ORLANDO, FLA. — Red Lobster has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The Orlando-based seafood restaurant chain plans to sell its business to an entity formed and controlled by its existing lenders. Red Lobster, which was founded in 1968 and operates some 600 restaurants across North America, has received a $100 million debtor-in-possession financing commitment from its existing lenders to facilitate this plan. The company stated that it would use the financing and bankruptcy proceedings to drive operational improvements, simplify the business through a reduction in locations and pursue a sale of substantially all its assets. Earlier this month, Red Lobster announced that it would be closing between 50 and 100 restaurants nationwide, a statement that fueled speculation on an imminent bankruptcy filing. Restaurants that were not included in this announcement from earlier in May will remain open throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, and the company says that it is continuing to work with its existing vendors to minimize operational disruption. CNN reports that, at the time of the bankruptcy filing, Red Lobster listed more than $1 billion in debt and less than $30 million in cash on hand. …
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MILWAUKEE — General contractor Gilbane | Smith has completed a $456 million expansion of the Baird Center in Milwaukee. Originally opened in 1998, the Baird Center is the largest convention center in the state of Wisconsin. Gilbane | Smith completed the project on behalf of Wisconsin Center District, which owns and operates the center. Project partners and city officials celebrated the grand opening Thursday, May 16, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Spanning two blocks, the expansion brings the facility to 1.3 million square feet, doubling the original size of the property. The expansion features a new grand entrance oriented toward the Deer District mixed-use development and extends the exhibition hall, bringing the latter to 300,000 square feet. Additionally, the redevelopment increases the number of meeting rooms from 28 to 52, adds more than 400 enclosed parking spaces and brings the number of loading docks to 22 from the original 16. The project also included the addition of all-gender restrooms, dedicated quiet rooms, lactation spaces, sensory rooms and a rooftop ballroom and terrace. Design firm Henderson Engineers, a division of Henderson Cos., served as the engineer of record on the project, providing audio-video, electrical, energy modeling, fire and life safety, mechanical, plumbing, technology …
Meristem Communities Breaks Ground on 235-Acre Indigo Mixed-Use Project in Richmond, Texas
by Jeff Shaw
RICHMOND, TEXAS — Meristem Communities has broken ground on The Filling Station, the first building at the Indigo Commons mixed-use development in Richmond, approximately 35 miles southwest of Houston. The 3,000-square-foot Filling Station property will serve as a welcome center and general store, selling fresh produce from Indigo Farm. Indigo Commons is the 12-acre, mixed-use portion of the larger project, Indigo. Upon completion, the 235-acre property will feature approximately 800 residential units, 42 acres devoted to agriculture, and a 12-acre, mixed-use town center. Borrowing inspiration from classic gas stations of the 1930s, Meristem plans for The Filling Station to be a vibrant social hub in Indigo Commons. DAHLIN Architecture | Planning | Interiors designed the building, which is scheduled for completion before the end of the year. “The start of construction at The Filling Station signifies a major milestone in Indigo’s narrative,” says Clayton Garrett, partner at Meristem Communities. “The neighborhood we originally envisioned is taking shape and the small businesses we’re looking to come to Indigo Commons will play a pivotal role in the development of Indigo’s identity, creating new energy and engagement. There is much more to come too, as Indigo is expected to be a home for …
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — MetLife Investment Management has unveiled plans to reposition its 197-acre office campus in Bedminster, about 45 miles west of New York City, into a life sciences development named Bedminster Technology Center. MetLife has retained JLL to lead the repositioning of the property. Formerly home of AT&T and long known as One AT&T Way, the property consists of four interconnected buildings totaling 939,795 square feet. The campus includes a global network operations center, heliport and 15 acres of covered and surface parking. AT&T built the campus for its own use in 1975. MetLife acquired the property, which is now fully vacant, in 2006. The Township of Bedminster has rezoned the property to accommodate up to 2 million square feet of total development targeted toward biotech research and development and advanced manufacturing uses. Additionally, about 300,000 square feet is available for a conference center, hotel and amenities that could include a fitness center, restaurants and/or retail. Dan Loughlin is leading a JLL team that will market the property for single or multi-tenant lease, sale or site redevelopment with acreage for sale. According to JLL, Bedminster Technology Center presents an opportunity to create the first life sciences development in the …
KDC Receives Approval for Two New Towers at Mixed-Use Park Center Development in Dunwoody, Georgia
by John Nelson
DUNWOODY, GA. — The Dunwoody City Council has approved the rezoning of Phase IV of Park Center, a 17-acre, transit-oriented office campus in metro Atlanta. The master developer of the project is KDC, a Dallas-based corporate development and investment firm. The amended zoning will allow KDC to change its plans from a standalone fourth office tower to a two-tower project that will comprise 175 hotel rooms, 300 residential units, 22,000 square feet of retail space and 300,000 square feet of office space. The plan includes two towers on a common podium with a 20-story apartment tower and a combined office and hotel tower, where six floors of hotel rooms will sit atop 12 levels of office space. Phase IV represents the final phase of Park Center and will occupy the last undeveloped portion of the development, which was originally conceived as a 2.2 million-square-foot East Coast hub for State Farm Insurance. The project team includes local architecture firm Cooper Carry. The current campus contains three office towers developed over the past 10 years: the 600,000-square-foot Park Center One, which is directly connected to the Dunwoody MARTA Station; the 621,000-square-foot Park Center Two with more than 39,000 square feet of retail …
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — JLL has arranged a $735 million CMBS loan for the refinancing of the 2,619-room Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. The property comprises three Marriott-branded hotels: the 756-key Swan (Sheraton), the 1,514-key Dolphin (Westin) and the 349-key Swan Reserve (Autograph Collection). A consortium between Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs provided the loan to the borrower, a joint venture between Tishman Hotel & Realty and MetLife Investment Management. The Swan & Dolphin Resort is situated adjacent to Walt Disney World’s Epcot and Hollywood Studios theme parks in Lake Buena Vista. The partnership between Tishman and MetLife completed the property in 1990. The property’s amenity package includes 16 restaurants, seven bars, three fitness centers, six outdoor pools and a 12,000-square-foot spa. In addition, the property offers 452,000 square feet of meeting and event space, including eight ballrooms, 99 meeting rooms and 100,000 square feet of outdoor space. Kevin Davis, Mark Fisher and Caleigh O’Connell led the debt placement efforts for JLL. “The Swan & Dolphin Resort CMBS loan [is] priced at the tightest pricing levels seen for hotels since 2021,” says Davis. “The market pricing was an affirmation of the strong in-place cash flows, …
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based developer TF Cornerstone is nearing completion on 2-20 and 2-21 Malt Drive, a 1.4 million-square-foot apartment complex in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. At full build-out, the project will deliver 1,386 apartments across two buildings, as well as retail space and a public park. 2-20 and 2-21 Malt Drive are situated on Malt Drive, a new city street that was named as a nod to the site’s history as a sugar cane processing facility that later became a beer distribution center. The project is located within the 30-acre Hunter’s Point South mixed-use development. The South building at 2-20 Malt Drive will rise 33 stories and feature 575 units. The adjacent North building will comprise 811 apartments across two towers at 2-21 Malt Drive. Thirty percent of units at both buildings will be set aside as affordable housing, which will be leased at 130 percent of the area median income. The buildings were designed by SLCE Architects. Planned amenities include on-site parking, bicycle storage, co-working space, children’s playrooms, lounges, fitness centers, shared laundry rooms as well as in-unit washers & dryers, roof decks with BBQ grills, sundecks and courtyards. 2-20 Malt Drive will also …
MOUNT PLEASANT, WIS. — Microsoft has unveiled plans to invest $3.3 billion between now and the end of 2026 in the development of a data center campus in Mount Pleasant, about 28 miles south of Milwaukee. The tech giant plans to expand its national cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capacity. The project is expected to bring 2,300 unionized construction jobs to the area by 2025, as well as to provide long-term employment opportunities over the next several years. Along with building a physical data center, Microsoft will partner with Gateway Technical College to construct a data center academy. This facility will serve to train and certify more than 1,000 students over the course of five years to work in the new data center and IT sector. U.S. President Joe Biden joined Microsoft President Brad Smith and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers at Gateway Technical College on Wednesday for the announcement. “This is a watershed moment for Wisconsin and a critical part of our work to build a 21st-century workforce and economy in the Badger State,” says Evers. Microsoft’s data center is being built where former President Donald Trump had previously announced a $10 billion investment from Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn. …
DALLAS — Steward Health Care has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The Dallas-based company, which has disclosed $9 billion in total liabilities, plans to sell the entirety of its hospital portfolio, according to Reuters. The portfolio comprises 31 hospitals throughout the U.S. Steward hopes to complete all transactions by the end of this summer, with auctions scheduled for June 28 and July 30. In a press release, Steward attributes the decision to file for bankruptcy to “challenges created by insufficient reimbursement by government payors as a result of decreasing reimbursement rates while at the same time facing skyrocketing labor costs, increased material and operation costs due to inflation and the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Steward’s total debt includes $6.6 billion in long-term rent obligations, according to media reports. Medical Properties Trust, which owns the real estate occupied by Steward Health Care hospitals, has provided $75 million in debtor-in-possession financing to Steward, with the possibility of an additional $225 million loan as Steward’s bankruptcy process continues. Hospital leases with the landlord include terms until 2041. Steward hospitals occupy the properties on ground leases, with Medical Properties Trust owning the …
Washington University School of Medicine Opens $616M Neuroscience Research Building in St. Louis
by John Nelson
ST. LOUIS — Washington University School of Medicine has opened the new Jeffrey T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building, an 11-story academic building located at 4370 Duncan Ave. in St. Louis. The project represents an investment of $616 million, according to the general contractor, locally based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. Considered one of the largest neuroscience research buildings in the world, the facility will help accelerate research in areas that include Alzheimer’s disease and brain tumors. The project team, including architectural firms CannonDesign and Perkins+Will, designed the facility to achieve LEED Gold certification. Situated on the eastern edge of campus, the 609,000-square-foot building accommodates 1,000 faculty and staff, including 95 research teams. Additional space could be built out in the future to accommodate another 350 faculty and staff, including about 145 research teams. The building includes an 1,846-space parking structure with bicycle racks and electric vehicle charging stations, as well as an elevated pedestrian connection that links the research building to an existing parking garage. The facility is named after Jeffrey Fort, a philanthropist and longtime donor to the university. The name was revealed at a ceremony held in January. McCarthy and the university broke ground on the research building in …