FIRESTONE, COLO. — SRS Real Estate Partners has negotiated the sale of a retail building located at 10935 Colorado Blvd. in Firestone. An East Coast-based developer sold the asset to a local private investor for $5.4 million. The Learning Experience occupies the 10,000-square-foot building, which was built in 2023, under a new 15-year lease. Ryan Tomkins of SRS Capital Markets represented the seller in the deal.
By Taylor Williams DALLAS — It’s an exceptionally challenging time to be developing retail space in the metroplex. Pick your poison: Interest rates that have tripled in two years, restricted proceeds from lenders, longer entitlement and permitting times, limited land for new projects. Between all these barriers to growth, the deck is seemingly stacked against brick-and-mortar retail developers these days, despite the fact that in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), occupancy is very high and population growth shows little sign of slowing. Of course, each of those factors is exacerbated with large-scale developments. More land and rentable square footage require the raising of more debt and equity, which translates to heftier interest and dividend payments, respectively. If the site is an assemblage, then predevelopment is more time-consuming, and with the push outward to new suburban paths of growth, those sites may not already be zoned for retail. If rents aren’t trending upward, those factors alone can kill a project in its infancy. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. For all these reasons, some owner-operators see opportunity in building smaller …
DALLAS — Duro Hospitality, the group behind brands such as The Charles, Mister Charles, Café Duro, Casa Duro and El Carlos Elegante, will open a new, 7,500-square-foot restaurant in the Preston Center area of North Dallas. The name and concept behind the restaurant were not disclosed, but the space is located on the ground floor of 8111 Douglas, a 225,000-square-foot office building owned by Lincoln Property Co. The restaurant opening is slated for late 2025.
ATLANTA — The Athlete’s Foot, a shoe and sports apparel retailer with 400 stores in 24 countries, has opened its corporate headquarters and flagship store in Midtown Atlanta. The retailer’s new home at 931 Monroe Drive also includes a community center component that will serve as “cultural hub” for community engagement. The Athlete’s Foot’s new headquarters and flagship store is situated along the Atlanta BeltLine adjacent to Piedmont Park. Project partners included prominently Black-owned companies, including T. Dallas Smith & Co. (real estate advisor), J.M. Lee Construction Co. (general contractor) and Aysha Pennerman (mural artist).
JACKSONVILLE, ALA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Jacksonville Crossing, a 56,401-square-foot shopping center located at 1555 Pelham Road S in Jacksonville, a city in northeast Alabama. The sales price was not disclosed. Philip Levy and Zach Taylor of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and secured the buyer, both of which are private investors that requested anonymity. Eddie Greenhalgh served as Marcus & Millichap’s broker of record in Alabama for the transaction. Situated about 36 miles from Talladega Superspeedway, Jacksonville Crossing was 67 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Dollar Tree, Baja California Grill, Cricket Wireless and Five Below, which recently signed a new 10-year lease at the center.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — Women’s undergarment apparel retailer Victoria’s Secret has signed a lease to occupy 8,000 square feet on Lincoln Road, a high street retail corridor in Miami Beach. Jonathan Carter and Ryan Brodsky of Colliers represented the landlord, ALTO Real Estate Funds, in the long-term lease negotiations. Brandon Nocella of Strategic Retail Advisors represented the tenant. The store at 900-904 Lincoln Road will serve as the new flagship location in the city for Victoria’s Secret, which is relocating from an adjacent location at 901 Lincoln Road. The specialty retailer is backfilling space formerly occupied by Aerie and Express.
CHICAGO — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has brokered the sale of a fully occupied, multi-tenant retail property in the heart of Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood for an undisclosed price. The standalone building at 227 E. Ontario St. is leased to Sweetgreen, Nando’s, CorePower Yoga, Big City Optical and Movement Physical Therapy. Joe Girardi and Emily Gadomski of Mid-America represented the undisclosed seller. The Shiner Group was the buyer.
SEATTLE — Gantry has secured a total of $34.3 million of loans to refinance four Seattle-area assets owned by different and unaffiliated entities. Each transaction was placed with one of Gantry’s life company correspondent lenders and each structure provided the borrowers with non-recourse, fixed-rate loans. Mike Wood of Gantry represented three of the borrowers. The financings included:
SOUTHFIELD, MICH. AND JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Southfield-based Sterling Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: SBT), the holding company of Sterling Bank and Trust FSB, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its shares to Jacksonville-based EverBank Financial Corp. for $261 million. The sale is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval by Sterling’s shareholders. Sterling’s board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. As a condition of the sale, Sterling will sell its residential mortgage loans to Delaware-based Bayview Acquisitions LLC. The closing of the loan sale is to occur immediately prior to the closing of the sale of the bank. In December 2022, Sterling engaged Keefe Bruyette & Woods to serve as financial advisor to assist in exploring and evaluating potential opportunities for a strategic combination with another bank. As that process began, Sterling was also finalizing a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. “Ultimately, Sterling’s board of directors determined that there was no practical way to pursue any form of standalone independent operations given the extremely high costs required and the multiple years needed to execute a new strategic vision without risking ongoing …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Wingstop has leased 1,600 square feet at Frolics Plaza Shopping Center in Kansas City. Jody Minder of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors represented the undisclosed landlord, while Andrew Sandburg of Lane4 Property Group represented the tenant. Construction will start immediately to devise the 3,250-square-foot space, with 1,600 square feet utilized for Wingstop and the remaining available for lease. Wingstop is expected to open in summer 2025. Frolics Plaza is home to Rainbow Chinese Restaurant, Ixtapa Fine Mexican Cuisine, Moti Mahal Indian Restaurant, ISmoke Vape Shop and Smoothie King. Block & Co. handles leasing and management of the property.
