clubhouse with a fitness center, coworking spaces, a speakeasy and bike storage. The developer broke ground in March 2024. Atlanta-based Wood Partners completed three other Alta-branded communities in Phoenix in 2024: Alta Avondale, Alta Rise and Alta Uptown.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Subtext has opened VERVE Ann Arbor, a 12-story, 741-bed student housing development near the University of Michigan. Located at 721 S. Forest St., the 328,264-square-foot project includes 217 units ranging from studios to six-bedroom layouts. The property also features a ground-level, full-service lobby coffee shop operated by local favorite, Misfit Society Coffee Club. Additional amenities include a rooftop with a pool deck, hot tub, outdoor kitchen, grilling stations, jumbotron and yard games. Residents have access to a penthouse clubroom, two-story fitness center, yoga studio, private conference rooms, a dog park, electric package locker, bike storage and electric vehicle charging stations. Subtext developed the property in partnership with FrontRange Capital and Kayne Anderson Real Estate. A syndicate of lenders led by Webster Bank structured the financing. WDG Architecture led the design, and ESG Architecture & Design handled the interiors. Brinkmann Constructors was the general contractor.
MINNEAPOLIS — Zenith Industrial Outdoor Storage (IOS) has completed a cold storage build-to-suit for Kemps, a farmer-owned brand of Dairy Farmers of America. Kemps signed a 15-year lease for the property in Minneapolis. Zenith acquired the 11-acre site, formerly home to a heavy industrial metal recycling business, in June 2022. In conjunction with Bainey & Co. as general contractor, Zenith converted the property into a 40,000-square-foot cold storage and dairy distribution hub. Kemps traces its Minneapolis roots back to 1914, when William Kemps and Walter Lathrop founded the Lathrop-Kemps Ice Cream Co. at 222 Fifth St. Now based in St. Paul, Kemps maintains approximately 1,000 employees and is a producer of milk and other dairy products. The company currently operates seven manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. The new cold storage distribution site will also support the company’s bottling facility, located roughly one mile away. CBRE is currently marketing the southern parcel of the site for sale. It includes a 22,000-square-foot warehouse on the remaining 3 acres of land.
GOOCHLAND COUNTY, VA. — Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has announced plans for a $5 billion manufacturing facility located in Goochland County, which is situated west of Richmond. Earlier this year, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly shared plans to build four new pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. The Virginia facility is the first of the four to be formally announced. Since 2020, the company has invested $50 billion in capital expansion commitments. When finished, the development will mark the company’s first dedicated, fully integrated active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and drug product facility for its bioconjugate platform and monoclonal antibody portfolio, which create ingredients for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Completion of the facility is scheduled within the next five years. According to Eli Lilly, the project will create more than 650 permanent jobs in the area, in addition to 1,800 construction jobs. The company projects that for each dollar invested in the development, up to $4 of local economic activity will be generated. Goochland County was selected as the site for the new facility out of hundreds of applications. Plans for the facility include the use of technologies including machine learning, AI and automated systems. To implement these technologies, …