Georgia

ATLANTA — A joint venture between Tampa, Fla.-based Blue Magma Residential LLC and New York-based NCP Enterprise Funds has acquired a three-property multifamily portfolio located across Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama for a combined $34 million. The new owners will invest more than $5 million in capital improvements to the portfolio, which totals 565,282 square feet. The 188-unit Orchard Cove in Covington, Ga., roughly 35 miles southeast of Atlanta, was purchased for $15.2 million. The property will be rebranded as The Park at Arlington. The 232-unit Gardens of Canal in Robinsonville, Miss., was acquired for $11.6 million and will be renamed The Park at Brighton. Lastly, the 184-unit Madison Square, located in Dothan, Ala., was purchased for $7.8 million. The new owners will rename the property the Park at Ashburn. Cushman & Wakefield’s Atlanta office arranged the transaction, and Ladder Capital provided debt financing for the acquisition. The names of the sellers were not disclosed.

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SMYRNA, GA. — Halpern Enterprises has opened Belmont Physicians Center, a 30,000-square-foot medical office building located within Belmont, a 48-acre mixed-use community in the Atlanta metro of Smyrna. Emory Healthcare anchors the center, which is located roughly 18 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. Other tenants at Belmont Medical Center include Gentle Care Dentistry, Cobb Pediatric Associates and Smyrna Pediatric Dentistry. The two-story building was designed by Lyman Davidson Dooley Architects and constructed by Benning Construction. In addition to the new healthcare building, the Belmont mixed-use community features restaurants, retail, Smyrna Elementary School, a residential subdivision and a 274-unit apartment community. A second phase is planned that will include single-family homes, as well as an additional 12,000 square feet of retail space.

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ATLANTA — Apartment management is a people-intensive industry that requires dedicated team members at multiple levels. Finding talented and driven individuals is priority No. 1 for multifamily operators. But seasoned executives are the first to admit that hiring is difficult in an expanding economy where recent graduates have multiple career paths at their choosing. Property management firms are recruiting prospects who are working in outside industries, which has been a reliable tactic. “We’ve had to go out and look at hospitality, restaurants and other industries that complement multifamily to find talent,” said Chris Burns, senior vice president of Lincoln Property Co. During the operators panel at the InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference held on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta, Burns and his fellow panelists discussed the opportunities and challenges facing the industry today. The eighth annual conference drew 402 professionals. The panel agreed that finding talent was difficult, but that retaining and training that talent is just as big a challenge. “Retaining talent is just like leasing — it’s important to get a lease but it’s more important to get a renewal,” said Greg Mark, senior vice president of operations at Pinnacle, a national multifamily property management …

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DACULA, GA. — Phillips Edison & Co. has acquired Mountain Crossing, a 96,606-square-foot shopping center in Dacula, 38 miles northeast of Atlanta in Gwinnett County, for $13.9 million. The name of the seller was not disclosed. Kroger anchors the center, which is also home to a UPS Store, Great Clips, Allstate Insurance and Chevron. Cincinnati-based Phillips Edison manages a portfolio of more than 345 shopping centers — 236 of which it owns directly — located in 32 states.

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AUSTELL, GA. — CBRE has arranged a $28.7 million acquisition loan for Core5 Logistics Center at Interstate West, a 781,440-square-foot industrial facility located at 440 Interstate West in Austell, roughly 18 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. Joel Torbora, Jonathan Rice and Jeff Ackemann of CBRE arranged the three-year loan through BMO Harris on behalf of the buyer, WPT Capital Advisors. The company acquired the facility from Core5 Industrial Partners, which developed the property in September. Core5 Logistics Center features 36-foot clear heights. Todd Barton of CBRE is handling the property’s leasing assignment.

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MARIETTA, GA. — Berkadia has arranged the $61 million sale of Ashford Retreat, a 654-unit apartment community in Marietta, roughly 20 miles north of downtown Atlanta. The property, renamed The Park on Windy Hill, is located at 2121 Windy Hill Road, roughly two miles west of SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. Andrew Mays, Paul Vetter, Judy MacManus and Matthew White of Berkadia arranged the transaction on behalf of the buyer, Wilkinson Corp., and the seller, The RADCO Cos. In addition, Berkadia’s Richard Levine arranged equity and debt for the deal on behalf of the buyer. The community includes one- and two-bedroom floor plans and features a fitness center, pool, business center and a clubhouse.

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ATLANTA — SunTrust Community Capital, in partnership with McCormack Baron Salazar and Invest Atlanta, has provided $24.8 million in financing for a new YMCA of Metro Atlanta headquarters. The 54,400-square-foot building, known as the YMCA Center for Leadership and Learning, will be located at 569 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in downtown Atlanta, a half-mile from the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The financing included $22 million in New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) allocation and a $2.5 million Westside Tax Allocation District grant from Invest Atlanta. SunTrust Community Capital served as the sole NMTC investor for the development. The new Leadership and Learning Center will house the YMCA of Metro Atlanta’s administrative offices and will become the new regional YMCA training center for the Southeast, providing training to over 1,500 employees annually. The center will bring 135 YMCA employees to downtown Atlanta, including 25 new jobs and various internship opportunities. The facility is expected to open in early 2019.

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HAPEVILLE, GA. — Architecture firm Artefact has unveiled design plans for Oak Center, a new mixed-use project in Hapeville, roughly two miles north of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The three-story development will expand and refurbish an existing two-story building on Oak Street, and will total 66,000 square feet upon completion. The project will feature ground floor retail, office space, outdoor dining, plaza areas and underground parking. A construction timeline was not disclosed.

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ATLANTA — A surge in population and job growth in the Atlanta metropolitan area over the next two decades will bode well for the multifamily sector, according to panelists at the eighth annual InterFace Multifamily Southeast. Among the 12 largest metropolitan areas in the county, Atlanta ranked second in the rate of job growth and third in the number of jobs added, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2.75 million in September 2017, up 2.5 percent year-over-year. In addition, the Atlanta Regional Commission forecasts the 20-county Atlanta region will add 2.5 million people and 1.5 million jobs by 2040. Multifamily demand is reaping the benefits of this growth. The job growth multiplier for the demand for new apartments used to be a factor of 5 to 1, meaning for every five jobs created, you could take one unit of inventory out of the equation, according to Mike Kemether, vice chair of the multifamily advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield. This year and next in Atlanta, that ratio sits around 7 to 1. “A lot of the renters are coming because of job relocations,” said Christie Hawver Jordan, …

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MARIETTA, GA. — Federal Capital Partners (FCP) has acquired Stratford Ridge, a 446-unit apartment community in Marietta, roughly 20 miles north of downtown Atlanta, for $45 million. Kevin Geiger of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Stratford Ridge includes a mix of one- to four-bedroom floor plans and features a clubhouse, fitness center, playground, pet park, sundeck and pool and an after-school care program. In addition, the property is roughly four miles north of SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. FCP will invest in capital improvements to the existing site and buildings, including amenity enhancements and interior unit renovations.

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