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MIAMI — Avanti Residential has acquired Soleste Grand Central, a 360-unit luxury apartment complex in downtown Miami, for $181 million. The seller was The Estate Cos., which developed the property in 2021. Located at 218 NW 8th St., Soleste Grand Central is walkable to various retail and dining options and features immediate access to I-95. Floor plans range from studios to three-bedroom units. Amenities include a fourth-floor pool, fitness center, yoga and spin studios, salon, dog park, clubroom, café, gaming lounge and a business center with individual coworking spaces and a conference room. The acquisition marks Avanti’s fourth South Florida investment in the past year, following purchases in Boynton Beach, Doral and St. Petersburg. Avanti has now invested nearly $500 million in Florida and continues to actively seek Class A apartments in the state and other key markets nationwide. “We continue to see strong fundamentals in several South Florida multifamily markets, where employment growth and migratory trends remain impactful demand generators in an already supply-constrained apartment sector,” says Christian Garner, president and CEO of Avanti. Walker & Dunlop’s South Florida investment sales team, led by Still Hunter, brokered the sale. Headquartered in Denver, Avanti is an investor and owner-operator of …

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MIAMI — A joint venture between CP Group and DRA Advisors has purchased Miami Tower, a 47-story office tower located at 100 SE Second St. in downtown Miami. The seller is USPO Miami LLC, an entity established by Sumitomo Corp. of America, which purchased Miami Tower in 2016. The sales price was not disclosed, but South Florida Business Journal reports the tower traded for $163.5 million, a significant decrease from the $220 million price tag Sumitomo paid six years ago. Built in 1987 as offices for CenTrust Bank, Miami Tower spans 636,000 square feet and features a tiered glass façade and an exterior LED lighting system. The property features 37 floors of offices, 10 levels of parking, street-level retail space, an onsite Miami Metromover station, sky terrace and a 13,100-square-foot event lobby on the 11th floor. The new ownership plans to make significant capital improvements at Miami Tower, which was 67 percent leased at the time of sale. Transwestern, which handled leasing at Miami Tower under the previous owner, recently executed leases with firms including AST & Science, World Wide Express, LKLSG, ABKD Group, Best Buddies, AWE Medical Group and Pardo Jackson Gainsburg PL totaling more than 40,000 square feet. …

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LINCOLN AND TIVERTON, R.I. — Bally’s Corp. (NYSE: BALY) has agreed to sell two of its casino resorts in Rhode Island to an affiliate of Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: GLPI) for $1 billion. The properties in question are Bally’s Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Resort in Tiverton. A timeline for the closing of the sale-leaseback deal was not disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement, Rhode Island-based Bally’s will continue to operate the gaming operations and will pay a $9 million transaction fee at closing. GLP Capital, the acquiring entity of the Pennsylvania-based REIT, has agreed to pre-fund a deposit of up to $200 million that will be credited or repaid either at closing or on Dec. 31, 2023, whichever comes first. Ballly’s Twin River Lincoln features 136 hotel rooms and suites and a total of 162,000 square feet of gaming space, including 4,100 slot machines, 125 table games and a sportsbook. In addition, the resort houses four restaurants, three food courts, nine bars, three live entertainment venues, two VIP lounges and a retail store. Bally’s Tiverton comprises an 83-room hotel and 33,600 square feet of gaming space with 1,000 slot …

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ATLANTA — MDH Partners has sold its 58-property Sunbelt Logistics Portfolio to an undisclosed global institutional investor for $1.3 billion. MDH will retain an ownership stake in the portfolio and will continue to operate the properties.  The portfolio spans 9.7 million square feet of industrial space across 10 states, including 11 properties in Georgia; 10 properties in Florida; eight properties in Texas; seven properties each in Arizona and Missouri; four properties each in Tennessee and North Carolina; two properties each in South Carolina and Virginia; and one property in Kentucky. The final two properties include nearly 675,000 square feet of newly constructed buildings in Nashville and Charlotte that were constructed with CarbonCure, a technology for the concrete industry that introduces recycled carbon dioxide into fresh concrete to reduce its carbon footprint. The portfolio consists of modern, state-of-the-art industrial and bulk distribution properties with an average size of 169,000 square feet. The properties feature average clear heights of 30 feet with 130-foot truck courts. The portfolio was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale by more than 100 regional, national and international tenants with an average remaining lease term of 5.7 years.  “This diversified portfolio provides immediate scale and operating …

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PHILADELPHIA — PIDC and Ensemble/Mosaic have revealed the “2022 Navy Yard Plan,” a roadmap for $6 billion of new investment for Philadelphia’s Navy Yard over the next 20 years. Plans call for 12,000 new jobs and 8.9 million square feet of new life sciences, commercial, residential, retail and mixed-use development. Of the total $6 billion investment, Ensemble/Mosaic’s development initiatives are slated to generate $4.8 billion. This is the third plan undertaken since PIDC, Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation, took ownership of the former military base on behalf of the City of Philadelphia. The original plan was formulated in 2004, followed by an updated one in 2013. “The Navy Yard has been an anchor and economic driver for Philadelphia for more than two centuries, serving in both times of war and peace. Today, the progress it has made and will continue to make as outlined in this plan will help reinforce its role as a leading business and life sciences campus and an unrivaled asset to the city,” says Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. The development team plans to significantly expand the Navy Yard’s cluster of cell and gene therapy firms by building out an additional 4.3 million square feet of lab …

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SANTA CLARA, CALIF. — Cedar Fair LP (NYSE: FUN), an amusement and water parks owner and operator based in Sandusky, Ohio, has sold the land at California’s Great America amusement park in the Silicon Valley town of Santa Clara. Prologis (NYSE: PLD), an industrial REIT based in San Francisco, purchased the 112 acres for $310 million and executed a lease with Cedar Fair to continue operating the park. Cedar Fair plans to eventually close Great America, which was built in 1976 by Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR). The park features more than 60 rides and rollercoasters, as well as the Planet Snoopy children’s park and South Bay Shores waterpark, according to the property website. Cedar Fair will continue to operate the park for a period of up to 11 years and then will close existing park operations at the end of the lease term. After 40 years of leasing Great America, Cedar Fair purchased the land from the City of Santa Clara in 2019 per an order from the State of California. The city purchased the park from Marriott in 1985. Following company-wide park closures from the COVID-19 pandemic, Cedar Fair explored options to raise revenue within its existing portfolio. …

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CINCINNATI — City Club Apartments has broken ground on the redevelopment of Union Central Tower, a historic skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati. Plans call for 281 luxury apartments in a mix of unfurnished long-term rentals and furnished short-term rentals, as well as ground-floor commercial space. The total cost of the redevelopment is estimated to be $90 million. Union Central Tower, most recently known as PNC Tower, was built in 1913 and at 31 stories was the fifth-tallest building in the world upon completion, as well as the second-tallest outside of New York City. The property was designed by legendary turn-of-the-century Cincinnati architecture firms Garber & Woodward and Cass Gilbert. “Investments like the Union Central project are a key part of attracting the young, diverse talent that our city needs in order to thrive,” says Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. The community will feature a ground-floor lobby, library and lounge; 17th-floor private club with views of the Ohio River, Roebling Bridge and sports stadiums; abundant coworking spaces; 19th-floor Sky Park and Entertainment Sky Club with gourmet kitchen; rooftop terrace with wellness sauna, rooftop pool, hot tub, wraparound loungers, cabanas, fireplace, grilling stations, outdoor kitchen and Zen garden; 24/7 fitness center; indoor and outdoor theaters; multi-function …

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NEWPORT, R.I. — Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) has acquired Gurney’s Newport Resort & Marina, a 10-acre waterside resort located on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, for $174 million. The 257-room hotel is located on Goat Island in Newport and features unobstructed views of Newport Harbor and the Newport Bridge.  The hotel grounds include a historic lighthouse; 3,000-square-foot spa; coffee shop; 3,200-square-foot waterside pavilion; resort-style swimming pool with cabanas; indoor pool; fitness center; seasonal ice-skating rink; 80,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor event space; and several waterside restaurants, including Showfish Newport and The Pineapple Club. The property also features a 22-slip full-service marina, which was not included in the sale, but will be available for PEB to purchase in 2027.   The new ownership is evaluating a number of capital expenditures at the resort, which could include full renovations to guest rooms; upgrades to the lobby; updated landscaping; refurbishment of the property’s restaurants and bars; the addition of a new market; relocating and updating the spa; and updates to the hotel’s grand ballroom, south lawn and outdoor pavilion spaces.  “Gurney’s Newport is the only resort-style property in Newport, drawing strong demand from New York, Boston and Providence,” says …

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BUCKEYE, ARIZ. — Creation, a real estate development and alternative investment firm headquartered in Phoenix, has sold 10 West Commerce Park in the Phoenix suburb of Buckeye for $130 million. The seller says it’s the highest gross sales price for an industrial property in Buckeye’s history. The buyer was Los Angeles-based investment firm Cohen Asset Management. Funko, a toy company best known for its pop culture figurines, bobbleheads and other collectibles, fully occupies the 10 West property, signing the lease in advance of completion in 2021. The 860,602-square-foot asset serves as the company’s U.S. distribution center. Will Strong of Cushman & Wakefield’s Phoenix office brokered the sale transaction. “We are firm believers that the Buckeye industrial submarket will continue to mature and attract industry-leading organizations as it establishes its place among sought-after West Coast industrial development hubs,” says Brandon Delf, principal and co-chief investment officer with Cohen Asset Management. Simultaneously with the sale announcement, Creation unveiled plans for a new industrial development in Buckeye. Named Ten85, the proposal calls for 4.2 million square feet of speculative space on a 270-acre parcel. The planned Ten85 logistics park will include four buildings ranging in size from 650,000 to 1.2 million square feet …

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TEXAS — SWBC Real Estate LLC has sold a five-property multifamily portfolio totaling 1,437 units in Texas for $350 million. The communities include: The Royalton at Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie; Central Park at Craig Ranch and The Royalton at Craig Ranch in McKinney; The Royalton at Rockwall Downes in Rockwall; and The Royalton at Sunfield in Buda. Lightbulb Capital Group, the family office of developer and investor Jay Schuminsky, acquired the properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, including those in Grand Prairie, McKinney and Rockwall. Brixton Capital purchased the community in Buda, which is a southern suburb of Austin. Both buyers are based in California. “It’s apparent that there is still a very aggressive appetite for new multifamily properties in the Dallas and Austin markets, as there was a large amount of interest in the sale of these properties,” says Stuart Smith, COO of SWBC. “The recent uptick in interest rates is causing some concern with the future values of commercial real estate properties. However, the continued interest in the multifamily sector in well-located areas throughout Texas has remained strong at this time.” Joey Tumminello, Will Balthrope and Drew Kile of Marcus & Millichap’s Institutional Property Advisors led the …

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