BRANSON, MO-McMillin Communities, based in San Diego, and Oaktree Capital Management LP have entered into a joint venture with Titusville, FL-based GEP Inc. to finish the development of the 7,500-acre Communities at Branson Creek. The JV will bring seed money of about $15 million to kick-start the stalled project, which GEP has so far invested $250 million. The build-out is reported to be about $3 billion, based on a median price of $250,000 per home.
The project is a master-planned community built off of Interstate 65, that includes 12,000 single-family and multifamily homes, as well as retail supporting the residential portion and industrial to match up with the new Branson Regional Airport on the property. The airport is finished, and GEP has installed the infrastructure and two championship golf courses, as well as more than 250 of the single-family homes.
Knightsbridge Realty Capital Inc. assisted Oaktree with providing the new funds. "It was great to see this project after watching so much equity chase after broken, distressed deals," Curt Fleming with Knightsbridge tells GlobeSt.com. "This is the first deal we’ve worked on in awhile that is new, positive development."
Glenn Patch is founder of GEP and Patch Publishing. His firm, which began this development in 1990, had stalled on the project after building the airport and golf courses due to lack of capital, Fleming says. "This partnership should start the development going forward again. The site is supposed to include about 1,900 acres of commercial development, including distribution and flex industrial around the airport."
Corky McMillin, father of chairman Scott McMillin and president and CEO Mark McMillin, was born in Kansas City, MO, and the family has many relatives in the Midwest, said the sons. "We’re not only bullish about Branson’s economy, we have tremendous confidence in the entire GEP team," said Scott in a statement. "We are looking forward to joining forces to implement an aggressive expansion plan over the next five years." Tom Mahoney, president of GEP, will serve as division manager on the Branson development and will work close with Scott McFerran, McMillin’s project manager.
McMillin’s company has planned and developed 17 communities in Southern California in the past 50 years. GEP’s real estate development projects have included the Dick Clark American Bandstand Theatre in Branson, a live entertainment rock and roll venue which also includes a 30,000-square-foot museum.
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