BEAVERCREEK, OHIO — Washington Prime Group Inc. (NYSE: WPG) and Synergy & Mills Development have unveiled plans to redevelop a former department store building at The Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek into office space. The store spans two stories and 150,000 square feet in suburban Dayton. The project will be called The Meridian at Fairfield Commons. Synergy plans to begin construction to redevelop the existing building into office, laboratory and research and development space starting in late 2021. The project is an example of WPG’s efforts to diversify its tenancy and transform its assets into town centers with a mix of retail, dining, entertainment and mixed-use space.
CINCINNATI — Stan Johnson Co. has arranged the sale of a 70,876-square-foot, Class A office building in Cincinnati for an undisclosed price. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. occupies the building, which is located at 1876 Waycross Road within the Carillon Business Park. The building was originally completed in 2015, and tenant improvements were added earlier this year when Liberty Mutual relocated to the building from nearby Fairfield. Brad Pepin of Stan Johnson represented the seller, Nebraska-based Ameritas. NRED, a Kansas-based operating and investment firm, was the buyer.
CINCINNATI — Lument has provided a $17.4 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Ivy Hills Apartments in Cincinnati. Originally built in 1996, the multifamily property includes 164 units across 31 buildings. The occupancy rate was 92.3 percent as of March 2021. Steven Cox of Lument originated the 12-year loan, which features a fixed interest rate, five years of interest-only payments and a 30-year amortization schedule. The undisclosed borrower acquired the asset in early 2020 and has since invested approximately $1.8 million to renovate 60 units. The borrower plans to spend an additional $1.7 million throughout 2021 to renovate 50 more units.
LOUISVILLE, KY., WINTER PARK, FLA., AND TOLDEO, OHIO — In a massive blockbuster deal for seniors housing, the seventh-largest operator of seniors housing in the United States (Atria Senior Living) will acquire the third-largest (Holiday Retirement), with the largest owner in the country (Welltower) buying up a large portfolio of the affected assets. Atria, a privately held seniors housing operator based in Louisville, has agreed to buy the operations business of Winter Park-based Holiday Retirement. Meanwhile, Toledo-based REIT Welltower (NYSE: WELL) will buy the 86 properties that Holiday owns and self-manages for slightly less than $1.6 billion. Holiday currently manages 240 communities in 43 states, largely in the independent living sector. The combined company will employ more than 19,000 staffers to serve over 45,000 residents. The new firm will manage 447 communities across 45 states and seven Canadian provinces. The newly combined entity will be the second-largest seniors housing operator in the country, behind only Brookdale Senior Living. After the transaction, Atria will manage more than 250 “nearly identical” communities and higher end properties such as the recently opened Atria Newport Beach in Southern California, as well as luxury urban properties that Atria is co-developing in a joint venture with …
CINCINNATI — JLL Capital Markets has arranged a $65.5 million loan for the acquisition of the Bon Secours Mercy Health headquarters building located at 1701 Mercy Place in Cincinnati’s Bond Hill neighborhood. The Class A office building spans 368,500 square feet. Completed in 2016, the property is fully leased to Mercy Health with 14 years remaining on the lease term. The facility serves as the administrative and executive headquarters for Mercy Health, which is Ohio’s largest healthcare delivery system and fourth-largest employer. Amenities at the building include a fitness center, outdoor dining area, food market, walking trail, ergonomic workstations and treadmill desks. The five-story property also features parking for more than 1,400 vehicles. Keith Largay and Lucas Borges of JLL represented the borrowers, 90 North Real Estate Partners and Kuwait-based Rasameel Investment Co. PNC Bank provided the five-year loan, which features a fixed interest rate below 2.5 percent.
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO — Binkelman Corp. has leased a 59,960-square-foot industrial facility in Bowling Green. The property sits on nearly 20 acres at 828 Van Camp Road. Ron Jurgenson of Reichle Klein Group represented both the tenant and the owner, P&J Thayer Family LP. Brinkelman, which is an industrial equipment supplier currently based in Toledo, will utilize the building for its new headquarters.
By Harlan Reichle, Reichle Klein Group As the Toledo, Ohio, area’s retail market proved to be stable and solid in the second half of 2020 and the industrial market continued a remarkable stretch of high performance since the Great Recession, 2020 was a tough year for the office market. However, all three property types have yet to register any negative COVID impact in our latest survey results. Retail Toledo’s retail market proved to be quite stable and solid during the second half of 2020. Given the fraught last year along with the headlines and travails of retail stores, gyms and restaurants, the general public might find this result surprising, but it was clear to our retail leasing brokers since mid-summer 2020 that transaction activity was snapping back fairly quickly after the initial shock of the spring 2020 lockdowns. Our year-end 2020 market survey found overall market vacancy down from both the end of 2019 and mid-year 2020. The decline in anchor vacancy more than offset a small increase among inline spaces as the market absorbed 39,183 square feet of space in the last six months of the year. It is a nearly exact repeat of the market’s performance in the …
CLEVELAND — CrossCountry Mortgage LLC has launched construction of its $46 million headquarters campus in Cleveland’s historic Superior Arts District. The 168,000-square-foot project on Superior Avenue is expected to bring more than 600 full-time jobs to the city. Made possible with support from the City of Cleveland, Team NEO, JobsOhio and the Ohio Development Services Agency, the project includes the restoration and renovation of four industrial buildings dating back to as early as 1913. The site formerly housed the headquarters, packaging and warehouse facility for TAP Packaging + Design. The new headquarters will feature a 4,600-square-foot training center and a 7,100-square-foot common area. Amenities will include a conference center, barista, grab-and-go food pantry, commercial kitchen and an 8,600-square-foot gym with a group fitness studio and lockers. Completion of construction is slated for the end of the year. Founded in 2003, CrossCountry is a retail mortgage lender with nearly 6,800 employees. The company, which is currently based in Brecksville, operates in all 50 states through a network of more than 500 offices.
MISSOURI AND OHIO — Box Equities has acquired two distribution centers in Missouri and Ohio. The first property is a 900,000-square-foot center anchored by Home Depot in Missouri. The second asset is a 150,000-square-foot Pepsi distribution center in Ohio. Seller information and sales prices were undisclosed. New York-based Box Equities, which launched only eight months ago, now owns and manages more than 1.8 million square feet of industrial real estate.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Washington Prime Group (NYSE: WPG), an Ohio-based owner-operator of regional malls and shopping centers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. WPG cited insurmountable operating challenges tied to the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary catalyst behind the move. Against that backdrop, both CNBC and Reuters reported that many of the company’s tenants were unable to pay rent at various points in time over the last 16 months as public health mandates and lockdowns decimated foot traffic throughout the brick-and-mortar retail market. The company, which was originally spun off by Simon Property Group in 2014, has negotiated a restructuring support agreement with its primary creditors, led by Connecticut-based private equity firm SVP Global, which hold approximately 73 percent of WPG’s outstanding corporate debt. The agreement also allows WPG to deleverage its balance sheet by nearly $950 million through the equitization of unsecured notes and a $190 million paydown of WPG’s revolving credit and term loan facilities. Lastly, the RSA provides for an effective four-year extension of the remaining credit facility debt. In addition, WPG has secured $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund its daily operations as it …