GRAPEVINE, TEXAS — New York City-based development and investment firm GTIS Partners has broken ground on 121 Commerce Center, a 272,160-square-foot industrial project located near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine. The site spans 17 acres, and the facility will feature 36-foot clear heights, 135-foot truck court depths, an ESFR sprinkler system and build-to-suit office space. Construction is scheduled to be complete before the end of the year. Stream Realty Partners has been appointed as the leasing agent. First Citizens Bank provided $24.5 million in financing for the project.
Development
R.D. Olson Construction Breaks Ground on The Alcove Affordable Housing Complex in Los Angeles
by Amy Works
LOS ANGELES — R.D. Olson Construction has broken ground on The Alcove, a seven-story, 238,000-square-foot affordable housing project in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Meta Housing Corp. is the developer. Located at 21300 W. Oxnard St., the first phase of construction will include 173 units ranging in size from 620-square-foot studios to 1,300-square-foot three-bedroom apartments, with completion slated for fall 2025. The second phase, which is in planning stages, will add 128 units and will be located on the north section of the 2.25-acre lot. Community amenities will include a community room, designated exercise area, storage room for 200 bicycles, tot lot playground and common outdoor areas with barbecues. The first level will be dedicated to parking and management offices, with a 6,000-square-foot courtyard on the third level. Additionally, each floor will have a laundry room and centralized trash chute system. The complex will offer units to families earning between 30 percent to 80 percent of the area median income, with restrictions for affordability to stay in place for 55 years. A.C. Martin is serving as architect, with management from AMJ Construction Management.
NORWOOD, MASS. — Hobbs Brook Real Estate has broken ground on a 320,000-square-foot office and life sciences project in Norwood, a southern suburb of Boston, that is a build-to-suit for commercial property insurance company FM Global. The project will replace a 1950s-era building with a four-story office, lab and research and development building, as well as add a new 930-space parking garage and outdoor amenity spaces. Payette is the project architect, and Shawmut Design & Construction is the general contractor. Completion is slated for 2026.
MassDevelopment Provides $11M Bond Financing for Student Housing Project in Fitchburg, Massachusetts
FITCHBURG, MASS. — MassDevelopment has provided $11 million in tax-exempt bond financing for a student housing project in Fitchburg, about 55 miles west of Boston. The project will add a two-story building to the campus of Applewild School, a private day and boarding school, that will house 20 bedrooms for 40 students and six faculty apartments. Construction is underway and expected to be complete before the start of the fall 2024 semester. Proceeds will also be used to fund renovations to the preschool and toddler facilities in the Marshall Building. Enterprise Bank purchased the bond.
THOMASTON, GA. — Brightmark LLC, a recycling solutions company based in San Francisco, has announced plans for a $950 million recycling facility project in Thomaston, about 65 miles south of Atlanta. Upon completion, the “circularity center” will comprise 2.5 million square feet with the capacity to repurpose 400,000 tons of plastic per year. According to the company, the project will create 200 advanced manufacturing jobs in the central Georgia area. Plans include a $20 million investment in additive infrastructure in Thomaston, with upgrades to utilities, roadway improvements, rail access extensions and other improvements.
Trammell Crow, GATV Complete Phase I of Mixed-Use Science Square Development in Atlanta
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) and Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures (GATV) — an affiliate of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) — have completed construction of the first phase of Science Square, a mixed-use development situated adjacent to the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta. Comprising 18 acres, the development features Science Square Labs, a life science building, and The Grace, a 14-story residential tower. Perkins + Will designed Science Square Labs, which totals 368,258 square feet and features lab and clean-up space. The 13-story building features a 38,000-square-foot solar panel array on top of the parking garage and 22 electric vehicle charging stations. Amenities at the property include a fitness center, conference space and private meeting rooms, and a tenant lounge and event space dubbed The Commons that features a 16,000-square-foot sky deck on the fifth floor. Portal Innovations has signed a 33,000-square-foot lease as the first tenant at the property, which includes 33,136 square feet of pre-built speculative lab and office suites, as well as space for custom-built units. The Grace, designed by Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio, comprises 280 units with a mix of market-rate and affordable residences. Amenities include a bike room, club room, outdoor …
Johnson Brothers Breaks Ground on 625,000 SF Industrial Facility in Garner, North Carolina
by John Nelson
GARNER, N.C. — Johnson Brothers Mutual Distributing, a wine and beer distributor, has broken ground on a 625,000-square-foot industrial building in Garner, a southern suburb of Raleigh. Upon completion, the property will feature 40-foot clear heights with dock-high, drive-in doors and trailer parking. Johnson Brothers plans to relocate and occupy 420,000 square feet at the development in early 2026. Jim Allaire and Alexis Lambeth of Foundry Commercial will lease the remaining 205,000 square feet. LS3P designed the project, and Evans is the general contractor, with DCI serving as project manager.
ARGYLE, TEXAS — Storage King USA, the self-storage arm of New York City-based investment firm Andover Properties, has completed a 232-unit expansion of its facility in Argyle, located in Denton County. The project added 38,500 net rentable square feet of climate-controlled and non-climate-controlled space, as well as 5,750 square feet of flex space. The facility, which also offers enclosed and covered storage options for boats and RVs, now totals 865 units.
INDEPENDENCE, N.J. — New Jersey-based developer Woodmont Properties has completed the lease-up of the first phase of Woodmont Liberty at Independence, a 120-unit multifamily project located on an 11-acre site about 60 miles west of Manhattan. The property offers one- and two-bedroom units that are furnished with custom-designed kitchens, walk-in closets, keyless entry mechanisms, individual washers and dryers and private balconies/patios. Amenities include a pool, outdoor grilling and dining areas, a fitness center, game room, conference center, walking trails and a dog park. Leasing began last April, at which point rents started at $2,440 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
Micron Technology to Receive $6.1B CHIPS Funding for Manufacturing Projects in Idaho, New York
by Jeff Shaw
BOISE, IDAHO, AND CLAY, N.Y. — Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) has signed a preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) with the Biden Presidential Administration to receive $6.1 billion in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to support new microchip manufacturing operations. The grants will support Micron’s plans to invest approximately $50 billion in gross capital expenditures for U.S. domestic memory manufacturing through 2030. These grants and additional state and local incentives will support the construction of one manufacturing facility to be co-located with the company’s existing R&D facility in Boise, as well as the construction of two manufacturing facilities in Clay, a suburb of Syracuse. Micron says the facilities are expected to create approximately 75,000 domestic jobs over the next 20-plus years. In Idaho, this includes 2,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. In New York, this includes 9,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs. The two projects, as planned, will represent the single largest private investments ever made in the states of Idaho and New York, according to the company.