TREXLERTOWN, PA. — Home Depot (NYSE: HD) will open a 136,000-square-foot store at Macungie Crossing, a 182,000-square-foot shopping center that is under construction in the Lehigh Valley community of Trexlertown. New York City-based RD Management is developing the project, construction of which is underway and expected to be complete next summer. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer now operates about 70 stores in Pennsylvania.
Norris & Stevens Brokers $5.1M Acquisition of River Road Plaza Office/Retail Asset in Eugene, Oregon
EUGENE, ORE. — Norris & Stevens has arranged the purchase of River Road Plaza, an office and retail property located at 155 Silver Lane in Eugene. KH Properties acquired the asset from River Road Plaza LLC for $5.1 million. Situated in Eugene’s Santa Clara neighborhood, River Road Plaza features 32,548 square feet of space. At the time of sale, the property was 92 percent occupied. Todd VanDomelen of Portland-based Norris & Stevens represented the buyer, while CPX LLC represented the seller in the deal.
CLEARWATER, FLA. — An affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies has purchased the Clearwater Collection, a distressed shopping center spanning 13 acres at 21800 U.S. Highway 19 N in the Tampa suburb of Clearwater, for $22.5 million. The 134,362-square-foot property is located adjacent to BayCare Ballpark, a city-owned baseball arena that the Phillies lease for its Spring Training operations, as well as its Minor League Baseball affiliate team, the Clearwater Threshers. Control of the underlying land affords the Phillies the opportunity to plan for future redevelopment near the park. Michael Vullis of Avison Young was the court-appointed receiver of Clearwater Collection, which recently went into bankruptcy. Vullis and Avison Young colleagues John Crotty, Michael Fay, David Duckworth, Nick Robinson and Brian de la Fé represented the seller, an entity doing business as Clearwater Collection 15, in the transaction. Floor & Décor is the sole occupant of the shopping center and currently occupies 49 percent of the property’s leasable area.
CRYSTAL LAKE, ILL. — Northmarq has brokered the $34.7 million sale of a freestanding grocery store property occupied by Mariano’s in the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake. Built in 2018, the property spans 74,800 square feet. The grocery store features a Starbucks, sushi bar, pizza oven, oyster bar and sweets shop. Jason Maier of Northmarq represented the seller, a New York-based private investor. The New York-based buyer completed a 1031 exchange.
HOUSTON — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Bissonnet Beltway Plaza, a 29,205-square-foot retail property in southwest Houston. According to LoopNet Inc., the property was built on 5.6 acres in 1978. Alex Wolansky and Gus Lagos of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
DALLAS — Immersive Gamebox, a British entertainment concept centered on interactive digital gaming, will open a new venue at 2525 Elm St. in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. Immersive Gamebox, which also has locations in San Antonio, The Woodlands and at the 433-acre Grandscape mixed-use development in metro Dallas, expects to open the Deep Ellum facility before the end of the month.
WESTMINSTER, COLO. — Willow Run Investors, an entity operated by Gart Properties, has completed the sale of Willow Run, a retail center located at 12900-12910 Zuni St. in Westminster. Denver-based CentrePoint Properties acquired the asset for $10.9 million. Tenants at the 91,565-square-foot shopping center include Frolic Brewing Co. and Big Liquor Warehouse. The property also offers ample parking and close proximity to Interstate 25. Jon Hendrickson, Aaron Johnson and Mitch Veremeychik of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction.
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $4.9 million sale of a 30,327-square-foot retail center in Mount Laurel, located outside of Philadelphia in Southern New Jersey. A 7-Eleven store anchors the property, which sits on 4.4 acres at 3163 Marne Highway. Andrew Schwartz, Jordan Sobel and Andre Balthazard of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, an affiliate of New Jersey-based developer The Becker Organization, in the transaction. The trio also procured the buyer, an entity doing business as 3163 Holdings LLC.
By Tom Georges, investment sales broker, Northmarq The U.S. economy reported annualized growth of 2.6 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter, thereby avoiding a third consecutive quarter of negative growth. This positive news can be easily tempered by the fact that the growth was greatly affected by trade and inventory numbers, which were skewed as a result of world events like the war in Ukraine. But the news of growth was welcomed in an economy that has been starved for something positive for most of the year. Compounding the economic caution in the absence of sustained economic growth, of course, is the strain that inflation has inflicted on all Americans. In response to 40-year inflationary highs, the Federal Reserve has been forced to react with its primary inflation-countering tool: increasing interest rates. In early November, the Fed raised short-term rates to their highest level since January 2008. Additional rate hikes are anticipated in December, although signals suggest we’ll see increases in smaller increments going forward. Still, amid all the turmoil and uncertainty, several quick service restaurant (QSR) operators continue to roll out expansion plans and report better-than-expected sales and earnings. Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR) recently …
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Project Destined: Training a New and Diverse Generation for Real Estate Careers
For the better part of the last two decades, billions of dollars have poured into underserved neighborhoods across the U.S. as corporations, millennials and real estate investors rediscovered downtowns and other urban districts. But to former Carlyle Group executive Cedric Bobo and real estate entrepreneur Fred Greene, young people who grew up in the neighborhoods were often excluded from playing a role in the transitions. To remedy that problem, in 2016 they began training 15 Detroit high school students in real estate fundamentals and invested $150,000 to buy two properties with the idea of using the cash flow to fund scholarships. Soon after, Bobo and Greene officially launched Project Destined, an endeavor to effect social change in the commercial real estate industry by providing college students with financial literacy, entrepreneurship and real estate training. “Cedric found that there was a real need for diverse talent in commercial real estate but that it was hard for companies to find it,” reports Cristina Ciacciarelli, a junior at Burach College in New York City who completed the program in 2021 and now heads up corporate partnerships for Project Destined. “It was also hard for the companies to sell themselves to diverse talent even …