CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Whataburger, a Corpus Christi-based fast food burger chain, is opening its first metro Atlanta restaurants this year. The two locations will be situated at 705 Town Park Lane NW in Kennesaw and 9766 GA-92 in Woodstock. At its Kennesaw location, Whataburger plans to hire 180 employees, and to employ more than 1,400 employees in the metro Atlanta area restaurants by the end of 2023. In 2023, other Whataburger locations will open around metro Atlanta including at 503 Lakeland Plaza in Cumming; SEQ Buford Drive and Exchange Drive in Buford; 3321 Lexington Road in Athens; 3201 Atlanta Highway in Athens; 100 Pottery Road in Commerce; and 15 Wallace Blvd. in Dawsonville. Whataburger currently has one Georgia restaurant in Thomasville. The burger chain has over 880 locations across 14 states.
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. — The national average for in-place industrial rents across the top 30 U.S. markets reached $6.45 per square foot in February, a 4.4 percent year-over-year increase according to research from CommercialEdge, a product of Yardi Systems. The Santa Barbara-based firm found that the average effective rental rates signed over the same interval was $7.35 per square foot, 90 cents higher than the national average for in-place leases, a nearly 14 percent swing. Southern California markets led the nation in rent expansion, largely due to intense activity in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Orange County recorded the most significant 12-month change with a 7 percent hike, reaching $11.65 per square foot. Los Angeles (6.7 percent) and the Inland Empire (6.5 percent) rounded out the top three markets nationally. On the other end of the spectrum, markets that have higher availability of developable land recorded weaker rent growth in the last 12 months. Newly delivered stock in these markets is helping developers meet demand, while also elevating vacancy levels. Across the top 30 U.S. markets, rent growth was slowest in Charlotte (1.1 percent), Houston (1.7 percent) and Indianapolis (2.3. percent). The spread between the average lease …
SAN DIEGO AND STOCKTON, CALIF. — Dalfen Industrial has purchased Otay Mesa Logistics Center in San Diego and Stockton Supply Chain Center III in Stockton. Terms of the transactions were not released. Built in 2005, the 62,875-squarf-foot Otay West Logistics Center features 24-foot clear heights, a 170-foot truck court, 15 dock-high doors, four drive-in doors and ample parking. At the time of sale, the property was fully leased to DHL. Rob Hixson of CBRE handled the transaction. Located at 2230-2248 Stagecoach Road, the two-building Stockton Supply Chain III features 121,280 square feet of industry property. The property is fully occupied, with Fairview Distribution as the largest tenant. Mike Goldstein, Ryan McShane and Alex Hoeck of Colliers International brokered the off-market deal.
The industrial market will be forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, demand for industrial space was closely tied with gross domestic product (GDP), with demand rising and falling alongside the U.S. output of goods. The pandemic has accelerated an already shifting economy to an “on-demand” economy. This shift was created by technology companies fulfilling consumer demand via the immediate provisioning of goods and services, and has now led to industrial warehouse demand being more in line with consumer spending versus GDP. Consumer spending and personal income are at all-time highs, with e-commerce sales growing exponentially throughout 2020 and 2021. Companies have been leasing warehouse space at a meteoric rate, driven by the need to store goods to accommodate the demand and mitigate risk from supply chain complications that have been brought on by the pandemic. Over the past two years, millions of square feet of warehouse space in the Chicagoland area have been leased for e-commerce use to tenants such as Walmart, Wayfair, Hello Fresh, Imperfect Foods and, of course, Amazon. Additionally, as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers transition to greater online sales, they require more warehouse space for goods storage, which has led tenants such as Target, Walmart, …
CHICAGO — Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. (NYSE: SHO), a California-based lodging REIT, has sold two hotels in Chicago for a combined gross sales price of $129.5 million. The properties include the 368-room Embassy Suites Chicago and the 361-room Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile. Buyer information was not provided. The sale marks Sunstone’s exit from the Chicago market, which has been hindered by excess supply and an inability to drive meaningful rate and profitability growth, says CEO Bryan Giglia. For the month of February, Chicago’s hotel occupancy rate of 43.8 percent was the second-lowest rate across the nation, according to hospitality data firm STR. The average occupancy rate nationally for the month was 56.9 percent. Sunstone’s stock price opened at $11.69 per share Tuesday, March 22, down slightly from $12.82 per share one year ago.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — Greystone has provided a $57.1 million loan for the acquisition of Terrace of Elk Grove Apartments in Elk Grove Village. The buyer, Bayshore Properties, is converting the 427-unit property from condos into apartments. The complex, originally built as a rental apartment property in 1968, consists of eight three-story buildings. Amenities include a pool, clubhouse, fitness center, game room, business center, laundry facilities, courtyards and onsite management. Eric Rosenstock and Dan Sacks of Greystone originated the nonrecourse bridge loan, which features a 24-month term. Under the Condominium Property Act in Illinois, condo unit owners can elect to sell a property if 75 percent or more are in agreement. Sellers then have the option to either move out of their units or lease them back from the new owner.
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone (NYSE: BX) has purchased a 49 percent stake in One Manhattan West, a 67-story office tower in Manhattan totaling 2.1 million square feet. Brookfield (NYSE: BAM) and Qatar Investment Authority sold the minority interest to Blackstone and will retain a 51 percent ownership stake in the skyscraper. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, but Brookfield says that the deal “values the office building at $2.85 billion,” which translates to Blackstone’s stake totaling just below $1.4 billion. Ben Brown, managing partner of Brookfield, says the competition for the acquisition was intense despite the uneven recovery of New York City’s office market due to COVID-19. “The partial sale of One Manhattan West and the interest we received as soon as we put it on the market are clear validations that the highest quality office properties are seeing enormous demand coming out of the pandemic,” says Brown. “One Manhattan West is home to some of the world’s leading companies, and their continued desire to work from and grow in the building is a promising sign for Manhattan West and prime, well-located office assets broadly.” Located on the corner of Ninth Avenue and 33rd Street, One Manhattan West is leased …
SEATTLE — The RMR Group Inc. (NASDAQ: RMR) has begun the redevelopment of 351, 401 and 501 Elliott Avenue West in Seattle into a project dubbed Unison Elliott Bay. The existing three office buildings will be transformed into Class A office and life sciences space totaling more than 300,000 square feet. Amenities will include an outdoor lounge, conference and training rooms, fitness facility, new lab mechanical infrastructure and two backup generators for labs. Tenants will also have access to covered and surface parking, bike storage and electric vehicle charging stations. Customizable floor plates will range from 21,000 to 27,500 square feet. The buildings are located near the new Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Seattle Kraken National Hockey League team, as well as 15 acres of trails, beaches and open space. Tenants will also have access to onsite food options in addition to the dining and retail amenities of Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood. “Unison’s customizable floor plates, distinctive spaces and common areas that prioritize wellness, with views of the natural beauty of the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains, will be in demand from an array of tenants,” says Chris Bilotto, senior vice president of RMR. “We anticipate delivery in …
TOLEDO, OHIO — Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), a Toledo-based healthcare REIT, has agreed to acquire 33 seniors housing communities totaling 2,787 units in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The purchase price is $548 million. The communities will be acquired as three separate portfolios from undisclosed sellers. The communities were available for purchase because the lease-up process was heavily damaged by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With occupancy at only 63 percent, Welltower expects the communities will greatly improve their performance in 2023 and beyond. Welltower will install Michigan-based senior living operator StoryPoint to manage the communities under a RIDEA agreement. The acquisition is expected to be funded through the issuance of partnership units, assumed debt and cash on-hand. Simultaneously with the acquisition announcement, Welltower unveiled a development partnership with a joint venture between Related Cos. and Atria Senior Living to develop two seniors housing communities in Silicon Valley. One will be located in Santa Clara and the other in Cupertino. Welltower suggests these developments are just the first projects of many for the partnership. The Santa Clara development will consist of 191 units next to a fully entitled, 9.2 million-square-foot urban development that Related began building in 2015. The larger project, …
HAWTHORNE, CALIF. — The Dinerstein Cos. has completed the disposition of Millennium Gardena, a fully entitled multifamily development site at 12850 Crenshaw Blvd. in the South Bay neighborhood of Hawthorne. A joint venture between Cityview and Stockbridge acquired the property for an undisclosed price. The sustainability-focused multifamily building planned for the site will be called South Bay X and feature 262 studio, one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 510 square feet to 1,197 square feet. Construction is slated to begin in fourth-quarter 2022 with a targeted delivery of early 2025. Sustainable features planned for the property include LEED Silver certification, high-performing lighting, enhanced indoor air quality and a renewable-energy-powered solar thermal water heating system. Building amenities will include a state-of-the-art fitness center, resort-style pool, spa, lanai, outdoor strength area, barbecues and open-air courtyards. Chris Benton, Anthony Muhlstein, Kevin Shannon and Ken White of Newmark represented the seller in the transaction.