DETROIT — Greystone Bel has arranged the sale of Carlton Apartments in Detroit for an undisclosed price. The 144-unit, garden-style apartment community is located in the Lafayette Park neighborhood. Built in 1971 and located at 1387 East Larned St., Carlton Apartments offers studio, one-and two-bedroom floor plans. Cary Belovicz of Greystone Bel represented the undisclosed seller. Belovicz, along with John Marr of Greystone, also secured a 10-year Fannie Mae loan that features a 4.96 percent fixed rate on behalf of the buyers, Andover Real Estate Partners and The M-Group.
BELTON, MO. — Furniture Deals, a family-owned furniture retailer, has opened a 50,000-square-foot showroom in the North Cass Shopping Center in Belton, located about 21 miles south of Kansas City. Furniture Deals replaces Price Chopper as the anchor tenant of the shopping center. The showroom doubles the size of the company’s original Belton location at 1737 E. North Ave. Founded in 2004, Furniture Deals now employs 100 people and offers a selection of furniture, mattresses and home decor.
ADA, MICH. — MichiganLabs has expanded into the second floor at 452 Ada Drive in Ada, about 10 miles east of Grand Rapids. In December, the software developer leased 2,541 square feet on the third floor. The new office space, totaling 1,643 square feet, will be called “The Lab” and will allow the company to expand its services and hire additional developers. First Cos. is building out the space and Integrated Architecture is providing interior design services. MichiganLabs plans to occupy the new space starting Oct. 7. Jason Webb of Colliers International represented MichiganLabs in the new lease. Brian Sikma of Highpoint Real Estate represented the undisclosed landlord.
The most active commercial real estate category in the Twin Cities metro area over the last several years, in terms of leasing activity and new construction sales, has been industrial product. New construction has been trending toward office warehouse and bulk buildings with higher clear heights, as tenants are implementing new racking systems and growing upward to optimize their space. On the surface, this trend may sound like it will leave behind the lower-clear height flex and office showroom buildings. However, owners of flex and office showroom buildings in Minneapolis-St. Paul are finding new interest by providing creative amenities and repositioning assets that are attracting entirely new tenant prospect types and reinventing what an office showroom building can become. The ability to target a wider potential prospect pool including office users, retailers and non-traditional industrial users is reliant on proper vacancy preparation to be able to show the space as a true blank slate. Through white-boxing the space, owners show that the space has high ceilings with an industrial feel, an aesthetic that many office users are interested in, but at a significantly lower price point versus many office buildings. Another benefit of the office showroom product is that there …
MANSFIELD, OHIO — Out of the Box Ventures LLC has acquired Richland Mall in Mansfield, located midway between Columbus and Cleveland. Wells Fargo Bank NA sold the property for $7.4 million, according to local media. Macy’s, JC Penney, Sears and AVITA Health Systems anchor the 733,633-square-foot enclosed mall. Other tenants include Victoria’s Secret, American Eagle Outfitters, Chuck E. Cheese’s, Bath & Body Works, Champs Sports, GameStop, Lenscrafters and The Finish Line. The acquisition includes all but Sears and AVITA Health Systems, which are both separately owned. Robert Marona of Madison Marquette will market the property. Out of the Box Ventures is a subsidiary of Miami-based real estate development firm, Lionheart Capital.
MICHIGAN — Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC has arranged a $42.6 million Fannie Mae loan for the acquisition of a portfolio of 10 mobile home community communities in Michigan. Specific properties and locations were not disclosed, but the portfolio spans 1,715 pad sites. MJ Vukovich of Bellwether Enterprise arranged the structured loan on behalf of the borrower, an owner-operator based in the western states. The 16-year loan features four years of interest-only payments followed by 12 years at a fixed rate of 4.9 percent.
PLAINFIELD, IND. — Meridian Design Build has begun construction on a 262,758-square-foot speculative industrial building on behalf of HSA Commercial Real Estate in Plainfield, a suburb of Indianapolis. The new facility will be located on a 19.3-acre site at 845 Airtech Parkway. The building will feature a clear height of 32 feet, 30 loading docks, four drive-in doors and parking for 185 cars and 70 trailers. Cornerstone Architects is the architect while Innovative Engineering & Consulting is providing civil engineering services. Terry Busch and Jared Scaringe of CBRE will market the property for lease.
APPLETON, WIS. — Form Development LLC and The Morgan Partners LLC have acquired a 54,000-square-foot, single-tenant grocery store in Appleton for an undisclosed price. The building is fully leased to Pick N’ Save. Wes Koontz, Christian Tremblay and Dan Cohen of Mid-America Real Estate Corp. represented all parties in the sale. The seller was the original developer of the property.
DES MOINES, IOWA — Ross Dress for Less plans to open two new stores in greater Des Moines on Saturday, Oct. 13. The store at Southridge Mall on the South Side of Des Moines will span 22,000 square feet. The West Des Moines store will span 25,000 square feet and be located within the Water Tower Place shopping center. With these new openings, Ross will operate six stores in Iowa and a total of 1,470 locations nationwide.
HILLSIDE AND OSWEGO, ILL. — Sterling Organization has acquired a two-property retail portfolio in metro Chicago for an undisclosed price. The portfolio includes the 164,837-square-foot Hillside Town Center in Hillside and the 101,466-square-foot Prairie Market in Oswego. Developed in 2009, Hillside Town Center is home to tenants such as Ross Dress for Less, HomeGoods, Michaels and Petco. Aldi and PetSmart anchor Prairie Market, which was developed between 2007 and 2009. The properties were purchased on behalf of Sterling’s institutional fund, Sterling Value Add Partners III LP. The seller was not disclosed.