ST. LOUIS — JAB Holding Co., the private investment firm that purchased Krispy Kreme Doughnuts last year, has agreed to purchase Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) in a transaction valued at approximately $7.5 billion. JAB will acquire Panera Bread for $315 per share in cash and will assume approximately $340 million of net debt. Panera Bread’s board of directors has unanimously approved the purchase agreement, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. “We strongly support Panera’s vision for the future, strategic initiatives, culture of innovation and balanced company versus franchise store mix,” says Olivier Goudet, partner and CEO of JAB. “We are excited to invest in, and work together with, Panera’s management team and franchisees to continue to lead the industry.” As of Dec. 27, 2016, there were 2,036 bakery-cafes in 46 states and in Ontario, Canada operating under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co. or Paradise Bakery & Café names. Information about whether or not the transaction will affect Panera Bread’s restaurant locations was not disclosed. After 25 years operating as a publicly traded company, Panera Bread will become private and continue to be operated independently by its management team. Speaking to The …
Retail sales vaulted 4.4 percent in 2016, driven by consistent job growth, wage growth and high consumer confidence, according to a research brief from Marcus & Millichap. These three trends have fostered a strong retail consumption environment that will continue to support retail center performance. Consistent job growth saw the addition of 2.4 million workers in 2016. Wage growth has averaged 2.3 percent annually and consumer confidence has remained near decade highs. Obscuring the positive performance in local community retail establishments was the department store closures from Sears, Macy’s and JC Penney, as well as the bankruptcy of hhgregg. In 2016, sales fell 5.6 percent in the department store segment and 6 percent for electronics retailers. Other specialty stores, such as Ulta Beauty and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have reported strong sales growth and opportunity for expansion. Ulta Beauty unveiled plans for 100 new locations over the coming year. Sales in the health and personal care sector grew 6.1 percent last year. Dick’s Sporting Goods plans to open 43 new stores this year. Sporting goods sales rose 4.6 percent. Vigorous grocery demand continues in local communities. Grocery chains will anchor and open more than 280 local neighborhood centers this year. As …
TOPEKA, KAN. — Payless ShoeSource has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to immediately close nearly 400 underperforming stores. The company, which bills itself as the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere, currently operates approximately 4,400 stores in more than 30 countries. The shoes and accessory retailer was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kan. “This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify,” says W. Paul Jones, the company’s CEO. “We will build a stronger Payless.” Payless has entered into a Plan Support Agreement (PSA) with its lenders to reduce its debt load by almost 50 percent. The plan will also allow Payless to lower its annual cash interest costs, access additional capital and provide a path to emergence from Chapter 11 with a sustainable capital structure. The agreement will also allow Payless to invest in areas that may provide further growth, including omnichannel expansion, product and inventory initiatives, and international expansion in Latin America and elsewhere. The company plans to optimize its store footprint through the immediate store closures, as well as managing its existing real estate lease portfolio. This may include modifying …
Tenant concessions, ranging from free rent to complimentary carpet cleanings to distribution of gift cards, have become the norm in Houston’s multifamily market over the last few years. And according to several industry experts who spoke at the InterFace Houston Multifamily Conference on March 28, it’s the millennials who are taking advantage of them. Houston has become an especially attractive destination for millennials in recent years. According to a survey by JAXUSA Partnership, which tracks demographic trends throughout major metros, between 2010 and 2013, the metro ranked sixth in population growth of residents age 20 to 29. Tenants receive fewer concessions in submarkets without a lot of new construction. In Houston, this primarily means suburbs — The Woodlands, Pearland, and Katy. In submarkets closer to downtown, where there is generally more construction, concessions have come to serve as bargaining chips for prospective renters. For Houston landlords, operating in a market where concessions have become standard has made lease renewals harder to come by. Stacy Hunt, executive director of multifamily development and management firm Greystar, sees a direct correlation between millennials and lease renewals. “Properties in [sub]markets where you have a lot of millennials — Downtown, Heights, Washington Avenue — it’s tougher …
LAHAINA, HAWAII — Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) has sold the Westin Maui Resort and Spa to a joint venture between Trinity Investments LLC and Oaktree Capital Management LP for approximately $317 million. The 759-room oceanfront resort is situated on 12 acres along Ka’anapali Beach in Lahaina, a town on the island of Maui’s western coast. Guestrooms are split between two 12-story buildings: the 553-room Ocean Tower, which recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation, and the 206-room Beach Tower. According to Bloomberg, the sale represents an effort to dispose of assets that Marriott acquired in its $14 billion takeover of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc., which was completed in September 2016. Under the terms of the transaction, Marriott will continue to manage the property. “The sale demonstrates the strength of the Westin brand and reaffirms our commitment to our asset-light strategy as we continue our merger integration,” said Leeny Oberg, chief financial officer of Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott. The deal raises Trinity’s volume of transactions in Hawaiian hospitality properties over the last six months to more than $600 million. As part of the agreement, the buyers have committed to providing capital improvements to the Beach Tower, as well as to the resort’s …
The following is a Q&A with Jay Madary, president and CEO of Oak Brook, Ill.-based JVM Realty, regarding the state of the multifamily market in the Midwest. JVM owns and operates Class A and B apartment communities in Midwest markets such as Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City and suburban Chicago. Madary was also quoted in the March issue of Heartland Real Estate Business in an article discussing apartment amenities and property management trends. Heartland Real Estate Business: What is your assessment of the health of secondary and tertiary multifamily markets in the Midwest? Jay Madary: They’re healthy. Supply and demand are in balance, and rents are affordable for residents. When you combine those rents with the strong income levels in the region, you can see there’s room for steady rent growth, unlike some of the primary coastal markets such as San Francisco and New York. From an investment perspective, the lower acquisition costs for apartment communities in the Midwest allow for higher returns than you’ll find in gateway markets. Residents of the Midwest are commonly described as steady and reliable, and that describes the multifamily market in the region as well. It may not have a lot of sizzle in the form of enormous rent …
BEAVER CREEK, COLO. — Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc. (NYSE: AHP) has acquired the 190-room Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa in Beaver Creek, Colo., for $145.5 million. The seller was not disclosed. The property amenities include ski-in and ski-out access; a heated outdoor pool and five outdoor hot tubs beneath a mountain waterfall; an outdoor fire pit; spa; fitness club; and onsite ski rental and boot fitting. The hotel also features 20,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space, and dining options including a bar and grill, café and a complimentary s’mores happy hour held daily at the fire pit. Concurrent with the acquisition, Ashford Hospitality Prime received a $67.5 million, non-recourse mortgage loan. The financing features interest-only payments, and provides for a floating interest rate of LIBOR plus 2.75 percent with a two-year term and three one-year extension options. The property will continue to be operated as a Park Hyatt under a management agreement with Hyatt. Ashford Hospitality Prime is a real estate investment trust focused on investing in luxury hotels and resorts. The company’s stock closed on Friday, March 31 at $10.61 per share, down from $11.67 one year ago. — Katie Sloan
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — CitiBank and Goldman Sachs & Co. have provided $124.5 million in acquisition financing for three Class A office properties in Florham Park, N.J., a city approximately 20 miles west of Newark. HFF arranged the 10-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of Mack-Cali Realty Corp. (NYSE: CLI), a REIT specializing in office and multifamily properties throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. RXR Realty, a New York City-based developer and property manager, sold the three buildings, which are part of a six-property portfolio, to Mack-Cali for an undisclosed price. Jon Mikula of HFF represented Mack-Cali in the loan placement transaction. All three buildings are located on John F. Kennedy Parkway in the city’s Short Hills neighborhood. The building at 51 JFK Parkway was built in 1988, spans approximately 250,000 square feet and is currently leased to tenants such as Merrill Lynch’s Wealth Management division, Wells Fargo Advisors and accounting firm KPMG. The six-story property at 101 JFK Parkway was constructed in 1981, clocks in at roughly 190,000 square feet and is currently leased to tenants such as Investors Savings Bank. The date of completion and square footage of 103 JFK Parkway were not available, but the property is currently leased to …
Tumbling rents, landlord concessions and weakening levels of absorption have defined Houston’s multifamily market for much of the duration of the oil bust that spanned from late 2014 to mid-2016, but the multifamily market is now on the mend, says a third-party multifamily data analyst. Bruce McClenny, president of Apartment Data Services, which tracks the vital signs of nearly 3,000 multifamily properties nationwide, believes Houston’s multifamily market is about nine months past the rock-bottom point. As the opening speaker at the Interface Houston Multifamily Conference before 170 industry professionals on Tuesday, March 28, McLenny explained why he believes that a turnaround, albeit a slow one, has already begun. “The first six months of 2016 was the bottom, economically,” McLenny said during the conference, which was held March 28 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston’s Galleria neighborhood. “Things have gotten better from that moment on. There’s absorption out there. Through the first two months of this year, we had more than 1,900 units absorbed.” In 2016, submarkets on the city’s south and east sides — Pearland West, Baytown, Pasadena, Galveston — fared markedly better than submarkets in other parts of town, according to McLenny. All four of these submarkets attained positive …
DENVER — The Colorado Rockies baseball club has signed a 30-year lease worth $215 million to continue to play at Coors Field in Denver. The Major League Baseball (MLB) team’s existing 22-year lease at the 50,480-seat ballpark was set to expire today. The Rockies signed the new lease deal with the owner of Coors Field, the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball Stadium District, a regional agency that comprises seven Denver-area counties. “In addition to successfully meeting the objectives the Rockies and the Stadium District had from the beginning — keeping baseball in Colorado in a world-class facility at no cost to the taxpayers — we are proud that Coors Field will continue to be a vital part of a vibrant city, state and region,” says Dick Monfort, owner, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies. The lease features three separate five-year extension options and will expire in 2047, when the ballpark will be 53 years old. The team will pay $1 million in annual rent and $1.5 million in contributions to the capital repairs fund, which totals $75 million for the life of the lease. The team will also lease the ballpark’s West Lot, a 291-space parking lot that is …