National
Whitney Building Redevelopment Plan Backed by $8.5 Million State Financing
The plan to transform Detroit’s historic David Whitney Building into retail, apartments and boutique hotel is moving forward with $8.5 million in state financing that adds to the $82.5 million investment announced by developer David Di Rita at the end of 2012.
Bakery Square 2.0 Development To Break Ground in March
Walnut Capital and its financial partner, the RCG Longview Fund, have closed on the acquisition of the vacant Reizenstein School in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section. The purchase of the property will allow the developers to move forward with their plans for the approximately $100 million Bakery Square 2.0 development.
Plans now call for three office buildings totaling 400,000 square feet, two 175-unit apartment buildings, 57 rental townhouses, an underground parking garage, new streets, as well as public and private green spaces. It is estimated that the project’s full build-out period will span over five years. “Bakery Square 2.0 will be another world class development and is expected to create more than 1,200 new jobs and offer amazing office and housing opportunities that will attract new businesses and residents,” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said.
McKinney Properties Puts The Cumberland on the Market
It’s no secret anymore that Nashville is the new it-girl of the multifamily market. After consistently making list after list of places to live, work and play, with a hotel boom well underway, a major convention center soon to open and even a hit TV show set in Nashville, Music City’s popularity is on an upswing – and so are real estate prices.
Stirling Properties Takes Big Bite of Greater New Orleans Retail Market
Covington, LA-based Stirling Properties, a diversified full-service commercial real estate company, has announced entering a 35/65 joint venture with Chattanooga, TN-based CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. to develop Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana.
Heidelberg Renovates Former Cooper Tire Facility, Preparing for Move-in
The Heidelberg Distributing Co. acquired the former Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. warehouse at 3601 Dryden Road on September 17, 2012. It paid $7.25 million for the 779,000-square-foot facility and is now getting ready to invest $21.2 million to renovate it, according to the Dayton Daily News.
Miller-Valentine Construction is developing the project. It includes the removal of an existing rail system that runs throughout the building that will require replacing approximately 125,000 square feet of concrete floor slab.
A&B Properties Acquires West Oahu Shopping Mall for $29.8M
A&B Properties Inc., the real estate subsidiary of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin, has acquired the 170,275 square-foot Waianae Mall in Leeward Oahu from TNP Strategic Retail Trust Inc. The $29.8 million purchase price included the assumption of a $19.7 million mortgage, at a 5.4 percent interest rate. “The Waianae Mall acquisition redeploys proceeds realized from a July 2012 land sale, on a tax-advantaged basis, into a favorably priced, significantly higher income-generating commercial property on Oahu,” said Christopher J. Benjamin, A&B’s president & chief operating officer.
Skanska’s LEED Platinum Office Building Lands First Tenant
Skanska USA’s commercial development business unit in Houston has officially announced the first tenant lined up for its a state-of-the-art 3009 Post Oak Boulevard building, currently under construction. Datacert, Inc.—a 15-year-old global company based in Houston that provides enterprise legal management solutions—plans on relocating its corporate headquarters to the building.
Mill Creek Starts Construction on 360-Unit Alexandria Apartment Community
Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC has started construction on a 360-unit apartment community in Alexandria, Virginia. It is developing the project as part of a joint venture with AEW Capital Management and the original land owners represented by Green City Development.
The transit-friendly, mixed-use multifamily community is called Landmark Gateway. It is located in Virginia’s west end, with excellent access to I-395 and I-495 and the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Cameron Station, an established master-planned community of more than 2,000 single-family homes and condominiums, is adjacent to the site and the Van Dorn Metrorail station and Landmark Mall Shopping Center, Alexandria’s largest shopping center, are less than half a mile away. Green City rezoned the site from industrial to residential mixed-use on behalf of Gateway Holding I, a venture between Green City and O’Connor Capital Partners.
Omni Hotels Wraps Deal for 564-Key Downtown Westin; Rebrands as Omni Providence
Omni Hotels & Resorts has completed the acquisition of The Westin Hotel in Downtown Providence from The Procaccianti Group. Announced in October, the sale closed late last year for a price reported by CoStar Group as $170 million. Rebranded the Omni Providence Hotel, the 564-key property will become part of Omni’s “Convention Collection” of hotels. Currently, that portfolio includes the Omni Nashville Hotel, set to open in 2013; the Omni Dallas Hotel; the Omni Fort Worth Hotel; the Omni San Diego Hotel; the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta; and the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. “We are pleased to add this premier property to our Convention Collection hotel portfolio and enhance our offerings along the Eastern seaboard,” said Mike Deitemeyer, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts. “We look forward to working with the city and CVB, and serving as a leader in the marketplace for years to come.”
$55M Mixed-Use Development in Downtown Chapel Hill Nears Completion
The 140 West Franklin development, one of Chapel Hill’s largest mixed-use projects, will be complete by late April. Located at the intersection of West Franklin and Church streets, the venture is expected to boost economic activity and bring new markets to the town. According to The Daily Tar Heel, the $55 million downtown complex will offer 140 condominiums, 26,000 square feet of retail space, a public plaza and 337 parking spaces. Developed by Ram Realty Services, the structure stands eight stories tall at its highest point. “The goal was definitely to develop Franklin Street — this is some of the first Class ‘A’ retail space available on Franklin Street in a long time,” development manager Jon Keener told the newspaper.