ITASCA, ILL. — Sonica International, a freight forwarding company, has signed a 43,672-square-foot industrial lease at 1420 W. Thorndale Ave. in Itasca. Dustin Albers, Andrew Maletich and Matt Garland of Cawley Chicago represented the tenant, which will utilize the space to separate its ocean and air freight. Hamilton Partners owns the building.
PEORIA, ILL. — Quantum Real Estate Advisors Inc. has brokered the sale of a retail strip center in Peoria for $4.4 million. Aspen Dental and Vitamin Shoppe anchor the property, which is located at 5116 N. Big Hollow Road. Zack Hilgendorf of Quantum represented the seller, a Miami-based developer that originally built the center in 2010. The property sold to a Chicago-based buyer.
CHESTERFIELD, VA. — Danish toymaker LEGO Group has released plans for a 1.7 million-square-foot factory in Chesterfield, a southern suburb of Richmond. Over the course of 10 years, LEGO estimates it will invest $1 billion in the project and generate 1,760 jobs. Located on 340 acres, the project also includes a solar park that will produce 100 percent of the factory’s energy needs. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, with full production beginning in 2025. The property will be LEGO’s seventh factory worldwide, its second in North America and its first in the United States. LEGO factories in Europe and China are also being expanded, and in December 2021, the privately held toymaker announced plans to build a factory in Vietnam to support further growth in Asia. The industrial expansion is part of the company’s goal to shorten supply chains and reduce its carbon footprint. The project is also designed to meet LEED Gold standards. “More and more families are falling in love with LEGO building, and we are looking forward to making LEGO bricks in the United States, one of our largest markets,” says Niels Christiansen, CEO of LEGO Group. “The location in Virginia allows us to build …
DALLAS — Completing the lease-up and stabilization of new communities in a timely and cost-efficient manner is the most difficult aspect of developing active adult properties in the current environment. Such is the assertion of developers that are immersing themselves more deeply in this fast-growing sector of commercial real estate, which lies somewhere in between traditional multifamily and independent living on the spectrum of residential uses and services provided. The challenges of fast and effective lease-up programs are attributable to several factors that are unique to the emerging asset class, which also tussles with obstacles like rising construction and operating costs that are impacting all product types in all major markets. A panel of industry professionals with experience in developing and operating both traditional multifamily and seniors housing properties spoke to these challenges during the second-annual InterFace Active Adult conference on June 2. Held at the Dallas Downtown Marriott Hotel, the event also featured insight and analysis from lenders, investors and architects that are active in the space, as well as active adult renters themselves. Ryan Maconachy, vice president at Newmark, moderated the development panel, which kicked off the main day of the conference with a discussion of what the …
By Jason Baxter, president and CEO, Fort Capital While some might think that industrial warehouses are overflowing with e-commerce tenants, in Fort Worth, we have seen another tenant mix grow at an even more rapid pace: service providers. These are the plumbers, landscapers and electricians that work behind the scenes to keep cities running. With population growth skyrocketing in Fort Worth, the industrial space needed by these service providers is also growing at a rapid rate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest population estimates, Fort Worth’s population increase was the third-largest in the country between 2019 and 2020, a period during which the city added more than 19,000 new residents. This increase allowed Fort Worth to jump from No. 13 to No. 12 in terms of the largest U.S. cities based on population. We often forget that population growth at this scale impacts all facets of real estate — housing, office, entertainment, industrial. Each of these uses requires various types of service providers to maintain. Fort Worth and similar fast-growing markets do not have enough space to support this growing segment of the tenant base in addition to the e-commerce and logistics users that have become the face of …
SNELLVILLE, GA. — Stan Johnson Co. has brokered the $97 million sale of The Shoppes at Webb Gin, an open-air shopping center in the Atlanta suburb of Snellville. Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp. (CRC) purchased the 330,000-square-foot center, which was originally branded The Avenue Webb Gin when it was delivered in 2006 by Atlanta-based Cousins Properties. Margaret Caldwell and Patrick Kelley of Stan Johnson Co. represented the seller, New York City-based Olshan Properties, in the transaction. Sprouts Farmers Market, Barnes & Noble and DSW anchor the center, which offers 70 units across eight buildings. The property was 89 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including H&M, LensCrafters, Kirkland’s, Victoria’s Secret, American Eagle, LOFT, Chili’s Grill & Bar and Sephora. The center is situated on 48 acres, which includes available land for additional development along with a build-to-suit outparcel.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — JLL has arranged debt and equity construction financing totaling $93.2 million for the second phase of development of The Joinery, a multifamily project in Charlotte’s Mill District. Travis Anderson, Cory Fowler, Warren Johnson and Ryan Pride of JLL arranged the financing on behalf of the borrowers, Charlotte-based Space Craft and California-based Swinerton. The financing package included $28 million in equity that was raised from 480 individual investors on CrowdStreet and a $65.2 million loan from Benefit Street Partners. Set to open in 2023 at 1816 N. Brevard St. and 420 E. 22nd St., the two-building development will feature 361 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as 17,384 square feet of ground-floor retail space and amenities including a rooftop patio and fitness centers in both buildings. Phase I of The Joinery opened earlier this year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Electra America Hospitality Group, a joint venture between investment firm Electra America and extended stay hotelier AKA, has purchased One Washington Circle, a 152-room hotel in Washington, D.C. George Washington University (GWU) sold the hotel to the buyer for an undisclosed price. Savills USA represented GWU in the transaction. The new ownership plans to undertake a $30 million renovation to the asset and reopen in June 2023 as an AKA-branded development that specializes in weekly and monthly stays. Built in 1964 and renovated in 2003, the nine-story hotel is situated in D.C.’s West End neighborhood near GWU’s main campus, George Washington University Hospital, Foggy Bottom Metro Station and major institutions including World Bank and IMF.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Growth Capital Partners (GCP), an industrial real estate developer and owner based in Birmingham, plans to develop a 237,500-square-foot industrial facility near JAXPORT (Jacksonville Port Authority). GCP recently purchased a 37.8-acre site on Alta Drive near JAXPORT’s Blount Island and Dames Point terminals with plans to break ground in July on the project. Dubbed Port Commerce Center, the front-load, concrete tilt-wall project will feature 32-foot clear heights, a 130-foot truck court and land for trailer storage. GCP has tapped Bryan Bartlett of Newmark to lease the property. Newmark also represented the land seller, an entity doing business as Alta Jacksonville Holdings, in the transaction. Birmingham-based Vardaman Construction LLC is the general contractor of Port Commerce Center, which is GCP’s fourth industrial project underway. The developer is also building industrial facilities in Texas and Tennessee.
SLIDELL, LA. — SRS Real Estate Partners’ Investment Properties Group has arranged the sale of Village at Northshore, a 114,638-square-foot shopping center in Slidell, about 40 miles north of downtown New Orleans. Woodmont Acquisitions LLC purchased the asset from an affiliate of Atlanta-based RCG Ventures for $12.4 million. Kyle Stonis and Pierce Mayson of SRS represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer was self-represented. Spanning nearly 13 acres, Village at Northshore was built in 1988 and renovated in 2020. The majority of the property’s tenants are national retailers, including Marshalls, JoAnn, Dollar Tree, Boot Barn and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.
