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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s New Year’s resolution has a familiar ring to it: The two agencies will continue to focus on providing liquidity to the marketplace in the form of unconventional loans. Rich Martinez, vice president of production and sales at Freddie Mac Multifamily, and Michael Keeney, credit risk manager of Fannie Mae Multifamily’s credit division, each indicate their respective agencies will emphasize building out the affordable housing, workforce housing and small business loan production in 2016. “There’s a crisis of affordable housing in the country, it’s pretty much everywhere,” said Martinez, speaking at the sixth-annual InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference held in Atlanta last Thursday. “We want to be in all sectors of the market, and we’re particularly focused on our affordable business, which was a record year this year,” said Martinez, who also runs the Southeast and seniors divisions for Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac’s multifamily business is on pace to exceed $46 billion for 2015, far surpassing the $29 billion total in 2014. The agency has pivoted in recent months to produce more loans for niche sectors of the multifamily continuum, including seniors and student housing. “We rolled out a new small balance loan program, and year-to-date we expect to …

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stockbridge Capital Group and Trinity Capital Advisors have sold Toringdon Office Park, a 519,698-square-foot office park in Charlotte, to an unnamed buyer for $114.4 million. The six-building park is located at 3420, 3430, 3440, 3426, 3436 and 3530 Toringdon Way in the Ballantyne submarket, about 10 miles south of Charlotte’s Central Business District. The buildings were constructed between 2001 and 2008. The park is 87 percent leased. Notable tenants include Selective Insurance, Crown Castle, Heartland Payment Systems and TIAA-CREF. HFF’s Ryan Clutter represented the seller in the transaction. HFF’s Travis Anderson and Cory Fowler also arranged a $79 million acquisition loan through CIBC Capital Markets for the buyer. Clutter notes this was the first core office asset to be marketed and sold in the Ballantyne area since its inception more than 18 years ago. “The Toringdon transaction is a compelling sale for the Charlotte market as larger, non-CBD office trades have been less frequent in most U.S. office markets since the downturn in the economy,” he says. “Institutional capital was drawn to the compelling growth of the area, the considerable rise in rents and the strong leasing activity currently taking place in the park.” San Francisco-based Stockbridge …

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VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. (NYSE: AHH) has agreed to acquire a portfolio of 11 retail centers, totaling approximately 1.1 million square feet, for $170.5 million from an undisclosed seller. The properties are located throughout the Mid-Atlantic and South Central United States and were 94 percent occupied as of Oct. 31. The agreement provides that Armada will acquire all of the interests in each of the 11 properties in the portfolio. The core of the portfolio, which represents approximately 75 percent of the in-place net operating income, consists of six retail centers positioned along the I-85 corridor between Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and Greenville, S.C. These shopping centers feature major anchor tenants including Harris Teeter, PetSmart, T.J. Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Dress for Less, Hobby Lobby and Petco. The remaining five properties in the portfolio are each Kroger-anchored retail centers located in Nashville and Oakland, Tenn.; Waynesboro, Va.; South Bend, Ind.; and Pasadena, Texas. Virginia Beach-based Armada Hoffler Properties intends to fund the $170.5 million acquisition with the net proceeds from the sale of the 154,000-square-foot Oceaneering International facility in Chesapeake, Va., and the 15-story, 206,969-square-foot Richmond Tower office building in Richmond, Va., as well as borrowings under …

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Stone Mountain Industrial Park

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA. — Ackerman & Co., a private real estate investment firm based in Atlanta, has partnered with global finance firm Investcorp to purchase Stone Mountain Industrial Park, a 4.1 million-square-foot development spanning 69 buildings in the Tucker/Stone Mountain submarket of Atlanta. Ackerman and Investcorp purchased the portfolio for $135 million. The seller, Pattillo Industrial Real Estate, originally developed and master-planned the properties. “Both Ackerman and Pattillo have long and successful histories in Atlanta real estate,” says Kris Miller, president of Ackerman & Co. “Investcorp and Ackerman are fortunate to now own these well-built and strategically located properties.” The portfolio of shallow-bay industrial warehouses includes single- and multi-tenant configurations of front-, rear- and side-load designs ranging from 5,000 to 200,000 square feet. Most spaces offer outside storage. Stewart Calhoun, David Meline, Samir Idris and Casey Masters of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale on behalf of Pattillo. “We congratulate Ackerman and Investcorp on their bold new investment. They are committed to an area that has a Community Improvement District, a newly incorporated city of Tucker and a sterling location that has served a strong business community for many years,” says Larry Callahan, CEO of Pattillo Industrial Real Estate. Brett …

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NASHVILLE, TENN. — DPG Investments LLC has provided advisory services to the buyer group in the $125 million sale of a downtown Nashville property. LifeWay Christian Ministries had occupied the nearly 15-acre property for decades, but the company plans to relocate, which left the downtown campus open for alternative uses. Southwest Value Partners, a real estate investment firm based in San Diego, was the buyer, according to the Nashville Business Journal. The company was co-founded in 1990 by Robert Sarver, who remains a partner and is also majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, according to the newspaper. The nine-building campus includes 1 million square feet of office, warehouse and parking space. LifeWay is the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The property could be redeveloped into a mix of hotel, entertainment, commercial, office and residential uses, according to The Tennessean. “Nashville is one of the most dynamic markets in the southeast, experiencing significant real estate development,” says Joe Joseph, managing director of real estate finance at DPG. DPG Investments and its affiliates provide investment management and advisory services. The company was founded in 2004 and has offices in Arizona, California, Connecticut and Georgia. DPG’s private investor base is comprised of …

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DALLAS — Sealy & Co., a sponsor of Sealy Strategic Equity Partners (SSEP), a private equity offering and diversified limited partnership, has purchased Southwest Properties, a 2.23 million-square-foot industrial portfolio. The portfolio consists of 149 buildings located in three markets: Dallas; El Paso, Texas; and New Orleans. The seller was an undisclosed fund. “The Southwest Properties transaction demonstrates the ability of SSEP to capitalize on an opportunity to acquire a critical mass of functional industrial product in three of SSEP’s target markets using our enterprise financing structure,” says Scott Sealy Sr., chairman of the board of Dallas-based Sealy. “SSEP is positioned to continue to acquire and enhance industrial distribution properties to provide stable, improving portfolio performance and enhance equity value.” The assets were purchased at a significant discount to replacement cost and are currently 94 occupied. The Southwest Properties portfolio contains assets that feature an average office finish of 18 percent and are functional with respect to clear height, loading areas, parking and access. The portfolio consists of two sub-portfolios: the Class B portfolio of 12 traditional warehouses in Texas and Louisiana; and Mustang Creek in Forney, Texas, which consists of two master-planned business parks featuring buildings that are functional …

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DALLAS — Luminant has acquired NextEra’s La Frontera portfolio, a pair of natural gas power plant facilities in Northeast Texas, for $1.5 billion. The portfolio consists of Forney Energy Center and Lamar Energy Center. La Frontera can generate power for about 1.5 million homes during normal conditions. The acquisition is expected to close next spring. The Forney Energy Center is located in Forney. It has a capacity of 1,912 megawatts (MW) and started commercial operation in 2003. Lamar Energy Center is located in Paris. It has a capacity of 1,076 MW and started commercial operation in 2000. The acquisition represents a total purchase of 2,988 MW of capacity within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market. ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to 24 million Texas customers, representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load. “These plants are strategic investments that enhance our asset portfolio while building on our existing operations in ERCOT,” says Mac McFarland, Luminant’s CEO. The two combined-cycle gas turbine power plants will join Luminant’s energy portfolio, which already includes coal, natural gas and nuclear power. The portfolio also includes significant purchases of wind-generated electricity and a recently announced solar power purchase agreement. The …

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REBusinessOnline.com is conducting a brief online survey of brokers, lenders and the owner/developer/manager community to gauge market expectations for 2016, and we welcome your participation. This survey should only take a few minutes to complete. The results will appear as a news feature story in the January 2016 issues of the regional publications. Questions cover a variety of topics, ranging from the outlook for investment sales and leasing activity in 2016 to development and lending opportunities to interest rates. Note: We prefer to attribute comments we quote from open-ended responses, however you may respond anonymously if you prefer. To take our 2016 broker survey, please click here To take our 2016 developer/owner/manager survey, please click here To take our 2016 lender survey, please click here Thanks for your participation!   Matt Valley Editorial Director of Regional Real Estate Publications France Media, Inc.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Affiliated companies of Mirae Asset Global Investments, a financial services company based in Seoul, South Korea, have acquired the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel for $450 million. A partnership of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Woodridge Capital along with Kingdom Holding Co. were the sellers of the historic hotel located in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood. Mirae is a financial services company that introduced the first mutual funds to Korea in 1998. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, with more than 70 hotels globally, will continue to operate the property under a long-term management agreement. Oaktree and Woodridge purchased the hotel in May 2012 and made improvements through a renovation plan. The Fairmont San Francisco opened in 1907. Over its 108-year history, it has hosted every U.S. President since William Howard Taft as well as several foreign dignitaries, heads of state and entertainers. Tony Bennett’s first performance of the song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was performed at the hotel. New York architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, along with Julia Morgan, designed the building in the Beaux-Arts architectural style. With 592 guest rooms and over 55,000 square feet of conference and function space, the hotel …

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PETCO Storefront

SAN DIEGO — Funds affiliated with CVC Capital Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) have agreed to jointly acquire San Diego-based Petco Animal Supplies Inc. for approximately $4.6 billion. A group of investors led by TPG and Leonard Green & Partners is selling the pet supplies retailer, which operates more than 1,400 locations across the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico. “This investment aligns well with CPPIB’s strategy to invest in leading retail businesses with strong omnichannel capabilities,” says Shane Feeney, managing director and head of direct private equity for CPPIB. “Petco has long-term relationships with leading pet food vendors and a significant presence in the fast-growing e-commerce channel.” The acquisition is expected to close in early 2016. Goldman Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are acting as financial advisors, and Ropes & Gray acted as legal counsel to Petco. Barclays, Citigroup and Moelis acted as lead financial advisors to CVC and CPPIB. Barclays, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Canada, Credit Suisse, Nomura and Macquarie provided committed debt financing to CVC and CPPIB. Gibson Dunn acted as legal counsel to CVC and CPPIB. Torys LLP also separately advised CPPIB. Founded in 1981, CVC is a private equity …

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