COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VA. — Lingerfelt has inked a 233,359-square-foot industrial lease at Ruffin Mill Distribution Center, an industrial park in Colonial Heights, about 23 miles south of Richmond. The Memphis-based tenant, Vital Records Control, will occupy Buildings A and C, which are located at 1944 and 1998 Ruffin Mill Road, respectively. Matt Anderson and Harrison McVey of Range Commercial Partners represented Lingerfelt in the lease transaction, which brings Ruffin Mill Distribution Center to full occupancy.
SOUTH CHESTERFIELD, VA. — Industrial rigging solutions company A&A Transfer has signed a full-building, 173,800-square-foot lease at Ashton Creek Distribution Center in South Chesterfield. Located at 1611 Ashton Park Drive, the newly delivered building is situated roughly 20 miles south of Richmond. Ryan Hays of Armour Realty represented the tenant in the lease negotiations, and Chris Avellana, Jimmy Appich and Charlie Polk of JLL represented the landlord, Lingerfelt. Designed and constructed by ARCO Design/Build, the facility was delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
Richmond, capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia and centrally located between the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the sandy beaches fronting the Atlantic Ocean, remains a vibrant city with an educated and expanding workforce benefitting from the city’s thriving and diverse economy. Home to eight Fortune 500 companies and three Fortune 1000 businesses, Richmond’s unemployment rate of 2.8 percent, a 10-basis-point decrease year-over-year, is slightly above the state’s unemployment rate of 2.7 percent but well below the national rate of 4.3 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Richmond’s job market has remained robust, adding over 38,000 jobs from first-quarter 2020 through summer 2024. In the past 36 months alone, CoStar Group (2,000 new jobs), LEGO (1,760 new jobs), and SanMar (1,000 new jobs) have all announced significant corporate and capital commitments to the market. Government and education/health remain the largest regional employment sectors and have experienced the highest year-over-year employment increases of 3.7 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively. Richmond’s continued ability to retain and attract talent due to a high quality of life, affordable cost of living and access to an abundance of local and regional amenities has had a profound impact …
HARRISONBURG, VA. — A partnership between Pearlmark and Seastone Capital has purchased 1433 Pleasant Valley, a 433,039-square-foot industrial building located off I-81 in Harrisonburg. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The property was fully leased at the time of sale to two tenants: Marshalls and DRiV Automotive. Built more than 20 years ago on a 30.2-acre site in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley region, the building is partially cross-docked and features 35-foot clear heights. A major life insurance company provided acquisition financing for the transaction, which represents the fourth investment for Pearlmark’s latest equity fund, Pearlmark Equity Partners II LP.
RICHMOND, VA. — Pinecrest has delivered Parc View at Commonwealth, a 509-bed student housing development located pedestrian to the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) campus in Richmond. The 16-story community spans 275,000 square feet and offers units in one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom configurations with bed-to-bath parity. Shared amenities include a rooftop sky deck, art room, fitness center and collaborative study spaces. The development team for the project included Rycon Construction Inc. as general contractor; Hickok Cole Architects; Timmons Group as civil engineer; and University Partners as managing operator. CIBC Bank USA provided construction financing for the development.
GAINESVILLE, VA. — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged a $14.5 million loan for the refinancing of Somerset Crossing, a 108,000-square-foot shopping center located on Somerset Crossing Drive in Gainesville, about 30 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. Jared Cassidy of MMCC’s D.C. office worked with Dean Zang and David Crotts of Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, to arrange the 18-month loan through Trevian Capital. The borrower, an unnamed development firm, used the non-recourse financing to refinance its existing acquisition loan on the property, as well as pay off its investor base and fund tenant build-outs and improvements. Urban Air and Goodwill will anchor Somerset Crossing in the near future.
WINCHESTER, VA. — Continental Realty Corp. (CRC) has acquired Creekside Station, a 126,304-square-foot retail center located at 3103 Valley Ave. in Winchester, roughly 80 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. Creekside Properties sold the center for $19.5 million. Gilbert Trout of Trout Daniel & Associates represented the seller in the transaction and procured the buyer. CRC, which was self-represented in the transaction, purchased the property via the Continental Realty Opportunistic Retail Fund I LP (CRORF), marking the second acquisition in the state this year for the buyer. Built in 2003 and situated within Creekside Town Center, Creekside Station was 95 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Chico’s, J.Jill, Jos. A Bank, IJ Canns American Grille, The Little Gym and Virginia National Bank. The shopping center totals 10 buildings on more than 13 acres.
If you asked any retail broker in the Richmond market in April 2020 what the forecast might look like, the response would be dark and stormy skies ahead with record-high retail vacancy rates. Fast forward four years later, and the forecast has been quite the opposite, with sunny skies in terms of deal flow and record-low retail vacancy rates, both a positive and a negative as it relates to the vacancy rate itself. Richmond boasts close to 82 million square feet of retail space, and at the end of the second quarter of this year, the vacancy rate stood at 3 percent. Despite COVID, the vacancy rate stood at 5.1 percent at the end of 2020. The market is experiencing record-high demand for new space and about a 15.6 percent year-over-year increase in quoted rental rates due to that demand and limited product availability. Since 2020, our market has seen, on average, 2 million square feet of retail space leased per year, and all signs point to steady leasing velocity in the future. Short Pump, Hull Street West The Short Pump and Hull Street West submarkets continue to be the prime focus of many retailers looking to expand in …
CENTREVILLE, VA. — Finmarc Management Inc. has purchased Trinity Centre, a four-building office portfolio in Centreville, for $39.4 million. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, a joint venture between Spear Street Capital LLC and Partners Group, in the transaction. Bethesda, Md.-based Finmarc was self-represented. The nearly 500,000-square-foot portfolio is located roughly 26 miles west of Washington, D.C., and comprises two 152,000-square-foot buildings and two 93,000-square-foot buildings. Trinity Centre was approximately 71 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Parsons Corp., CARFAX, Aerovironment, Microautomation, Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association, Systematic and TriVir.
RICHMOND, VA. — LL Flooring (NYSE: LL), a specialty retailer of hard- and soft-surface flooring, has commenced voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The Richmond-based company, which operates more than 300 stores and a distribution center in Sandston, Va., will also be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The retailer plans to use the Chapter 11 proceedings to pursue a “going concern sale” of its business, meaning that LL Flooring’s future buyer could continue the business as usual post-transaction. LL Flooring says it “remains in active negotiations with multiple bidders” and hopes to seek approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware of a sale of its business in the first few weeks of the proceedings. Concurrent with the filing, LL Flooring announced it has reached an agreement with Hilco Merchant Resources LLC to assist the company in store closing sales at 94 locations. AlixPartners LLP is serving as restructuring advisor to LL Flooring, which has received $130 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from its existing bank group led by Bank of America. LL Flooring’s stock price closed on Friday, Aug. 9 at $0.84 per share, down from $3.75 a year ago, a 77.6 percent decline.