HAMPTON ROADS, VA. — Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners has acquired a 1.3 million-square-foot office portfolio in Hampton Roads. According to Nasdaq.com, the purchase price was $110 million and the portfolio was 89.1 percent leased at closing. The portfolio, comprised of 20 office buildings and two office/flex buildings, is spread across six major submarkets in the Hampton Roads region including Hampton, Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake. The Hampton Roads Portfolio includes; five properties in the Greenbrier submarket located at 1301, 1305, 1309, 1313 and 1317 Executive Blvd.; six properties in the Battlefield submarket located at 500, 501, 505, 510, 676 and 700 Independence Parkway; five properties in the Lynnhaven submarket located at 200 and 208 Golden Oak Court, 2809 S. Lynnhaven Road, 484 Viking Drive and 629 Phoenix Drive; and six properties in the Hampton Roads Center/Airport Industrial/Coliseum Center submarkets located 1, 21 and 22 Enterprise Parkway, 1457 Miller Store Road, 5 Manhattan Square and 521 Butler Farm Road. Lingerfelt will provide leasing, property management and asset management services in-house via its operating platform. Its property management affiliate, Commonwealth Commercial Partners, will handle all aspects of the day-to-day property management. Commonwealth Commercial Partners has retained many of the existing leasing and property …
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NEW YORK — New Senior Investment Group Inc. (NYSE: SNR) has entered into an agreement to acquire a 28-property portfolio of private-pay, independent living senior housing properties from affiliates of Holiday Retirement for approximately $640 million. New Senior expects to invest approximately $190 million of equity and incur approximately $450 million of debt to purchase the portfolio. New Senior anticipates the closing of the acquisition by the third quarter. “We are excited to add 28 independent living properties to our portfolio through this accretive acquisition,” says New Senior CEO Susan Givens. “This transaction further increases our private-pay seniors housing NOI (net operating income) exposure to 91 percent of our portfolio.” The portfolio is 100 percent private pay and contains 3,298 independent living units located across 21 states, which as of May had an average occupancy rate of 88 percent. The portfolio is currently operated by Holiday, and New Senior expects Holiday will continue to operate the portfolio following the closing of the acquisition under new property management agreements. New Senior also expects the portfolio to generate an initial cash NOI of approximately 6.4 percent after property management fees. The transaction is the second large sale of properties Lake Oswego, Ore.-based …
Array of Economic Forces Align to Lift U.S. Industrial Sector, Says Marcus & Millichap
by John Nelson
CALABASAS, CALIF. — The broadening economic growth cycle has accelerated the U.S. industrial sector’s momentum, tightening vacancies across most metros and supporting strong rent growth, says Marcus & Millichap’s midyear industrial research market report. Marcus & Millichap is confident that the strengthening of both the producer and consumer economies should bolster demand across a wide swath of industrial facilities. Total jobs now stand more than 3 million higher than prior to the recession; wage growth has begun to gain traction; and retail sales, though a bit sluggish in the first quarter, appear poised for greater acceleration. Net absorption for a variety of industrial spaces has steadily improved in tandem with the U.S. economy. Demand for bulk industrial space often recovers first, leaving slack in the small and midsize markets. Internet businesses and retailers are a segment that will reshape the industrial sector in the coming year as businesses compete on speed of delivery, forcing retailers to find warehouse locations proximate to major population centers, according to Marcus & Millichap. Demand for space has also grown as auto and housing sales have escalated. After reaching a trough in early 2009 and remaining muted through much of the recovery, auto sales are …
PHILADELPHIA — Chestlen Development and Vine Street Matthews have announced plans to bring a dual-branded W and Element property to Center City Philadelphia. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will operate the 755-room hotel. The Element Philadelphia will feature 460 rooms and a 6,392-square-foot sky lobby. It will include a separate arrival lobby on Chestnut Street with elevator access to the main second-floor lobby, which will contain a 1,400-square-foot breakfast and lounge area, a 1,600-square-foot fitness center and 560 square feet of branded meeting space. The W Philadelphia will feature 295 rooms, a 2,900-square-foot spa, a 3,505 square-foot outdoor pool and deck, a 1,590-square-foot pool bar and a 2,974 square-foot garden area. The 51-story project will also include about 1,731 square feet of street-level retail and three levels of below-grade structured parking. It will be situated directly across from Philadelphia City Hall. The nearby Pennsylvania Convention Center is undergoing a $786 million expansion. Construction began on the project earlier this month. It is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2018. The development will be built by Tutor Perini Corp. Cope Linder Architects is the project designer. Vine Street Matthews is a joint venture between Matthews Southwest and Vine Street …
GREENVILLE, N.C. — For much of the last 15 years, Mayfaire Town Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, was the focal point of Greenville-based BrodyCo and for its president, H.J. Brody. Brody, along with the Zimmer family, developed Mayfaire on the site of a former farmstead outside Wilmington and lured many national retailers to the market for the first time. Built over three phases, Mayfaire Town Center ultimately became 610,000 square feet; Brody also developed a neighboring grocery-anchored center that was over 200,000 square feet. On June 18, it was announced that CBL & Associates — the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based REIT and a dominant owner of regional centers in North Carolina — had purchased Mayfaire Towne Center for $192 million. “For where we were and what we could do with our resources for the project, the timing made sense for us to sell,” said H.J. Brody in an interview with Shopping Center Business. “CBL was a strategic buyer for the property because of its presence in the market.” Brody saw CBL as a strong choice because of the company’s position in the Southeast and Carolinas, and for what the company had done with Friendly Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. At 1.2 million …
TOLEDO, OHIO, AND TORONTO — Health Care REIT Inc. (NYSE: HCN) and Revera Inc. (Revera) have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Regal Lifestyle Communities Inc. (Regal) (TSX: RLC) through an existing 75/25 joint venture for a total value of approximately CA$766 million, or US$623 million. Toronto-based Regal is a publicly traded corporation that owns and operates 23 seniors housing communities with over 3,600 units. The private-pay portfolio includes 13 communities in Ontario, seven in Quebec, and one each in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Approximately 83 percent of the portfolio’s net operating income is derived from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. HCN will have a 75 percent stake in the portfolio and Revera will own 25 percent. “Together with our partner, Revera, we continue to deliver compelling housing and care settings for Canada’s growing senior population,” says Tom DeRosa, CEO of Toledo-based HCN. “The acquisition of Regal is a rare opportunity to add a large, high-quality, private-pay portfolio concentrated in Canada’s largest metropolitan markets, where there is strong underlying demand.” The acquisition price represents a per-share cost of CA$12. The initial cash yield is expected to be 6.1 percent and to be immediately accretive to funds from operations …
The “first-quarter blues” are over for the U.S. economy, which bodes well for commercial real estate during the reminder of 2015, according to real estate services firm DTZ. The report, titled U.S. Macro Forecast June 2015, written by the company’s chief economist Kevin Thorpe and economist Rebecca Rockey, suggests the disappointing GDP figure recorded during the first quarter (GDP contracted 0.7 percent on an annualized basis) has been a recurring issue in recent years. “This has been such a pronounced post-recession trend — weak first-quarter figures followed by solid growth in the remaining three quarters — that the U.S. Department of Commerce is actually revisiting how it calculates seasonal factors, which may be missing important features of the economy’s performance during the winter months,” according to the report. One reason for DTZ’s optimism is that low oil and gas prices haven’t yet stimulated increased consumer spending up to this point — a trend the report says “will soon change.” Additionally, U.S. consumers have been very conservative, increasing the personal savings rate from 4.6 percent to 5 percent from November 2014 to April 2015. “In other words, consumers are choosing to hold on to any extra savings from the gas pump …
San Francisco — Gap Inc. is streamlining its retail business by slimming its store count to 800 Gap stores in North America, the company outlined in a statement ahead of an investor meeting scheduled today. The company plans to close 175 stores in North America over the next few years, with 140 of those store closings occurring in Gap’s current fiscal year. (Gap’s fiscal year runs February through January.) When complete, Gap will have 500 Gap stores and 300 outlet and factory stores in North America. As part of the process, Gap will also shed about 250 employees in its corporate workforce. It is a move that Global President Jeff Kirwan, who was appointed to the position in December 2014, says will enhance the customer experience across all of the retailer’s channels: online and in-store. “Our customers and employees want Gap to win,” said Kirwan in the statement. “We’re focused on offering consistent, on-brand product collections and enhancing the customer experience across all of our channels, including a smaller, more vibrant fleet of stores.” The move comes as Gap has struggled to find its footing in the marketplace. Gap must right-size its portfolio, as well as recapture its customer base. In recent …
TORONTO — Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF), a Toronto-based life insurer, has announced its acquisition of Bentall Kennedy Group for a purchase price of USD$454 million. Bentall Kennedy is a real estate investment manager operating in Canada and the U.S., with corporate offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle. The acquisition is part of Sun Life’s strategy to broaden its asset management pillar by expanding and diversifying the capabilities of Sun Life Investment Management, the company’s real estate investment management arm that services third parties and manages Sun Life’s general account. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. “The acquisition of Bentall Kennedy is a perfect fit with Sun Life’s four-pillar strategy,” says Dean Connor, CEO of Sun Life Financial. “It expands and diversifies our asset management pillar, with one of the most respected names in real estate.” The two firms will combine their real estate investment management teams and Bentall Kennedy will be a unit of Sun Life Investment Management. Bentall Kennedy will retain its brand name and be Sun Life’s exclusive real estate investment management platform. Bentall Kennedy will also have the ability to offer …
CHICAGO — There are many aspects to consider during development of a seniors housing project, ranging from amenities to technology to demographics. However, the biggest key to whether a seniors housing project can succeed over a long period of time is the quality of the operator, according to several expert panelists at the InterFace Seniors Housing Midwest conference held last Thursday, June 11 at The Westin Chicago River North. The seniors housing industry is booming right now, with record sales volume and all-time-low capitalization rates reached in 2014. Development is robust as well, as investors see a low penetration rate at 10 percent as a sign that there is still great need for seniors housing, according to Randal Richardson, president of Chicago-based developer and operator Vi and a speaker on a “State of the Industry” conference panel. “The industry is poised for an incredible period of growth,” said Richardson. “There are a lot of new investors coming into the space, but the operators are the most important part.” The fact that investors and developers from other property types are considering an entry into seniors housing “is an indicator of a frothy market,” said Richardson. Although he warned that the highly …