PORTLAND, MAINE — Portland Foreside Development Co. has broken ground on an office project for financial services provider Sun Life in the city’s downtown area. The waterfront building will house as many as 700 employees of Sun Life and its subsidiary FullscopeRMS, which expect to have a total footprint of about 77,000 square feet. The property will also feature retail and restaurant space, as well as public plazas. Completion is slated for 2022.
ARLINGTON, VA. — JBG Smith has completed the redevelopment of a 273,000-square-foot office building for Amazon as part of the e-commerce giant’s HQ2 in Arlington’s National Landing district. The Seattle-based company will fully occupy the 14-story building, which is situated at 1770 Crystal Drive. The delivery comes two years after Amazon chose Arlington as the site for its second headquarter location. Bethesda, Md.-based JBG Smith completed the asset two quarters ahead of schedule and under budget. Amazon’s offices at 1770 Crystal Drive are part of the initial 537,000 square feet of existing office space the company agreed to lease from JBG Smith in November 2018. Since then, Amazon has continued to grow its National Landing leased footprint, which now encompasses 857,000 square feet across five JBG Smith-owned buildings. Additionally, Amazon acquired land from JBG Smith to develop 4 million square feet of ground-up office space as part of its overall HQ2 master plan. In January, JBG Smith broke ground on Phase I, which will comprise 2.1 million square feet of office space, one acre of green space and 50,000 square feet of retail space. Phase I is expected to deliver in 2023. Gensler designed the redeveloped 1770 Crystal Drive to …
DALLAS — Idaho-based Cold Summit Development will build a $60 million cold storage facility at 2800 Cedardale Road in South Dallas. The 343,000-square-foot facility will be situated on 29 acres and will feature 50-foot clear heights. Site work and construction are anticipated to start immediately with completion slated for September 2021. Cold Summit Dallas will be just the 12th cold storage facility built in the metroplex in the last 20 years, according to the developer.
TOLLESON, ARIZ. — The Phoenix Business Unit of Trammell Crow Co., along with capital partner Clarion Partners, has started construction of Cowden Logistics Center in Tolleson. Situated on 16 acres at 420 S. 104th Ave., the industrial project will bring 285,131 square feet of logistics space to Phoenix’s Southwest Valley submarket. The facility will feature 36-foot clear heights, 237 car parking stalls, 41 trailer parking stalls, five points of ingress and egress, R-38 insulation and an ESFR sprinkler system. The project team includes Butler Design Group as architect and Wespac Construction as general contractor. Phil Haenel, Mike Haenel and Andy Markham of Cushman & Wakefield are handling leasing for the project.
LOS ANGELES — A public-private partnership between American Campus Communities and the University of Southern California (USC) has completed a second phase of a student housing development. The residence hall is located at 1630 San Pablo St. near the university’s Curry Hall and the LAC+USC Medical Center. Shared amenities at the property include outdoor and indoor study areas, retail space and a rooftop courtyard. “We were able to commit 35 percent of the overall area to open space,” says Benjamin Kasdan, principal at KTGY Architecture + Planning, which designed the community. “This is desirable not only during the COVID period, but beyond. The project includes many trends and features we expect to see in the future based on input from students and housing developers.”
LEDGEWOOD, N.J. — New Jersey-based Woodmont Properties has completed the lease-up of Woodmont Parc at Roxbury, a 230-unit apartment community in Ledgewood, about 45 miles west of New York City. Units feature quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and private balconies/patios. Amenities include a heated pool, fitness center, resident lounge, game room and a theater room. Leasing began in July 2019, and the property has now reached 100 percent occupancy.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — Engineering and construction management firm DPS Group has completed Phase I of an 80,000-square-foot life sciences project at 650 Pleasant St. in the western Boston suburb of Watertown. The facility will be used as a manufacturing plant for biotechnology firm Arranta Bio. Architecture firm TRIA designed the project.
MADISON, ALA. — Knighthead Funding LLC has provided a $27.3 million construction loan to Chase Creek Holdings for the development of The Views at Chase Creek in Madison . The non-recourse loan has a 24-month term. Upon completion, The Views at Chase Creek will offer 228 one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. The borrower/developer expects to deliver the property, which will comprise 10 two-story buildings, in the second quarter of 2022. Unit interiors will feature stainless steel appliances, stone finishes, walk-in closets and a washer and dryer. The Views at Chase Creek will be situated at 248 Old Glory Road, 13 miles west of downtown Huntsville.
DULUTH, GA. — The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners voted to acquire 39 acres at Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth, including the portion of the mall that houses most of the mall’s inline tenants, food court and the shuttered Belk-Parisian store. The Urban Redevelopment Agency of Gwinnett County (URA) will buy the land for $23 million from Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC, a Las Vegas-based investor that bought the mall in 2013 from Simon. Moonbeam Capital put the mall up for sale last fall. The sale does not include the locations of Macy’s, Mega Mart and Beauty Master, which are tenant-owned. Additionally, the former Sears building, which Northwood Ravin acquired in 2018, was not part of the sale. Gwinnett Place Mall was originally completed in 1984. The mall has been used in the film industry in recent years as the setting for movies and TV shows including “Stranger Things,” “Holidate,” “Ozark,” “I, Tonya” and “Greenleaf.” Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners chairwoman Charlotte Nash says the county has been attempting to acquire the land for several years and will redevelop the parcel that has “incredible opportunity.” Gwinnett County will engage the County Department of Planning and Development, the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement …
PINEVILLE, N.C. — Nance Cos. and MPV Properties will develop Berkshire Business Centers No. 26, a 30,250-square-foot industrial facility within Pineville Distribution Park in Pineville. The developers are building the asset to accommodate a single tenant. The property will feature 24-foot clear heights, multiple drive-in and dock-high doors and office space. The building will be situated at 10121 Pineville Distribution St., 13 miles south of downtown Charlotte and 15 miles southeast of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Timmons Group is the engineer and Merriman Schmitt designed the building, which is being developed on a speculative basis. Bailey Patrick Jr. and Billy Thomas of MPV are handling the leasing efforts. The developers expect to deliver the asset in fall 2021. This will mark the third building to be delivered within the distribution park, following Beacon Development’s 525,000-square-foot facility for Campbell Snacks in 2019, and Nance and MPV’s 67,000-square-foot center earlier this summer.