ST. ROBERT, MO. — L3 Corp. has arranged the lease of a 10,000-square-foot retail building in St. Robert, 32 miles northeast of Lebanon, Mo. Dollar Tree will occupy space within Liberty Commons located at Liberty Drive. The landlord is American Realty and Development LLC. L3 Corp. represented the tenant in the transaction.
ST. LOUIS – HOK has completed the acquisition of Kansas City-based 360 Architecture, a 200-person firm that designs sports, recreation, wellness, entertainment and mixed-use facilities. HOK’s Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice designs mixed-use entertainment districts anchored by sporting venues that promote urban revitalization. Teams from both firms have been working on integration plans since announcing the agreement on Aug. 19, 2014. HOK’s re-entry into the Sports + Recreation + Entertainment market in 2015 coincides with the celebration of its 60th anniversary. After HOK Sport launched in 1983, the firm became a pioneer in redefining sports facilities. HOK spun off its sports practice in 2008. 360 Architecture was founded in Kansas City in 2004 through a merger of CDFM2 Architecture Inc. and Heinlein Schrock Stearns.
ST. LOUIS — The Opus Group, in partnership with AIG GlobalReal Estate, has begun construction on a 12-story luxury apartment building in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis. The building will include 217 apartment units featuring alcove, one-, two-bedroom and penthouse floor plans. Amenities will include a fitness center, a pool terrace with an outdoor grilling space and fire pits, bar and club rooms, a dog wash and underground parking. Opus Development Co. LLC is the developer and Opus Design Build LLC is the design-builder. Opus AE Group LLC is the architect and structural engineer of record. Minneapolis-based ESG Architects provided conceptual design services. Completion of the project is slated for fall 2016.
ST. LOUIS — PPM/Keller Plaza LLC has acquired a retail center in St. Louis for $3.7 million. Keller Plaza includes a 52,842-square-foot shopping center and 11,034 square feet of ground leases. The property is located at 4500 Lemay Ferry Road. PPM acquired the property from Phillips Edison & Co. Jack in the Box, Firestone, Jiffy Lube and the Keller Plaza Cine 8 theaters anchor the property. There is a total of 1,020 square feet of in-line vacancy.
ST. LOUIS — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of the 440-guestroom, full-service Crowne Plaza St. Louis Hotel in St. Louis. 200 STL Holdings LLC purchased the property for an undisclosed sales price. The 29-story hotel is located directly across from Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park and includes views of the Gateway Arch, Mississippi River and St. Louis skyline. The buyer plans to convert the property into a mixed-use project, with a 140-key boutique hotel and 300 residential units. Geoff Davis and Ted Anka of HREC Investment Advisors, along with Scott Kaniewski of SVP – Chicago, represented Hallmark Hotels LLC in the transaction.
ST. LOUIS — Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls has purchased a 57,000-square-foot building in St. Louis for $1.75 million. The property, located at 1901 N. Kingshighway, will serve as a new charter school, which is Missouri’s first all-girls public school. The school plans to open this fall. Hawthorn is a college preparatory middle and high school with a focus on science, technology engineering and math. Peter Newton of Hilliker Corp. represented the seller, Imagine Schools. John Ross of Summit Development represented the buyer, Hawthorn School.
O’FALLON, MO. — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. and St. Louis, Mo.-based Pace Properties have brokered the sale of O’Fallon Walk, a 157,779-square-foot community shopping center in O’Fallon, a St. Louis-suburb. Boca Raton, Fla.-based PEBB Enterprises purchased the property, which is located at the southwest corner of Highway K and Feise Road, for an undisclosed sales price. Gordmans, Justice, Kirkland’s, and Catherines anchor the center. Ben Wineman of Mid-America and Scott Seyfried of Pace Properties brokered the transaction on behalf of New York-based Special Servicer for a CMBS Trust.
ST. LOUIS, MO. — Gramercy Property Trust has purchased Alpha Packaging’s 211,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Louis for $11 million. The property, located at 1555 Page Industrial Drive, is under a long-term triple-net lease to Alpha Plastics Co. until 2029. The facility serves as the headquarters for Alpha Packaging’s eight plants located throughout the country. Alpha Packaging handles production of plastic bottles and containers for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The plant has been the home of Alpha Packaging since 1999. In 2002, the company spent more than $4 million to renovate the facility. Hilliker Corp. and affiliate company Westwood Net Lease Advisors, represented the seller, Big Sky Properties, and coordinated the sale with New York-based Gramercy Property Trust.
The Kansas City industrial market continues to be an incredibly strong performer. At the end of the third quarter of 2014, the industrial vacancy rate stood at a tight 6.1 percent. Absorption totaled more than 2.5 million square feet during the first nine months of the year, while new deliveries were slightly over 2.6 million square feet in the same period. Let’s examine some contributing factors that are encouraging new deliveries while still driving vacancy rates down and absorption up. Spec Is King The biggest story in the Kansas City industrial real estate market during the first three quarters of 2014 was the delivery of over 2.5 million square feet of Class A distribution facilities on a speculative basis. It can be argued that, in the past, many prospective tenants considered locating a distribution center in Kansas City, but they ultimately selected a different market based on a lack of available inventory and the inability of some companies to wait on the extended timetable for a build-to-suit project. Developers that took notice of this trend and reacted by delivering space to the local market are currently being rewarded for their actions. Much of the speculative development in 2014 centered around …
LEE’S SUMMIT, MO. — Lee & Associates has brokered the $2.7 million sale of an 18,500-square-foot office building in Lee’s Summit. The property is located at 3350 Ralph Powell Road. Jon England and Nathan Anderson of Lee & Associates’ Kansas City office represented the seller, MJB of Missouri LLC. Valley Oaks Investments LLC, a private investment company, purchased the multi-tenant property.