BOSSIER CITY, LA. — NorthMarq Capital has arranged a $16.3 million acquisition loan for Villaggio, a 239-unit apartment community located in Bossier City. Greg Duvall of NorthMarq Capital’s Kansas City office arranged the loan through Freddie Mac on behalf of the borrower. In addition to its apartment residences, Villaggio features retail and office space.
HILTON HEAD, S.C. — HFF has secured $13.4 million in acquisition financing for Fresh Market Shoppes, an 86,694-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in Hilton Head. Redeveloped in 2004, the shopping center was 91.2 percent leased at the time of financing to 16 tenants, including anchor The Fresh Market, Bonefish Grill, Dollar Tree, Massage Envy and West Marine. Situated on 9.7 acres at 890 William Hilton Parkway, the shopping center is bounded by two golf courses: Long Cove Golf Club and Shipyard Plantation Golf Course. Travis Anderson and Cory Fowler led HFF’s debt placement team to arrange the loan through Synovus Bank on behalf of the borrower, Ferncroft Capital.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has arranged a 26,500-square-foot office lease at Washington Center, a 355,000-square-foot, Class A office building located at 1001 G St. N.W. in Washington, D.C. The new tenant is Optoro, a local tech firm serving the retail industry. The 12-story Washington Center office building has direct internal access to the newly renovated Grand Hyatt Hotel, as well as a private entrance to the Metro Center Metrorail station. Brendan Owen, George Vogelei and Rafael Notario of NGKF represented Washington Center’s ownership, Quadrangle Development Corp. and Oxford Property Group, in the lease deal. Harry Klaff, Jay Farmer and Andy O’Brien of JLL represented Optoro.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Crescent Communities has broken ground on a transit-oriented development at Lynx Light Rail’s Stonewall Station that will be anchored by Uptown Charlotte’s first Whole Foods Market. The mixed-use development will feature the 47,000-square-foot Whole Foods store, 459 luxury apartment residences and a parking deck. Expected to open in 2017, the development will span 5.4 acres and feature a public plaza that will offer food carts and gathering spaces for social events. Community amenities will include a heated, invisible-edge saltwater pool, fitness center, sky lounge, picnic areas and a rooftop dog park. Unit interiors will feature granite or quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, faux-wood flooring, designer lighting fixtures and USB outlets for connectivity. Crescent Stonewall Station’s financing includes an equity investment by Crescent Communities and the Melissaris family, as well as construction debt provided by JP Morgan Chase and Emigrant Realty Finance. The design team includes architect The Preston Partnership, interior designer Vignette Interior Design, civil engineer and landscape architect LandDesign and general contractor Whiting-Turner.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc. has acquired CBRE | Memphis, a commercial real estate services firm that has served as CBRE’s affiliate firm in Memphis since 1996. The firm has more than 100 employees on staff and leases and/or manages roughly 14 million square feet of commercial property in the metro Memphis area, as well as Arkansas and Jackson, Miss. CBRE | Memphis and CBRE’s existing corporate staff in the Memphis region totals more than 500 employees. After acquiring affiliate firms in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Louisville, CBRE Group now has 14 offices in the Southeast totaling more than 3,200 employees.
GAITHERSBURG, MD. — Elion Partners has completed a major capital improvement program for Goshen Plaza, a 45,654-square-foot shopping center in Gaithersburg. Located at the corner of Goshen and Rothbury roads, the shopping center’s tenant roster includes CVS/pharmacy, McDonald’s, Subway, Paisano’s and Pizza Hut. The capital improvement program included repaving the front parking lot and painting the shopping center. New soffit and beams wrapped in stained wood were installed under the canopy and a new light line was installed along the roof. The landscaping also received a complete overhaul. Rappaport manages the leasing strategy, physical plant and construction activities for Elion Partners at Goshen Plaza.
TYSON’S CORNER, VA. — First Potomac Realty Trust has sold Cedar Hill I & III, two three-story office buildings in Tyson’s Corner, for $27.3 million. The properties total 102,632 square feet and were fully leased as of Sept. 30, 2015. JLL represented the office REIT in the transaction.
DULUTH, GA. — Versant Commercial Brokerage Inc. has acquired two flex office buildings in Duluth, a suburb of Atlanta, for $9.1 million. The properties total 113,035 square feet and are located at 2425 and 2450 Commerce Ave. The properties’ tenant roster includes Metso Automation USA Inc., Vensure Employer Services, Moreland Altobelli Associates and Videojet Technologies. Asset manager Clear Vista Management and property manager Wiedmayer & Co. assisted Versant in the transaction. Versant acquired the buildings on behalf of a group of former tenant-in-common investors, which own the two adjacent buildings. Versant negotiated the acquisition and assisted in financing the acquisition with low-cost debt.
MIAMI — NGKF Capital Markets has arranged the $40 million sale of Advance Tower, an eight-story, 100,798-square-foot office building in Miami. The seller, JW Advance LLC, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that developed and managed Advance Tower since 1986, sold the property to USAA Real Estate Co. Advance Tower will remain the office headquarters of Interval International Inc., a global lodging provider. Adam Greenberg, Michael Lapointe and Michael Lohmann of NGKF Capital Markets represented the seller in the transaction.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — In-Rel Properties has purchased iBank Tower, a 276,226-square-foot office building located at 5050 Poplar Ave. in Memphis. According to media outlets, In-Rel Properties purchased the property from an affiliate of Gemini-Rosemont Realty LLC for $19.2 million. In-Rel Properties owns the neighboring Clark Tower and plans to create an 18-acre office campus comprising the two office towers. The Lake Worth, Fla.-based investor will spend up to $1 million on capital improvements to iBank Tower, in addition to the $6 to $7 million investment for Clark Tower’s renovations. The two towers will have shared amenities, parking, security and color schemes. Phil Dagastino Jr., Bentley Pembroke and Anna Tranum of Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial Advisors will lease both towers on behalf of In-Rel Properties.
