In 2018, Louisville saw a record year with more than 10 million square feet of net absorption in its industrial sector. This is a huge absorption number for any of the Midwest markets and represents more than three times Louisville’s previous record. Louisville was second only behind Chicago out of the Midwest markets tracked by CBRE. The absorption follows a record year for speculative construction as well, as close to 4 million square feet was delivered in 2018. User demand came from all sectors, including automotive, e-commerce, third-party logistics firms (3PLs), manufacturing and medical. Automotive and manufacturing were particularly strong performers. The more notable automotive and manufacturing transactions in 2018 were three Ford Motor Co. leases totaling more than 1 million square feet, as well as New Flyer’s 315,000-square-foot, $30 million transit bus and motorcoach parts fabrication facility in Bullitt County. Additionally, Denso leased 311,000 square feet in Southern Indiana and KCC opened another 224,000-square-foot plant to expand production capacity of its HVAC equipment line. Distribution remains strong in Louisville due to its central location and available workforce. According to a recent report from CBRE’s Labor Analytics Group, Louisville has the highest distribution labor score among the Midwest markets. As …
RALEIGH, N.C. — Dewitt Carolinas Inc. has unveiled the master plans for development of Midtown Exchange, a $1B mixed-use project in Raleigh that will feature residential, office, hotel, entertainment and retail components. The development will be built on a 40-acre lot just outside Interstate 440, north of downtown Raleigh, and will comprise 790,000 square feet of Class A office space, 125,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 300 hotel rooms, 300 senior living units and 1,275 residential units. The residential component will include apartments, condominiums and townhomes, but how the units will be divided was not disclosed. The site will also include a large convention center with rooftop dining space and more than seven acres of green space with water features. Local newspaper North State Journal reports that the office space will comprise two office towers connected by a sky bridge between the two top floors. Those two floors and the sky bridge will make up one large office space, intended to attract a major corporate headquarters tenant. “We envision Midtown Exchange to be a destination unlike any other in Raleigh,” says Todd Saieed, CEO and co-founder of Dewitt Carolinas Inc. “This will be a place where family entertainment …
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Highwoods Properties Inc. has closed on its $436 million acquisition of the Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union in downtown Charlotte. The 841,000-square-foot building was 90 percent leased at the time of sale. The LEED Gold-certified office tower was delivered earlier this year and features a parking deck. The seller, Lincoln Harris, is developing Legacy Union, a 10-acre development adjacent to Bank of America Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers. The Bank of America Tower is the first building to deliver at Legacy Union, with Honeywell’s corporate headquarters slated for completion in 2021. Bank of America began moving employees to the office building in August. Truist, the name of the new company formed from the BB&T-SunTrust merger, began moving into Bank of America’s former space at Hearst Tower in Charlotte.
MIAMI — The Related Group, along with the Department of Public Housing and Community Development and SunTrust Bank, has broken ground on Phase II of River Parc in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Phase II consists of the 150-unit Gallery at River Parc, an affordable and workforce housing community. Of the property’s 40 studios, 70 one-bedroom units and 40 two-bedroom apartments, 80 percent will be reserved for workforce housing and 20 percent will be set aside for affordable housing. Communal amenities will include a swimming pool, fitness center, multi-purpose room and a business center. Justin Ginsberg, Donna Kelce and Rebecca Cox of SunTrust arranged financing on behalf of Related Group for the 22-acre River Parc, which is situated across from Marlins Park. The site currently has 800 units across three properties: Robert King High, Haley Sofge and Martin Fine Villas. River Parc is slated to also include an additional 1,800 units of affordable and workforce housing units will be added, bringing the total housing count to 2,600.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. AND ORLANDO, FLA. — Avanath Capital Management LLC has purchased tow affordable housing communities for a combined $99.2 million. The first property, Alexandria Station Apartments, is located in Alexandria and sold for $52.7 million. The 290-unit community was built in 1965 and renovated in 1998 and 2010. The property comprises 25 three-story buildings that were 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Alexandria Station is a 251,579 square-foot property consisting of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities include a swimming pool, grilling and picnic areas, playground, on-site-laundry facilities and a clubhouse. The other property is Brooke Commons, a 288-unit complex in Orlando that sold for $46.5 million. Built in 2000 and comprising 36 two-story buildings, Brooke Commons was 99 percent occupied at the time of sale. Five percent of the community’s units serve those making 55 percent of the area median income (AMI), while 50 percent are reserved for residents earning 60 percent AMI and 45 percent of the units are for residents earning 60 to 80 percent AMI. The property is located three miles from the University of Central Florida campus and 12 miles northeast of downtown Orlando. Communal amenities include a business …
TYSONS, VA. — Northridge Capital and KAMCO Investment Co have acquired Centerstone at Tysons, a six-story, 151,949-square-foot office building fully leased to Freddie Mac on a triple-net lease basis. The sales price was not disclosed. The building is located at 1550 Westbranch Drive in Tysons, two miles from downtown Tysons and 14 miles from downtown Washington, D.C. Citizens Bank provided the buyers with a five-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan. Jud Ryan and James Cassidy of Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) represented the sellers, Rubenstein Partners and Griffith Properties, in the transaction. Joseph Donato and Kassi Saridakis, also with NKF, arranged acquisition financing on behalf of Northridge Capital and KAMCO.
DAVENPORT, FLA. — New Market Properties, a subsidiary of Preferred Apartment Communities (PAC), has bought Berry Town Center, a 99,441-square-foot, Publix-anchored shopping center in Davenport. Berry Town Center is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 27 and Sand Mine Road, 29 miles southwest of downtown Orlando and 10 miles southwest of Walt Disney World. John Hancock provided the buyer with acquisition financing. Further details of the sale were not disclosed.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A joint venture between Tampa-based 908 Group and Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties has broken ground on The Nine at Columbia, a 486-bed student housing community located near the University of South Carolina in Columbia. The community will consist of one five-story building and six two-story buildings offering townhomes. Shared amenities will include a sauna, fitness center, swimming pool, spa, an outdoor barbecue area and fire pits. FaverGray is serving as the general contractor. The development is set for completion in summer 2021.
FORT POLK, LA. — Corvias will begin a $15.8 million renovation of military housing at Fort Polk, a U.S. Army installation in Louisiana’s Vernon Parish. The renovations will include upgrading the facades, gutters, paint and roofs of 1,146 homes and three miles of roadways on the base. Corvias expects to begin construction this month with completion slated for 2021. The renovation project uses remaining basic allowance of housing (BAH) funds accumulated over previous years that are now being reinvested back into Fort Polk housing. Corvias and the U.S. Army have a 50-year partnership through the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), which leverages private-sector capital to expand and modernize housing. Corvias has 13 installations throughout the country. In addition, Corvias will soon complete the final phase of a $34 million geothermal project including the installation of more than 2,400 geothermal heat pumps and upgrades across the installation, which are estimated to save the Army more than $1 million annually in energy saving.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dalfen Industrial and Investcorp have partnered to acquire the North Carolina Industrial Portfolio, a 10-property, 1.9 million-square-foot industrial portfolio spanning from Charlotte to Greensboro. The buildings were built between 2000 and 2013. Major tenants of the portfolio include Crate & Barrel, Lenovo Group Ltd., United Technologies Corp., Britax, Geodis and Henkel AG & Co. Further details of the transaction were not disclosed.