AUSTIN, TEXAS — General contractor Vaughn Construction is nearing completion of the initial phase of a $135 million office project in Austin for the Texas Facilities Commission, an agency that manages government buildings throughout the state. The project includes a nine-story office building, central utility plant and an 1,850-space parking garage. Approximately 1,500 employees from the Texas Health & Human Services Commission will occupy the building beginning in June. Details about subsequent phases were not disclosed.
BLAIR, NEB. — Clayco is serving as design-builder for Dollar General’s new distribution center in Blair, about 25 miles north of Omaha. Clayco recently broke ground on the $85 million property, which will span 800,000 square feet on 85 acres. Designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the building will handle both dry and fresh items for the discount retailer. The facility will also include 180,000 square feet of cold storage space. Once fully operational in 2022, the development will create an estimated 400 new jobs in the surrounding community. The project is expected to add approximately $106 million annually to a 10-county area as well as provide $300,000 in job training funds. This project marks the sixth distribution center that Clayco will build for Dollar General. In August, Dollar General unveiled plans for the expansion of its cold storage footprint nationwide.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Hodges Ward Elliott, a hospitality brokerage firm with offices across the country, has arranged the sale of four Omni Hotels & Resorts in Texas. The hotels are located in the metro areas of each of the state’s four largest markets: Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The hotels were sold as part of a five-property, 1,729-room portfolio transaction, with the fifth hotel located in Jacksonville, Fla. John Bourret, Daniel Peek, Austin Brooks and David Auer of Hodges Ward Elliott represented the seller, TRT Holdings, the Dallas-based owner-operator of the Omni family of brands. The undisclosed buyer plans to renovate and rebrand all five hotels.
Mia Rose Holdings Unveils Plans for Multi-Building Multifamily Project in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri
DARDENNE PRAIRIE, MO. — Mia Rose Holdings has unveiled plans for the development of Old Town Square, a multi-building apartment project in Dardenne Prairie, a western suburb of St. Louis. Mia Rose is developing the project in partnership with Benton Homebuilders and Jim Cook, Imo’s Pizza franchisee and co-owner of Sugarfire Smokehouse. The joint venture team, known as Bryan 364 Junction LLC, plans to break ground on the project in June. Completion is slated for December 2022. The development recently received zoning approval from the city. Plans call for the construction of five apartment buildings consisting of 120 one-bedroom units and 60 two-bedroom units. Additionally, Benton Homebuilders will construct nine buildings with 60 villas, each with three bedrooms, a basement and a two-car garage. The villas will be available for lease. One of the apartment buildings will feature 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. An additional 4,500-square-foot retail space will be home to a new Imo’s Pizza. Amenities will include a pool, outdoor lounge, business room, coffee bar, fitness center and dog park. The project architects are Rosemann & Associates and DL Design. Premier Design Group is serving as civil engineer. The property manager will be 2B Residential.
MINNEAPOLIS — Riding on the strength of digital sales, Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) reported that its fourth-quarter sales grew 20.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. The Minneapolis-based retailer’s quarter ended Jan. 30. Comparable store sales increased 6.9 percent while digital sales grew 118 percent, accounting for two-thirds of the company’s overall growth. Same-day services such as order pickup grew 212 percent, led by more than 500 percent growth in drive-up services. CNBC reported that Target’s earnings topped Wall Street’s estimates, as its sales got a lift from a strong holiday season and stimulus checks. For the year, Target’s 2020 sales growth of more than $15 billion was greater than the company’s total sales growth over the prior 11 years. “Following years of investment to build a durable, scalable and sustainable business model, we saw record growth in 2020, as our guests turned to Target to safely provide for their families throughout the pandemic,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO, in a news release. Target’s stock price opened at $190.27 per share Tuesday, March 2, up from $109.06 per share one year ago.
CLEVELAND — KeyBank has secured $18.6 million in financing for the construction of Slavic Village Gateway, an 88-unit affordable housing property in Cleveland. The two-building project will feature 21,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space as well as 10 townhomes. The property will feature 23 units for renters that earn at or below 30 percent of area median income (AMI) and 65 units for those who earn at or below 60 percent of AMI. KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) secured a $12.5 million construction loan, while KeyBank’s Commercial Mortgage Group arranged a $6.1 million forward commitment for a Freddie Mac permanent loan. Additionally, the project will use 9 percent low-income housing tax credit equity from the Ohio Capital Corp. for Housing, $600,000 from the City of Cleveland and $1.5 million from University Settlement, which is a nonprofit social service agency that will occupy some of the project’s retail space. Kyle Kolesar of KeyBank’s CDLI team and Robbie Lyn of KeyBank’s Commercial Mortgage Group structured the financing on behalf of the developer, The NRP Group LLC.
SPRINGDALE, ARK. — CBRE has arranged a $30.1 million sale-leaseback of 13 freestanding grocery stores leased to Harps Foods Stores Inc. totaling 459,525 square feet in Arkansas and Missouri. Harps sold the portfolio to New Jersey-based Essential Properties Realty Trust Inc. Will Lightfoot, Jason Little, David Erstine and Hunter Groce of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction. Since 2015, CBRE assisted Harps in sale-leaseback transactions totaling $110 million. All 13 properties were sold subject to new, long-term net leases with Harps and will continue to operate under Harps-operated brands, including Harps Food Stores and 10Box. The sale will not affect store operations in any way. Harp’s Food Stores Inc., based in Springdale, is a chain of 113 supermarkets located across Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. In 2001, the company did a leveraged buy-out with the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) purchasing outstanding stock from the family and management. Harps is the largest employee-owned company headquartered in Arkansas and the 20th largest in the United States.
CHANHASSEN, MINN. — JLL Capital Markets has negotiated the $5.5 million sale of Olive Branch Estates in Chanhassen, a suburb of Minneapolis. The 24-unit, 28-bed memory care facility was constructed in 2015. The one-story property sits on 4.6 acres. John Klement of JLL represented the seller, a private owner and operator. The buyer, a limited liability company, has retained Elysian Senior Homes to operate the community. The sales price represents a cap rate of 8.75 percent.
DALLAS — Locally based hospitality investment firm NewcrestImage has purchased the Magnolia Hotel, a 325-room hotel located at 1401 Commerce St. across the street from AT&T’s headquarters office in downtown Dallas. The historic 29-story building was originally constructed in 1922 as the headquarters for Magnolia Petroleum and was redeveloped into a boutique hotel in 1999. NewcrestImage purchased the property from Denver-based Stout Street Hospitality for an undisclosed price. John Bourret, Daniel Peek, Austin Brooks and David Auer of Hodges Ward Elliott brokered the deal.
HOUSTON — A partnership between locally based investment firm Hicks Ventures and New York City-based Taconic Capital has completed the $6 million renovation of 1177 West Loop South, a 341,947-square-foot office building in Houston. The program upgraded the 18-story building’s lobby, conference facilities, common areas, café, fitness center and outdoor patios. Transwestern provides leasing services for the property. Hicks Ventures purchased the building in the spring of 2019 and started the renovation in early 2020.