AURORA, COLO. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of a restaurant property located at 25455 E. Smoky Hill Road in Aurora, a suburb east of Denver. A developer sold the asset to a local all-cash investor in a 1031 exchange for $2.6 million. Starbucks Coffee occupies the 2,155-square-foot property on a net-lease basis. James Rassenfoss and Drew Isaac of Marcus & Millichap’s Denver office represented the seller, while Kyle Malnati at Kentwood Commercial represented the buyer in the deal.
CHICAGO — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has arranged the sale of Lawndale Plaza, a 104,240-square-foot shopping center in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. Anchored by Freshway Market, the property is home to Citi Trends, Taco Bell, PNC, Rainbow, Cosmo Superstore and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Rick Drogosz and Emily Gadomski of Mid-America represented the seller, Mercer Street Holdings Three. Acre Investment Co. LLC was the buyer.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Entertainment concept Level99 has opened a new, 40,000-square-foot venue at Providence Place, a shopping mall located just northwest of the capital city’s downtown area. Comprising 43 rooms, the facility offers interactive challenges as well as a restaurant, Night Shift Brewing Kitchen & Tap. Investment fund Act III Holdings, led by Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich, backs Level99. Brookfield Properties owns Providence Place.
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — Crate & Barrel Outlet will open a 23,400-square-foot store in Lawrenceville, a northern suburb of Trenton. The space is located within Mercer on One, a 551,000-square-foot shopping center that was originally built in 1975. Alana Friedman and David Townes of JLL represented Crate & Barrel Outlet in the lease negotiations. Jeff Fischer represented the landlord, Federal Realty Investment Trust, on an internal basis.
HUNTSVILLE, ALA. — A joint venture between Essex Capital and Ascend Property Group has broken ground on Front Row, an 11-acre mixed-use project in downtown Huntsville. The $220 million first phase of Front Row is now underway, following news last week that Banco Inbursa and a group led by Keel Point and Opportunity Alabama provided $115 million in construction financing. The first retail space is slated for delivery in late 2025, followed by apartments and office space in early 2026. Upon full build-out, the first phase of Front Row will comprise two six-story buildings featuring 545 apartments, 36,000 square feet of office space and 47,000 square feet of retail space. Further plans for the project — including a hotel, a class A office tower and luxury condos — will be disclosed at a later date, according to the developers. The development will be situated across from the Von Braun Center, a 170,000-square-foot entertainment center that opened its doors in 1975. The developers state that Front Row is intended to interlink the Von Braun Center with other key areas of the city, such as Big Spring Park, Fountain Circle, University of Alabama Huntsville and Downtown Greenway. The project’s team also includes …
— By Tami Lord, Senior Vice President, SRS Real Estate Partners — No longer the Cowtown of ages past, Denver has developed into an economically diverse, midsized city as demonstrated by both the residential and business growth over the last decade. Major companies now include Denver on their target list for potential headquarters, regional hubs, and distribution locations. Compared to the coastal markets, Denver is more affordable and offers a very desirable quality of life for employees, helping to put Denver on the short list. The pandemic only increased Denver’s growth trajectory. All of a sudden, people were able to maintain their current employment while living in a setting known for over 300 days of sun annually with easy access to hiking, skiing, biking, camping…the list goes on. The population growth has spurred rising housing and land prices. Coupled with rising construction costs, increasing real estate taxes, long permitting times and a tight employment market, traditional retail development has slowed. The lack of significant new development has pushed retail vacancy to a near-record low of 4.1 percent across the metro, according to data from CoStar. Many downtown retail markets across the country have been hit with higher vacancy rates in …
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — JLL has arranged the $29 million sale of Oakbrook Station, a Lowes Foods-anchored shopping center located at 10020 Dorchester Road in Summerville, a suburb of Charleston. Brad Buchanan, Tom Kolarczyk, Jim Hamilton and Andrew Michols of JLL represented the seller, LBX Investments, in the transaction. New York City-based Kempner Properties purchased the property in partnership with Peter Braus and James Wacht of Lee & Associates. Built in 1997 and renovated in 2017, Oakbrook Station spans 138,137 square feet and was 99 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including the U.S. Postal Service, Community Thrift and Dollar Tree.
BELLEVILLE, MICH. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $5.4 million sale of Van Buren Plaza in Belleville, a southwest suburb of Detroit. The 43,765-square-foot retail center is located at 11824 Belleville Road and was 94 percent occupied at the time of sale by a mix of local, regional and national tenants. Alex Perez and Chris Garavaglia of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer, a limited liability company. Seller information was not provided.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Banksia is opening a 5,300-square-foot restaurant at 1111 Main, the largest office building in Kansas City, according to owner Copaken Brooks. The Australian-inspired café and bistro is relocating from its existing downtown location at 105 W. 9th St. The new restaurant is slated to open this spring. Copaken Brooks is performing the owner’s representative services for Banksia’s build-out. Banksia will offer patio seating, a full bar, coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner service as well as private event spaces. Tiffany Ruzicka of AREA Real Estate Advisors represented the tenant, while Erin Johnston of Copaken Brooks represented ownership.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $4.9 million sale of a 10,900-square-foot retail and medical office building in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. The building at 1670 E. 17th St. has 12 suites and is zoned for up to 4,700 square feet of expansion. Jakub Nowak of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which were private investors that requested anonymity, in the transaction.
