CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A joint venture between Baltimore-based Alex Brown Realty Inc. and Charleston, S.C.-based Chartwell Holdings has acquired Arbor Trace, a 384-unit multifamily community located in southwest Charlotte. The joint venture purchased the Class B community for approximately $23.8 million, or $62,000 per unit. The property was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Dean Smith, Blake Okland, John Heimburger and Sean Wood of ARA's Charlotte office represented the seller, Wilmington, N.C.-based Biltmark Corp., in the transaction. The joint venture plans to invest nearly $1 million in exterior and capital improvements at Arbor Trace.
RIVERVIEW, FLA. — Cassidy Turley has arranged the $17.5 million sale of Shoppes of Southbay, a grocery-anchored retail center located in Riverview, a suburb of Tampa. The property is located at Big Bend Road and U.S. Highway 301. Sweetbay Supermarket anchors the center with a 51,000-square-foot location. Other tenants include AT&T, Buffalo Wild Wings, H&R Block and GNC. Drew Fleming and Mark Joines of Cassidy Turley represented the seller, Shoppes of Southbay LLC, in the transaction. Peter Wenzel of Wenzel Investment Group advised the buyer, Terre Investments LLC.
LEXINGTON, KY. — Steadfast Income REIT has purchased the newly constructed Watermark at Hamburg Place apartment community in Lexington for $16.3 million. The 150-unit community was 93 percent occupied at the time of sale. The REIT purchased the community from Watermark Residential. The community offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units with average rents of $952 per month. The community's amenity package includes a resort-style swimming pool, WiFi hotspots, a spa, 24-hour fitness center, outdoor fireplace, clubhouse with a coffee center, barbecue area and a dog park. The property will be renamed the Retreat at Hamburg Place. With this purchase and the $20.1 million acquisition of a community in Ohio, Steadfast Income REIT has surpassed $1 billion in assets.
BILOXI, MISS. — Rock Apartment Advisors has brokered the $6.5 million sale of Royal Gulf, a Class B apartment community located in Biloxi. The 144-unit community is located along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, minutes from the beach. Joseph Holt of Birmingham, Ala.-based Rock Apartment Advisors and Blake Pera of CBRE Memphis brokered the sale. Engle Realty Co. purchased the community from Newport Property Ventures. Royal Gulf is Rock's 14th transaction along the Mississippi Gulf Coast since 2007, totaling approximately $136 million in total sales.
BOCA RATON, FLA. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $1.7 million sale of Boca Mini Storage, a 402-unit, 31,619-square-foot self storage facility located at 5555-5701 N. Dixie Highway in Boca Raton. Of the 402 units, 186 are climate-controlled and 18 have direct drive-up access. Howard Bregman of Marcus & Millichap's Fort Lauderdale office represented the seller, an individual/personal trust based in Palm Coast, Fla.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cassidy Turley has secured $150 million in acquisition financing for Jamestown LP in its $307.5 million purchase of One Metro Center in Washington, D.C. from Clarion Partners. One Metro Center is a 421,235-square-foot, Class A office tower located at 701 13th St. N.W. in Washington's East End, three blocks from the White House. The property is fully leased. John Campanella and Paul Spellman of Cassidy Turley arranged the floating-rate loan through a bank.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Greysteel, a Washington, D.C.-based investment real estate services firm, has arranged the sale of a two-building, midrise portfolio containing 92 apartments and one ground-floor retail unit. The portfolio is located at 7611 and 7701 Georgia Ave. N.W. in northwest D.C., one block from Silver Spring, Md. Ari Firoozabadi, Kyle Tangney, John Mullen, Caleb Brown and Lance Ahmadian represented the seller, BBS Associates, in the transaction. The buyer was WC Smith, a generational family-operated real estate company based in D.C.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Rock Apartment Advisors, a Birmingham-based apartment brokerage services firm, has closed the $3.2 million sale of The Blach's Lofts at North 20th Street in downtown Birmingham. The community features 24 loft-style units and approximately 5,000 square feet of commercial space, which is fully leased. The property was built in 1923 and renovated in 2008-2009. Justin Uffinger of Rock Apartment Advisors brokered the sale.
MIAMI — Easton & Associates, the commercial real estate brokerage division of The Easton Group, has arranged a 61,700-square-foot lease for warehouse space at a distribution center in Miami. Rana Furniture leased space at the center, located at 7821 N.W. 67th St. Jim Armstrong and Mike Waite of Easton & Associates represented both the tenant and the landlord, SPG NW 77th Court LLC, in the lease deal.
In just one generation, the Orlando market and its surrounding area became one of the premier vacation destinations in the United States and the world. With a room inventory second only to Las Vegas, this tourist hot spot strongly felt the financial market meltdown of 2008. However, the last two years have seen the hotel market undergo a strong recovery. In fact, the rate of recovery in the region’s hotel segment is stronger than for hotels nationwide. This trend and the lean operations many hotels adopted during the downturn should produce excellent operating returns for hotels in the region for the foreseeable future, assuming no overbuilding. Improving Vital Signs With a 2008 total room inventory in the metro Orlando region of 111,551 rooms and 437 properties, hoteliers could demand an average daily rate of $106.25. According to STR, in 2009 that daily rate dropped a very painful 11.8 percent to $93.70. This corresponded to a drop in occupancy from 65.2 percent to 60 percent. Between 2008 and 2012, the total inventory of both rooms and properties increased. This growth saw the number of properties rise to 456 and total room inventory to 117,396 in 2012. The permanent and temporary closing …