WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 793,000 Americans have filed for unemployment assistance through the week ending Feb. 6, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The amount of initial jobless claims exceeded the 760,000 figure that economists surveyed by Dow Jones predicted but is a decrease from last week’s revised amount of 812,000. The four-week moving average declined to 823,000 claims, a 33,000 difference from the revised average for the previous four weeks. Continuing claims, for which data lags a week, fell to approximately 4.5 million, which CNBC reports is the lowest total since March 2020.
EAST POINT, GA. — Duke Realty’s Atlanta office has acquired a larger space at Camp Creek Business Center in East Point and signed a lease extension and expansion with Ashley Furniture Industries LLC, a current tenant at the park. Ashley Furniture will be the sole occupant of the 336,960-square-foot facility located at 4505 N. Commerce Drive. Jeff Maris of Ashley Furniture explained why the furniture company decided to move. “Four years ago, we found the space at Camp Creek Business Center and our needs were met. In 2020, as we experienced increased demand and company growth, Duke Realty was able to help us find additional space very quickly and with limited disruption,” said Maris. Duke Realty’s Camp Creek development in East Point is 98 percent leased to tenants including FedEx, Amazon, Dick’s Sporting Goods and The Home Depot. Duke Realty is an industrial-only property REIT based in Indianapolis.
SMYRNA, GA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $9.5 million sale of the 71,273-square-foot Promenade Shopping Center in Atlanta. Tim Giambrone of Marcus & Millichap’s The Giambrone Group represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. The undisclosed buyer was a private investor located in Central Florida, and the seller was Charles Lotz, a Tennessee-based developer who originally built the center in 1983. Promenade Shopping Center is located at 930 Cobb Parkway S., just north of the Interstate-285 and Interstate-75 exchange. Best Buy is a shadow anchor for the center. Promenade’s tenants include Scalini’s Italian Restaurant, West Marine, Juicy Crab, Chow King and T-Mobile, as well as a Bruster’s outparcel. The Giambrone Group of Marcus & Millichap is a real estate investment brokerage based in Atlanta.
RESTON, Va. — Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) has unveiled plans for a $250 million luxury JW Marriott hotel in Reston, located between Washington, D.C. and Dulles International Airport. The building will rise 26 stories, featuring 250 guestrooms, 90 for-sale residential units, 15,000 square feet of meeting space, two restaurants, an executive lounge, swimming pool and fitness center. Marriott reached a franchise agreement with Comstock Holdings Cos. (NASDAQ: CHCI) to make the hotel the centerpiece for the next phase of Comstock’s Reston Station development. The hotel will anchor the Reston Row District, the newest section of the 60-acre, mixed-use, transit-oriented project. Reston Row District is located adjacent to Reston’s first Silver Line station, offering public transportation to D.C. via the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. When completed, Reston Row District will feature two office towers totaling approximately 500,000 square feet; a 350-unit multifamily building; 65,000 square feet of retail, service and fitness spaces; and a 2,500-space underground parking garage, all surrounding a 1.2-acre central park. The for-sale JW Marriott Residences Reston units will be served by a separate residential lobby entrance and located on the upper floors of the tower. This portion of the building will offer separate spaces and amenities …
ATLANTA — Chicken Salad Chick, a Southern-inspired, fast-casual chicken salad restaurant chain, will relocate its headquarters from Auburn, Ala., to Atlanta. The move is slated to take place during the first quarter. Chicken Salad Chick’s new office will be located in the city’s Vinings district at the Overlook II building, which is situated at 2839 Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta. The company’s new office is 21 miles north of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Scott Deviney, president and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick, says the company’s decision to move to Atlanta is the next step in its growth model. “This relocation positions Chicken Salad Chick to scale at an accelerated rate and meet aggressive growth goals, while allowing us to broaden our vision for the future,” says Deviney. “We’ve seen increased interest from Atlanta’s diverse and talented workforce, and the city’s airport allows us swift access to prospective vendors and a growing pool of interested franchisees.” Chicken Salad Chick isn’t the first restaurant chain to target Atlanta in order to grow. In September, Papa John’s announced it was moving its regional headquarters to Atlanta. The pizza giant chose The Battery Atlanta for its new offices. The new headquarters will house …
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $25.8 million sale of The Park at Forestdale, a 486-unit multifamily asset in Birmingham. The property sold for $52,984 per unit. Josh Jacobs of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, an affiliate of Birmingham-based Four Four Capital. Jacobs also procured the buyer, a partnership between Arch Co. and Drake Real Estate Partners. Built between 1968 and 1980, the Park at Forestdale is located 5.7 miles from downtown Birmingham and 6.2 miles from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Community amenities include a fitness center, pool and a playground. The property features studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
ATLANTA — City of Refuge, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, will partner with Pencor Construction for a 31-unit affordable housing project in Atlanta’s Westside known as The 345. Pencor will be the general contractor for the project. North American Properties (NAP), a mixed-used developer based in Cincinnati, will be the project manager. The 345 formerly was formerly a motel known as The Danzig Motel, which was one of the only African-American-owned motels in Atlanta. The motel had been abandoned for over 20 years, until City of Refuge bought it in 2017. City of Refuge is currently in the permitting process with the City of Atlanta. This spring, the nonprofit plans to break ground on the $2 million renovation. The 345 will be a community to primarily serve African-American men from the Atlanta Westside. City of Refuge wants to focus primarily on Westside neighborhood residents, especially those from the Westlake and Bankhead areas who are defined as low-income individuals by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The three-floor housing community will be separated by groups. Floor one will be dedicated to veterans and citizens returning from incarceration; floor two will house men overcoming addiction and those with manageable mental health challenges; …
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Jim Jacobs, a private developer based in Nashville, is nearing completion of Muse, a short-term rental condominium building in downtown Nashville. Jacobs created Muse Nashville LLC to purchase the site of the building in 2019, according to the Nashville Post. The company also secured a $15.5 million to finance the project. In addition to 55 condos, of which three quarters are presold, Muse will offer a lobby designed by ES|DG, cardio fitness center, a luggage drop, onsite management, security and more than 5,000 square feet of Class A retail and restaurant space. The property will also have a SkyLounge with indoor and outdoor panoramic views of Nashville’s skyline. The apartment building is the only new construction condominium in downtown Nashville that allows short-term rental options, according to Jacobs. Construction began in spring 2020 and will wrap up by October of this year. The Muse is located at 65 Lindsley Ave. Muse’s project team comprises locally based firms including Centric Architecture, Catalyst Design Group and Cherry & Associates, a commercial estate services company where Jacobs serves as a principal.
COLUMBUS, MISS. — The Palomar Group has brokered the $1.7 million sale of Delchamps Plaza, an 18,870-square-foot retail center in Columbus. The buyer was an undisclosed regional shopping center owner, and the seller was an investment group based in New York. The Palomar Group represented the seller, and the buyer did not have representation. Located at 1801 Highway 45 N, Delchamps Plaza was 100 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Pizza Hut, Weight Watchers and Sally Beauty. Kroger shadow anchors Delchamps Plaza. The Palomar Group is an investment sales firm based in Augusta, Ga.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 18 percent lower in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to a year ago, and increased 76 percent from the third quarter of 2020, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations. A decrease in originations for hotel, retail, office and healthcare properties led the overall decline in lending volumes when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. There was a 79 percent year-over-year decrease in the dollar volume of loans for hotel properties, 72 percent dip for retail properties, 6 percent decline for office properties and a 12 percent decrease for healthcare properties. Industrial property loan originations increased 15 percent, while multifamily property lending rose 14 percent. Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s vice president of commercial research, says that unsurprisingly the data shows that the property types most affected by the pandemic struggled to transact. “Borrowing and lending remain weakest for the property types most impacted by the pandemic — particularly hotel and retail buildings,” says Woodwell. “Multifamily, led by government-backed financing from FHA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, continued to see the strongest commercial mortgage activity.” Among investor types, the dollar volume of loans …