WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIF. — Musical instrument retailer Guitar Center has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Westlake Village-based company did not announce plans to close any of its 297 stores, but it has retained A&G Real Estate Partners to explore opportunities for its real estate portfolio. In court filings, Guitar Center cited its business of instrument purchases, rentals, repairs and music lessons suffered amid the upheaval stemming from government-mandated shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The New York Times. Approximately 75 percent of its stores were shuttered at one point in the spring. Additionally, the company cited its “significant debt burden” in the court filings. In addition to Guitar Center stores, the company operates four sister brands: Music & Arts, Musician’s Friend, Woodwind & Brasswind and AVDG. Music & Arts, a Maryland-based chain that Guitar Center acquired in 2005, operates 200 stores and 300 affiliate locations that provide band and orchestra instruments and equipment for sale or rentals. Musician’s Friend, which Guitar Center acquired in 1999, is a direct marketer of musical instruments. Likewise Woodwind & Brasswind is a catalogue musical instrument merchant with a …
ATLANTA — Global investment firm KKR (NYSE: KKR) has acquired a four-building, 1.6 million-square-foot industrial portfolio located throughout the greater Atlanta area for $136 million. The properties were acquired from four different undisclosed sellers. The newly acquired properties consist of three shallow-bay, last-mile distribution assets with an average completion date of 2006. The fourth property is a fulfillment center that was completed in 2020 and is leased to an investment-grade tenant on a long-term basis. “These acquisitions are part of our ongoing effort to expand our industrial portfolio across high-growth Sun Belt markets,” says Roger Morales, partner at KKR and head of the firm’s commercial acquisitions in the Americas. “We are excited to increase our footprint in Atlanta, given the market’s strong supply-demand fundamentals and long-term growth trajectory,” adds Ben Brudney, director at KKR. “These are important acquisitions for us as we continue to develop and diversify our industrial footprint to include both infill and multi-tenant assets, as well as larger, single-tenant fulfillment centers.” KKR is making the investment in the three smaller properties through its Real Estate Partners Americas Fund II. The fourth property represents an investment by KKR’s core plus real estate strategy, its first in Atlanta. KKR’s …
SAN DIEGO AND BOSTON — Life sciences real estate development firm IQHQ Inc. has completed a $1.7 billion equity raise. The company — which completed an initial equity raise of $770 million earlier this year — plans to use the combined funds to build 4.4 million square feet of projects that are currently in its development pipeline. The company has offices in San Diego and Boston, both hubs for life sciences companies. The demand for life sciences real estate continues to increase as the need for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics intensifies amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an October report by CBRE. Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based CenterSquare Investment Management invested $158 million in IQHQ’s latest funding round, alongside a group of undisclosed new and existing strategic partners. Madison International Realty, a real estate private equity firm, invested $100 million with an option to invest an incremental $100 million in IQHQ. IQHQ’s current projects include sites in Boston, San Francisco and San Diego. The company announced plans to develop the San Diego Research and Development District (RaDD), a $1.5 billion life science campus located along San Diego’s waterfront, in September. The RaDD will span eight acres and three city blocks, making it …
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. has unveiled its plans for Michigan Central Station, a 30-acre redevelopment in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. The project will entail four buildings — Michigan Central Station, the Book Depository, Building West and The Factory — which are slated for completion throughout 2022. In addition, there will be a 1,250-space parking deck dubbed Bagley Parking Hub. The train station was originally built in 1913 and has sat vacant since 2012. Ford acquired the site and initially announced the project in June 2018. Project costs were not disclosed. Ford plans to house 5,000 employees at the site. The campus will serve as a factory to work on autonomous and electric vehicles, as well as design urban mobility services and solutions that includes smart, connected vehicles, roads, parking and public transit. “This project is about preparing Ford for another century of innovation and success,” says Mary Culler, Ford’s Detroit development director and Ford Fund president. “At Michigan Central, we are taking a collaborative approach to innovation, including providing flexible workspaces that attract and engage the best minds to solve complex transportation and related challenges as we shape the future of mobility together.” Practice for Architecture and Urbanism is the …
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Council has unanimously approved the 200-acre Riverwalk San Diego mixed-use project. Developer Hines plans to transform the existing Riverwalk golf course in western Mission Valley into a transit-oriented development. Project costs are estimated at $3 billion, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. A new San Diego Metropolitan Transit System Green Line trolley stop and town square will anchor the project. Hines expects to break ground in the second half of 2021. Of Riverwalk’s 4,300 multifamily units, 10 percent will be designated as income-qualified affordable housing. Floor plans will range from studios to three-bedroom units. The project will feature 1 million square feet of office space and 152,000 square feet of retail space. Nearly 100 acres will be dedicated to open space and a regional park. Hines will also restore the stretch of the San Diego River that runs through Riverwalk. Plans call for bike and walking paths as well as an extension of the San Diego River Trail. “Riverwalk is an opportunity to provide something really special for San Diego,” says Eric Hepfer, managing director with Hines. “Our vision from the beginning was to create a village where people would have the option …
PITTSBURGH AND HOUSTON — PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and Spanish financial institution Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) have signed a definitive agreement for PNC to acquire BBVA’s American operations, BBVA USA Bancshares Inc., for $11.6 billion. The transaction, which has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, is expected to close in mid-2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction will bolster PNC’s national presence and create the fifth-largest bank in the United States, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. PNC will move beyond Charlotte-based Truist, the newly formed merger of equals between BB&T and SunTrust Bank. Houston-based BBVA USA Bancshares manages $104 billion in assets and provides commercial and retail banking services through its banking subsidiary BBVA USA. The bank operates 637 branches in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico. PNC operates 2,300 bank branches and nearly 18,000 partner ATMs nationwide. As of Sept. 30, 2020, PNC had $300 billion of assets under administration. When combined with PNC’s banking footprint, the expanded company will have a coast-to-coast franchise with a presence in 29 of the 30 largest markets in the United States. “Our acquisition of BBVA USA will accelerate …
INDIANAPOLIS AND BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH. — Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) and Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) have modified their merger agreement to include a new purchase price of $43 per share, enabling Simon to proceed with its acquisition of an 80 percent interest in Taubman. CNBC reports that the decline in the agreed-upon share price from $52.50 per share effectively reduces the price tag of the deal by $800 million. This announcement comes just as the two regional mall REITs were set to square off in Circuit Court for the Sixth Judicial District of Oakland County (Michigan), litigation that has since been settled. Analysts at Piper Sandler, a Minnesota-based investment banking firm, expressed surprise at the ability of the two owner-operators to resolve the price disagreement ahead of today’s court hearing. “We thought any settlement or price cut would occur after the judge’s ruling,” the firm wrote. “Ultimately, Simon Property Group saves approximately $700 million in cash on the recut of the deal, offset by obligatory legal fees, which totaled $18 million in the third quarter. The pushing of the closing until late 2020 or early 2021 is also better timed for the economic recovery.” “For Taubman, the outcome is …
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — GCP has sold its Fund I portfolio, which consists of 47 industrial properties totaling 11.6 million square feet, to an undisclosed group of institutional investors for $800 million. The portfolio consists of 11 properties in Alabama totaling 2.9 million square feet; 13 properties in Georgia totaling 2.9 million square feet; seven properties in Florida totaling 2.3 million square feet; seven properties in North Carolina totaling 1.9 million square feet; and nine properties in South Carolina totaling 1.6 million square feet. The properties were 98 percent occupied at the time of sale. John Huguenard of JLL’s Chicago office brokered the transaction on behalf of GCP. “This transaction highlights the investment community’s laser focus on acquiring institutional-quality industrial product from operators in growth markets as a defensive play in response to the changing landscape brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Huguenard. GCP was under contract to sell its Fund I portfolio prior to the start of the pandemic, but the initial buyer elected not to proceed due to the potential impact of COVID-19 on the industrial market. “In August, GCP was approached by several institutional investors who ultimately made unsolicited offers to acquire the Fund I portfolio,” says …
FALLS CHURCH, VA. — Clarion Partners LLC has sold 3150 Fairview Park Drive, a 257,489-square-foot office building in Falls Church, for $90 million. The buyer was a fund managed by Apollo Global Management. The eight-story building was fully leased at the time of sale and houses the global headquarters for General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a subsidiary of General Dynamics. The seller recently renovated the asset, which was originally delivered in 2001. Upgrades included adding an atrium lobby, rebuilding common areas and enhancing building amenities. Bill Prutting, Jim Meisel and Matt Nicholson of JLL represented the seller in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer. The asset is situated within Fairview Park, a three-building office park 15 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. In October of this year, Newmark arranged the sale of 3170 and 3180 Fairview Park Drive. “[The building located at] 3150 Fairview was highly sought-after due to its rare combination of a long-term leased global headquarters of a strong credit tenant, a fully renovated trophy asset and a submarket in Northern Virginia that has experienced one million square feet of leasing activity since 2017, with many tenants landing in Fairview Park,” says Prutting. The New York …
ATLANTA — Developer Jamestown has unveiled plans to expand Ponce City Market in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood by 500,000 square feet. Expansion plans for the mixed-use development include a 100,000-square-foot office building, an outdoor courtyard with 38,000 square feet of shopping and dining space, and more than 400 units of a “hospitality living” concept. Jamestown says the hospitality concept was designed to cater to the way people live and work today, with spaces available for both short-term and long-term leases at accessible price points. Residents will enjoy hotel-like services and amenities, including regular housekeeping and laundry services, a rooftop terrace and pool, and in-building storage units. The office building will offer tenants customizable floorplates with the option to create private outdoor balconies. The ground floor will house 25,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space with a direct connection to the new courtyard. The four-story building is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and reduce embedded carbon. There will also be bike and scooter parking, designated rideshare drop-off sites, an electric bike share program and electric car charging stations. The next phase of Ponce City Market will also feature an expansion of the Central Food Hall. Jamestown plans to …