COVINGTON, GA. — German discount grocer Lidl plans to develop its fourth U.S. distribution center in metro Atlanta. The project will span 925,000 square feet and cost $100 million to build. The center will be located in Covington and will also serve as the company’s regional headquarters. Covington is situated along Interstate 20 and 35 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. The new facility will house 270 full-time employees over the next five years. A timeline for construction as well as details about the design team were not disclosed. Lidl has opened four stores in Georgia and has hired more than 150 employees in Augusta, Mableton, Marietta and Snellville. Lidl first established its U.S. headquarters in Virginia in June 2015. Today the grocer operates more than 85 stores across nine East Coast states. Lidl’s other three distribution centers are in Fredericksburg, Va.; Graham, N.C.; and Perryville, Md.
GROVETOWN, GA. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $51 million sale of Riverstone Apartment Homes, a 328-unit multifamily community located in Grovetown. NorthRock Cos. acquired the complex located 101 Halton Drive, 11 miles from downtown Augusta. Cushman & Wakefield’s Taylor Bird, Robert Stickel and Nelson Abels represented the seller, Mesa Capital Partners, in the transaction. Built in 2014, Riverstone Apartment Homes is located near Interstate 20 and Ga. State Route 388 and includes a dog park, clubhouse, car care center, fitness center, playground and pool.
FourPoint Arranges Sale of 446-Bed Student Housing Community Near Savannah College of Art and Design
SAVANNAH, GA. — FourPoint Investment Sales Partners has arranged the sale of The Hue, a 446-bed student housing community located at 646 W. Bay St. in Savannah, near the Savannah College of Art and Design. The property offers amenities including a pool, sundeck, fitness center, art studio and study areas. Chris Epp, Chris Bancroft, Meredith Wolff McGrath, Matthew Chase and Craig Miller of FourPoint arranged the transaction on behalf of the seller, Atlanta-based CF Real Estate Services. Blue Vista Capital Management purchased The Hue for an undisclosed price.
ATLANTA — The Dilweg Cos. has signed new leases or extensions with CIM Group and nine other companies at 101 Marietta Street, a 36-story downtown Atlanta office tower adjacent to The Gulch district. California-based CIM will occupy two of the new spec suites in the office building. Formerly known as Centennial Tower, the well-known chevron-marked building overlooks CIM’s future Centennial Yards, a mixed-use development in The Gulch. Existing office tower tenants DeLong, Caldwell, Bridgers, Fitzpatrick, & Benjamin LLC; Atlanta Dream; Amadeus and The VGM Group have all renewed their respective leases. Softgiving Inc, The Dennis Law Firm LLC, Volkert Inc., IVITA and BlackiNation have signed new leases. Located near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, Centennial Olympic Park, Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Center and three MARTA stations, 101 Marietta Street offers 650,000 square feet of space, as well as a conference center with training rooms, fitness center, Revelator Coffee in the lobby and tenant lounge with TVs, pool tables and a kitchen. Construction for another round of spec suites at 101 Marietta Street will commence this month. CBRE is handling the leasing assignment on behalf of Dilweg.
SANDY SPRINGS, GA. — Atlanta-based Cortland has purchased The Hill, a 287-unit multifamily complex in Sandy Springs, a suburb of Atlanta in the city’s Central Perimeter submarket. Cincinnati-based developer North American Properties Inc. (NAP) sold the property at 1160 Johnson Ferry Road NE to Cortland for an undisclosed amount. The complex, which will be rebranded as Cortland at the Hill, features a fitness center with free group fitness classes, a dog park, pool area, grilling stations and a fire pit. The apartment complex is adjacent to the MARTA Medical Center station and near to both Ga. Highway 400 and Interstate 285, as well as a cluster of hospitals giving the neighborhood the nickname of “Pill Hill.” The property was 81 percent occupied at the time of sale. With this acquisition, Cortland now owns 37 assets and more than 11,900 units in metro Atlanta.
SANDY SPRINGS, GA. — Denver-based Black Creek Group has purchased Hanover Perimeter from developer Hanover Co. for $117 million. The 384-unit multifamily property is located at 1110 Hammond Drive in Sandy Springs, a suburb of Atlanta in the city’s Central Perimeter submarket. The units were 96 percent occupied at the time of sale. Walker & Dunlop’s Pat Jones represented Black Creek in the transaction. Built in 2018, Hanover Place features a fitness center, pool, grilling areas, pet care station and a clubhouse equipped with billiards and a TV lounge. The property has nearby access to restaurants, retail and a Publix grocery store. It is also adjacent to Interstate 285, Ga. Highway 400 and the MARTA Dunwoody Station.
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Third & Urban LLC and Chevy Chase, Md.-based FCP have acquired 15.2 acres along the Atlanta BeltLine. The joint venture partnership will develop a 275,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 950 W. Marietta St. The seller and price of the property were not disclosed. Designed by Perkins and Will, the development will focus primarily on converting an existing warehouse on the site into adaptive reuse space featuring both offices and retail. The project is directly across from the King Plow Arts Center, adjacent to The Foundry at Puritan Mill and near the Westside Park at Bellwood Quarry, which will be Atlanta’s largest green space after its planned opening in spring 2020. Construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2020, with an anticipated occupancy in the third quarter of 2021. Atlanta Paper Co., which was originally Elsas, May Paper Co., built the warehouse on West Marietta Street in the 1940s. It was once used to create packaging for The Coca-Cola Co. Later, it was owned and operated by Atlanta-based WestRock, a corrugated packaging company.
ATLANTA — North American Properties (NAP) has sold Edge, a mixed-use development that the firm recently delivered along the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, to The Connor Group, a multifamily owner based in Ohio. According to Atlanta Business Chronicle, Connor Group acquired Edge for $110 million. Located at 670 DeKalb Ave. NE in Atlanta’s Inman Park, Edge straddles both sides of the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail. The development offers studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, as well as a pool, fitness center, parking garage and a clubhouse. The apartments are adjacent to Interstate 85 and the MARTA King Memorial station. The development also offers 29,000 square feet of retail, dining and loft office space. Current tenants include Shake Shack, Cold Beer and Rukus Cycling Studios. The property is less than two miles from Ponce City Market and less than one mile from Krog Street Market. Cincinnati-based NAP partnered with Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI) and The Conservation Fund to transform the environmentally contaminated site.
ATLANTA — Berkadia has arranged the sales of The Reserve in Lithonia and Friendly Hills Apartments in Decatur. Texas-based Praxis Capital acquired both communities for a combined $40.7 million. Paul Vetter, Andrew Mays, Judy MacManus and Matt White of Berkadia represented the seller, Atlanta-based Benimax, in both transactions. The Reserve, which sold for $23.9 million, is a garden-style community offering studio through three-bedroom floor plans. Community amenities include a swimming pool, playground, picnic area and a fitness center. The property is located at 5650 Hillandale Drive, 17 miles east of downtown Atlanta. Jackson Cloak of Berkadia arranged a $19.8 million acquisition loan through Bridge Investment Group on behalf of Praxis for The Reserve. Friendly Hills Apartments is also a garden-style community that offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Community amenities include a basketball court, laundry facilities, swimming pool and a playground. Friendly Hills is located at 10 Friendly Hills Drive, 13 miles east of downtown Atlanta. Cloak originated a $12.3 million Freddie Mac loan on behalf of Praxis for Friendly Hills.
ATLANTA — Multifamily developers and investors keep an ever-watchful eye on job and population growth in their target markets. In the Southeast, where several metros are seeing gains in those demand generators, which markets stand out? That was a central question posed during the regional panel discussions at France Media’s 10th annual InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference. The event took place Tuesday, Dec. 3 at The Whitley in Atlanta’s Buckhead district. The event drew 384 attendees in the multifamily real estate sector. The short list for the various speakers’ favorite markets include the usual suspects, namely Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Charlotte and Raleigh. These markets all have a recent track record of strong employment growth, which is traditionally a reliable indicator of multifamily demand. Norm Radow, CEO of Atlanta-based The RADCO Cos., warned though that not all jobs are created equally, which has long-term implications for the new apartment communities coming on line. “The majority of the people hired are on the low end of the wage scale and the few making a lot of money are tipping the average up,” said Radow during the conference’s Atlanta Market Update panel. “The workers are there to rent them, but we’re building a product …