OAKWOOD, GA. — BWE (formerly Bellwether Enterprise) has arranged a $29.5 million construction loan for the development of Imperium Oakwood, a 229-unit apartment development in Oakwood, about 48 miles northeast of Atlanta. Thomas Wiedeman, Alan Tapie, Hanley Long and Brad Walker of BWE arranged the fixed-rate loan through an unnamed community bank on behalf of the developer, Alpharetta, Ga.-based Imperium Development. The property will be situated adjacent to University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus and will feature a clubhouse with fitness and office rooms, resort-style pool, fireplace, grill stations, covered lounge, game area, onsite parking and a dog park with a wash station. The construction timeline was not disclosed.
METAIRIE, LA. — The Feil Organization has signed FastPass Tag and Title LLC to a 9,000-square-foot lease in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. The tenant will occupy two suites at 3445 North Causeway Boulevard, a 10-story, 127,858-square-foot office building. One suite will include a retail space where customers can obtain and renew their drivers’ licenses and IDs, while the second space will be dedicated to the company’s back-of-house and office operations. Scott Graf of Corporate Realty represented Feil Organization in the lease transaction.
ELKTON, FLA. — KeHE Distributors is underway on the development of a 530,474-square-foot build-to-suit industrial facility in the St. Augustine suburb of Elkton, which will provide office and distribution space for the company. KeHE distributes natural and organic, specialty and fresh food products to more than 31,000 stores throughout North America. The project comprises a two-story, 30,000-square-foot executive office suite, as well as roughly 500,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space. The new facility will replace the company’s older buildings, which are situated across the street from the development site. Completion of the development is scheduled for 2025. Design firm Ware Malcomb is providing architecture, interior design and branding services for the project, and Evans General Contractors is constructing the facility.
PALM COAST, FLA. — Greysteel has arranged $51 million in financing for Evolve Palm Coast, a 256-unit multifamily development underway in Palm Coast, about 27 miles south of St. Augustine via I-95. The financing package includes $37 million in construction financing and $14 million in preferred equity placement. North Carolina-based Evolve Cos. is the developer and borrower. Upon completion, which is scheduled for fall 2025, the property will feature apartments in one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts across 12 three-story buildings. Amenities at the community will include a clubhouse, saltwater pool, gas grills, fitness center, yoga room, dog park and a playground. Jeremy Slocumb and Chris Wilkins of Greysteel led the team that secured the financing. A regional bank provided the three-year, floating-rate construction loan, and an institutional real estate investment fund provided the preferred equity.
LEXINGTON, S.C. — Lowes Foods has signed a lease to anchor Platt Springs Crossing, a 50-acre mixed-use development currently underway in Lexington, a western suburb of Columbia, S.C. The Winston-Salem-based grocer will occupy 51,000 square feet at the development. Other tenants will include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Tidal Wave Car Wash, Panda Express and Planet Fitness. An affiliate of NAI Columbia doing business as LLDC Platt Springs LF LLC is the developer of the project, which is scheduled to begin opening early next year. Ben Kelly and Patrick Chambers of NAI Columbia represented the landlord in the lease negotiations with Lowes Foods. The grocery store is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2025.
OCALA, FLA. — BroadRange Logistics has signed a lease to fully occupy Ocala Logistics Center, a 350,899-square-foot industrial building in Central Florida. Situated at the corner of N.W. 35th St. and N.W. 27th Ave. in Ocala, the property features 196 parking spaces, 96 trailer drops, ESFR sprinkler systems and 36-foot clear heights. Clay Witherspoon of Avison Young represented the landlord, MDH Partners, in the lease negotiations. John Gosnell of Strategic Real Estate Partners represented the tenant.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CBRE has arranged a 40,000-square-foot lease at First Citizens Bank Plaza, a 23-story office building in Uptown Charlotte. International coworking company IWG will occupy the 18th and 19th floors of the building beginning in February, with plans to expand its SPACES brand. Located at 128 S. Tryon St., the property was recently renovated and features a new lobby, a boutique fitness center, tenant amenity hub with lockers and showers, bicycle parking and storage, upgraded restrooms and a 5,000-square-foot ground-floor restaurant and bar space, currently occupied by MOA Korean BBQ. Kris Westmoreland, Stephanie Spivey and Joe Franco of CBRE represented the landlord, Dornin Investment Group, in the lease negotiations.
LOS ANGELES — CBRE has brokered the sales of nine individual Big Lots-occupied retail properties to two buyer. Alex Kozakov and Patrick Wade of CBRE represented the seller, a large institutional investor, in the transactions. Robhana Group acquired four properties, totaling 117,494 square feet, for $23.6 million. The assets are: Reliable Properties purchased five locations, totaling 125,439 square feet, for $27.1 million. The properties are: The retail locations were part of a 25-property sale-leaseback portfolio acquired by a large institutional investor in 2023 with Kozakov and Wade representing the seller, Big Lots, in that transaction.
With high operating costs eroding profitability at many urban stores, major retailers are concentrating development and store renovations in suburban locations with layouts geared to the latest consumer preferences. As more retailers follow suit, early adopters provide object lessons in best practices to better serve an evolving customer base and reveal pitfalls to avoid along the way. “Retailers are more sensitive to the pressures of high costs and loss prevention in urban markets, and as a result, they are backing off in those areas,” says Cornelius Brown, a principal and regional manager in the Philadelphia office of Bohler. “Retailers looking to grow, in our experience, are shifting to the suburbs and using retail program methods to cut costs.” Bohler is a land development design and consulting firm that helps developers move their projects forward quickly. Recently, those clients have been keen to avoid risk in both site selection and design features, Brown says. Streamlining Retail Development Retail programs allow developers to use pre-existing retail layout prototypes to determine optimal site arrangements. This approach uses checklists to assign one of several pre-made layouts to a development based on factors such as road location, grading and elevation, parking needs, drive-through layout, loading …
PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. — Big-box wholesale retail giant Costco and St. Louis-based development firm Sansone Group have teamed up to purchase 192 acres within Legacy Park at Tradition, a 425-acre industrial park in Port St. Lucie. The companies plan to develop a 595,000-square-foot depot facility at the site. Costco has industrial development rights to expand its project up to 1.9 million square feet. Other Sansone-developed projects at Legacy Park at Tradition include build-to-suit facilities for FedEx Ground and Amazon, as well as two speculative facilities. The developer is also in the planning stages of another spec facility and a cold storage property within the park. The project team for the Costco development includes engineer Culpepper & Terpening, legal counsel Husch Blackwell, the City of Port St. Lucie and Robert Smith and Kirk Nelson at CBRE. The construction timeline was not disclosed.