BELTON, MO. — Salina Hotel Corp. will develop an 83-room Fairfield Inn & Suites in Belton, about 20 miles south of Kansas City. The 48,000-square-foot hotel, located between Mullen Road and I-49, is slated for completion by the end of 2018. The project includes construction of a new road, which will be funded by a newly established Community Improvement District (CID). Project partners include the City of Belton and Belton Economic Development Corp.
The St. Louis industrial market has enjoyed robust growth in recent years in part because of a growing economy, the rise of e-commerce and 3PL activity, favorable tax incentives and abatement packages and a movement to quality from existing users. With a population of 37.5 million in a 300-mile radius and over 96 million in a 500-mile radius, St. Louis is a distribution force to be reckoned with. Over the past five years, vacancy has dropped from 9 percent to 4.1 percent as of the second quarter of 2017. This number, paired with asking lease rates rising 9 percent during that same time frame, illustrate the health of the market. With more than 2.7 million square feet of space absorbed already this year, the 4.2 million square feet currently under construction will be absorbed quickly. Low vacancies have spurred the need for speculative space, which has increased at a rate not seen before in this market. Recent ongoing or completed projects include a 548,850-square-foot space at Aviator Business Park, 158,000 square feet at Fenton Logistics Park and two 100,000-square-foot buildings at Hazelwood Logistics Center. Having spec product on the market places St. Louis on the radars of users that require …
ST. LOUIS — Hilliker Corp. has arranged the sale of a 28,840-square-foot retail property in St. Louis for $3.3 million. The center is located on 3.6 acres at 5228 and 5240 South Lindbergh Blvd. Outback Steakhouse is the primary tenant at the property. Frank Yocum of Hilliker Corp. represented the seller, NICO Properties I LLC. Stephen F. Bahn Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer, DLJ Lindbergh LLC.
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO. — Universal Windows Direct has signed an 8,250-square-foot industrial lease in Maryland Heights. The property is located at 11993 Borman Drive. This is the first Missouri location for the Cleveland-based window installation and home improvement company. Scott Martin of Hilliker Corp. represented the tenant in the five-year lease transaction. Pace Properties represented the undisclosed landlord.
The greater Kansas City area retail market remains solid as a rock, despite CoStar Group’s mid-year report showing a slight decline in the average asking rental rate and a slight increase in vacancy. The retail vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2017 stood at 5.7 percent, up slightly from the previous quarter’s 5.5 percent. The average asking rental rate for retail is $13.05 per square foot, down from $13.07 in the previous quarter. Local, regional and national restaurant chains continue to expand with strong success throughout all areas of the Kansas City market, and “new-to-market” users continue to open their doors. Currently, there is approximately 570,000 square feet of retail space under construction in the Kansas City area and various mixed-use projects under development. Additionally, several new shopping center projects have recently been announced and are quickly gaining traction with restaurant and retail users. One of the major catalysts for the widespread retail and mixed-use boom throughout greater Kansas City is the various incentives that have been made available to developers including tax increment financing, community improvement districts, transportation development districts, tax abatement and other incentives. On both sides of the state line, as sites become more expensive and …
ST. PETERS, MO. — Knoebel Construction has broken ground on a new Fresh Thyme Farmers Market in St. Peters, about 30 miles west of St. Louis. The $5 million project is slated for completion in winter 2018. Approximately 95 people will work at the 28,720-square-foot store. InSite Real Estate is developing the property. NORR is providing architectural services. Fresh Thyme is a specialty grocer rapidly expanding in the Midwest with other St. Louis-area stores in Kirkwood, Ballwin and O’Fallon, Mo.
ST. LOUIS — Great Rivers Greenway is developing the Chouteau Greenway in the core of St. Louis. The public agency is now accepting submissions for the greenway design. The conceptual plan will connect Forest Park and Washington University to the Gateway Arch grounds. Design qualifications must be submitted by Nov. 21. Four finalists will be offered a stipend to work on the design, which will be reviewed by the public and presented to a jury in late April 2018. The winning team will finalize its design in June 2018. The greenway will likely stretch five to seven miles, connecting area neighborhoods, employment centers, parks, transit and dozens of cultural and educational institutions. The Chouteau Greenway will be part of the overall network of greenways being built by Great Rivers Greenway and partners. The first segment of the Chouteau Greenway is currently under construction as part of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant project to build a new MetroLink station at the Cortex Innovation Community. The competition and resulting conceptual design will help partners determine a plan and schedule for designing and building additional portions of the overall greenway.
ST. LOUIS — Dwight Capital has provided a $63.1 million loan for the refinancing of Park Pacific Apartments in St. Louis. The property is an adaptive reuse of the historic Missouri Pacific Railroad building located downtown. Originally built in the 1920s, the property was rehabilitated into a mixed-use development in 2011. Park Pacific now features 230 luxury apartments, 48,000 square feet of Class A office space, 28,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 585-space parking garage. Adam Sasouness and Josh Hoffman of Dwight Capital originated the 40-year loan. The borrower, The Lawrence Group, will use about $300,000 of the funds to improve the energy efficiency of the property.
The Kansas City office market is poised for increasing rental rates and decreasing vacancy rates for the remainder of 2017 and into 2018. Kansas City has realized its 14th consecutive quarter of increased rental rates (through March 2017), while vacancy has decreased in the overall metro area due to lack of new office construction and a steady pace of absorption. Several factors contribute to the complexity of why the market is good but not great, steady but not dynamic, with no one factor driving the steady upward climb. It has been like a plane taking off but never reaching full altitude. A contradiction of sorts is contributing to the rental rate increases and vacancy decline, while there is still a lack of newly constructed space. Bread-and-butter leasing absorption and a lack of new speculative development have been the main ingredients in the overall solid market for office activity. The velocity in the market is doing its job of generating positive absorption each quarter while rates inch up. The lack of large blocks of space has created a few new construction projects, but not as many as experts had predicted and hoped for. Costs on the rise Higher construction costs and …
ST. LOUIS — Hilliker Corp. has arranged the sale of two industrial buildings in St. Louis for approximately $7 million. Serioplast, a plastic manufacturer based in Italy, purchased a 132,000-square-foot building located at 4400 Planned Industrial Drive. Service Metals Inc., an industrial valve distributor, purchased the property located at 4300 Planned Industrial Drive. Madison Warehouses built both properties in the 1990s. Hal Ball and Chris Taff of Hilliker Corp. represented the tenants in the transactions.
