NORFOLK, VA. — S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. has negotiated the sale of Little Creek Marketplace, a 49,161-square-foot retail property in Norfolk. SWNC I LLC, a retail real estate fund led by Shannon Waltchack, acquired the center for an undisclosed price. Little Creek Marketplace was 97 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Verizon Wireless, Navy Federal Credit Union, Applebee’s, Wing Stop, Fuddruckers, Cookies and Cakes of Virginia, Beltone, Leisure Dental, The UPS Store, Hair Cuttery and Great Clips. The property is situated at the intersection of Little Creek Road and Tidewater Drive, six miles north of downtown Norfolk. Bill Overman and John Wessling of S.L. Nusbaum represented the buyer in the transaction. Doug Aronson, also with S.L. Nusbaum, represented the undisclosed seller. S.L. Nusbaum and Shannon Waltcheck will provide property management services and Chris Hucke of S.L. Nusbaum will be the leasing agent on the property for the new ownership.
Southeast
Berkadia Arranges Sales of Two Multifamily Communities in Metro Charleston for $17.8M
by Alex Tostado
MONCKS CORNER AND GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — Berkadia has arranged the sale of Epson Oaks in Moncks Corner and Churchill Apartments in Goose Creek. South Carolina-based KAH LLC sold the two garden-style properties for a combined $17.8 million to Texas-based Napali Capital. Epson Oaks is located at 2000 Epson Plantation Drive, 35 miles north of downtown Charleston. The 72-unit property offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Churchill Apartments, situated at 601 Old State Road about 20 miles north of downtown Charleston, also comprises 72 units offering two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Mark Boyce and Blake Coffey of Berkadia represented the seller in the transaction. Richard Levine of Berkadia originated a $12.9 million Fannie Mae acquisition loan on behalf of Napali Capital.
Specialty Grocer Earth Fare to Close All Stores and Liquidate Inventory, Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
by John Nelson
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Earth Fare, a privately held grocery chain that sells natural and organic products, says it will shutter all of its stores and launch a liquidation inventory sale. The grocer lists 46 stores on its website, the bulk of which are in Florida and its home state of North Carolina. Earth Fare also has five stores in the Midwest and a few others in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina. Earth Fare is also shuttering its corporate office in Asheville. The Wall Street Journal reported that Earth Fare, whose majority investor is New York-based private equity firm Oak Hill Capital, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in Delaware. Oak Hill’s portfolio includes a stake in drive-thru fast food restaurant chain Checkers among other businesses. Past investments for Oak Hill include stakes in retailers Dave & Buster’s and Duane Reade. Earth Fare’s investors include an affiliate of Monitor Clipper Partners and former Sears CEO Alan Lacy, according to the Journal. In a statement released Monday, Earth Fare cited financial challenges stemming from its expansion efforts and its investments in improving the customer experience. “While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry …
UNION CITY, GA. — Birmingham, Ala.-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Inc., the second largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America, has opened an $86 million, 456,000-square-foot sales and distribution center in the south Atlanta suburb of Union City. Approximately 36 million cases of beverages will be loaded and shipped annually from the facility, known as South Metro Sales Center. The property includes a 375,000 square-foot warehouse, 25,000-square-foot fleet maintenance area, 36,000 square feet of administration space and a 20,000-square-foot service department for equipment and vending repair. The facility is located at 4913 Mason Road, 17 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta and 10 miles west of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Approximately 750 employees work at the facility, which has a payroll of more than $41 million. General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie began construction at the site in early 2018. System Logistics built the warehousing system technology at the facility.
ATLANTA AND SAVANNAH, GA. — Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc. has purchased a five-property, 924,036-square-foot industrial portfolio in Atlanta and Savannah for $34.7 million. Fully leased to four tenants with weighted average lease terms of approximately seven years, the portfolio comprises two buildings in the Northwest and I-20 East industrial submarkets of Atlanta and three buildings in Savannah. The acquisition also includes 39 acres of developable land in Atlanta. The seller(s) was not disclosed.
MURFREESBORO, TENN. — Hamilton Zanze has acquired Springfield Apartments, a 270-unit multifamily community in Murfreesboro. The property comprises 16 buildings with one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Units average 1,013 square feet. Communal amenities include a dog park, gaming area, saltwater pool, hammock garden and an entertainment pub. Springfield Apartments is located at 3726 Manson Pike, 30 miles southeast of downtown Nashville. The property was delivered in 2018 and was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Denver-based Mission Rock Capital will manage the property. Further details of the sale were not disclosed.
MIAMI — Aztec Group has arranged a $17.4 million refinancing loan for Sunset Strip, an 86,029-square-foot retail center in Miami. Presidente Supermarket and Dollar Tree anchor the property, which includes other tenants such as Atlantis Academy, Metro PCS, Inkaholik and Atlakat Restaurant & Grill. The property is situated at 10855 S.W. 72nd St., 12 miles west of downtown Miami. Starwood Mortgage Capital provided the loan to an affiliate of Miami-based CF Properties. The nonrecourse, interest-only loan has a 10-year term with a fixed 3.57 percent interest rate.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Golden Corral has signed a lease agreement with landlord Keystone Corp. to occupy 42,500 square feet of the first two floors of Palisades III, an under-construction office building in Raleigh. Palisades III will stand six stories and span 166,290 square feet. Building amenities will include a café, onsite conferencing, lounge, fitness center and a rooftop terrace. Keystone expects to deliver the property in early 2021. The property is situated at 5410 Trinity Road, adjacent to Palisades I and II, which Keystone acquired in summer 2018. CBRE|Raleigh represented the landlord in the transaction. Golden Corral’s headquarters are currently located at 5151 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. The company operates 100 buffet and grill restaurants nationwide with franchisees operating another 400 locations.
The surge of momentum happening in Miami’s office market is undeniable with the metro emerging as a new international hub for startups and regional companies alike. Fueled by a multilingual workforce and easy access to Latin America and the Caribbean, Miami’s status as an international gateway is drawing the attention of office landlords and investors from around the country, as well as a wide variety of office users. Investors like Starwood Capital, Appaloosa Management and Icahn Enterprises are leaving their traditional New York and New Jersey locations to come to Florida, one of just seven states that do not impose state income tax. Paired with favorable weather and a high quality of life, Miami is a desirable destination for businesses and its workforce. Entrepreneurial activity in the region is also helping to fuel the office market, as the number of foreign business owners who choose to relocate to Miami and set up shop continues to grow. Hot submarkets Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood has quickly earned the reputation as one of the city’s up-and-coming places to be. The district is poised to become the next 24/7 hotspot thanks to a healthy pipeline of residential development underway that will support office growth in …
Highwoods Sells Greensboro Industrial, Office Assets for $233.4M in Market Exit Initiative
by Alex Patton
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW), a publicly traded REIT based in Raleigh, has sold its industrial and single-story flex portfolio in Greensboro, comprising 2.8 million square feet, for $193.4 million. The company also plans to close the $40 million sale of The Knollwood, a 250,000-square-foot office complex in Greensboro, by Feb. 15. The sale follows Highwoods’ recent announcement of its initiative to exit both the Greensboro and Memphis, Tennessee, markets. That plan led to the recent $76.4 million sale of the 248,000-square-foot International Paper IV office building in Memphis. “These sales are a significant step to completing the first phase of our plan to exit the Greensboro and Memphis markets and reinvest that capital in … high-growth markets such as Charlotte,” says Ted Klinck, president and CEO of Highwoods Properties. “With these dispositions, we will have completed approximately 75 percent of the first phase of sales, and we remain on track to complete the first phase by mid-2020.” Highwoods’ two-phased exit plan consists of selling a select portfolio of its Greensboro and Memphis assets and acquiring Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union in Charlotte in November for $436 million. The second phase consists of selling all remaining …