MIAMI — JLL has arranged a 75,000-square-foot office lease at Quattro Miami, a four-building office park in the city’s Airport West submarket. The tenant, medical research firm Evolution Research Group (ERG), is relocating its South Florida regional headquarters to Quattro Miami from Hialeah. The move expands ERG’s office footprint by 45,000 square feet, according to JLL. The New Jersey-based firm leased four full floors at Quattro East, located at 700 NW 107th Ave. Doug Okun of JLL represented the landlord, an entity owned by Guy Sharon and Yoav Merary that is doing business as Four 700 LLC, in the lease negotiations. David Herbert, Donna Abood and Joseph Abood of Avison Young represented ERG. Quattro Miami was recently renovated with updated façades, lobbies, common areas and restrooms, a revamped café, new elevator controls and cabs, a renovated fitness center and a new conferencing center. The park’s tenant roster includes Farelogix/Accelya, State’s Title and Alliance for Aging, in addition to other traditional office tenants and medical and research companies.
Southeast
Haven Realty Capital, Yieldstreet Acquire Build-to-Rent Community in Chattanooga for $28.6M
by John Nelson
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Los Angeles-based Haven Realty Capital, in a joint venture with funds managed by New York City-based Yieldstreet, has closed on the first phase of a $28.6 million acquisition of Hartman Hill, a 71-home build-to-rent (BTR) residential community in Chattanooga. The Haven-led joint venture will close on the remaining homes in phases over the next seven months. Hartman Hill is being developed on a 26-acre site at 5005 Dayton Blvd. in the Red Bank neighborhood, approximately eight miles north of downtown Chattanooga. At full buildout, the property will offer three- and four-bedroom homes ranging in size from 1,538 to 2,515 square feet. Each of the two-story homes will offer custom cabinetry with soft-close drawers, quartz countertops, tile backsplashes, stainless steel appliances, private backyards and direct access garages. Common area amenities will include a sports court, bark park and a pet washing station. The new ownership will maintain the landscaping for all homes and common areas.
Like much of the rest of the country, the Atlanta multifamily market has been white-hot with strong occupancies and rent growth that is contributing to outsized returns for owners, investors and developers. Recent increases in financing costs does not mean the music is stopping, but the tempo is slowing a bit. Atlanta’s multifamily fundamentals are still outstanding. Occupancies are holding strong and rents are continuing to rise. According to Northmarq’s fourth-quarter 2021 research, occupancy improved by 90 basis points while asking rents spiked by 15.9 percent at year-end. The compelling story fueling investor interest — growing demand and limited supply of housing options — remains firmly in place. In addition, there is plenty of investor appetite and capital available for multifamily assets for both debt and equity financing. The big change that has occurred over the past several weeks is the increasing cost of debt that will likely take some of the edge off what has been an ultra-aggressive investment sales market. The 10-year Treasury was 1.73 percent on March 1, 2022. At the end of April, it was 2.91 percent, a 118-basis-point increase in less than two months. Additionally, lender spreads have widened over this same period — 30 …
BRYAN COUNTY, GA. — Hyundai Motor Group will open a $5.5 billion manufacturing plant near the coastal Georgia city of Savannah that will be fully dedicated to production of electric vehicles, including batteries. Hyundai expects the facility to be operational within three years. In addition to Hyundai’s direct investment, various suppliers of the South Korean automaker will invest another $1 billion in the project. Between these initiatives, more than 8,000 new jobs are expected to be added to the local economy. Known as the Bryan County Megasite, the plant’s location spans nearly 3,000 acres. The site is adjacent to Interstate 16 and is proximate to both Interstate 95 and the Port of Savannah. The Port of Savannah is the fastest-growing container terminal in the country, according to the development team, and is served by two Class I railroads. A partnership between the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (JDA) and the State of Georgia owns the Bryan County Megasite. The former entity comprises the development authorities of Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham and Effingham counties. The partnership has spent the last several years making infrastructural improvements to the site in order to improve speed-to-market functionalities for the end user. “From initial …
Aztec Group Arranges $81M Construction-to-Perm Loan for Metro Miami Mixed-Use Development
by John Nelson
HIALEAH, FLA. — Aztec Group has arranged an $81 million construction-to-perm loan for the development of Residences and Shoppes of Highland, a mixed-use development underway in the Miami suburb of Hialeah. The developer/borrower is an affiliate of South Florida-based Dacar Management, a development firm led by Alberto Micha. An affiliate of New York Life Insurance Co. provided the non-recourse, fixed-rate loan, which has an initial three-year term and converts to a 27-year self-amortizing loan. Upon completion, Residences and Shoppes of Highland will feature 244 garden-style apartments in four- and five-story buildings and a shopping center spanning 190,000 square feet. The retail component will house a Publix grocery store and Publix Liquors, HomeGoods, dd’s Discounts, Burlington, Five Below, Famous Footwear and Taco Bell, among others. Sitework has already commenced on the 70-acre project, which is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2023.
Crescent Communities, ParkProperty Capital to Build New Multifamily Community in Richmond
by John Nelson
RICHMOND, VA. — Crescent Communities and multifamily real estate investment firm ParkProperty Capital have plans to develop Novel Scott’s Addition, a new multifamily community in Richmond. The 275-unit property marks Crescent’s first investment in the Richmond area and was made possible through a partnership with Thalhimer Realty Partners. Construction is slated to begin immediately. Located at the former Wesco Distribution site at 2902 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., Novel Scott’s Addition will sit at the northern edge of Richmond’s vibrant Scott’s Addition neighborhood. The location is also adjacent to The Diamond, home of the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team, and just 2.5 miles from the popular City Center neighborhood. The five-story wrap building with a seven-story corner pop-out will offer a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments with a limited number of lofts on the top floor. First residences are scheduled for delivery in early 2024. Planned amenities include a resort-style pool with expansive pool deck, multiple dining and gathering spaces, including a fireside lounge, library, coworking rooms, dog park and spa, outdoor dining spaces, sky deck and a resident speakeasy. Partners for Novel Scott’s Addition include architecture firm KTGY, civil engineer Kimley-Horn, landscape architect LandDesign, interior designe CID …
SLIDELL, LA. — A partnership between The Woodmont Co. and The Criterion Fund has acquired Village at Northshore, a 144,638-square-foot shopping center located at 105-115 Northshore Blvd. in Slidell. The sales price was not disclosed. Situated adjacent to I-12, the property was developed in 1988 and renovated in 2020. The retail center’s tenant roster includes Marshalls, JoAnn’s, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Boot Barn and Dollar Tree. Shadow anchors include Walmart Supercenter, Sam’s Club, The Home Depot and Aldi. SRS Real Estate Partners represented the seller, Atlanta-based RCG Ventures, in the transaction. Woodmont was self-represented. Andy Thelen of Woodmont worked with Louisiana National Bank to secure a loan for the acquisition. David Adams and Jake McCoy will oversee leasing at Village at Northshore for Woodmont on an internal basis.
WHITEVILLE, N.C. — Walgreens Boots Alliance has purchased one of its stores in Whiteville, a town equidistant from coastal markets Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Located at 803 N. JK Powell Blvd., the 14,820-square-foot property sold for approximately $5 million. According to brokerage firm Newmark, the drug store retail giant exercised its right of first refusal in purchasing the store, which has 10.1 years remaining on its triple-net lease. Walgreens signed the 25-year lease at the store in 2006. Matt Berres, Samer Khalil and Karick Brown of Newmark represented the seller, an undisclosed institutional investment firm based in Phoenix, in the transaction. Other single-tenant transactions this Newmark team has brokered recently include a $2.3 million sale of a medical office property in Cartersville, Ga., leased to Northwest ENT and Allergy Center and a $1.4 million sale of a store in Morgantown, Ky., leased to Advance Auto Parts. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens operates approximately 18,500 retail locations worldwide, more than half of which are in the United States.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Apartment Association (NAA) have praised the Biden administration on the release of the Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to alleviate the housing affordability crisis and lower costs for renters. Under the plan, the administration outlined new measures that would produce more housing supply, including more affordable housing units, over the course of the next five years. The plan includes several concepts previously proposed in the Build Back Better bill that passed in the House but stalled in the Senate. Though the NMHC and NAA have acknowledged that there is no “single magic bullet” that can solve the nation’s housing shortage, they underlined that the current crisis is the result of decades of policy failures to address the growing shortage of housing production. In their reaction, both associations point to research conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services that found that the U.S. will need to build an average of 328,000 apartments every year through 2030 to keep up with national demand. That mark has only been achieved five times since 1989. The NMHC and NAA states they are particularly encouraged by specific aspects of the proposed policy. The NAA recently …
ARLINGTON, VA. — Cortland, an Atlanta-based multifamily investment firm, has purchased four apartment communities in Arlington totaling more than 1,500 units. The $1 billion investment marks the firm’s re-entry into the Washington, D.C., metro area, and the firm says it plans to “double its investment in the area” in the near future. “Northern Virginia is a highly coveted location that is already seeing a rebound in growth as residents move back to the urban core,” says Mike Altman, chief investment officer at Cortland. “This is just the start of Cortland’s investment in the region.” The portfolio includes Aubrey, a 331-unit apartment community that will be rebranded as Cortland Rosslyn, and Aura Pentagon City, a 534-unit apartment community to be renamed Cortland Pentagon City. The other two Arlington communities are undisclosed as those sales have yet to close, though the firm says they will be announced soon. “The combination of these investments allows us to gain a strong foothold in the region at a strategic time based on our proprietary analysis of market trends,” says Altman. Cortland Rosslyn is a LEED Gold-certified community that was developed in 2021 by Penzance. The 23-story community offers studios to three-bedroom homes, as well as …