BELLE GLADE, FLA. — Hunt Real Estate Capital has provided two refinancing loans totaling approximately $8.1 million for Amelia Gardens and Amelia Estate in Belle Glade. Both Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans are hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) with a fixed interest rate for the first 10 years and then a floating interest rate for the following 10 years. Hunt Real Estate provided a $2.8 million loan for Amelia Gardens, a 12-building, 24-unit community that was built in 2003. The property offers three-bedroom floor plans. Hunt provided an additional $5.3 million for Amelia Estates, which offers 48 units and was delivered in 2016. Loan proceeds went mainly toward paying off the construction loan for Amelia Estates. The borrower, Houston Realty & Investment Co., is currently developing Amelia Circle, a multifamily development that will encompass Amelia Estates. Kristian Molloy of Hunt Real Estate originated the loan on behalf of the borrower.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Paramount Group Inc. has agreed to sell 1899 Pennsylvania Ave., a 191,000-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C., for $115 million. Originally built in 1915 and most recently renovated in 2002, the 11-story building is located just three blocks from The White House in the city’s central business district. The property features 18,200-square-foot floor plates and floor-to-ceiling glass façades, as well as amenities such as a fitness center, rooftop terrace and 64 covered parking spaces. In addition, four Metrorail lines serve the building. “With the sale of 1899 Pennsylvania Ave., we have now strategically sold all five of our wholly owned assets in Washington, D.C.,” says Albert Behler, chairman, CEO and president of Paramount Group. “This transaction demonstrates our determination to sell stabilized or non-core assets and redeploy that capital into higher-growth opportunities.” The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter. The buyer was not disclosed. The Washington Business Journal reported in 2010 that Paramount Group had acquired the asset for $149 million. Paramount Group is a New York City-based investment and management firm that specializes in owning and operating Class A office properties in the core markets of New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. …
As real estate becomes more operational, a trend has emerged of major investors migrating away from big metros into secondary and tertiary markets. Occasionally, those markets move out of the shadows of their larger neighbors and acquire their own identity. Enter Columbia, Maryland, which initially attained national attention and acclaim as one of the first master-planned communities in the United States. Columbia is now in the midst of a major transformation. Built from the ground up in then-bucolic Howard County, Columbia was founded by developer James Rouse in 1967. Strategically located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the now 53-year-old community is blossoming with its own talent creators, talent attractors and 14 million square feet of new live-work-play development in a downtown transformed by The Howard Hughes Corp., a successor to The Rouse Co. The beginnings of Downtown Columbia’s emergence include the Merriweather District, which opens this spring. The first of three neighborhoods planned for downtown Columbia, the Merriweather District is being developed as a regional hub of culture and commerce. Talent creators The Howard County market is already home to cybersecurity incubators and cyber-focused venture capitalists like DataTribe and AllegisCyber. These companies consistently house and fund entrepreneurs developing innovative approaches …
RALEIGH, N.C. — JLL has arranged the $80 million sale of two office buildings spanning 175,444 square feet on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University (NC State) in north Raleigh. The portfolio comprises The Center for Technology & Innovation, which is located at 1010 Main Campus Drive, and Keystone Science Center, located at 1791 Varsity Drive. Keystone Science Center was delivered in 2010 and totals 70,446 square feet. The Center for Technology & Innovation was built in 2016 and comprises 104,998 square feet. Both buildings were fully leased at the time of sale to tenants including the State of North Carolina, Bandwidth Inc. and Cengage. The seller, Keystone Corp., developed both buildings on behalf of NC State. The undisclosed buyer has retained Keystone to manage the properties. Ryan Clutter, Scot Humphrey, Chris Lingerfelt and Zack Drozda of JLL represented the seller in the transaction.
PROSPECT, KY. — Civitas Senior Living has opened the doors at The Grand Senior Living in Prospect, a suburb of Louisville. The property totals 191,832 square feet near Norton Commons, a massive mixed-use development with restaurants, retail services, annual festivals and single-family homes. The development was completed approximately 10 years ago on 600 acres of vacant farmland. The Grand features 91 independent living, 62 personal care and 24 memory care residences. Guttman Properties, based in nearby Cincinnati, developed The Grand, which Civitas is operating.
LAKELAND, FLA. — Summit Consulting LLC will develop its planned 135,000-square-foot office headquarters in downtown Lakeland. The company closed on the land sale at 117 Massachusetts Ave. on Tuesday, March 3 and plans to begin construction later this month. Summit expects to deliver the new building in fall 2021. The property backs up to the shore of Lake Mirror. Summit, which was founded in Lakeland in the late 1970s, has approximately 750 employees, nearly 500 of whom will be located in the new facility. The company specializes in providing workers’ compensation insurance coverage in the Southeast.
TAMPA, FLA. — Atlanta-based Carter has sold Nine15 Apartments, a 23-story, 362-unit community in downtown Tampa. The property offers studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities include a 3,500-square-foot fitness center, sky lounge, pool, business center, clubhouse, car charging stations and 9,000 square feet of street-level retail space. Nine15 is situated on one acre within the Arts and Entertainment District, two blocks from the Tampa Riverwalk. Carter delivered the community in 2017. Walker & Dunlop represented the seller in the transaction. Charleston-based Blaze Partners LLC acquired the asset for an undisclosed price.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. economy added 273,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast an increase of 175,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged from January at 3.5 percent. The BLS revised both January and December 2019 job totals up by a combined 85,000 jobs. The BLS now reports December added 37,000 jobs for a total of 184,000. January’s total stood at 273,000 jobs, up 48,000 from the original report. After revisions, job gains have averaged 243,000 per month over the past three months. Food services and drinking places added 53,000 jobs in February. Employment in the industry has increased by 252,000 over the past seven months, following a lull in job growth in the sector in the first half of 2019. The leisure and hospitality sector added 51,000 jobs, though it is worth noting that the BLS expects disruptions caused by the coronavirus to be reflected in the March jobs report. The healthcare sector added 32,000 jobs in February. Retail trade lost 7,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing lost 4,000 for a net loss of 16,000 jobs in the early part of 2020. In February, average …
Many of today’s headlines about multifamily housing have focused on the market’s two extremes: homelessness and high-end penthouses. Meanwhile, a crisis has been growing in the “missing middle;” there is a shortage of affordable rental housing for middle-class workers like teachers, firefighters and police officers. In recent years, middle-income families have been struggling with flat wages and rising childcare, education and healthcare costs. Not only are families being priced out of homeownership, but they’re finding fewer rental units in their price range. Indeed, rents have been rising, particularly in cities with booming economies. Nationwide, only 37 percent of all available units rent out at or below $1,200 per month, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) Out of Reach report and the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Yet only in 13 states do workers earn an average of at least $22.96 per hour, the amount required to comfortably afford a $1,200/month apartment. Charlotte is short 34,000 affordable housing units and Salt Lake City lacks 54,000. In total, there is a need for hundreds of thousands more affordable rental units. The problem is a matter of supply as well as demand. Formidable obstacles currently impede the …
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — A joint venture between Middle Street Partners LLC and Trei Real Estate has broken ground on Atlantic Beach House, a 224-unit multifamily community in Mt. Pleasant. Communal amenities will include a clubhouse, saltwater pool, fitness center, coffee lounge, dog park, golf cart charging stations, storage units, outdoor kitchens and covered bike parking. Unit interiors will feature 42-inch cabinetry, kitchen islands, tile backsplashes, stainless steel appliances, walk-in closets and private balconies. The property is situated on eight acres near Sullivan’s Island and Charleston Harbor. Mt. Pleasant is located nine miles north of downtown Charleston. Dallas-based Humphreys & Partners Architects designed the community, and Jacksonville-based Live Oak Contracting is the general contractor. Patterson Real Estate Group arranged construction financing on behalf of the joint venture through Northwestern Life Insurance Co. A timeline for completion was not disclosed.