POMPANO BEACH AND PLANTATION, FLA. — Madison Realty Capital has provided a $102 million construction loan to Invesca Development Group for two planned multifamily projects in South Florida’s Broward County. Invesca will use some of the loan to complete a 214-unit property at 452 E. Atlantic Blvd. in Pompano Beach. Construction is 98 percent complete, and Invesca expects to start lease-up in the next two months. The yet-to-be-named property will also include 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The asset will feature two buildings connected by a sky bridge and will offer studio to three-bedroom floor plans. Invesca will use the other portion of the loan to begin construction on a 330-unit project at 4350 W. Sunrise Plantation Blvd. in Plantation. The planned development includes an additional 30,000-square-foot commercial building, office space and 10 townhomes with 37 townhome lots on a 12-acre site. The property will comprise eight nine-story buildings offering studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. The two communities are situated 11 miles from each other. Josh Zegan of Madison Realty Capital originated the loan.
Southeast
First-Time Unemployment Claims Rise as 3.8M Americans File Due to Coronavirus Crisis
by Alex Tostado
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Another 3.8 million Americans have filed first-time unemployment claims in the week ending April 25, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The newest figure shows that since the sudden shutdown in the second half of March due to the outbreak of COVID-19, about 30 million people have filed for unemployment. This is the fourth consecutive week, though, that the weekly filings have decreased from the prior report. During the week ending April 18, 4.4 million claims were handled, which was down from 5.2 million during the week ending April 11. The Department of Labor reports the four-week moving average is 5 million, down from 5.8 million the previous four weeks. On Wednesday, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States shrank by 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020, which is the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2008 when it contracted by 8.4 percent. As of this writing, there were 61,005 deaths and nearly 1.1 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Florida to Begin Reopening Stores and Restaurants on Friday, Service Retailers to Remain Closed
by Alex Tostado
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.
Amazon Executive Says Company is ‘Beginning to Scale’ at HQ2 Campus in Northern Virginia
by John Nelson
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 …
Aerion Supersonic to Develop $300M Research and Development Campus on Florida’s Space Coast
by Alex Tostado
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.