HARVEY, LA. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured a $20.9 million CMBS loan for the acquisition of Centre at Westbank, a 174,445-square-foot retail power center in Harvey, less than seven miles south of New Orleans. Built in 2001, the four-building property is fully leased to tenants such as Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Michaels and Petco. Randy Martin of KeyBank arranged the 10-year loan with three years of interest-only payments and a 30-year amortization schedule.
NEW ORLEANS — Hilton Hotels and Resorts has opened Homewood Suites by Hilton New Orleans French Quarter, a four-story, 207-suite property located at 317 N. Rampart St. in New Orleans. The hotel offers a 24-hour fitness center, pool, kitchen and grill area and 1,500 square feet of meeting space, as well as 12 balcony suites with full kitchens and separate living and sleeping areas.
THIBODAUX, LA. — Vitorino Group, a Texas-based investment sales firm, has brokered the sale of Acadia Shopping Center, a 4,949-square-foot strip center located at 612 N. Canal Blvd in Thibodaux, about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. Anchored by WalMart and Lowe’s, the property was 100 percent occupied at the time of sale. Bryce Gissler of Vitorino Group represented the seller, a Washington-based private investor. Other terms of sale were not released.
GRAND CANE, LA. — The Boulder Group has completed the sale of a 9,014-square-foot Dollar General located at 8212 Highway 171 in Grand Cane, a town about 35 miles south of Shreveport. Jimmy Goodman and Randy Blankstein of The Boulder Group represented the seller, a Louisiana-based developer, in the transaction. The buyer, a Southwest-based private partnership, purchased the triple net leased property for approximately $1.2 million.
BATON ROUGE, LA. — GBT Realty Corp., a Nashville-based commercial developer, has broken ground on a 6,600-square-foot retail center on Millerville Road in Baton Rouge. GBT acquired the nearly one-acre site from Target in February for $810,000. Shadow-anchored by Target, Best Buy, Lowe’s Home Improvement, PetSmart and Office Depot, the center is 100 percent pre-leased to tenants such as PacificDental, GNC and Zoes Kitchen.
SHREVEPORT, LA. — Transwestern has arranged the $9 million sale of East Side Plaza, a 78,761-square-foot shopping center located at 7460 Youree Drive in Shreveport. Dalton Street Properties purchased the shopping center from Eastside Dunhill. Built in 2004, the property’s tenant roster includes Michael’s, Guitar Center, Dollar Tree and Cato. Fred Victor of Transwestern represented Eastside Dunhill in the transaction.
MANDEVILLE, LA. — SRSA Commercial Real Estate has brokered the $17 million sale of Northlake Shopping Center, a 166,371-square-foot retail center in Mandeville, situated on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain across from New Orleans. Northlake’s tenant roster includes The Fresh Market, Office Depot, Stage, Gordon’s of Mandeville and PetSmart. Steven Reisig and Kirsten Early of SRSA Commercial represented the buyer, Epic Real Estate Partners, in the transaction. Epic has retained SRSA Gulf South Management, a division of SRSA, to manage and lease the center.
LIVONIA, MICH. — Schostak Brothers & Co. Inc., a metro Detroit-based real estate investment firm, has purchased a portfolio of six retail properties adjacent to Walmart Supercenters in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The company purchased the assets, which total nearly 160,000 square feet, through SFP Pool Seven LLC for an undisclosed price. The properties include Eagle Plaza-Ruston at 1401 Eagle Drive in Ruston, La.; Eagle Plaza-Farmerville at 775 Sterlington Highway in Farmerville, La.; Eagle Plaza-Forest at 1303 Highway 35 South in Forest, Miss.; Eagle Plaza-Cleveland at 710 N. Davis Ave. in Cleveland, Miss.; Sulphur Marketplace at 301-341 N. Cities Services Highway in Sulphur, La.; and Stone Street Plaza at 1101 Stone St. in Kilgore, Texas. Occupancy for the six locations averages 92 percent, with tenants including Cato Fashions, Dollar Tree, Hibbett Sports, PetSense, Rue 21 and Shoe Show. With these transactions, Schostak Brothers has 73 shadow Walmart retail assets in its portfolio.
LAKE CHARLES, LA. — Venture Commercial Real Estate and SRSA Commercial Real Estate, two real estate brokerage firms and members of X Team International, have arranged a 19,019-square-foot retail lease in Lake Charles. The tenant, Northern Tool + Equipment, will be situated within Park Plaza Shopping Center at 3031 Gertsner Memorial Drive. Clay Mote of Venture Commercial worked with Kirsten Early of SRSA Commercial to negotiate the 10-year lease deal on behalf of the retailer, and Seth Citron of Stirling Properties represented the landlord.
New Orleans may be The Big Easy, but when it comes to understanding this unique Southern city’s commercial real estate marketplace, very little is easy or simple. The numbers, at least, are fairly straightforward. New Orleans currently has around 8.8 million square feet of Class A office space and 1.6 million square feet of Class B. Average rental rates are approximately $19.00 per square foot and $15.50 per square foot for Class A and Class B, respectively, with current occupancy rates at 89.5 percent for Class A and 71 percent for Class B. By way of comparison, the popular suburban Metairie market has around 2 million square feet of Class A and 1.5 million square feet of Class B office space, with occupancy rates at 93 percent and 88.2 percent, respectively (both down slightly from 2014 highs of 95 percent and 92 percent). Average rental rates are approximately $24.00 per square foot in Class A properties and $19.50 for Class B. The numbers in the suburban North Shore market are similarly healthy, with rates and occupancy numbers in the same general range as Metairie. Look beyond the surface numbers, however, and things get interesting, and a little more complicated. In …
