MORGANTON, N.C. — Morganton-based Ferrari Investments has sold five KFC/Taco Bell restaurants and two KFC restaurants, located in North Carolina, to STORE Capital and OMAA for $7.8 million. The properties are located in Hudson, West Jefferson, Cherryville, Marion, Denver, Richfield and Lincolnton, N.C. Sam Young of Cassidy Turley represented the seller in the transaction. Steven Peden and Annette Montgomery of Colliers International represented the buyer.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — LKQ Corp. has signed a 156,000-square-foot lease to occupy the former FedEx facility, located at 1001 Carrier Dr. in Charlotte. The facility will serve as the company's base operations for the Carolinas and will allow LKQ to increase product offerings to the Charlotte Metropolitan area while also expanding its team of employees to support its growth strategy. Bill Mowry of Prime Equities represented the tenant in the lease transaction. Lester Osborn of Piedmont Properties/CORFAC International represented the landlord, NATMI National Truck Terminals, in the transaction.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has arranged $31 million in first mortgage refinancing for the 288-unit Fountaine Bleau Apartments, a garden-style apartment complex located at 10801 Paul Eells Dr. in North Little Rock. Alan Tapie of Grandbridge's Atlanta office, along with David Boerner of Little Rock-based Plunkett, Boerner & Associates arranged the 10-year, fixed-rate loan with a 30-year amortization followed by 12 months of interest-only payments.
CHESAPEAKE, VA. — JRK Investors has acquired the 374-unit Empirian Chesapeake, a garden style apartment complex located at 150 Coveside Ln. in Chesapeake, in a sale in conjunction with Auction.com for $55.12 million. Amenities include a business center, clubhouse, swimming pool, playground and laundry facilities. Jordan McCarley of Southeast Apartment Partners represented the seller in the transaction.
ROSWELL, GA. — A joint venture between Cortland Partners and Harbert Management Corp. has acquired the 664-unit Centennial Ridge, an institutionally-developed community located at 100 Calibre Creek Pkwy. in Roswell, for $38.75 million. The buyers plan to invest $10.6 million to renovate the property. Renovations will include resident amenity improvements, energy efficient upgrades and renovated kitchens, including new granite countertops. Plans also include a redevelopment of the leasing center and clubhouse, which will include a commercial grade health club facility. Current amenities include a lake, jogging trails, two swimming pools, four tennis courts and an outdoor kitchen, fireplace and gazebo. Once renovations are complete, the property will be rebranded as Park 83.
MIAMI — The $30 million, 100-unit Dr. Barbara Carey-Shuler Manor, an affordable housing complex located at 1400 NW 54th St. in Miami, has opened. Half of the units are designated for formerly homeless families and the other half are set aside for elderly residents and low-income families earning at or below 60 percent of the area's median income. Amenities include an exercise facility and community room. Additionally, there is 16,000 square feet of ground-floor office space. Carrfour Supportive Housing developed the property.
GRIFFIN, GA. — The Kroger Co. and Collins & Arnold have broken ground on a $12 million, 94,000-square-foot Kroger and an 18-pump Kroger Fuel Center at the 102,000-square-foot Griffin Pavilion, located at GA Highway 16 and GA Highway 19/41 in Griffin. The Sofran Group developed the center, which includes tenants such as Lowe's Home Improvement, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Wells Fargo Bank. Completion is slated for November 2012.
GAITHERSBURG AND FREDERICK, MD. — Fitness First has purchased two properties for a total of $5.34 million. The company acquired a 17,670-square-foot flex/retail building, located at 18810 Woodfield Rd. in Gaithersburg from Sumo Holdings Maryland. Bill Quay and Ro Waldron of McShea represented the seller in the transaction. In Frederick, the company purchased the 23,011-square-foot former Frederick Athletic Club, located at 5245 Westview Dr., from Even Par. Rick Farren and Brad Benna of McShea represented the seller. Christopher Coccaro, Jeff Massie and Nick Finelli of Broad Street represented the buyer in both transactions. The former Frederick Athletic Club will continue to operate and gradual changes will be made to transition to the Fitness First model. The inside of the Woodfield property will be reconstructed and open by year's end.
The Greenville-Spartanburg office market includes more than 10 million square feet of leasable office space located along Interstate 85 between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta. The market is expected to enjoy increasing absorption levels with a modest drop in vacancy, which currently stands at just over 16 percent. The biggest news on the construction front is Hughes Development’s ONE building in the Greenville CBD. The property will deliver 370,000 square feet of Class A office space to the market in its two phases. Phase I is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. Phase II is expected to be completed by third quarter 2013. Anchor tenants for the property include CertusBank, Haynesworth Sinkler Boyd and Clemson University, which is relocating its Master’s of Business Administration program to the project. Banking is one sector that stands to be a high-growth industry in the local market through the end of 2013. In addition to rapidly growing CertusBank in the new ONE building, TD Bank recently announced its intention to permanently occupy the Interstate 85 campus the company acquired with the purchase of a regional bank, The South Financial Group. This removed 150,000 square feet of vacant Class A space from …
ORLANDO, FLA. — Orlando-based Rhodes+Brio Architects has been selected to design two Orlando elementary schools, both of which are budgeted at $10 million. The new buildings will replace two older properties. The schools include the 85,000-square-foot Eccleston Elementary School, located at 1500 Aaron Ave., and the 85,000-square-foot Washington Shore Elementary School, located at 944 W. Lake Mann Dr. Ground breaking for Eccleston is set for this August and construction will begin on Washington Shores in the summer of 2013.