WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has added 55 COVID-19 testing sites in North Carolina and 15 sites in South Carolina. The tests are accessible through appointments only. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and will be directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window, where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions. A CVS team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. In North Carolina, the 55 new sites are located in 29 cities, including seven sites in Charlotte, five in Raleigh, four in Cary, four in Durham, three in Fayetteville and three in Winston-Salem. In South Carolina, the locations are in Anderson, Charleston, Clemson, Columbia, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, North Charleston, North Augusta, Spartanburg and West Columbia. With the 70 locations, Woonsocket-based CVS has now opened 986 testing sites in the country. Click here to see a full list of the locations.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Hunt Real Estate Capital has provided a $21.5 million Freddie Mac acquisition loan for Greenwood at Ashley River, a 280-unit, garden-style apartment complex in North Charleston. The community comprises 35 residential buildings and a clubhouse. The 262,896-square-foot property offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities include a full-size soccer field, pool, playground, basketball court, business center and a dog park. The property is situated at 6520 Dorchester Road, 12 miles north of downtown Charleston. The 10-year acquisition loan features five years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. John Beam and Keith Morris of Hunt Real Estate originated the loan on behalf of the borrower, Brick Lane, which acquired the complex from Atlanta-based The RADCO Cos.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. — With sports absent from Americans’ daily lives due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens has pivoted to offer a drive-in movie theater. The 65,000-seat stadium is home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and college football’s University of Miami Hurricanes. The field will be able to hold up to 230 cars and the open-air theater will host small groups. Events throughout Dolphins’ team history, family-friendly movies and even commencement ceremonies will be shown. Food and beverages can be purchased through an online system and delivered to cars. Those wanting to participate can click here to put their names on an email list for when tickets become available.
ORLANDO, FLA. — DIX Developments LLC will construct University Econ Executive Center, a planned $9 million office campus in Orlando. The property will offer 1,520-square-foot office condos, a 4,640-square-foot medical office building and a 20,000-square-foot spec office building. John Kurtz of Stirling International Real Estate is handling the leasing efforts on behalf of the developer and will target users seeking headquarters space. DIX Developments has nearly completed two of the office condos and is making preparations to break ground on the spec office building. A timeline for completion was not disclosed. The property is located at the corner of Econlockhatchee Trail and University Boulevard, four miles west of the University of Central Florida and 11 miles northeast of downtown Orlando.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has agreed to sell Union Station Hotel, a 125-room hotel in downtown Nashville, for $56 million. The hotel is part of Marriott’s Autograph collection. The historic property is situated at 1001 Broadway in a former railroad terminal that opened in 1900. Amenities at the property include a restaurant and bar, fitness center, business center, valet parking and meeting and event space. Pebblebrook expects the sale to close in the third quarter of this year. The hotel opened in 1986 and became a member of Historic Hotels of America in 2015. Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the nonprofit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing historic hotels. The buyer was not disclosed.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Co. (BCDC) will develop a 286-unit multifamily community in Birmingham. The joint venture acquired the 48-acre plot. The existing AT&T operations center is located on the land and will remain there for the immediate future. Phase I will include studio to three-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities will include a clubroom, coworking space, fitness center, yoga room, pool, grilling area, fire pit, bocce ball court, dog wash area and a dog park. Additionally, residents will have access to covered parking from AT&T’s current seven-story parking garage. Construction is expected to begin in June with completion of Phase I slated for 2022. Flournoy Construction, a subsidiary of Kajima USA and a sister company to BCDC, is the general contractor. Nelson is the architect, Schoel Engineering is the civil engineer and Compass Bank and Cadence Bank provided debt financing for the multifamily community. The new plot is adjacent to 63 acres that Novare acquired last summer. Novare Group will develop a trail system throughout the entire 111-acre site as a recreational amenity and develop single-family homes as well as additional rental residences in the future.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Another 2.1 million American filed first-time unemployment claims during the week ending May 23, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in March, 40.6 million Americans, or one in four in the workforce, have submitted claims. A continuing trend, though, is the steady decline in first-time weekly claims, which have decreased in number for eight consecutive weeks. The four-week moving average was 2.6 million claims, a decrease of 436,000 from the previous week’s moving average. Additionally, the number of continuing claims dropped by 3.9 million to just over 21 million overall.
ORLANDO, FLA. — Walt Disney World Resorts has submitted a proposal to the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force to begin reopening the Orlando parks July 11. Pending approval, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will open July 11 and Hollywood Studios and Epcot will reopen July 15. In an effort to limit large gatherings, parades and nighttime fireworks shows will still be indefinitely unavailable. Additionally, “high-touch” experiences, such as makeovers, playgrounds and character meet-and-greets, will also be temporarily unavailable, though characters will still be in the parks. To limit capacity, Disney will pause new ticket sales so it can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations. Each guest must register in advance for park entry. A timeline for a vote from Orange County was not disclosed. Furthermore, Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in an interview with ABC News that the company is in daily talks with the NBA to try to get the sports league to finish out its season at the Orlando sports park.
ROGERS, ARK. — CapRocq Core 2 Real Estate Fund has sold Village on the Creeks, a 20-building, 220,153-square-foot retail and medical office complex in Rogers, for $32.3 million. The property was 93 percent leased to 66 tenants ranging from medical services to an art studio at the time of sale. The asset spans 22 acres along Interstate 49. The buyer was not disclosed, although the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports the buyer is Ozre Capital. Kenai Capital Advisors and Colliers International | Arkansas represented the seller in the transaction.
It may be premature for multifamily investors to come off the sidelines and back into the acquisition fray. Still, the outlines of the post-pandemic landscape are growing clearer, and the hour draws near when owners and buyers must consider the buy/sell/hold mathematics of the future. Tampa presents a model for the unique economic factors likely to influence the nationwide multifamily sector. The initial phase of the post-pandemic analysis is likely to focus on the anticipated performance of “growth markets.” This category of metropolitan areas is characterized by a relative dearth of spatial and regulatory barriers to entry, lower land costs and lower business operating costs than the primary markets, as well as a demonstrated ability to support faster sustained employment and population growth than the national average. Historically, growth markets (e.g., Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa) have facilitated volatile real estate cycles, featuring rapid growth during boom times, followed by often painful supply-driven corrections during periods of economic weakness. Apartment capitalization rates discounted the relative riskiness of their NOI streams accordingly, pricing growth market assets to going-in yields 75 basis points or more above comparable assets in the primary markets. The long multifamily bull market of the passing decade altered this …