TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has outlined Phase I of the state’s plan to slowly start reopening. Phase I, which will be enacted tomorrow, includes allowing retailers and restaurants to reopen, though they’re advised to operate at 25 percent capacity to comply with social distancing protocols. Schools will continue to do online learning. Visiting senior living facilities will still be prohibited. Gyms, bars and personal services such as hair salons will also remain closed. To help with testing demand, the state will open five more drive-thru testing sites, bringing the total number of state-supported sites to 13. The new testing sites will be in Broward, Escambia, Lee, Sarasota/Manatee and Miami-Dade counties. The governor’s office reports that to date, the testing sites have conducted 88,000 tests. The governor’s office sought advice from several organizations and those in leadership roles to roll out the parameters, including speaking with healthcare system executives, elected officials, law enforcement, small business owners and unemployed residents.
MATTHEWS, N.C. — SRS investment Properties Group has arranged the $23.9 million sale of Matthews Corner Shopping Center, a 191,664-square-foot property in Matthews. The asset was fully leased at the time of sale to eight tenants, including Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, Academy Sports + Outdoors and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. Matthews Corner is situated on 19 acres at 2332 Matthews Township Parkway, 12 miles southeast of downtown Charlotte. Kyle Stonis and Pierce Mayson of SRS represented the seller, Viking Partners, in the transaction. The buyer, Big V Property Group, was self-represented in the transaction.
ARLINGTON, VA. — Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is “beginning to scale” at its HQ2 campus underway in Arlington, according to Jay Carney, the company’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs. During a weekly webinar series conducted by Walker & Dunlop, Carney said the corporate campus, dubbed Met Park, is under construction and that the company is hiring in earnest, though he said it will “take some time” to reach the previously announced 25,000 goal. Carney, who was the former White House press secretary during President Barack Obama’s administration, led Amazon’s national HQ2 search in 2017 and 2018 to find a second home for the company outside of Seattle. The e-commerce giant ultimately chose both Northern Virginia and Long Island City in the Queens borough of New York City in late 2018, in addition to a 1 million-square-foot outpost in Nashville, Tenn. Amazon pulled out of its planned New York City location in early 2019. Clark Construction is the general contractor for the HQ2 campus, and JBG Smith is Amazon’s development partner, as well as its landlord for office space that Amazon is using in the rebranded National Landing district in Arlington’s Crystal City submarket. Carney said the company is not …
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Aerion Supersonic has unveiled plans to develop Aerion Park, a future $300 million office campus in Melbourne. The property will span 60 acres at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport and form a new global headquarters and integrated campus for research, design, build and maintenance of the company’s supersonic aircraft. The company is relocating from Reno, Nev., and will break ground later this year. Aerion expects to create 675 jobs by 2026. At the new site, Aerion will build the AS2, the world’s first privately built supersonic jet.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) sent a letter to the U.S. Congress on Monday requesting more funds for small business hotels across the country. According to a report from AHLA, small business hotels won’t be able to bring back laid off employees or prevent further layoffs with the current funds offered by the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Small Business Association (SBA) initiative established by the CARES Act. The PPP funds cover 47 percent of a hotel’s operating costs, the AHLA says in the letter. The Washington, D.C.-based organization also reports 61 percent of U.S. hotels, approximately 33,000 properties — are defined as small businesses. The letter was signed by more than 13,000 hotel owners. AHLA projects that 2020 hotel occupancy will go as low as 38 percent, the lowest figure since the Great Depression. Furthermore, the report finds that hotel staff nationwide has been cut by 70 percent since mid-March. AHLA states even after recovery begins, the hotel sector will not generate significant revenue to cover costs, given that hotel occupancy is not projected to return to pre-crisis levels before 2021 and revenue won’t return to pre-crisis levels until 2022.
DURHAM, N.C. — Magma Equities has acquired Independence Park Apartments, a 312-unit multifamily community in Durham, for $50 million. The property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans spanning 13 three-story buildings. The community was built in 2009 and sits on 23 acres at 215 William Penn Plaza, four miles north of downtown Durham. Communal amenities include a pool, fitness center, business center, clubhouse, 24-seat multimedia theater, tennis court, sand volleyball court, basketball court, playground and a dog park. Independence Park was 96 percent occupied at the time of sale. Due to COVID-19, Magma will suspend renovation plans and immediately begin outreach to offer any assistance it can to keep tenants housed. Dennis Harris of The Kirkland Co. represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Greystone provided a Freddie Mac acquisition loan to the buyer.
ALPHARETTA, GA. — Neal Freeman will begin construction in May on Fairway Social, a golf and entertainment concept in Alpharetta. The 11,000-square-foot entertainment destination, Fairway Social, will be located in The Maxwell, a joint development between Mayfair Street Partners, LLC and The Providence Group of Georgia LLC. The Maxwell will include 44,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space, as well as 138 residential units. Seven sports simulators will offer virtual golfing on more than 80 notable courses, as well as provide simulated games for baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, cricket and zombie dodgeball. The venue will also feature a section called Back Nine, which will have nine customizable holes on synthetic turf with synthetic sand traps, bridges and putting challenges. The indoor and outdoor bar area, named Par Bar, will be adjacent to seating for more than 80 diners in an area to be known as The Tee Room. There will also be an indoor-outdoor patio bar on the rooftop called Eagles Nest. The Maxwell is situated 25 miles north of downtown Atlanta.
ATLANTA — Harold Schumacher, founder of The Schumacher Group in Atlanta, died Saturday at the age of 72. Schumacher attended Michigan State University and moved to Atlanta as a public school teacher in the 1970s. He worked part-time as a restaurant critic for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Schumacher worked at The Shopping Center Group, now known as TSCG, as a broker for four years before founding The Schumacher Group in 1991. Some of Schumacher’s major clients include Verizon Wireless, Bruster’s, Metrotainment Cafes (Hudson Grill and Garrison’s), Varasano’s Pizza and Golden Corral. The firm also is part of the Retail Brokers Network, a national consortium of independent retail and restaurant pros.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Charles Wayne Properties Inc. will donate vacant space at its properties to individuals, businesses and organizations that need the space to help combat the COVID-19 outbreak. The Daytona Beach-based company plans to offer this program at its office, retail, flex industrial and warehouse properties in Altamonte Springs, Daytona Beach, Lake Mary, Orlando, Ormond Beach, Port Orange and Sanford, Fla. Charles Wayne Properties can accommodate manufacturers (including people making masks), testing sites and labs, storage and distribution of medicine and supplies, according to Ted Lightman, principal at Charles Wayne Properties. Lightman added the initiative is new and the company is “still learning about who is out there helping and what they might need.” Groups qualifying for space under this program will be provided short-term leases during which they only pay their share of utilities, insurance, taxes and costs of maintaining the space.
MCLEAN, VA. — As COVID-19 continues to sweep across the United States, Hilton Hotels has teamed up with Lysol and Mayo Clinic to implement its new Hilton CleanStay with Lysol Protection program this summer. The new initiative aims to “provide guests with assurance and peace of mind” when they visit a Hilton property. RB, Lysol’s parent company, will work with the McLean-based hotel chain to launch a cleaning system in an effort to keep guests safe and healthy. Experts from Mayo Clinic’s Infection Prevention and Control team will advise and assist in enhancing Hilton’s cleaning and disinfection protocols. Some features of the program include a Hilton CleanStay Room Seal, a seal on doors notifying guests the room has not been entered since it was thoroughly cleaned; extra disinfectant on what Hilton deems high-touch areas, including light switches, doors handles, TV remotes and thermostats; removing items such as pens, paper and guest directories, which will be available digitally or upon request; and the Clean and Clean Again program, which increases the frequency of cleaning in public areas. Hilton’s portfolio includes 18 brands and 6,100 properties worldwide. Others in the hospitality sector taking extra measures include Marriott International and Airbnb. Marriott created …