FLETCHER, N.C. — Copart Inc., an online car auction platform based in Dallas, has purchased 57.1 acres in Fletcher for $8.6 million. The land is situated roughly 12 miles south of Asheville. The company plans to use the land for an industrial outdoor storage yard of cars set for auction across the Southeast. Randall Bentley and Jordan Skellie of Lee & Associates Greenville/Spartanburg represented the seller, an entity doing business as Minkles BRM LLC, in the transaction.
Raleigh-Durham’s multifamily market has solidified itself as a top performer in recent years. After a rapid economic recovery in 2021 and early 2022, occupancy rates and rent growth soared. Year-over-year effective rent growth reached 13 percent in third-quarter 2022, well above the national average, and totaled 15 percent in Class A product. The region continues to be nationally ranked for real estate prospects, competitive incentives and taxes, education and quality of life. The impressive list of job wins the Triangle has been awarded continues to grow, including major job announcements from Wolfspeed, Apple and VinFast, to name a few. The region’s status as one of the nation’s leading tech and life science hubs has also lured giants such as Grifols, Pfizer, IBM and Red Hat. Population growth is one of the Triangle’s strongest apartment market fundamentals and it continues to surge, as approximately 5,000 new residents move to the region each month. Raleigh and the surrounding metropolitan areas are expected to increase in population at the second-fastest rate in the country, behind only Austin. Municipalities outside of the Triangle’s metro areas are also some of the fastest-growing locations in the state. Johnston and Franklin counties, for example, are expected to …
DURHAM, N.C. — Crescent Communities has begun renovations at SouthCourt, a 140,000-square-foot office building located in south Durham. The Charlotte-based developer purchased the six-story asset last year. Renovations include the addition of outdoor patio space and four turnkey office suites that will be available for occupancy in the second quarter, as well as improvements to the lobby, commons areas and restrooms. Additional onsite amenities will include a personal training facility, full-service salon, private terraces on upper floors and a modern conference center. On the ground floor, retail space is available for leasing through CBRE | Raleigh, including café and commercial kitchen spaces. Crescent Communities has tapped Dennis Hurley and Hillman Duncan of JLL’s Raleigh office to handle SouthCourt’s office leasing assignment.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CBRE Investment Management has acquired Madison Place, a 226-unit apartment community located at 3125 Furr Court in Charlotte. The firm purchased the newly constructed property on behalf of a separate account client. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. Madison Place is a multifamily component within Berewick, a 1,070-acre master-planned community in southwest Charlotte. The property includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as amenities including a saltwater pool with a tanning deck, fitness studio, clubroom, pet grooming spa, outdoor kitchen, grilling areas and a fire pit.
The retail market across the Raleigh-Durham region, also known as the Triangle, soared to new heights in 2022 despite significant global economic headwinds. Spurred by population growth and major economic development announcements, 2022 was filled with the groundbreaking and opening of new retail and mixed-use projects across the region. For the second consecutive year, North Carolina witnessed record-breaking economic development activity. New and expanding companies announced more than 12,700 jobs and more than $11 billion in new investments in the Triangle region alone. While the urban sectors lagged through 2020 and 2021, they saw a resurgence in 2022 with major tenant announcements for Smoky Hollow (Kane Realty Corp.) such as Midwood Smokehouse, The Crunkleton, Madre, Dose and New Anthem Beer Project. Downtown Raleigh also featured the delivery of 301 Hillsborough at Raleigh Crossing (Barings), Tower Two of Bloc 83 (City Office REIT) and construction of Seaboard Station (Hoffman & Associates). Downtown Durham boasted major groundbreaking, retailer and restaurant announcements as well, including the groundbreaking of Novus (Austin Lawrence Partners), encompassing 23,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 27 floors of high-end residential. American Tobacco Campus reimagined its restaurant mix to announce Five Star, Press, Queen Burger and the soon-to-open …
DURHAM, N.C. — MEAG, in cooperation with CBRE Investment Management, has acquired Liberty Warehouse, a 247-unit residential community in downtown Durham, on behalf of Munich Re Group. Located at 530 Foster St., the property features 20,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space that was fully leased at the time of sale. Amenities at the community include a 24-hour fitness center, saltwater pool, tenant lounge and club room, pet run and pet spa, electric vehicle charging stations and 376 parking spaces. Charleston-based Greystar manages the property. The investment is part of a separate account mandate that MEAG recently signed with CBRE Investment Management to invest in the U.S. residential market. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
DURHAM, N.C. — Eli Lilly and Co., a pharmaceutical giant based in Indianapolis, plans to invest $450 million to expand its campus within Research Triangle Park (RTP) in Durham. The expansion includes additional parenteral filling, device assembly and packaging capacity to support an increased demand for the company’s incretin products that treat diabetes. The move is expected to create at least 100 new jobs, primarily comprising manufacturing personnel who will produce incretin treatments and medical devices. Eli Lilly expects the new facility to come on line in 2027. Since 2020, the company has committed roughly $4 billion to new manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, including $1.7 billion for the development and expansion of its RTP base.
Talk to any commercial broker across the Raleigh-Durham market and you will hear much of the same feedback. In answer to the basic questions, one hears, “The in-office work week is now three days, primarily Tuesday through Thursday.” This trend, which was slowly becoming more evident over the last 20 years with the growth of the digital economy, was accelerated by the pandemic. And further aided by the wider availability of high-speed internet, the demands of the digital workforce are taking people out of their offices and, in some cases, around the world. Companies that value their digital workers are letting them make business decisions that affect the office building markets around the world. It is fascinating to watch. Recent data published by Kastle Systems (a keycard and security supplier for commercial buildings) shows that based on keycard swipes across the 10 largest cities in the United States, we are witnessing structural change in both the traditional work week and employee work hours, in degrees that are directly impacting the need for office space. As a result, employers are downsizing their leased footprints, opting for less square footage and/or shorter leases. Those companies with large numbers of digital workers are …
ALBEMARLE, N.C. — SRS Real Estate Partners’ National Net Lease Group has brokered the $2.2 million sale of First Street Station, a 52,230-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center located at 801-819 N. First St. in Albemarle, about 40 miles east of Charlotte. Ed Laycox of SRS represented the seller, a North Carolina-based private investor, in the transaction. The buyer was a Charlotte-based private investor who was in a 1031 exchange and paid all-cash. Built in 1989 on a six-acre site, First Street Station was 91 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Harris Teeter, Roma Pizza and Napa Auto Parts, among others.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Urban Atlantic, in partnership with Inlivian and its nonprofit development subsidiary, Horizon Development Properties (HDP), has secured $84 million in debt and public financing for the construction of Trella Uptown, a mixed-income apartment community to be built at 426 North Tryon Street in uptown Charlotte. Inlivian is the City of Charlotte’s housing authority. Totaling 353 units and 330,000 square feet, the community will feature 106 affordable housing units. Of these, 35 will be reserved for residents earning 80 percent of area median income (AMI); two will be for residents earning 60 percent of AMI; 37 will be for residents earning 50 percent of AMI; and 32 will be for residents earning 30 percent or less of AMI. C.O.R.E. Programs Inc. will provide supportive services to residents in the latter category. Chase Bank provided two separate loans, including $50.6 million for the construction of Trella Uptown’s market-rate units and $16.3 million for the construction of the property’s affordable units. HDP will also provide a $7.8 million construction loan. The City of Charlotte is providing $3.2 million from its Housing Trust Fund, and Mecklenburg County is providing $6 million in the form of an affordable housing grant. Other capital …
