CARENCRO, LA. — Amazon has chosen Carencro for a new $100 million fulfillment center, its first in the state of Louisiana. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant currently operates three delivery centers and seven Whole Foods stores in the state. The property is expected to house 500 full-time employees upon completion, which is slated for the end of 2021. The asset will be situated in Lafayette Parish at the former site of the original Evangeline Downs Casino and Racetrack, near Interstates 49 and 10. Employees at the fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship bulky or larger-sized items, such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment and rugs. Amazon expects the facility to span 1 million square feet.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 787,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance assistance for the week ending Dec. 26, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday, Dec. 31. The most recent figure marks a decrease of 19,000 claims from the previous week, though claims remain historically high compared to pre-pandemic numbers when claims hovered around 200,000 per week. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected the tally to rise to 828,000. The four-week moving average increased by 17,750 claims to 836,750 from the previous week. Continuing claims, for which data lags a week, fell by 103,000 claims to 5.2 million for the week ending Dec. 19.
DURHAM, N.C. — Drawbridge Realty has acquired an 11-story, 260,000-square-foot office building located at 4820 Emperor Blvd. in Durham for $89.7 million. The building, originally constructed in 2009, serves as the headquarters for IQVIA Holdings Inc., a provider of healthcare clinical research. The asset is situated on seven acres in the southeastern portion of Research Triangle Park, 10 miles southeast of downtown Durham. Russell Ingrum and Ben Kilgore of CBRE represented the buyer in the transaction. Franklin Street Properties Corp. was the seller.
HIGH POINT, N.C. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $23.5 million sale of High Point Harris Teeter Center, a 192,548-square-foot shopping center in High Point. The asset was fully leased at the time of sale to tenants including Harris Teeter, T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less and Staples. The property was originally developed in 1975, and the undisclosed seller owned it for more than 20 years. Lori Schneider of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller in the transaction. Ben Yelm of Marcus & Millichap was the broker of record. First National Realty Partners acquired the property, which is located in North Carolina’s Triad region.
LAUREL, MD. — Edge has brokered the $15.7 million sale of a 106,000-square-foot flex warehouse and office building in Laurel. The building was constructed in 1984 as the headquarters for Ritz Camera, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Earlier this year, Edge brokered a 37,000-square-foot lease at the property for Advanced Collision, an auto body repair shop. Other tenants at the time of sale included Rolling Green Landscaping and Sans Institute. Edge handled leasing activities on behalf of the seller, an affiliate of Bethesda, Md.-based Bristol Capital Corp., since 2016. The building is located 17 miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C. Joe Friedman, Kenneth Fellows and Rob Pugh of Edge represented the seller in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, an undisclosed 1031 exchange investor that Mid-Pacific Advisors represented in the sale.
ATLANTA — Wells Fargo Bank has provided two construction loans totaling $290 million for Midtown Union, a mixed-use development that broke ground last December in Midtown Atlanta. A joint venture between MetLife Investment Management and Granite Properties is developing a 26-story, 612,000-square-foot office building at the project that will serve as the future headquarters of Invesco. Wells Fargo provided the joint venture with a $210 million loan for the office building, for which general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie has completed seven stories. The office tower will feature 24,000 square feet of ground-level retail, a 12,000-square-foot terrace on the eighth floor, a fitness center and 14-foot floor-to-ceiling windows. Cooper Carry designed the building to also feature an HVAC system that features MERV 13 air filters and Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization technology to combat COVID-19. Additionally, a joint venture between MetLife Investment Management and StreetLights Residential received an $80 million loan for Midtown Union’s 18-story, 355-unit multifamily community adjacent to the office tower. Brasfield & Gorrie has completed 12 levels of the residential space and expects to deliver both buildings in the third quarter of 2022. The community will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities will include coworking space, …
MCLEAN, VA. AND WASHINGTON, D.C. — McLean-based Freddie Mac and Washington, D.C.-based Fannie Mae have extended their forbearance programs for multifamily borrowers that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the programs, multifamily landlords whose properties are financed with a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae loan can defer their loan payments by showing hardship as a consequence of COVID-19, and by gaining lender approval. The extension now runs through March 31, 2021. The programs also require landlords to suspend all evictions for renters during the forbearance period. The two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) had announced in June that the programs would expire at the end of 2020. Other tenant protections through the program include: Landlords must provide rent repayment flexibility and cannot require missed or late rents to be paid in one lump sum; Landlords cannot charge late fees or penalties for nonpayments; and Landlords must provide 30 days’ notice for the tenant to vacate during the repayment period. “We are still in the midst of the pandemic, and to continue to provide support for the multifamily market, we are providing additional time for borrowers to request a new or supplemental forbearance agreement,” says Debby Jenkins, executive vice president and head of …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Another 803,000 Americans have filed for initial unemployment insurance assistance for the week ending Dec. 19, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday. The total is a decrease of 89,000 claims from the prior week’s revised level. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected the number to reach 888,000. The four-week moving average increased by 4,000 claims to 818,250. Continuing claims, for which data lags a week, dipped by 200,000 to 5.3 million for the week ending Dec. 12. Prior to the pandemic, weekly first-time unemployment claims hovered around 200,000.
MILLS RIVER, N.C. — Collett Industrial has broken ground on a 90,720-square-foot logistics facility in Mills River. The property is being built on a build-to-suit basis for an undisclosed Fortune 500 retailer. ABC 13 News reports the site is located on School House Road, five miles from Interstate 26 and six miles from Asheville Regional Airport. Randall Bentley and Jordan Skellie of Lee & Associates secured the lease on behalf of the developer. Vannoy Construction is the general contractor for the asset, which is expected to deliver in summer 2021.
WALKERTOWN, N.C. — Palomar Group has arranged the $12.3 million sale of Walkertown Commons, an 81,432-sqaure-foot shopping center in Walkertown. Lowes Foods anchors the fully leased property, which was originally built in 2004. Walkertown Commons is located at 5180 Reidsville Road, eight miles northeast of downtown Winston-Salem. Ryan McArdle, Steve Collins, David Rivers, Jefferson Knox and Lee Malchow of Palomar Group represented the seller, an undisclosed regional investor, in the transaction. An undisclosed buyer based in South Carolina acquired the asset in a 1031 tax exchange.