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ATLANTA — Online auto classified provider AutoTrader.com has signed a letter of intent to consolidate its operations within Atlanta's Perimeter Summit office park. According to spokesman Mark Scott, the company plans to occupy 3003 Perimeter Summit, an 18-story, 390,000-square-foot, Class A office tower located at 3003 Summit Blvd. Terms of the lease are still being negotiated, but AutoTrader would relocate 1,200 to 1,400 employees to Perimeter Summit, meaning the company would need to lease most of the building. “We had been looking for quite some time for a real estate solution that would accommodate both our current situation and some potential growth in the future,” Scott says. “We've grown at about 20 percent a year for the last 10 years that we've been in business, and, although this is a flat year, we anticipate growth going forward.” Scott adds that in making the decision it was also important for AutoTrader to be in a single building. The company is currently spread across several nearby buildings, including its current headquarters building within Peachtree Dunwoody Pavilion at 5775 Peachtree-Dunwoody Rd. CB Richard Ellis is responsible for leasing Perimeter Summit, which is owned by GE Asset Management. Autotrader.com is owned by locally based …

NEW YORK CITY — Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has reached an agreement to sell its theme park division to The Blackstone Group for up to $2.7 billion. Under the agreement, Blackstone will purchase Busch Entertainment Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of AB InBev and the second largest theme park operator in the United States. The subsidiary operates 10 parks, including three SeaWorld parks in Orlando, Fla., San Antonio and San Diego; two Busch Gardens parks in Tampa, Fla., and Williamsburg, Va.; and other entertainment attractions in Orlando, Tampa, Williamsburg and Langhorne, Pa. The purchase price is comprised of a $2.3 billion cash payment at the time of closing and the right for AB InBev to participate in Blackstone's return on its initial investment, which is capped at $400 million. Acquisition financing is comprised of senior secured credit facilities that will be provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs Loan Partners and Mizuho Corporate Bank; as well as mezzanine financing that will be provided by Goldman Sachs Mezzanine Partners and funds managed by GSO Capital Partners. In a statement, Carlos Brito, CEO of AB InBev, said, “Busch Entertainment Corp. (BEC) is a high-performing asset …

NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based affordable housing lender Community Preservation Corp. (CPC) has launched a new public/private partnership that will provide $1 billion to multifamily building owners in New York City for energy-efficient building renovations. The CPC Green Initiative will be incorporated into the lender's existing multifamily loan program. It will identify energy-efficient improvements that can be made, add the improvements to other upgrades planned for the property and provide the financing to make the measures affordable. The CPC also plans to monitor the renovations on a long-term basis to measure effectiveness. For each project, CPC expects to provide a total of $80,000 to $100,000 per apartment, including $5,000 to $50,000 in energy retrofits and other improvements. The program intends to target low- and moderate-income multifamily buildings, including cooperatives. The private financing portion of the initiative will also include a variety of subsidy programs. Many green retrofitting funding programs already exist, but the CPC Green Initiative will combine the programs as a single resource. Of the $1 billion set aside for the program, $500 million will be provided by Freddie Mac and $300 million will come from the New York State and New York City public employee pension …

FREDERICK, MD. — SAIC-Frederick Inc. will soon start work on the 330,000-square-foot Advanced Technology Research Facility for the National Cancer Institute. A groundbreaking for the project was held last year, but construction was unable to move forward due to the recession. The $200 million development, which will be comprised of office and laboratory space, will span 62 acres at the 177-acre Riverside Research Park in Frederick. An additional 570,000 square feet is planned for future expansion. The Cancer Institute’s facility is slated for a mid-2011 delivery. Pete Briskman of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Bethesda, Md., office helped represent the institute in securing the space. He says the center’s development is a culmination of years of work and will be another asset in the fight against a deadly disease. “It’s about curing cancer and doing it sooner than later,” he says. When complete, the facility will be the only Federally Funded Research and Development Center in the country dedicated to biomedical research and development, according to a news release. But public financing was not enough to get the facility built. To make the project a reality, The Matan Companies and Federal Capital Partners worked to arrange a $52 million construction loan, which …

LOS ANGELES — Multi-Housing Capital Advisors has arranged the sale of The Gallery at NoHo Commons, a luxury apartment community located in Los Angeles, for $96 million in one of the largest single-asset multifamily sales in Southern California this year. The 438-unit, Class A community is located in North Hollywood at the intersection of Chandler Boulevard and Fair Avenue. It features 286 one-bedroom units and 152 two-bedroom units. Amenities include a clubhouse with a recreation room, a bar area and a big-screen television. Other amenities include a sound-proof recording studio, business offices, a cyber cafe, a fitness center with an attached dance studio, and a resort-style pool and spa. The community also features two five-story parking garages with a total of 778 spaces. The project was originally developed as a public-private partnership that involved the City of Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency. The property has an agreement in which 115 of the units are operated as affordable housing. Curtis Palmer, Herb Chase III, Peter Sherman and Brad Pennington of Multi-Housing Capital Advisors represented the seller, SF NO HO LLC, a subsidiary of Fairfield Residential. The buyer was Dallas-based Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I. According to Palmer, a principal with Multi-Housing …

DULUTH, GA. — An affiliate of Norfolk, Va.-based Harbor Group International (HGI) has acquired Tree Summit Apartments from an affiliate of Wilwat Properties for $33.9 million. The 660-unit community is located at 3475 Pleasant Hill Rd. in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth. It contains one-, two- and three-bedroom units with an average size of 1,108 square feet. Amenities include a clubhouse, two swimming pools, a hot tub, four lighted tennis courts, a fitness center, two laundry facilities, a playground and a boat/RV parking area. Some of the units also feature a fireplace, a vaulted ceiling, a basement den and an attached two-car garage. Occupancy was 86 percent at the time of closing. HGI plans to invest approximately $2.3 million into the property for exterior and interior upgrades. The community will also be renamed Overlook at Berkeley Lake. “Harbor Group has an extensive investment and operating presence in Atlanta,” says T. Richard Litton, Jr., president of HGI, in a statement. “The acquisition of Overlook at Berkeley Lake provides an opportunity to capitalize on our market expertise at attractive pricing.” HGI and its affiliates currently own four multifamily properties in Atlanta totaling 1,432 units and two downtown office towers. — Coleman Wood

MCCANDLESS TOWNSHIP, PA. — Yesterday saw the groundbreaking for one of the largest mixed-use projects in Pittsburgh in recent memory. McCandless Crossing will be located on approximately 130 acres on McKnight Road in the northern Pittsburgh suburb of McCandless Township. “[The site] is the last remaining parcel of land on McKnight Road, which is the major retail corridor in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh,” says Kevin Dougherty, president of Selma, N.C.-based AdVenture Development, the developer of McCandless Crossing. This location along a prime retail corridor means that the project will contain plenty of retail space — approximately 500,000 square feet based on current plans. The retail space will be joined by 200,000 square feet of office space, two hotels with a total of more than 200 rooms and 300 to 500 residential units. But retail is not the only draw of this corridor. McCandless Crossing is situated adjacent to UPMC Passavant Hospital, which is undergoing a $190 million expansion. Other nearby draws include LaRoche College and the approximately 400,000-square-foot Pittsburgh Office & Research Park. The project will be constructed in phases over the next 3 to 5 years. Some tenants have already signed at the center, including Lowe's Home Improvement …

OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — Black & Veatch is following up on the $60 million purchase of its new Overland Park headquarters by announcing plans to renovate the new facility. The highlight of the improvements is that the engineering and construction firm will pursue LEED-Gold certification for the project. Building upgrades include new HVAC and energy management systems, a rainwater collection system, a solar courtyard and canopy, a bio garden and an innovation pavilion. Black & Veatch also has negotiated improved zoning density for the property, which will allow the 600,000-square-foot building to be expanded by up to 250,000 square feet. Black & Veatch first acquired the building, which is located at 11401 Lamar Ave., in July in a deal that was brokered by Studley. The company had been leasing the building from Equity Group Investments for the previous 12 years. Black & Veatch had considered building a new campus during its search for a new headquarters, but decided that purchasing and renovating the existing building would be the most environmentally sound option. In a statement that was released at the time of the purchase, Howard Withey, chief administrative officer for Black & Veatch, said, “We are delighted to be able …

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) has purchased a 16-property medical office portfolio from Greenville Hospital System (GHS) for $162.82 million. The portfolio comprises approximately 856,000 square feet of space located on three Greenville-area hospital campuses: Greenville Memorial Hospital, Patewood Memorial Hospital and Greer Memorial Hospital. GHS, the largest healthcare provider in the Greenville area, was looking to free up liquidity with the sale while maintaining its presence in the market, so the company will be leasing back approximately 84 percent of the portfolio under a long-term agreement. HTA was selected in a competitive bidding process. “This transaction was the best way to enter the South Carolina and Greenille markets, and we look forward to continuing to grow with the Greenville Hospital System as they expand,” says Mark Engstrom, chief investment officer with HTA. HTA currently controls a portfolio of approximately 6.3 million square feet in 19 states. The company is active in the Southeast, with properties in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. “We seek out opportunities like this and will continue to look for opportunities to partner with strong hospital systems [like GHS],” Engstrom says. — Coleman Wood