ST PETERSBURG, FLA. — Real estate developer The Kolter Group has acquired the 1.7-acre parking lot of the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront Hotel, with plans to construct a 35-story residential tower on the site.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. has acquired Maple Street Biscuit Co. for $36 million in an all-cash deal. Maple Street’s portfolio comprised 28 company-owned and five franchise-owned restaurants in seven states at the time of sale. The company plans to convert its Holler & Dash Biscuit House into Maple Street Biscuit locations. Scott Moore and Gus Johnson founded Maple Street in Jacksonville in 2012. Moore will stay on as CEO and will report to Sandra Cochran, president and CEO of Cracker Barrel.
MIAMI — Bridge Investment Group LLC has purchased Museum Tower, a 29-story, 259,666-square-foot office building in downtown Miami. The property is located 150 W. Flagler St. The tower was originally built in 1986 and has undergone $3 million worth of renovations since 2016. Bridge plans to invest an additional $4.5 million for amenities and other enhancements, including restroom upgrades and new common area finishes throughout, the addition of a building conference center and lobby, and exterior improvements. Bridge Commercial Real Estate LLC will oversee all property management and redevelopment work at Museum Tower. Renovations will begin immediately, with completion scheduled for 2020. José Lobón and Christian Lee of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.
OCALA, FLA. — Stan Johnson Co. has negotiated the sale of a 375,600-square-foot distribution center in Ocala. Custom Window Systems fully occupies the building, using it for company headquarters, manufacturing and distribution. Custom Window Systems has 15 years left on a triple-net lease. The company has occupied the building since it was constructed in 2006. In 2017, the facility was expanded by 150,000 square feet. Sky Management Services acquired the building for an undisclosed price. The property was listed for more than $28 million. Mollie Alteri, Joey Odom, Mike Sladich, and Maggie Holmes of Stan Johnson Co. represented the seller, a New York City-based institutional investor.
FREDERICK, MD. — Greysteel has arranged the $15.2 million sale of VistaView Apartments, a 70-unit apartment complex in Frederick. Ausherman Development Corp. sold the property to an undisclosed buyer at $214,285 per unit. VistaView comprises four five-story buildings and offers two-bedroom floor plans averaging 1,336 square feet. Communal amenities include a BBQ area, and access to three swimming pools, two basketball courts and three parks. The asset was delivered in 2014.
RICHMOND, VA. — Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. has acquired The Berkeley Hotel, a 55-room hotel in downtown Richmond. Apple Hospitality will upgrade the property to include services and amenities that are consistent with the rest of the company’s portfolio, although The Berkeley will remain an independent hotel. The property is located at 1200 E. Cary St., four blocks from Apple Hospitality’s headquarters. The seller was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY, LOS ANGELES, MIAMI AND CHICAGO — Queensgate Investments has acquired Freehand Hotels from a seller consortium including The Yucaipa Cos. and Sydell Group for approximately $400 million. Freehand is a lifestyle hotel brand, owner and operator of hotel assets with 922 rooms across four hotels in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, downtown Los Angeles, Miami Beach and River North Chicago. The brand advertises itself as combining the social culture of a hostel with top-shelf design, food and beverage. Included in the acquisition is the Broken Shaker bar concept that operates within the hotels. Generator, a hostel business that Queensgate acquired in 2017, will manage Freehand. Generator seeks to appeal to millennial customers, focusing on capital city addresses, design-led interiors and shared social spaces. “The acquisition of Freehand is of strategic importance to Generator, and the combined portfolio represents one of the largest asset-rich lifestyle hospitality platforms globally with 19 hotels in 17 gateway cities,” says Puneet Kanuga, investment director at Queensgate. “There is now a significant push to grow the presence of both Freehand and Generator across the United Kingdom and Europe, with opportunities currently being evaluated in London, Edinburgh, Milan, Amsterdam and other gateway European cities.” London-based Queensgate …
Orlando’s retail market happens to be a really good representation of the national market. By every metric, Orlando is doing well as both rental rates and occupancy rates have been increasing. Orlando is one of the fastest growing cities in America, adding roughly 1,000 new residents each week. Tourism numbers continue to climb with 75 million visitors in 2018, according to Visit Florida. Downtown is experiencing an economic resurgence with a new collegiate campus (more on this later). As a result of the city’s overall growth, Orlando is also experiencing suburban growth with noteworthy developments such as Lake Nona. However, it can be overwhelming in the sense that the industry and consumer demands continue to evolve. There are all kinds of new and different concepts so to be a player in today’s dynamic market, retailers have to be innovative. While there is news of retailers shrinking in size or filing bankruptcy, it is important to keep up with the evolving market and create retail concepts that are relevant to today’s consumer’s demands. One consumer demand is retail tourism, which is a hotspot for retail development, especially with Disney Springs, the I-Drive corridor and theme parks in the surrounding area. What …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — CoStar Group will acquire STR, which tracks hotel data, for $450 million in an all-cash deal. The sale is expected to close by the end of this year. STR was founded in 1985 as Smith Travel Research to provide performance benchmarking and comparative analytics to hotels. Henderson, Tenn.-based STR aggregates data from more than 65,000 hotels worldwide. The company employs 370 people in 15 countries. Washington, D.C.-based CoStar plans to use STR to create new products that provide building data, income level and trend reports, sales comps and for sale information.
ATLANTA — Lenbrook, an independently owned and operated continuing care retirement community in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood, has broken ground on a 53-unit independent living expansion at the community. Named Kingsboro at Lenbrook, the four-acre expansion project is scheduled for completion in 2022. Development costs were estimated at $115 million. The expansion is split into two buildings. The Flats comprise 39 residences in a five-story building with a variety of floor plans ranging from 1,700 to 3,200 square feet. The Villas will consist of three buildings, each with four to five residences between 2,000 and 3,200 square feet. The project will bring Lenbrook’s total number of residences to 479, including independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing.