RALEIGH, N.C. — Audemars Piguet, a luxury watchmaker based in Switzerland, plans to open a new regional headquarters office in Raleigh. The company plans to invest $22 million to build out its 63,000-square-foot office at Raleigh Iron Works, a $150 million mixed-use development in Raleigh by Jamestown and Grubb Ventures. The development will be the home of Audemars Piguet’s North American Service Center, which will create 105 new jobs. The watch manufacturer is joining other luxury tenants at Raleigh Iron Works that include Peter Millar, Johnnie O, Raleigh Denim Workshop and the Bal Harbour pop-up experience. The 19-acre development will also house 200 apartments and offices for Wasserman and FM Systems, as well as food-and-beverage options from Chef Scott Crawford, Robert Thompson, Ford Fry, Eastcut Sandwiches, Andia’s Ice Cream and Ponysaurus Brewing Co. Civic entities that were involved in bringing Audemars Piguet to the project include Wake County Economic Development, Raleigh Economic Development, the City of Raleigh, Wake County Board of Commissioners, Capital Area Workforce Development Board, North Carolina State University, Wake Technical Community College and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
Southeast
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. AND LAGRANGE, GA. — BWE has secured two loans totaling $16 million for a pair of shopping centers in Florida and Georgia. The deals include a $6 million loan for the refinancing of Palm Beach Commons, a 70,000-square-foot, Family Dollar-anchored retail center in West Palm Beach, and a $10 million acquisition loan for Publix at Merganser Commons, a newly built, Publix-anchored shopping center spanning 46,791 square feet in LaGrange. Both loans are underwritten with full-term, interest-only payments. The borrowers and direct lenders for both loans were not disclosed.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Berkadia has arranged a $10 million CMBS loan for the refinancing of WoodSpring Suites Charlotte – University Research Park, a 122-room, extended-stay hotel located at 7007 MacFarlane Blvd. in Charlotte. Michael Weinberg and Alec Fox of Berkadia’s Hotels & Hospitality team arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through KeyBank on behalf of the borrower, Orlando-based Liberty Investment Properties. The sponsor has developed more than 35 WoodSpring Suites-branded hotels since 2007. Built in 2021, WoodSpring Suites Charlotte – University Research Park is situated adjacent to a Topgolf off I-85 and is within three miles of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus.
JENSEN BEACH, FLA. — Plaza Advisors has brokered the sale of Palm Breeze Plaza, a 48,110-square-foot shopping center in Jensen Beach, about 45 miles north of West Palm Beach, Fla. The center is situated on a nearly 4-acre site less than one mile from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The seller, FrostPoint Capital, acquired the center in 2020 and over the course of its ownership fully renovated the asset and signed anchor tenant Winn-Dixie to a long-term lease extension. Other tenants at Palm Breeze Plaza, which was fully leased at the time of sale, include Winn-Dixie Liquor, Domino’s, Carquest and St. Lucie Medical Specialists, a subsidiary of HCA. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
SRS Negotiates $3.2M Sale of Retail Property in Beaufort, South Carolina Leased to Mavis Discount Tire
by John Nelson
BEAUFORT, S.C. — SRS Real Estate Partners has negotiated the nearly $3.2 million sale of a 6,800-square-foot retail property located at 162 Sea Island Parkway in Beaufort, about 35 miles from Hilton Head Island. Mavis Discount Tire fully occupies the store, which opened this summer, on a 20-year triple-net lease. The Mavis property is part of a larger retail development that includes Publix, AutoZone, Sherwin-Williams and Wendy’s. Patrick Nutt, William Wamble and Sabrina Kortlandt of SRS represented the seller, an unnamed developer based in Florida, in the transaction. The Vermont-based private buyer purchased the asset in a 1031 exchange at a 5.38 percent cap rate, according to SRS.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The North Charleston City Council has voted to approve Battery Park, a redevelopment of the 50-acre former Charleston Naval Complex. A partnership consisting of Jamestown, Weaver Capital Partners and WECCO Development will assist the city in transforming the waterfront complex into a mixed-use district comprising 1,400 residential units, with 17 percent reserved for workforce housing (households earning less than 120 percent of the area median income). The development will also feature shops, restaurants, offices, entertainment spaces and 23 acres of public spaces, parks and streets. The developers also plan to establish a new pavilion with a market hall, event space and an active lawn fronting the water. The construction timeline for the redevelopment was not disclosed. In addition to Battery Park, Jamestown, Weaver Capital and WECCO are underway on Navy Yard Charleston, an 85-acre redevelopment that will ultimately comprise 3.5 million square feet of commercial and residential space comprising more than 2,600 residential units.
RocaPoint Signs Six New Tenants at $1B Greenville County Square Development in South Carolina
by John Nelson
GREENVILLE, S.C. — RocaPoint Partners has signed six new tenants to join Greenville County Square, a $1 billion mixed-use development underway in downtown Greenville. In addition to Whole Foods Market announced earlier this year, the 3 million-square-foot development will include Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Cordish Cos. brands Sports & Social and PBR and restaurants Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Hawkers and The Salty. Other committed tenants include Lima One Capital (office), Pins Mechanical, Fairway Social, Perch Kitchen and Tap, Agave Bandido, Jinya Ramen Bar and Ben & Jerry’s. Earlier this year, Greenville County moved into its new 262,000-square-foot administrative building and parking deck. RocaPoint is currently building out the project’s roads and infrastructure.
Cornerstone Community Development to Break Ground on $51M Adaptive Reuse Project in Huntington, West Virginia
by John Nelson
HUNTINGTON, W.VA. — Cornerstone Community Development Corp. plans to convert the historic Prichard Hotel in downtown Huntington into an affordable seniors housing property. The $51 million renovation will comprise converting the former hotel rooms into 108 residential living spaces, as well as repositioning the first two floors for healthcare services and additional community resources. Cornerstone Community Development’s partners on the project include Christ Temple Church, Winterwood Development and CVS Health, which is investing more than $17 million in the project. The timeline for construction was not disclosed.
Pinnacle Obtains $41.2M Construction Financing for Affordable Seniors Housing Development in South Florida
by John Nelson
MIRAMAR, FLA. — Pinnacle has obtained $41.2 million in construction financing for Pinnacle at La Cabana, a 110-unit affordable seniors housing development in Miramar, a city in South Florida’s Broward County. The financing included debt or LIHTC equity from Bank of America, Neighborhood Lending Partners, Florida Housing Finance Corp., City of Miramar and United Way of Broward County. Located at 8911 Miramar Parkway, the development is a public-private partnership between Pinnacle and the City of Miramar, which is the landowner. Pinnacle at La Cabana will feature one- and two-bedroom apartments, with 11 units reserved for seniors earning 28 percent of the area median income (AMI) and the remaining affordable to seniors earning 60 percent of AMI. Amenities will include indoor and outdoor multi-purpose facilities. Completion of the project is estimated for mid-2025.
TUPELO, MISS. — Senior Living Investment Brokerage (SLIB) has negotiated the sale of Avonlea Assisted Living, a 68-unit seniors housing property in Tupelo. The community was built in 1999 and renovated in 2005. The seller is a publicly traded REIT. The buyer is a regional owner-operator based in Mississippi that intends to renovate the asset and make significant upgrades to improve occupancy, revenue and overall bottom-line performance. The sales price was not disclosed. Bradley Clousing and Daniel Geraghty of SLIB brokered the transaction.