THOMPSON'S STATION, TENN. — Mars Petcare and The Nutro Co. have broken ground on the $87 million, 90-acre Regional Innovation Center, located in Thompson's Station. The four-building property, which is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, will serve as the companies' home base for creating future pet care innovations for its North American market. The buildings will include an Innovation Center building, Product Development Center, Shared Services building and the Pet Health and Nutrition Center. Nashville, Tenn.-based Hastings Architecture Association is the lead architect for the project and Brasfield & Gorrie's Nashville office is the general contractor. Completion is slated for spring 2014.
OCONEE, GA. — Oconee 316 Associates has broken ground on the 410,000-square-foot Epps Bridge Center, a retail and entertainment project located at the intersection of Paul Broun Parkway and the Oconee Connector in Oconee. Benning Construction Co. is the general contractor for the project. A 16-screen Georgia Theater Co. stadium-style movie theater will anchor the development. The first phase, which is slated for completion in the summer of 2013, will include 400,000 square feet of retail space. Additional phases will include the development of the outparcels.
HOLLY HILL, FLA. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $2.92 million sale of a 13,662-square-foot Walgreens, located at 1600 N. Nova Rd. in Holly Hill. Walgreens has 6 years remaining on its original lease term. Kevin Yaryan of Marcus & Millichap's Orlando, Fla., office represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — A 3,500-square-foot restaurant building, located at 9135 University Blvd. in North Charleston, has sold for $1.16 million. Johnny Bevon of Avison Young represented Blane Cowart, the buyer, in the transaction. Alex Ramsey of King Street Commercial represented the seller.
BALTIMORE — Everything Warehouse has signed a 54,600-square-foot warehouse lease, located at 1615 Wicomico St. in Baltimore. The property is located at the 325,000-square-foot 1601 Wicomico Street, a recently redeveloped industrial property. McLane Fisher and Ned Brady of Cushman & Wakefield of Maryland represented the tenant in the lease transaction. 1601 Wicomico LLC is the landlord.
CHICAGO — A joint venture between McCaffery Interests and Canyon Johnson Urban Funds (CJUF) has secured financing for the Roosevelt Collection, a mixed-use development in Chicago. The property is located at 150 W. Roosevelt in Chicago's West Loop. Completed in 2009, the building includes 400,000 square feet of retail space, 342 apartment units and a 1,500-space parking garage. The apartment units are 95.6 percent leased and Kerasotes Show Place ICON Theater is currently leasing the retail space. Negotiations are under way with several other retail and restaurant operators to complete retail leasing for the project. Mike Kavanau and Steve Skok led the HFF team that arranged the senior loan through Prime Finance. The loan will fund the repositioning of the retail component of the Roosevelt Collection. The CJUF and McCaffery team is working to construct a new public plaza that will include water features and children's play areas. The improvements are scheduled for completion by the end of the summer.
STAUNTON, ILL. — Kaiser Electric is constructing its portion of an $8 million water treatment plant in Staunton, which is slated for completion in February 2013. The facility is located at 935 N. Easton St., about 25 miles north of downtown St. Louis. About 80 percent of the Staunton Water Treatment Plant will be located underground, with major structures and piping out of view. Kaiser Electric's crews are installing electrical service for the plant and installing two standby generators. Korte & Luitjohan Contractors is the general contractor for the project and Heneghan & Associates is the architect and engineer.
EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL. — ABC Supply Co. has leased 78,000 square feet of industrial space at 104 St. Clair Ave. in East St. Louis. BARBERMurphy Group represented the tenant in the transaction. They also represented the landlord, T&P East Side Investors.
CHICAGO — Jones Lang LaSalle's Capital Markets and Industrial Services has arranged a programmatic joint venture equity vehicle between Sitex Realty Group (SRG) and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, which will seek to acquire more than $140 million of industrial real estate over the next two years. Slated to begin June 1, the venture will target the Chicago, New Jersey and New York metro regions for its acquisitions. SRG will lead and operate the new venture. James Tramuto, Keith Stauber, John Huguenard, Dave Hendrickson and Sean Devaney led the Jones Lang LaSalle team in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Stellar Management and Imperium Capital has purchased two SoHo office buildings located at 161 Avenue of the Americas and 233 Spring St. The buildings total 650,000 square feet and industry sources have cited a purchase price of $200 million. There were no brokers involved in the transaction. The properties are located within the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, a lower Manhattan neighborhood bounded by West Houston Street on the north, Canal Street on the south, 6th Avenue on the east and the Hudson River on the west. Hudson Square is home to several design and media companies.