BRUNSWICK, GA. — BPR Properties has opened TownePlace Suites by Marriott Brunswick in Brunswick on the Georgia coast, roughly 80 miles southwest of Savannah. LBA Hospitality will manage the hotel. A ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 22. This marks BPR’s 17th hotel opened in partnership with LBA. TownePlace Suites by Marriott Brunswick is situated adjacent to Residence Inn Brunswick, another BPR-LBA hotel.
SANDY SPRINGS, GA. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged the refinancing for Perimeter Town Center, a 274,284-square-foot portfolio of medical office properties located in Sandy Springs, roughly 20 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Mesa West Capital provided the loan to the borrowers, Harrison Street and Ackerman & Co. Perimeter Town Center comprises three buildings adjacent to Atlanta’s Pill Hill medical hub that houses three hospitals and supporting practices and services. Timothy Joyce, Anthony Sardo and Matt Casey of JLL secured the loan on behalf of the borrower. The three-year, floating-rate financing will be used to repay existing debt, fund capital improvements and defray the costs of recent leasing activity and near-term lease maturities. The owners are currently implementing extensive renovations at the properties.
ATLANTA — CBRE has arranged the $126.3 million sale of Iris O4W, a newly built apartment community in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Equity Residential purchased the 320-unit property from the developer, Trammell Crow Residential, and equity partner, Diamond Realty Investments. Shea Campbell, Ashish Cholia, Kevin Geiger, Colleen Hendrix and Don Hoffman of CBRE’s Southeast Multifamily team represented the sellers in the transaction. Located at 652 Angier Ave. NE, Iris O4W is situated steps from the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail and features a saltwater pool with a sun ledge, outdoor rooftop lounge with an entertainment bar, outdoor club area with grills and a pizza oven, fitness center, an indoor clubroom with game tables and HDTVs and a pet spa. Delivered last year, the community comprises studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments averaging 860 square feet in size.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK CITY — Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) has agreed to acquire an 11-property apartment portfolio from Blackstone (NYSE: BX) for $964 million. The acquisition is the largest U.S. multifamily purchase by any public real estate investment trust in the past seven years, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal. The portfolio includes four properties totaling 1,357 units in Atlanta; four properties totaling 1,237 units in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area; and three properties totaling 978 units in Denver. Further details on the communities were not disclosed. The properties were attractive to Equity Residential — one of the largest owners of multifamily assets in the U.S. with 79,738 units across 299 properties — due to their locations in markets where the Chicago-based firm is targeting growth, as well as the properties’ appeal to high-end renters. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter and will include separate transactions with Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Blackstone Real Estate Partners and Blackstone Property Partners. Eastdil Secured, RBC Capital Markets, Santander and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) acted as Blackstone’s financial advisors in the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as Blackstone’s legal counsel. Neal Gerber & Eisenberg, Hogan …
MARIETTA, GA. — Poag Development Group, a Memphis-based company formerly known as Poag Shopping Centers, has signed five new tenants at Avenue West Cobb in Marietta, roughly 20 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. The Peach Cobbler Factory has opened a 1,400-square-foot restaurant at the property, with restaurant Le’ Zia scheduled to open later this month in a 9,580-square-foot space. Additionally, lifestyle brand J.Jill has signed a 3,840-square-foot lease and is scheduled to open this fall, along with Spirit Halloween, which will occupy 9,980 square feet at the center on a temporary basis. Jim ‘N Nick’s Community Bar-B-Q will also join the tenant lineup, opening a 5,874-square-foot restaurant this winter. JLL manages the property on behalf of Poag. Existing tenants at Avenue West Cobb include Barnes & Noble, Bob Steele Salon, GameStop, Jos. A. Bank, Panera Bread and Ted’s Montana Grill.
ATLANTA — Cousins Properties and Town Lane have acquired Proscenium, an office building located in the Midtown submarket of Atlanta, for $83 million. The purchase was executed through a newly formed joint venture, with Town Lane owning 80 percent of the venture and Cousins owning the remaining 20 percent. Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the seller is an affiliate of Manulife Financial Corp. Locally-based Cousins will manage the property — which totals 526,000 square feet — and provide leasing services. Located within the Colony Square mixed-use development, the Proscenium was 74 percent leased at the time of sale. The new ownership plans to execute improvements at the property. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is providing legal counsel to Town Lane, and Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is serving as counsel to Cousins.
ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta, through Atlanta Urban Development (AUD), has unveiled plans for three new affordable housing projects, including the redevelopment of the Mall West End. Together, the projects will add nearly 350 affordable housing units for residents earning up to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). At least one community is scheduled to begin lease-up by the second quarter of 2025, with the others beginning construction this fall and summer 2025. The Mall West End would be the largest of the redevelopments, transforming the 12-acre mall into a 1.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development. BRP Cos. is the developer. Key elements of the Mall West End redevelopment plan include: approximately 120,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, fitness center, food and beverage, and local boutiques; 893 mixed-income rental units; 152 beds of student housing; a 150-key hotel; 12,000 square feet of medical office space; and community amenities. The project site is located steps from four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that make up the Atlanta University Center — Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College. According to a news release from the city, the Mall West End redevelopment …
DECATUR, GA. — Berkadia has arranged a $13 million loan for the acquisition of Arcadia Decatur, a 101-unit apartment community located at 220 N. Arcadia Ave. in Decatur, a northeast suburb of Atlanta. Scott Wadler, Matt Robbins and Abigail Beauchamp of Berkadia secured the five-year, fixed-rate financing on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Atlantic Pacific Cos. and Highline Real Estate Capital. Built in 2020, Arcadia Decatur features one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as a fitness center, outdoor grills, swimming pool and a sundeck.
Remember the “retail apocalypse”? Fast forward to today and it seems to be quite a different story. Retail is currently viewed by many as the most attractive sector within the commercial real estate industry, due in part to an all-time low vacancy rate and increasing rental rates. Atlanta’s retail vacancy rate has dropped to 3.6 percent, which is the lowest rate on record according to CoStar Group. The low vacancy rate coupled with an extremely limited amount of new retail space under development due to high construction costs has created a market unlike anything we have seen in a long time. Increased construction costs along with higher interest rates have made it cost-prohibitive to build traditional retail power centers; however, grocery-anchored retail is the anomaly with Publix taking the lead. Several mixed-use developments that include a large retail component are underway as well, including High Street in Dunwoody, Medley in Johns Creek and Centennial Yards in downtown Atlanta, just to name a few. Additionally, some retail space has been taken off line as malls reinvent themselves. Examples include the partial demolition of North DeKalb Mall in Decatur to make way for a new mixed-use development known as Lulah Hills; Northlake …
MIDWAY, GA. — JLL has negotiated the sale of Building D at Tradeport East, a 647,496-square-foot industrial facility in Midway, roughly 35 miles outside Savannah. Home textiles producer Town & Country Living fully occupies the facility, which was built in 2022. BlueScope Properties Group sold the building to SkyREM for an undisclosed price. Britton Burdette, Dennis Mitchell, Sean Devaney and Jim Freeman of JLL represented the seller in the transaction. Located at 313 Tradeport East Blvd., the property features a cross-dock configuration with 190-foot truck courts, 36-foot clear heights, 60-foot speed bays, ESFR sprinklers, LED lights, 2,822 square feet of office space, 144 dock-high doors, four drive-in doors and parking for 177 trucks and 327 cars.
