ATLANTA — Walmart will open a 75,000-square-foot Walmart Neighborhood Market store at 835 MLK Jr. Drive in the Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta. Previously, the brand operated a Supercenter store at the property, which closed in December 2022 due to fire damage. The new store will feature a full-service deli, money center, expanded bakery, online pickup and delivery service and a health service room. Scheduled to open on Wednesday, May 22, this marks Walmart’s first conversion of a Supercenter store into a Neighborhood Market store.
Georgia
JLL Arranges Refinancing for 218-Room Hyatt Centric Hotel in Atlanta’s Buckhead District
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — JLL Capital Markets has arranged the refinancing for Hyatt Centric Buckhead Atlanta, a hotel located at 3301 Lenox Square Parkway NE in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. Opened in 2021, the property features 218 rooms, as well as food-and-beverage options including a ground-floor restaurant and rooftop bar. Amenities at the hotel include a fitness center, pool and more than 5,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Ed Coco and Matt Casey of JLL secured the financing on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Songy Highroads LLC and an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corp.
PEACHTREE CITY, GA. — Six new tenants have signed leases at The Avenue Peachtree City, an open-air shopping center located in Peachtree City, approximately 40 miles outside Atlanta. Beignets and Brew is now open at the property, with HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern scheduled to open a 5,781-square-foot restaurant later this month. Kendra Scott, Motivate Studios and 9292 Korean BBQ have also signed leases at the center and will occupy 2,000; 2,000; and 8,015 square feet, respectively, beginning this summer. Additionally, Arhaus will open a 7,085-square-foot store at The Avenue Peachtree City later this year. JLL manages the property on behalf of the owner, Memphis-based Poag Development Group.
Tommy Bahama Parent Company to Invest $130M for Clothing Distribution Center in Lyons, Georgia
by John Nelson
LYONS, GA. — Oxford Industries Inc., an Atlanta-based clothing and apparel manufacturer whose brands include Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer, plans to develop a new large-scale distribution center in Lyons, a South Georgia city in Toombs County. The company will invest $130 million in the first phase of the project, which will sit on 50 acres and support 60 new jobs at full completion. Oxford Industries is an international apparel design, sourcing and marketing company that features a portfolio of lifestyle brands, over 300 company-owned retail stores and an e-commerce business. The company also has a complementary wholesale business through department and specialty stores. The manufacturer has had a physical presence in Toombs County since the 1940s. With the new Lyons facility, Oxford Industries expects to boost output from 7 million units annually to 20 million units. The construction timeline was not disclosed.
AcquisitionsAffordable HousingConference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilySoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive
Volatility Disrupts Investment Sales Activity in Affordable Housing Market, Says InterFace Panel
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — The investment sales market for the affordable housing sector remains muted for one overarching reason: volatility. Cory Sams, executive managing director of GREA (Global Real Estate Advisors), said that a lack of certainty, especially in the capital markets, is giving buyers and sellers of affordable housing properties pause. “The worst thing for a deal is [interest rates] constantly moving around,” she said. “When they were running up and down, every deal fell apart.” Doug Childers, senior managing director of JLL, estimated that affordable housing transaction volume fell 40 percent in 2023 compared with the prior year. For context, multifamily investment sales overall declined by 61 percent year-over-year in 2023, according to MSCI Real Assets (formerly Real Capital Analytics). Childers and Sams made their comments during the investment sales panel of Interface Affordable Housing Southeast, an information and networking conference held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta on Thursday, May 9. Interface Conference Group and Southeast Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business hosted the event, which drew approximately 170 industry professionals from across the region. Brian Flanagan, regional director of RBC Community Investments, moderated the investment sales panel. Fittingly, Flanagan kicked off the investment sales discussion by asking the …
KDC Receives Approval for Two New Towers at Mixed-Use Park Center Development in Dunwoody, Georgia
by John Nelson
DUNWOODY, GA. — The Dunwoody City Council has approved the rezoning of Phase IV of Park Center, a 17-acre, transit-oriented office campus in metro Atlanta. The master developer of the project is KDC, a Dallas-based corporate development and investment firm. The amended zoning will allow KDC to change its plans from a standalone fourth office tower to a two-tower project that will comprise 175 hotel rooms, 300 residential units, 22,000 square feet of retail space and 300,000 square feet of office space. The plan includes two towers on a common podium with a 20-story apartment tower and a combined office and hotel tower, where six floors of hotel rooms will sit atop 12 levels of office space. Phase IV represents the final phase of Park Center and will occupy the last undeveloped portion of the development, which was originally conceived as a 2.2 million-square-foot East Coast hub for State Farm Insurance. The project team includes local architecture firm Cooper Carry. The current campus contains three office towers developed over the past 10 years: the 600,000-square-foot Park Center One, which is directly connected to the Dunwoody MARTA Station; the 621,000-square-foot Park Center Two with more than 39,000 square feet of retail …
LOCUST GROVE, GA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged financing for the construction of a 500,220-square-foot speculative industrial building in Locust Grove, roughly 40 miles southeast of Atlanta. Dubbed Building C, the property will be situated at 600 Price Drive within The Cubes at Locust Grove, a master-planned industrial park. The building will feature 40-foot clear heights, 156 trailer parking spaces and 120 docks. John Alascio, Walker Brown, T.J. Sullivan, Claire Oster, Stewart Calhoun, Casey Masters and Ryan Bellows of Cushman & Wakefield secured the financing through Bank OZK on behalf of the borrower. A construction timeline for Building C at The Cubes at Locust Grove was not disclosed.
DOUGLASVILLE, GA. — Franklin Street Retail Investment Sales has brokered the sale of Market Square, a 116,766-square-foot shopping center located in Douglasville, roughly 20 miles west of Atlanta. Tenants at the property, which was built in 1984 and renovated in 2019, include Aaron’s, YouFit, Pet Supermarket and Davita Dialysis. An entity doing business as SCC Market Square LLC sold the property to BC Waycross Spring Hill LLC for an undisclosed price. Bryan Belk and John Tennant of Franklin Street represented the seller in the transaction.
ATLANTA — Flexible workspace provider WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year, has completed its real estate restructuring in Atlanta, according to a press release from the company. The process, as in other cities, involved lease renegotiations with landlords. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that WeWork now plans to close five of its 11 Atlanta locations. In April, the company announced a new $450 million investment to support operations throughout its Chapter 11 proceedings. WeWork’s current portfolio includes more than 24 million square feet of space across 330 locations globally.
Berkadia Secures HUD-Insured Financing for $72M Affordable Seniors Housing Development in Atlanta
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — Berkadia has arranged financing for Englewood Senior, a 160-unit affordable seniors housing development in Atlanta. Located at 413 Englewood Ave. SE, the proposed $72 million development would offer independent living units for seniors earning 60 percent or less of the area median income (AMI). Planned amenities at the property include a fitness center, movie theater, community room and an outdoor courtyard. Carolyn Whatley and Angela Folkers of Berkadia FHA/HUD secured the construction and permanent financing through HUD’s 221(d)(4) program. The undisclosed developer has also received low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity and municipal funding.