ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Earth Fare, a privately held grocery chain that sells natural and organic products, says it will shutter all of its stores and launch a liquidation inventory sale. The grocer lists 46 stores on its website, the bulk of which are in Florida and its home state of North Carolina. Earth Fare also has five stores in the Midwest and a few others in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina. Earth Fare is also shuttering its corporate office in Asheville. The Wall Street Journal reported that Earth Fare, whose majority investor is New York-based private equity firm Oak Hill Capital, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in Delaware. Oak Hill’s portfolio includes a stake in drive-thru fast food restaurant chain Checkers among other businesses. Past investments for Oak Hill include stakes in retailers Dave & Buster’s and Duane Reade. Earth Fare’s investors include an affiliate of Monitor Clipper Partners and former Sears CEO Alan Lacy, according to the Journal. In a statement released Monday, Earth Fare cited financial challenges stemming from its expansion efforts and its investments in improving the customer experience. “While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry …
Southeast
UNION CITY, GA. — Birmingham, Ala.-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Inc., the second largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America, has opened an $86 million, 456,000-square-foot sales and distribution center in the south Atlanta suburb of Union City. Approximately 36 million cases of beverages will be loaded and shipped annually from the facility, known as South Metro Sales Center. The property includes a 375,000 square-foot warehouse, 25,000-square-foot fleet maintenance area, 36,000 square feet of administration space and a 20,000-square-foot service department for equipment and vending repair. The facility is located at 4913 Mason Road, 17 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta and 10 miles west of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Approximately 750 employees work at the facility, which has a payroll of more than $41 million. General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie began construction at the site in early 2018. System Logistics built the warehousing system technology at the facility.
ATLANTA AND SAVANNAH, GA. — Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc. has purchased a five-property, 924,036-square-foot industrial portfolio in Atlanta and Savannah for $34.7 million. Fully leased to four tenants with weighted average lease terms of approximately seven years, the portfolio comprises two buildings in the Northwest and I-20 East industrial submarkets of Atlanta and three buildings in Savannah. The acquisition also includes 39 acres of developable land in Atlanta. The seller(s) was not disclosed.
MURFREESBORO, TENN. — Hamilton Zanze has acquired Springfield Apartments, a 270-unit multifamily community in Murfreesboro. The property comprises 16 buildings with one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Units average 1,013 square feet. Communal amenities include a dog park, gaming area, saltwater pool, hammock garden and an entertainment pub. Springfield Apartments is located at 3726 Manson Pike, 30 miles southeast of downtown Nashville. The property was delivered in 2018 and was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Denver-based Mission Rock Capital will manage the property. Further details of the sale were not disclosed.
MIAMI — Aztec Group has arranged a $17.4 million refinancing loan for Sunset Strip, an 86,029-square-foot retail center in Miami. Presidente Supermarket and Dollar Tree anchor the property, which includes other tenants such as Atlantis Academy, Metro PCS, Inkaholik and Atlakat Restaurant & Grill. The property is situated at 10855 S.W. 72nd St., 12 miles west of downtown Miami. Starwood Mortgage Capital provided the loan to an affiliate of Miami-based CF Properties. The nonrecourse, interest-only loan has a 10-year term with a fixed 3.57 percent interest rate.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Golden Corral has signed a lease agreement with landlord Keystone Corp. to occupy 42,500 square feet of the first two floors of Palisades III, an under-construction office building in Raleigh. Palisades III will stand six stories and span 166,290 square feet. Building amenities will include a café, onsite conferencing, lounge, fitness center and a rooftop terrace. Keystone expects to deliver the property in early 2021. The property is situated at 5410 Trinity Road, adjacent to Palisades I and II, which Keystone acquired in summer 2018. CBRE|Raleigh represented the landlord in the transaction. Golden Corral’s headquarters are currently located at 5151 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. The company operates 100 buffet and grill restaurants nationwide with franchisees operating another 400 locations.
The surge of momentum happening in Miami’s office market is undeniable with the metro emerging as a new international hub for startups and regional companies alike. Fueled by a multilingual workforce and easy access to Latin America and the Caribbean, Miami’s status as an international gateway is drawing the attention of office landlords and investors from around the country, as well as a wide variety of office users. Investors like Starwood Capital, Appaloosa Management and Icahn Enterprises are leaving their traditional New York and New Jersey locations to come to Florida, one of just seven states that do not impose state income tax. Paired with favorable weather and a high quality of life, Miami is a desirable destination for businesses and its workforce. Entrepreneurial activity in the region is also helping to fuel the office market, as the number of foreign business owners who choose to relocate to Miami and set up shop continues to grow. Hot submarkets Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood has quickly earned the reputation as one of the city’s up-and-coming places to be. The district is poised to become the next 24/7 hotspot thanks to a healthy pipeline of residential development underway that will support office growth in …
Highwoods Sells Greensboro Industrial, Office Assets for $233.4M in Market Exit Initiative
by Alex Patton
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW), a publicly traded REIT based in Raleigh, has sold its industrial and single-story flex portfolio in Greensboro, comprising 2.8 million square feet, for $193.4 million. The company also plans to close the $40 million sale of The Knollwood, a 250,000-square-foot office complex in Greensboro, by Feb. 15. The sale follows Highwoods’ recent announcement of its initiative to exit both the Greensboro and Memphis, Tennessee, markets. That plan led to the recent $76.4 million sale of the 248,000-square-foot International Paper IV office building in Memphis. “These sales are a significant step to completing the first phase of our plan to exit the Greensboro and Memphis markets and reinvest that capital in … high-growth markets such as Charlotte,” says Ted Klinck, president and CEO of Highwoods Properties. “With these dispositions, we will have completed approximately 75 percent of the first phase of sales, and we remain on track to complete the first phase by mid-2020.” Highwoods’ two-phased exit plan consists of selling a select portfolio of its Greensboro and Memphis assets and acquiring Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union in Charlotte in November for $436 million. The second phase consists of selling all remaining …
NEW ORLEANS — A joint venture between Texas-based NewcrestImage and Columbia, Md.-based Baywood Hotels will develop Canopy by Hilton, a 176-room hotel in downtown New Orleans. The 14-story hotel will be at the site of the former Oil and Gas Building, which was built in 1959 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 for its innovative use of glass, steel and abstract geometry in a skyscraper. The hotel will be situated at 1100 Tulane Ave., adjacent to the French Quarter. Canopy by Hilton will feature a fine-dining concept and meeting space with an outdoor terrace. The joint venture will begin construction in early February with a planned completion date in summer 2021.
Resort Lifestyle Communities Plans $30M Active Adult Community in Columbia, South Carolina
by Alex Tostado
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Resort Lifestyle Communities (RLC) has unveiled plans for Lakeview Retirement Community, an active adult property in Columbia. The 180,000-square-foot property will offer units ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Development costs are estimated at $30 million. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11. Although services will not be offered directly, residents needing care are free to contract with a home health provider, according to RLC.