QUITMAN, GA. — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital’s seniors housing and healthcare finance team in Atlanta has arranged a $7.1 million loan for the 204-bed Presbyterian Home and Retirement Community of Quitman in Quitman, a town near the Georgia-Florida border. BB&T referred Grandbridge to the transaction. Richard Thomas of Grandbridge originated the fully amortizing, 35-year refinance loan through FHA’s 232/223(a)(7) program.
UNION CITY, GA. — Atlanta-based Rooker has partnered with 404 Studio Partners to develop a movie and television studio known as Atlanta Metro Studios. The 345,000-square-foot project will be located in Union City, 17 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta. Phase I of the studio will feature 130,500 square feet of soundstages, 60,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of construction/flex space. Rooker, which purchased the 90-acre property in February, will be the developer and general contractor of the studio complex. 404 Studio Partners, led by a team of film and television production professionals, will be the exclusive sales, marketing and operations management company for the studio facilities. The site of the studio complex is currently home to the former Shannon Mall, which is currently being demolished. Additionally, Rooker is developing a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center at the site. The property will feature 36-foot clear heights, 60-foot-wide bay spacing, ESFR fire suppression and 900 parking spaces. Colliers International is the leasing agent for the distribution center. Vertical construction on both the studio facility and the distribution center will begin in March 2015 with completion expected in fourth-quarter 2015.
ROME, GA. — Crossman & Co. has brokered the $21 million sale of Charles Hight Square, a Publix-anchored shopping center located in Rome. The property’s tenant roster includes Wells Fargo, AT&T, Jimmy John’s and Mattress Firm. John Zielinski, Mark Thompson and Leah Harrington of Crossman & Co. represented the seller in the transaction.
SUWANNEE, GA. — Steadfast Apartment REIT has acquired 696 apartment units in Suwannee, a suburb in Atlanta’s North Gwinnett submarket, for $98.5 million. Steadfast will jointly operate the apartment residences, which were originally constructed as two standalone properties comprising 354 units and 342 units. The multifamily property will be known as The Residences on McGinnis Ferry, which is currently 97 percent occupied. The average in-place rental rate is $1,068, and the average square footage in each unit is 1,217 square feet. The property’s amenity offerings include two swimming pools, a dog park, playgrounds, children’s activity room, tennis courts, 24-hour fitness center, resident activity center and a walking and bicycle trail.
BRASELTON, GA. — Ridgeline Property Group and Hillwood Investment Properties will jointly develop a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center in Braselton, a city in the I-85/Northeast submarket of Atlanta. The Braselton Commerce Center will have the largest available block of Class A distribution space in the Southeast, according to the developers. The property will be located less than one mile from the I-85/Highway 53 interchange. The building will feature 36-foot clear heights, 56-foot wide bay spacing, concrete truck courts, ESFR fire suppression and a 243-space parking section for trailers. The project will break ground in November and wrap up construction in the second quarter of 2015. Colliers International Atlanta will market and lease the asset.
ATLANTA — Wood Partners has begun construction on 33 Peachtree Place, a $100 million mixed-use development on West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta. The project will include a 21-story high-rise and mid-rise apartment building totaling 369 residential units (including five penthouse suites) and 20,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. The project will be Atlanta’s first multifamily property to utilize natural gas for heating, cooling, water and cooking. The property’s amenity offerings include a dog-friendly resident park, resort-style pool deck, club rooms, half-acre private park and courtyard space and more than 500 parking spaces. Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) was the seller of the site, a former parking lot for the 10 Peachtree Place building. PREI is also Wood Partners’ equity partner for 33 Peachtree Place. The general contractor, Balfour Beatty, expects to complete the project by the third quarter of 2016.
ATLANTA — HREC Investment Advisors has brokered the sale of the Sheraton Atlanta Airport Hotel, a 395-room property located one mile from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Monty Levy, Bill Murney and Scott Stephens of HREC represented the seller, FelCor Lodging Trust Inc., in the transaction. The buyer, an affiliate of Hotel Capital LLC, has selected Expotel Hospitality to manage the hotel.
GAINESVILLE, GA. — The Griffin Fund, a private real estate investment firm, has acquired Edgewater on Lanier, a 180-unit multifamily community in Gainesville, for $8.4 million. The apartment property is located on Old Thompson Bridge Road on the shores of Lake Lanier. The Griffin Fund is planning a $2 million renovation plan for the property, including adding new gazebos, a barbecue area, lookout terrace, lakefront park, playground, fitness center, business center and dog park. The company also plans to refurbish the exterior of the property and upgrade the interiors with new flooring and new appliances for the kitchen area. The Griffin Fund has selected Stonemark Management to manage the apartment property.
The Atlanta office market’s decline in vacancies continued in the third quarter of 2014, with the quarter ending at 17.9 percent, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. This rate is the first drop below 18 percent since the first quarter of 2009. These gains in office occupancy represent a 130 basis point decrease in vacancy from the end of 2013 and a 150 basis point decrease year-over-year. The research presented by Cushman & Wakefield showed healthy absorption totaling more than 450,000 square feet during the third quarter of 2014, giving the Atlanta market 11 consecutive quarters of net occupancy gains. This quarterly absorption brings the total year-to-date to 1.7 million square feet, an increase of 54 percent compared to the pace during the same period in 2013. “Atlanta is seeing consistent momentum in terms of tenant activity and absorption,” says Logan Menne, the research manager of Cushman & Wakefield. “As vacancy continues to tighten, the supply of existing available options is becoming more and more limited. Additionally, due to the increased demand from tenants in the Atlanta market, many landlords are beginning to increase asking rents, particularly in high-demand submarkets like Buckhead and Central Perimeter.” Several large lease …
Atlanta is the economic engine of the Southeast, which is the fastest growing region in the country. With a population of 5.5 million across the 28-county metro area, the city is the ninth-largest metro nationally and is projected to be the sixth most populated by 2020. Atlanta’s high quality of life and low cost of living make it an ideal destination for young and educated talent around the region, as well as growing companies. Atlanta is home to 16 Fortune 500 companies and the busiest airport in the world — the recipe for a business boom and hot office real estate sector. According to Georgia State University’s Economic Forecasting Center, Atlanta is projected to add 305,000 new jobs between 2010 and 2016, with a drop in the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent in the same timeframe from the current rate of 7.5. That is a 13.5 percent increase in job growth over six years. The technology, homebuilding and service sectors are returning to health, if not climbing to new heights. According to CBRE’s U.S. Tech-Twenty research report, tech employment in Atlanta rose nearly 11 percent between 2011 and 2013. CBRE Research also finds that Atlanta’s recovery is underpinned by an …
