Hurricane Helene was not a modest disruption. It was a disaster of historic scale. The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management estimated total damage and recovery needs at $59.6 billion as of Dec. 2024, including damage to more than 73,000 homes, more than 100 confirmed deaths in North Carolina and a federal disaster declaration covering 39 counties. As a broker in Western North Carolina (WNC), I am often asked why the commercial real estate market has remained as strong as it has. The answer is not that the market avoided pain. It did not. The answer is that a tightly supplied market behaves very differently from a soft market after a disaster. In WNC, Hurricane Helene did not expose oversupply. It exposed scarcity. Before Helene, the Asheville-area commercial market already had very little slack. In NAI Beverly-Hanks’ second-quarter 2024 Asheville MSA commercial market report, CoStar Group-derived vacancy stood at 5.3 percent for industrial, 2.8 percent for office and 1.6 percent for retail. Earlier 2024 reporting from the same source showed similarly constrained conditions, reinforcing the same point: this was already a tight market before the storm arrived. A familiar recovery pattern That pre-storm scarcity shaped the recovery pattern. …
Adaptive reuse has always been an astute trend when it comes to utilizing location, existing bones, and saving a little time and money on delivery. It’s also particularly useful in submarkets like the southeast Las Vegas submarket of Henderson where strong population growth and rising household incomes outpace the availability of new retail. This long-standing unmet demand for Class A retail has inspired one developer to reshape how it views underperforming office assets. Steve Neiger, managing principal at CAST Capital Partners, is co-developing the Cliff, a 100,000-square-foot office-to-retail conversion in Henderson’s Green Valley Ranch submarket. The project involves the repositioning of a vacant, low-density suburban office property that had struggled to remain competitive as newer product and shifting workplace trends weighed on demand. Rather than pursue a traditional office lease-up or a residential conversion, the development team, which includes Partners Capital, is transforming the site into an open-air retail and dining destination designed to better align with the area’s demographics, accessibility and surrounding residential density. The repositioning reflects a broader trend in how developers are evaluating aging office assets in high-growth suburban markets, particularly where strong consumer demand is not being met by existing retail supply. Situated along Paseo Verde …
WOODLAND HILLS, CALIF. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $5.1 million sale of a single-tenant restaurant building located approximately 26 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles in Woodland Hills. Built in 1978, the 10,000-square-foot building is leased to full-service Mexican restaurant El Torito. Brandon Michaels of Marcus & Millichap marketed the property on behalf of the seller, an entity doing business as Kia Canoga Warner LLC, and procured the buyer, an undisclosed private investor.
EL MIRAGE, ARIZ. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $2.4 million sale of a newly developed restaurant building located at 12443 NW Grand Ave. in El Mirage, located west of Glendale. The sales price was $2.4 million. Black Rock Store Operations LLC occupies the 620-square-foot building via one of its 181 Black Rock Coffee Bar locations across seven states. The coffee bar offers specialty coffee, energy drinks, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, egg bites and grab-and-go pastries. Chris Hollenbeck and Shane Carter of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the deal. Both parties were limited liability companies.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Three tenants have signed leases totaling 5,944 square feet at The Shops at Starwood, a 90,667-square-foot retail center located north of Dallas in Frisco. The tenants are Stackz Smashburgers & Cocktails (2,500 square feet), 33 Peaks Café (1,174 square feet) and Mr. Winston’s Barbershop (1,730 square feet). Houston-based Whitestone REIT owns The Shops at Starwood. All openings are slated for 2026.
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia-based Comcast Spectacor and The Cordish Cos., a Baltimore-based developer specializing in sports-anchored entertainment districts, have completed the redevelopment of the Stateside Live! sports complex in South Philadelphia. The redevelopment features the addition of a two-story building with a rooftop space known as AVA Rooftop Bar, a performance stage with 1,000 premium seats and a 5,000-person capacity, an expansion of PBR Philly via a dedicated outdoor stage and dance floor and an open-air beer garden. Ownership also introduced new dining options, including local restaurants such as Chickie’s & Pete’s, Lorenzo’s Pizza and Geno’s Steaks. The project was first announced in late 2024.
LONG BEACH, CALIF. — Redwood West, in partnership with Panattoni, has purchased The Pike, a 394,616-square-foot waterfront retail, dining and entertainment lifestyle center in Long Beach. Terms of the purchase were not released. Located at 95 S. Pine Ave., The Pike features mixed-use commercial space that was 91 percent leased at the time of sale. Current tenants include Cinemark Theaters, Restoration Hardware, EōS Fitness, Nike Factory Store, H&M, Levi’s, P.F. Chang’s, Gladstones, California Pizza Kitchen and Starbucks Coffee. Redwood West and Panattoni plan to invest $20 million to deliver placemaking initiatives, community-focused events, strategic leasing, neighborhood-serving uses and experiential activations.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Matthews has brokered the $8.5 million sale of a retail strip center located at 1000 Woodland St. in east Nashville’s Five Points district. Built in 2023, the retail center spans 8,207 square feet and houses two tenants: Bartaco and Edley’s Bar-B-Que, which occupy the center on 10-year triple-net leases with annual rent escalations. Ben Burnett of Matthews brokered the transaction. The buyer was a locally based private investor completing a 1031 exchange. The seller was also not disclosed. Additionally, Matthews Capital Markets’ team secured a $5.1 million, five-year acquisition loan through a locally based lender for the buyer.
LEE’S SUMMIT, MO. — Bakery café Paris Baguette will open at 909 NE Rice Road in Lee’s Summit. The Jackson County location marks the tenant’s fourth in the Kansas City area, following the upcoming downtown location in Kansas City’s Power & Light District. The Lee’s Summit bakery is expected to open in spring 2027 following an extensive remodel. Bill Maas of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors represented the seller of the property, Equity Bank. Paris Baguette is known for integrating Asian-inspired flavors with traditional French baking methods.
MERIDIAN, IDAHO — CenterCal Properties has unveiled plans for the expansion of The Village at Meridian, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development located in Meridian, roughly 10 miles west of downtown Boise. Phase II of the project will encompass 80,000 square feet of commercial space across six new buildings. Tenants that have committed to Phase II include Vuori, Alo, Kendra Scott, Tecovas, Gorjana, solidcore and Tempur-Pedic, along with Flower Child and Paris Baguette. Additional tenants will be announced as leasing activity continues. Initial openings are expected in September 2026, while completion of Phase II is anticipated for February 2027.