ANTIOCH, CALIF. — Capital Rivers Commercial has arranged the sale of a retail asset located at 111 E. 18th St. in Antioch. San Jose-based DLP Investments sold the property to Antioch-based Antioch Partners for $3.1 million. Situated on 2.5 acres, the asset is a 33,000-square-foot, second-generation grocery store. Capital Rivers Commercial represented the buyer and seller in the deal.
Retail
By David Nicolson, president, Weitzman San Antonio In March 2020, health officials first used the term “pandemic” in reference to COVID-19. Since then, our communities, economy, commercial real estate industry and retailers and restaurants have gone through a year of challenges that few could have foreseen at the start of 2020. The fact that today we are in better shape than we could have predicted during the shutdown a year ago shows that the disruptions caused by the pandemic have been met with innovation, creativity and plain hard work. Here in San Antonio, those disruptions did result in a number of retail and restaurant closings. But since the second half of 2020, we’ve seen an upswing in tenant demand. In terms of closings, Sears closed its 150,000-square-foot store at South Park Mall and its approximately 134,000-square-foot store at Rolling Oaks Mall. With these store closings, Sears — once the nation’s largest retailer — no longer has a presence in the San Antonio market. Other closures include Stein Mart (three box vacancies), Pier 1 (five closed stores), Gold’s Gym (three closed locations) and Tuesday Morning (one closed location). Combined, these closings resulted in approximately 564,000 square feet of total vacancy being …
NEW YORK CITY — U.S. regional and superregional malls posted a record vacancy rate of 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, up 90 basis points from 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new report from New York City-based Moody’s Analytics. The total U.S. retail vacancy rate registered 10.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021, up 40 basis points from 10.2 percent during the same period a year ago, according to Moody’s Analytics. On a nationwide basis, retail vacancy was relatively unchanged between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. In formulating the report, Moody’s Analytics sourced data from 77 U.S. metros, finding that 40 of those markets experienced declines in effective rent growth. However, the report noted that this data actually reflects improvement; of the 77 metros surveyed in the fourth quarter of last year, 60 reported declining rental rates. The average effective rent in the U.S. retail sector clocked in at $18.58 per square foot in the first quarter of 2021, down from $18.87 per square foot on a year-over-year basis.
NORWALK, CONN. — Car dealer Garavel Automotive will open a 34,502-square-foot Subaru dealership at the site of the former Best Friends Pet Hotel in Norwalk, located in the southern coastal part of the state. The dealer acquired the 2.3-acre site at 520 Main Ave. for $3.9 million. Jeffrey Gage and Robert Crane of CBRE represented the seller, Morganth Properties LLC, in the land deal. Dan DiBuono of Tower Realty Corp. represented Garavel Automotive.
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — DJM has received $24.5 million in new equity from Arc Capital Partners for the recapitalization of Lido Marina Village, a 116,000-square-foot waterfront retail and office property located on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. The new equity comes on the heels of a $46.5 million loan from Prime Finance, which brings DJM’s total recapitalization to $71 million. The capital will be used to pay off an existing loan and complete property renovations. Steven Bram, David Pascale and Patrick O’Donnell of George Smith Partners arranged the financing, while Bryan Ley and Geoff Tranchina of JLL handled the equity transaction. Since acquiring Lido Marina Village in 2013, DJM has performed renovations and rebranded the property with high-profile tenants, including The RealReal, Rye Goods, Marrow Fine, Elyse Walker, LoveShackFancy, Serena & Lily, Jenni Kayne, Nobu and Malibu Farms.
SAN FRANCISCO — CBRE Capital Markets has secured construction financing for The Maclac Building, a five-story, 108,161-square-foot property located at 192-198 Utah St. and 151-191 Potrero Ave. in San Francisco. The borrower, a joint venture between affiliates of Comstock Realty Partners and Dune Real Estate Partners, plans to redevelop the asset, which is zoned as a production, distribution and repair (PDR). PDR refers to a variety of businesses encompassing dent and repair shops, marketing and advertising companies, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and others, and according to the San Francisco Planning Department is used “instead of industrial to avoid conjuring images of heavy, ‘smoke-stack’ industry, such as large manufacturing plants, smelting operations and refineries.” Mike Walker and Brad Zampa of CBRE’s San Francisco office arranged the five-year, floating-rate, full-term interest-only financing for the borrower. The property spans five interconnected buildings over two parcels and half a city block in San Francisco’s SOMA Potrero District. Redevelopment started in May 2020 and is being completed in phases, with delivery expected for third-quarter 2022. The joint venture plans to reconfigure, upgrade and expand the current structures with 4,000 amps of power, updated building systems, green roof terraces and a multi-story glass atrium lobby tying the …
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — A Crunch Fitness franchisee will open a 30,240-square-foot gym at a former Michaels store at First Colony Commons, a 410,000-square-foot retail power center in the southwestern Houston suburb of Sugar Land. The opening is set for Oct. 1. Neal Thomson of Houston-based NewQuest Properties represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Kristen Barker of Wulfe & Co. Inc. represented the Dallas-based landlord, an entity doing business as TPP 306 First Colony LLC. New York-based Crunch Fitness currently operates 360 gyms across 30 states and five countries.
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Selig Enterprises and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio have acquired Lenox Marketplace, a 421,000-square-foot retail center in Atlanta’s Buckhead district. Selig will oversee leasing at the center and will serve as the asset and property manager. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. Located at the intersection of Peachtree and Wieuca roads and across the street from Phipps Plaza, Lenox Marketplace spans 9.4 acres with a mix of retail and dining options. The multi-level retail center is anchored by Publix, Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and LA Fitness, with additional tenants such as Ethan Allen, Roam and Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant. The property is also one block from Lenox Square Mall and adjacent to Selig’s Buckhead Triangle property. With the addition of Lenox Marketplace, Selig’s retail portfolio spans almost 4 million square feet across the Southeast. The firm’s Buckhead portfolio includes Buckhead Triangle, Brookwood Place, Buckhead Square I and II, The Shops of Buckhead, Buckhead Commons and Peachtree Plaza. Selig is also the master developer of The Works, an 80-acre mixed-use development in Atlanta’s West Midtown neighborhood.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Don McMinn of Marcus & Millichap’s Taylor McMinn Retail Group has brokered the $7.6 million sale of a 129,529-square-foot retail store leased to Lowe’s Home Improvement in Rockingham, a suburb of Charlotte. Realty Income, a net-lease REIT based in San Diego, purchased the property from the seller, an entity doing business as Tri City Rockingham LLC. The Lowe’s Home Improvement property is located at 1300-A E Broad Ave. and is located near a FastMed Urgent Care, McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Loko and a Walgreens. The property is located 72 miles from Charlotte, and is 17 miles away from Wallace, S.C. “This transaction illustrates the demand for essential net-lease retail. Home improvement was one of the sectors that got a boost from the pandemic, and institutional and private capital are looking to deploy into these and other essential tenants,” says McMinn.
CHICAGO — Food and beverage concept The Luminary has opened at 303 E. Wacker, a 30-story office building in Chicago’s East Loop. The café will offer coffee, tea, pastries, salads, sandwiches and snacks. Cocktails and chef-crafted bites will follow later this year. Infuse Hospitality will operate The Luminary. Infuse is also the team behind Fairgrounds Craft Coffee & Tea. Beacon Capital Partners, the owner of 303 E. Wacker, recently completed a renovation of the 944,000-square-foot building. Designed by architectural firm Norman Kelley, the lobby design now features new flooring, seating, a lighting installation and bar area.