CLEAR LAKE OAKS, CALIF. — Colliers International has brokered the sale of Big Oaks Center, a mixed-use property located in Clear Lake Oaks in Northern California. Las Vegas-based Crystal View Capital sold the property to Redding, California-based Berg Family for $7.2 million. Totaling 98,811 square feet, Big Oaks Center features 78,845 square feet of self-storage space, 17,086 square feet of retail space and a 2,880-square-foot United States Postal Service location. Tom de Jong of Colliers International National Self Storage Group represented the seller in the deal. The purchase was partially completed via a 1031 exchange, with the balance financed by Five Star Bank.
O’FALLON, ILL. — GBT Realty Corp. will develop Shoppes at Richland Creek, a 53,000-square-foot retail center in O’Fallon, an eastern suburb of St. Louis. In March, GBT purchased the 17-acre site from Vantage Credit Union for an undisclosed price. Shoppes at Richland Creek is approximately 70 percent pre-leased to tenants such as Smoothie King, Chicken Salad Chick, Pacific Dental, Five Guys Burgers + Fries, Taco Bell, Burger King, Popeyes and Tidal Wave Luxury Car Wash. Completion is slated for summer 2021. “The area’s growing population and solid workforce, combined with the city’s willingness to assist us in the development process, made this site — and this community — the ideal place for GBT’s next shopping center,” says Jeff Pape, managing director with GBT. O’Fallon has experienced significant growth over the past two decades with nearly 2,000 new homes and over $400 million in residential and commercial development, according to GBT. Tennessee-based GBT currently has more than $1 billion of commercial development totaling 5 million square feet in the pipeline or under construction.
NORTHBROOK, ILL. — Cannabis Facility Construction (CFC) has broken ground on a new recreational and medical cannabis dispensary for Greenhouse in Northbrook. Located at 755 Skokie Blvd., the nearly 10,000-square-foot dispensary will serve as a flagship location for the brand. The design ensures all points of sale are six feet apart in order to accommodate social distancing. In addition to the retail space up front, there will be back office space and a vault for inventory storage. A timeline for completion was not disclosed. Greenhouse currently operates four dispensaries in Illinois. CFC, a division of Mosaic Construction, is a cannabis design-build firm based in Northbrook.
As pandemic-driven restrictions steadily ease across the country, all 50 states have now entered some form of gradual economic reopening. Customers are returning to retailers and office workers returning to their cubicles, but businesses are still struggling to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. In a webinar titled “The Future of Real Estate,” Michael Acton, head of research at AEW Capital Management, addressed key reopening data, demographic trends and his real estate outlook for the remainder of 2020 on into 2021. Natixis Investment Managers, a French-based global asset management company, hosted the event on Thursday, June 11. AEW is one of the largest real estate investment managers of all property types in the world, and both companies are headquartered in Boston. One piece of surprisingly good news came early this month when the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May. On the downside, slightly over 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment for the week ending June 6. Approximately 44 million Americans — about one-quarter of the nation’s workforce — have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March when huge swaths of the American economy went into a lockdown mode to prevent the spread of …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The advance estimate for U.S. retail and food services sales, including e-commerce, in May is 17.7 percent higher than in April, the U.S. Commerce Department reported this morning. May is the first month since the COVID-19 outbreak halted the U.S. economy that has shown positive month-over-month growth. April was down 14.7 percent from March, and March decreased nearly 10 percent from February. Spending in May was at $485.5 billion, still lower than pre-pandemic levels. February’s total spending came in at $527.3 billion. “These sales numbers do not reflect the same strength we had going into the pandemic, but they certainly reflect the trajectory we need coming out of it,” National Retail Federation (NRF) president and CEO Matthew Shay said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The most important thing now is to keep these retail stores open for business and not penalize them by closing their doors in the event of a coronavirus surge. “As those stores that remained open have shown, retailers have developed solutions that protect the safety of their customers and associates, and they are sharing those lessons to the benefit of store owners large and small in communities across the country.”
LAUDERHILL, FLA. — Promenade Plaza LLC, an affiliate of Current Capital Real Estate Group, has acquired Promenade at Inverrary, a 143,460-square-foot retail property in Lauderhill, for $12.6 million. The asset is located at 4402-4678 N. University Drive, 11 miles west of downtown Fort Lauderdale. Todd Nepola, president of Current Capital, says the company will implement remodeling plans at Promenade over the next 12 months. Current Capital will also handle management and leasing efforts at the shopping center, which was built in 1986. The seller was not disclosed. CenterState Bank provided the buyer with an $8.5 million acquisition loan.
CHICAGO — McDonald’s says that U.S. same-store sales have sequentially improved from late March through May. For the month of May, the Chicago-based fast food giant reported a decline in U.S. same-store sales of 5.1 percent, compared with 19.2 percent for the month of April. Globally, sales fell 29.8 percent quarter-to-date through May. McDonald’s says that 95 percent of its restaurants globally are now open. In the United States, more than 1,000 restaurant dining rooms have reopened with reduced seating capacity. “Our unique advantages, including a high percentage of drive-thru restaurants and investments in delivery and digital, have enabled us to adapt to the changing landscape presented by the COVID-19 outbreak,” says Chris Kempczinski, president and CEO.
SAN RAMON, CALIF. — Fitness center retail chain 24 Hour Fitness has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection stemming from revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Ramon-based company expects to secure $250 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which is subject to court approval. The fitness chain has also announced its intention to permanently close 132 of its 300-plus gyms. In California alone, 24 Hour Fitness will shutter 41 locations, and in Texas another 26 will permanently close as the company will focus on reopening its other gyms across the country. “If it were not for COVID-19 and its devastating effects, we would not be filing for Chapter 11,” says Tony Ueber, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. “With that said, we intend to use the process to strengthen the future of 24 Hour Fitness for our team and club members, as well as our stakeholders.” Although Ueber says the COVID-19 pandemic is the main culprit in the company’s struggles, the retailer’s debt load is also a contributing factor. Brad Umansky, president of Progressive Real Estate Partners, says that the retailer’s ownership group, including private equity firm AEA Investors, hampered 24 Hour Fitness from operating to the best of its ability …
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS — Younger Partners has brokered the sale of Richland Commons, an 85,000-square-foot, freestanding retail property in North Richland Hills that was formerly leased to Haverty’s Furniture. Situated along Loop 820, the vacant property sits on 4.3 acres at 8251 Bedford Euless Road, about 10 miles northeast of Fort Worth. Michael Ytem and Robert Grunnah of Younger Partners represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Debbie Mullins of Ready Real Estate represented the buyer, an undisclosed local investor.
EULESS, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of Post Oak Shopping Center, a 20,620-square-foot retail center located at 13912 Trinity Blvd. in Euless. The property was built in 1968 and sits on 2.3 acres. Philip Levy of Marcus & Millichap’s Dallas office represented the seller, a private investment firm, in the transaction and procured the undisclosed private buyer.