DALLAS — CBRE has arranged the sale of Trinity Towers, a Class A, 634,381-square-foot office tower located in the Medical and Love Field District of Dallas. The 20-story building was recently renovated and features structured parking, a full-service deli, conference center and fitness center with locker rooms. The tower is 97 percent leased to tenants including Aetna, Children’s Medical Center and Southwest Airlines. Gary Carr, Eric Mackey, Evan Stone, John Alvarado, Jared Chua and Robert Hill of CBRE worked on behalf of the seller, JP Realty Partners. Stanton Road Capital acquired the property. The price was not disclosed, but a website affiliated with The Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com, reports that the asset was sold for $50 million. “As one of the market’s most recognizable buildings, Trinity Towers presented investors with an exceptional asset located within Dallas’s premier emerging marketplace,” says Carr. “The building’s outstanding tenants and low-risk upside potential attracted a wide range of investor interest.” The property is positioned along Stemmons Freeway, and is located near both Dallas Love Field Airport and DFW International Airport. Stanton Road Capital is a Los Angeles-based investment management firm focused on commercial real estate and private equity strategies. — Katie Sloan
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DEERFIELD, ILL. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), a global pharmacy-led enterprise comprising brands such as Walgreens and Duane Reade, plans to shutter 600 of its stores as part of its $4.38 billion purchase of rival Rite Aid Corp. During a conference call on Wednesday, Oct. 25, Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin said the 600 shuttered stores will mostly be Rite Aid locations within close proximity to existing Walgreens stores as the company looks to optimize its retail store footprint. On Sept. 19, Walgreens announced it had secured regulatory clearance for its acquisition of 1,932 stores, three distribution centers and related inventory from Rite Aid. According to Walgreens’ earnings report released yesterday, the first few Rite Aid stores were acquired in the past week. Walgreens plans to transfer ownership of the remaining stores in phases as it aims to complete the store transfers by spring 2018. Walgreens has reviewed its combined U.S. store portfolio to determine the affected stores. The company expects to start closings between spring 2018 and mid-2019. As a result of the store closures, Walgreens expects to realize $300 million in annual savings through Aug. 31, 2020. The savings will be derived primarily from procurement, cost savings …
ATLANTA — There are still a lot of question marks in the frontier of e-commerce versus brick-and-mortar retail. But investing in strong anchor tenants and delivering to the needs of the end-user are key to maintaining and developing a successful center, according to panelists at International Council of Shopping Centers’ Southeast Conference & Deal Making event. The comments were made during the “Capital Markets, Retail Disruption, Rates, Maturities, Bankruptcies, Policy and Amazon” panel at the event, which was held Oct. 17-19 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. Caitlin Griffin, vice president of transactions at Brixmor Property Group, moderated the panel, which included Francine Glandt, senior vice president of REIT Banking Group at SunTrust Bank; Lauren Holden, senior vice president of Clarion Properties; Joel Murphy, CEO and co-founder of New Market Properties LLC; and Jake Nawrocki, CFA, president of Newport US RE. Although transaction volume is down 23.4 percent year-over-year, according to third-quarter research from JLL, retail demand and development pipelines remain steady. “The challenge for [buyers] is where to invest the capital that they are able to raise,” said Glandt. “The prices that they want to pay for what they want aren’t necessarily lining up with where the market is …
FULLERTON, CALIF., AND VANCOUVER, WASH. — Retail Opportunity Investment Corp. (ROIC) has acquired two shopping centers on the West Coast for a total of $96.5 million. The purchase includes Fullerton Crossroads, a 221,636-square-foot, grocery-anchored community center in Fullerton, and Riverstone Marketplace, a 108,323-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in Vancouver. Fullerton Crossroads was built in 1971 at 3200–3362 E. Yorba Linda Blvd. It was renovated in 1996 and 2005. The center is 98 percent leased to tenants like Ralphs, Kohl’s, JoAnn Fabric & Craft and Daiso Japan. Riverstone Marketplace is located at 19215 and 19221 S.E. 34th St. and 3415, 3425 and 3505 S.E. 192nd Ave. in the Fisher’s Landing area of Vancouver. The center is 99 percent leased, with Quality Food Center as the anchor. ROIC represented itself in this stock transaction, while JLL’s Geoff Tranchina represented the seller, the Uhlmann Family Trust. “The seller was looking to divest itself of the day-to-day operations of these properties while maintaining its relationship and exposure to high-quality, West Coast retail real estate,” says Tranchina. “These unique tax-deferred structures, while complex to execute, provide long-term holders of real estate the potential to diversify their risk, eliminate management responsibilities and provide liquidity flexibility in the …
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Stiles Construction has been selected to build a 25-story, 327-unit luxury apartment property in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Greystar will own and operate the 661,000-square-foot property, to be located at 790 E. Broward Blvd. The project, situated on the site of a former Chase Bank, will feature a 508-space parking garage and a recreational deck with amenities. Greystar purchased the site from Stiles Corp. several months ago. Stiles was also the contractor behind Amaray Las Olas, a 254-unit luxury apartment property located just one block from this project. Neither the construction cost nor a timetable for completion was disclosed. Greystar received an $88 million construction loan for the project, according to the South Florida Business Journal. This is the second residential tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale to be announced recently. Earlier this month, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved Ocean Land Investments’s proposed Riverwalk Residences of Las Olas project, which will offer 401 units of seniors housing in a 42-story building. Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles has completed more than 43 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and mixed-use residential projects in the Southeastern United States. Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar is the largest operator of apartments in the country, with …
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Forecast Survey: What’s Your Take on Real Estate in 2018?
by John Nelson
France Media, Inc. is conducting a brief online survey to gauge market conditions, and we welcome your participation. This survey should only take a few minutes to complete. Questions range from property sectors that your firm is most bullish on heading into 2018 to trends in deal volume to the outlook for interest rates. The results will be collated and published in the January 2018 issue of our regional magazines. Conducting these surveys is part of our mission at France Media to provide readers with indispensable information. To participate in our broker/agent survey, click here. For developers/owners/managers, click here. For lenders and financial intermediaries, click here. (Note: Please remember to click on “done” to properly submit the survey.) Sincerely, Matt Valley Editorial Director, Real Estate Regionals France Media, Inc.
BOSTON — Starwood Property Trust, a Connecticut-based lender, has provided $140 million in refinancing for the Aloft Hotel and the Element Hotel, two hospitality properties totaling 510 rooms in Boston’s Seaport District. Starwood provided the funds on behalf of the borrower, a venture between a fund managed by an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Ares Management and Boston-based CV Properties LLC. HFF arranged the financing. The 13-story Aloft Hotel offers 330 rooms, as well as amenities such as a pool, fitness center, gourmet eatery and 12,000 square feet of meeting space. The six-story Element Hotel features 180 rooms with kitchens and flexible workspaces, as well as a pool, fitness center, meeting space and a bike-sharing program. Both hotels are situated adjacent to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC). Anthony Cutone and Matthew Enright of HFF, which secured construction financing for both properties in 2014, led the debt placement effort. “The hotels opened for business in early 2016 and have enjoyed a strong reception due in part to the phenomenal growth of the Seaport area, the quality of the development and the strong demand generated from the BCEC,” said Cutone. HFF’s stock price closed at $43.13 per share on Friday, Oct. …
CHICAGO — The University of Illinois has unveiled plans to develop an interdisciplinary public-private research and innovation center known as the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) in Chicago. The $1.2 billion project will be situated at The 78, a mixed-use development by Related Midwest. DPI will be developed on a donated portion of the 62-acre site bordered by Roosevelt Road, Clark Street, 16th Street and the Chicago River. The facility is the first step in the development of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), which will join businesses, public sector partners and research universities to focus on the study of computing and big data, food and agriculture and health and wellness. Led by the University of Illinois system, with its campuses in Champaign, Springfield and Chicago, DPI will bring together students, faculty and businesses. DPI will be operated through private donations, government support and partnerships with industry business. The size of the institute’s site at The 78 is still to be determined. A timetable for the opening is slated to be complete next year. At full operation, DPI is expected to have as many as 90 faculty members — sourced from the University of Illinois system’s three universities as well as partner …
MINNEAPOLIS — Kraus-Anderson Construction Co., a general contractor based in Minneapolis, plans to break ground this coming Monday, Oct. 23 on Ironclad, a $100 million mixed-use development in downtown Minneapolis. The site, currently a parking lot, is located within the historic Mills District near U.S. Bank Stadium, the newly opened home of the Minnesota Vikings NFL team. Designed by St. Paul-based Collage Architects, Ironclad will include a 14-story, 172-unit apartment building and an eight-story, 139-room, Moxy-branded hotel. The plans also call for a 3,300-square-foot restaurant; 10,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor of the hotel; and a four-story, 65,318-square-foot underground parking garage with room for 411 cars. The apartments will feature private outdoor terraces, a sky lounge and a large amenity deck with green space. The property will also feature a swimming pool, hot tubs, fire pits, cloister garden and insider amenities including electric vehicle charging stations, bike repair facility and rider lounge, sauna, theater and media center, pool table and gaming and an on-site property manager. Ironclad is owned by 811 Washington LLC, a wholly owned entity controlled by the Kharbanda family, which owns and operates multiple properties in downtown Minneapolis. The developer of the hotel …
MADISON, N.J. — Physical office space can have a positive influence on its tenant base, which ultimately helps companies attract and retain employees, according to a new survey conducted by Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates, a Madison-based company made up of independently owned and operated commercial real estate service practices. The survey uncovered which popular office amenities resonated with respondents to see how office spaces could further improve the functionality of their square footage. “Offices are becoming a center for social activity, and it is important for office commercial real estate to accommodate this,” says Fred Schmidt, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates. Working on behalf of Coldwell Banker, Harris Poll surveyed 2,001 adults from Aug. 15-17 as part of the online study. The participating cohort included younger Millennial workers (age 18-29), older Millennials (30-34), Gen Xers (ages 35-49) and Baby Boomers (50-69), to identify worker attitudes toward their current physical workplace and better understand how office space can be optimized to meet worker needs and comfort. The highest concentration of respondents identified themselves as Baby Boomers (a little over 44 percent), followed by Gen Xers, younger Millennials and older Millennials. Overall, the survey found that the most coveted office …