PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Provident Bank has signed a 23,000-square-foot office lease in the Northern New Jersey community of Parsippany. The lender is taking space at the 200,000-square-foot building at 9 Entin Road. Jeff Babikian and Mark Trevisan of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Jamie Drummond, Andrew Perrotti and Luke Reid of Newmark represented the landlord, American Equity Partners.
By Ryan Brittain, Colliers Speculative construction has always carried a certain boldness in industrial real estate. Building without a tenant can either signal visionary thinking or a bold bet on future demand. In metro Detroit, that confidence was on full display during the post-COVID boom. To meet the surge in tenant demand, highly respected industrial developers raced to deliver modern distribution space across the region. At the height, preleasing was not always necessary but often occurred. Developers pushed forward on new Class A warehouses, confident that tenant requirements would catch up and, for a time, they did. Yet here we are in 2026, and speculative development is not an idea of the past. It is returning, this time with more discipline. This is not another Resurgit cineribus Detroit comeback story, but rather a thoughtful recalibration. The “Return of the Spec” reflects a market that has matured and learned, not one that has overheated. To understand it today, it helps to revisit how we arrived. As a wave of newly completed speculative projects delivered (at one point, the market saw 12 million square feet under construction), availability expanded. Shortly thereafter, the automotive industry hit an uncertain patch in late 2023. Vacancy …
EL PASO, TEXAS — Dallas-based development and investment firm Green Point Property Co. is underway on construction of Sky Park El Paso, a 200-acre industrial project. Phase I will consist of two buildings: a 443,975-square-foot, cross-dock warehouse/flex building and an adjacent 192,490-square-foot, rear-load building. Project partners include Silverado Interests (equity partner), Stellar Bank (construction lender), Ridgemont Commercial Construction (general contractor) and CBRE (leasing agent). Phase I is expected to be substantially complete before the end of the year.
DALLAS — Harbert South Bay will develop The Marianne on Inwood, a 162-unit seniors housing project in Dallas. The site is adjacent to the Highland Park area, and the 294,000-square-foot facility will offer independent living, assisted living and memory care residences. Amenities will include multiple dining venues, indoor and outdoor pools, a gym, hair salon, media lounge and a golf simulator. Project partners include Arcadis (architect), Bozzuto Construction (general contractor) and Momentum Senior Living (operator). Construction will begin in the coming weeks, and completion is scheduled for 2027.
MANVEL, TEXAS — Lowe’s Home Improvement has opened a 94,000-square-foot store in Manvel, a southern suburb of Houston. The store, which includes 30,000-square-foot garden and nursery and will ultimately employ about 100 people, is located within Weitzman’s 273-acre Manvel Town Center mixed-use development. James Namken, Kyle Knight and Emily Guenther represented Weitzman in the lease negotiations on an internal basis. Lowe’s was self-represented.
ATLANTA — Rockefeller Group has unveiled plans for Alina, a 357-unit apartment community within the 1072 West Peachtree mixed-use tower in Midtown Atlanta. At 749 feet, the 60-story tower will be the tallest new building to be built in the city in the past three decades, according to Rockefeller. Alina will feature a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as penthouse units that feature private parking spaces. Alina’s residents will have access to an acre of indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, including a resort-style pool, pickleball court, dog run on the 20th floor, indoor Yoga and Pilates studio, private training studio and a clubroom with two fireplace lounges, billiards, shuffleboard, an entertaining kitchen, golf simulator and an indoor/outdoor porch lounge. The property will also feature The Pavilion at 1072, which is billed as the largest outdoor deck in Midtown Atlanta. The 1072 West Peachtree tower will also include 224,000 square feet of Class A offices below the apartments and 6,300 square feet of ground-level retail space. Bozzuto will lead leasing efforts for Alina, which is expected to begin in the second quarter. Rockefeller expects to deliver the tower this spring.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — A partnership between two investment firms, Austin-based Fortum and Denver-based Quannah Partners, has purchased a roughly 6,000-square-foot retail building in Austin with plans to implement a redevelopment. According to LoopNet Inc., the building at 1612 S. Congress Ave., which is located just south of downtown, was originally constructed in 1935. Ownership plans to undertake both an adaptive reuse of the existing structure and an expansion to bring the building’s footprint to roughly 10,700 square feet.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Kane Realty Corp. has broken on Tributary, a multifamily community located within the North Hills Innovation District (NHID) in Raleigh’s North Hills neighborhood. Set to open in spring 2028, the mid-rise property will include 332 apartments, 6,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, two courtyards, a digital content creation studio, wellness center and new greenway connections. The design-build team includes architect Hickok Cole, general contractor John Moriarty & Associates and civil engineer McAdams. Kane Realty is working with the City of Raleigh for Tributary and future phases of NHID to integrate into the city’s road and greenway infrastructure. Additionally, Kane Realty has acquired 28 acres to expand NHID and recently brought in Los Angeles-based McCourt Partners as a development partner. Future projects within NHID will include a residential high-rise and a mixed-use building next to Tributary, as well as mixed-use development along I-440 and pop-up retail and programming. Hush Salon recently opened below Tower 5 at NHID, and upcoming openings include Benchwarmers Bagels and Standard Beer + Food.
NEW ORLEANS — JLL has arranged a $61 million loan for Energy Centre, a 757,257-square-foot office tower located at 1100 Poydras St. in New Orleans. Situated in city’s central business district, the Class A, 39-story building is the fourth-tallest property in New Orleans, according to JLL. Scott Aiese, Alex Staikos and Clayton Ross of JLL arranged the fixed-rate, five-year permanent loan on behalf of the borrower, Triangle Capital Group. Fully renovated in 2009, Energy Centre was 86.4 percent leased at the time of loan closing to a tenant mix that includes legal, finance, medical and other professional services, with a weighted average lease tenure (WALT) of nearly 18 years.
HUNTSVILLE, ALA. — A joint venture between Essex Capital and Ascend Property Group has begun leasing at The Residences at Front Row, a 545-unit multifamily community in downtown Huntsville. Move-ins for the first 190 apartments are targeted for June, according to the development team. The property is the first phase of Front Row, a $220 million mixed-use development that will feature residences, offices and 50,000 square feet of shops and restaurants surrounding a central green space, as well as art installations and outdoor patios. In addition to Essex Capital and Ascend, the development team of The Residences at Front Row includes affiliates of Silverstein Properties, Cantor Fitzgerald and Arctaris Impact Investors. Other project team members include Crunkleton Associates (retail broker), Torti Gallas + Partners and Matheny Goldmon (architects), Vida Design (interior designer), ARCO/Murray (general contractor) and The VOREA Group (construction oversight).