CINCINNATI — A joint venture between affiliates of Midland Atlantic Properties and Next Realty has acquired Waterstone Center, a 160,000-square-foot shopping center in Cincinnati. The purchase price and seller were undisclosed. The fully leased property is home to Best Buy, Ross Dress for Less, Michaels, Old Navy, Petco and Verizon. BWE arranged acquisition financing through Goldman Sachs.
VERNON HILLS, ILL. — Picklemall Inc. has leased 46,000 square feet at 5555 Town Line Road in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills. The site will serve as a flagship location for the startup, which aims to establish 50 pickleball facilities nationwide within the next two years. Transwestern’s sports and entertainment group, led by Tim Katt and Larry Serota, is the exclusive real estate provider for Picklemall. Led by CEO West Shaw and backed by billionaire financier and Major League Pickleball founder Steve Kuhn, Picklemall is an indoor pickleball concept that capitalizes on vacant mall space. Picklemall’s Vernon Hills location takes the space formerly occupied by Toys “R” Us. The build-out of the facility is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2024.
BURBANK, ILL. — Time Equities Inc. (TEI) has purchased Burbank Plaza, a 28,000-square-foot retail strip center in Burbank, a southern suburb of Chicago. The purchase price was $3.1 million. Currently 91 percent leased and anchored by Family Dollar, the property is home to various tenants such as a dry cleaner, nail salon and phone store. One 2,500-square-foot space is available for lease. Ami Ziff, Jonathan Kim, Grant Scott and Eli Smith represented TEI on an internal basis. Adam Foret of CBRE represented the private seller.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $11.7 million sale of a 26,260-square-foot shopping center in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. The two-story center consists of five ground-floor spaces and a 12,000-square-foot second-level space that is occupied by A+ Kidz Academy. Scott Plasky and Alexander Arustamian of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, a private investor. Both parties requested anonymity.
As the nation’s 28th-largest city, Louisville is home to a dynamic, diversified economy. The Greater Louisville region draws workers from a 26-county area in Kentucky and southern Indiana, providing an ample and reliable source of educated and skilled employees. The geography of Louisville, specifically its accessibility to the Ohio River, central location nationally and mild climate, have contributed to its ability to grow and evolve. Additionally, reducing the income tax rate in Kentucky is a goal of the current Republican majority State Representatives to further economic development, and the Democratic governor (Gov. Andy Beshear) is also supporting this reduction as a way to help ease the burden of inflation for residents. Legislation passed in 2022 dropped the individual tax rate from 5 percent to 4.5 percent for tax year 2023, and a bill signed earlier this year by Gov. Beshear drops it again for 2024 to 4 percent. The goal is to ultimately get income tax rates down to zero, or very close to zero, in 50-basis-point steps as certain budget metrics are hit. These measures seem to be working for growth in the Commonwealth. One of the more notable capital investment projects is the Ford partnership BlueOval SK Battery …
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — Dallas-based brokerage firm STRIVE has arranged the sale of a 19,410-square-foot retail building in the West Texas city of Lubbock. The building, which was constructed in 2011 on the city’s southeast side, is fully leased to Tractor Supply Co. Jason Vitorino and Adam Gottschalk of STRIVE represented the seller, a Texas-based private investor, in the transaction. Additional terms of sale were not disclosed.
PORTLAND, ORE. — Genworth has completed the sale of The Gregory, an office and retail asset located at 425 NW 10th Ave. in Portland. Jewell Capital purchased the asset for $5.7 million, or $121 per square foot. Constructed in 2001, The Gregory is part of a larger mixed-use project, including 133 condominiums that were not included in the sale. The acquisition totals 50,000 square feet of improvements with three floors of office space over street-level retail space. At the time of sale, The Gregory was 55 percent occupied by local retailers and a mix of professional office users in a variety of suite sizes. Darren Tappen, Sean McCarthy and Brandon O’Leary of Kidder Mathews represented the seller in the transaction.
GENEVA, ILL. — Bullfrog International, a designer and manufacturer of a high-end line of hot tubs, has signed a 10,200-square-foot lease at Randall Square shopping center in Geneva. The lease marks the third location for Bullfrog in the Chicago market in the last few months. Rick Scardino, Michael Petrik and Sean Bishop of Lee & Associates represented the tenant. Branden Reedy and Jimmy Danaher of CBRE represented the landlord, an entity doing business as In Retail Fund Randall Square LLC. The shopping center totals 250,000 square feet and is located near Randall Road and Fabyan Parkway.
WOODSTOCK, GA. — Joint venture partners CBL Properties and Horizon Group Properties have secured a $79.3 million loan for the refinancing of The Outlet Shoppes of Atlanta, a retail outlet property located in Woodstock. The 10-year, fixed-rate financing replaces two existing loans with a total balance of $69.5 million that were set to mature this November. The property features 103 retailers, including American Eagle Outfitters, Auntie Anne’s, Athleta, Banana Republic Factory Store, Champion, Forever 21 and GNC, among others.
NEW YORK CITY — An affiliate of Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has purchased two adjacent commercial buildings in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood for $26.4 million. The buildings total a combined 11,000 square feet across six market-rate apartments and 5,600 square feet of retail space. ESRT acquired the buildings, which were both fully occupied at the time of sale, via a 1031 exchange. The seller was not disclosed. Global law firm Fried Frank advised ESRT on the deal.
