Notable lease transactions include International Paper's renewal of almost 22,000 square feet in International Place II and American Car lease in Lenox Park Building E. Rounding out the lease transactions near or above 10,000 square feet, an undisclosed tenant leased 9,765 SF in Trustmark Centre. (Source: Cushman & Wakefield)

ATLANTA—Bert Roberds has joined NorthMarq Capital as vice president in its Atlanta-based regional office. Roberds will help clients achieve their objectives through the arrangement of debt and equity financing. The six-year commercial real estate industry veteran most recently served as a director in Berkadia's Proprietary Lending Group. His responsibilities included sizing, structuring and underwriting bridge loans. Previously, he underwrote CMBS loans at Situs and Reliant Professional Services (formerly a subsidiary of Greystone).

ATLANTA—Ingenu's Machine Network is now operational in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. The Atlanta Machine Network will serve a host of smart city and other Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the region. The Atlanta Machine Network will cover nearly 2,400 square miles of area, and will serve a population of approximately 3.26 million. Each RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) access point on the network will cover an average of 131 square miles, providing robust, reliable coverage to Atlanta's vast metropolitan area, utilizing just 18 access points.

DEAL TRACKER

SUWANEE, GA—HFF brokered the sale of Suwanee Town Center, the 58,634-square-foot retail portion of a mixed-use lifestyle center in the Atlanta-area community of Suwanee, GA. HFF represented the seller, Madison Retail. A subsidiary of a real estate fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital–Real Estate purchased the asset free and clear of existing debt. Suwanee Town Center includes three retail buildings that are 90% leased to national and regional tenants. Built in three phases between 2007 and 2009, the center is the retail portion of a mixed-use development known as the city's gathering place and encompasses Suwanee's City Hall, 147 townhomes/condos and 85 single-family residences. HFF senior managing directors Jim Hamilton and Richard Reid and associates Mike Allison and Brad Buchanan handled the deal.

AUBURN, AL—Capital One announced today that it has provided an $8.5 million Fannie Mae fixed-term loan to refinance a portfolio of two student housing apartments totaling 148 units in Auburn, Alabama. The apartments, situated on a single parcel, consist of the 56-unit Savannah Square Apartments, a townhouse development completed in 2006; and the 92-unit Williamsburg Place Apartments, garden apartments with the final phase to be completed in 2016. The 10-year loan has two years of interest-only payments followed by amortization on a 30-year schedule. Senior vice president Chad Thomas Hagwood, who leads Capital One Multifamily Finance's Birmingham, AL office, originated the transaction. Brandon Pate, of Chad Hagwood's, Birmingham team, managed the deal.

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA—The Shopping Center Group brokered sale of Duluth Highway Shops, a 17,500-square foot unanchored retail center near the intersection of two of Gwinnett County's major commercial corridors. During construction, Neal Pringle, partner, director of investment sales and finance, and the late Mark Cooley, partner, of TSCG secured the buyer, a private West Coast investor. NLA Lawrenceville sold the asset for $7.85 million. “Duluth Highway Shops represented a rare opportunity to pre-purchase a new significantly leased property with regional and national retail, services and fast-casual dining tenants, while construction was still active,” explains Pringle. “This reinforces the strength of this submarket in this densely-developed retail node, as well as the center's superior location rooted in the heart of an upper-middle-income pocket in Atlanta's northeast region.”

CUMMINGS, GA—Franklin Street arranged the $1.87 million sale of the Shoppes of Hammond Crossing, an 8,340-square-foot strip center in Cumming, GA. Bryan Belk and John Tennant of Franklin Street's Atlanta office represented the seller, GD HM, in the transaction. The buyer, a Greenville, South Carolina-based private investor, plans to hold the property long term. “The price point and location of the property generated a large buyer pool with nine offers in the first week of marketing,” Belk says. “Because of the amount of sales activity in the market, the investor was able to achieve an asking price above what was originally expected.”

KENNESAW, GA—PMZ Realty Capital arranged a $12,750,000 loan for the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta NW/Kennesaw Town Center. The 114-room and nine-suite property is located in Kennesaw, GA one mile from the Town Center Mall and minutes from the dining and business parks in Atlanta. “This loan allowed the borrower to refinance their existing CMBS loan that was coming due,” says Peter Berk, president, PMZ. “The property is a top branded hotel that performs at the top of its competitive set with a RevPAR index above 100% which helped us secure a loan at favorable terms and close in 35-days to meet the timing of the maturing loan.”

MARIETTA, GA—Cushman & Wakefield represented KENCO Apartment Communities in the sale of Marietta-area communities Georgian Arms and Somerpoint to Emma Capital for $15.71 million. CushWake vice chair Josh Goldfarb, executive managing director Tyler Averitt, and associate Robbie O'Bryan handled the disposition. Both properties are located in Cobb County, one of the most affluent counties in Georgia. “This transaction showcases why a tremendous amount of private capital is continuing to pour in to Metro Atlanta,” O'Bryan says.

ATLANTA—NGKF Capital Markets National Loan Sale Advisory Group brokered the sale of CCRE's $112 million fully-performing, adjustable-rate loan portfolio, collateralized by a variety of high-quality commercial and multifamily assets in Georgia, West Virginia, California and North Carolina. NGKF executive managing directors Steven Schultz and John Howley handled the transaction. The buyers consisted of a mix of private equity groups and regional banks. The loans ranged in size from $7.5 million to $49 million. “The timing of the market cycle and our strong directed marketing campaign made for a very attractive investment opportunity for the buyers with such a geographically diverse portfolio,” says Schultz.

Most of this week's notable deals in the mid-market came out of Georgia, including some musical chairs and big tech announcements. Multifamily and retail stole the show this week, but there was plenty of capital markets action ongoing as well.

BY THE NUMBERS

Negative absorption in Memphis' office market in the third quarter was primarily characterized by smaller move-outs. Helena Chemical occupied 25,000 square feet in the new Schilling Farms office building, bringing total absorption for the quarter to 51,000 square feet. Total market direct vacancy declined 0.7 percentage point from last quarter to 19%, and down 1.7 percentage points from third quarter 2015. (Source: Cushman & Wakefield)

Total Memphis office market direct asking rents continued to climb this quarter, as they have all year, to reach $18.07 per square foot. Considerable rental rate growth has occurred in the class A Downtown submarket, where direct asking rents have increased almost 5.5% to $19.64 per square foot from $18.62 per square foot in third quarter 2015. (Source: Cushman & Wakefield)

Notable lease transactions include International Paper's renewal of almost 22,000 square feet in International Place II and American Car lease in Lenox Park Building E. Rounding out the lease transactions near or above 10,000 square feet, an undisclosed tenant leased 9,765 SF in Trustmark Centre. (Source: Cushman & Wakefield)

ATLANTA—Bert Roberds has joined NorthMarq Capital as vice president in its Atlanta-based regional office. Roberds will help clients achieve their objectives through the arrangement of debt and equity financing. The six-year commercial real estate industry veteran most recently served as a director in Berkadia's Proprietary Lending Group. His responsibilities included sizing, structuring and underwriting bridge loans. Previously, he underwrote CMBS loans at Situs and Reliant Professional Services (formerly a subsidiary of Greystone).

ATLANTA—Ingenu's Machine Network is now operational in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. The Atlanta Machine Network will serve a host of smart city and other Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the region. The Atlanta Machine Network will cover nearly 2,400 square miles of area, and will serve a population of approximately 3.26 million. Each RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) access point on the network will cover an average of 131 square miles, providing robust, reliable coverage to Atlanta's vast metropolitan area, utilizing just 18 access points.

DEAL TRACKER

SUWANEE, GA—HFF brokered the sale of Suwanee Town Center, the 58,634-square-foot retail portion of a mixed-use lifestyle center in the Atlanta-area community of Suwanee, GA. HFF represented the seller, Madison Retail. A subsidiary of a real estate fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital–Real Estate purchased the asset free and clear of existing debt. Suwanee Town Center includes three retail buildings that are 90% leased to national and regional tenants. Built in three phases between 2007 and 2009, the center is the retail portion of a mixed-use development known as the city's gathering place and encompasses Suwanee's City Hall, 147 townhomes/condos and 85 single-family residences. HFF senior managing directors Jim Hamilton and Richard Reid and associates Mike Allison and Brad Buchanan handled the deal.

AUBURN, AL—Capital One announced today that it has provided an $8.5 million Fannie Mae fixed-term loan to refinance a portfolio of two student housing apartments totaling 148 units in Auburn, Alabama. The apartments, situated on a single parcel, consist of the 56-unit Savannah Square Apartments, a townhouse development completed in 2006; and the 92-unit Williamsburg Place Apartments, garden apartments with the final phase to be completed in 2016. The 10-year loan has two years of interest-only payments followed by amortization on a 30-year schedule. Senior vice president Chad Thomas Hagwood, who leads Capital One Multifamily Finance's Birmingham, AL office, originated the transaction. Brandon Pate, of Chad Hagwood's, Birmingham team, managed the deal.

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA—The Shopping Center Group brokered sale of Duluth Highway Shops, a 17,500-square foot unanchored retail center near the intersection of two of Gwinnett County's major commercial corridors. During construction, Neal Pringle, partner, director of investment sales and finance, and the late Mark Cooley, partner, of TSCG secured the buyer, a private West Coast investor. NLA Lawrenceville sold the asset for $7.85 million. “Duluth Highway Shops represented a rare opportunity to pre-purchase a new significantly leased property with regional and national retail, services and fast-casual dining tenants, while construction was still active,” explains Pringle. “This reinforces the strength of this submarket in this densely-developed retail node, as well as the center's superior location rooted in the heart of an upper-middle-income pocket in Atlanta's northeast region.”

CUMMINGS, GA—Franklin Street arranged the $1.87 million sale of the Shoppes of Hammond Crossing, an 8,340-square-foot strip center in Cumming, GA. Bryan Belk and John Tennant of Franklin Street's Atlanta office represented the seller, GD HM, in the transaction. The buyer, a Greenville, South Carolina-based private investor, plans to hold the property long term. “The price point and location of the property generated a large buyer pool with nine offers in the first week of marketing,” Belk says. “Because of the amount of sales activity in the market, the investor was able to achieve an asking price above what was originally expected.”

KENNESAW, GA—PMZ Realty Capital arranged a $12,750,000 loan for the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta NW/Kennesaw Town Center. The 114-room and nine-suite property is located in Kennesaw, GA one mile from the Town Center Mall and minutes from the dining and business parks in Atlanta. “This loan allowed the borrower to refinance their existing CMBS loan that was coming due,” says Peter Berk, president, PMZ. “The property is a top branded hotel that performs at the top of its competitive set with a RevPAR index above 100% which helped us secure a loan at favorable terms and close in 35-days to meet the timing of the maturing loan.”

MARIETTA, GA—Cushman & Wakefield represented KENCO Apartment Communities in the sale of Marietta-area communities Georgian Arms and Somerpoint to Emma Capital for $15.71 million. CushWake vice chair Josh Goldfarb, executive managing director Tyler Averitt, and associate Robbie O'Bryan handled the disposition. Both properties are located in Cobb County, one of the most affluent counties in Georgia. “This transaction showcases why a tremendous amount of private capital is continuing to pour in to Metro Atlanta,” O'Bryan says.

ATLANTA—NGKF Capital Markets National Loan Sale Advisory Group brokered the sale of CCRE's $112 million fully-performing, adjustable-rate loan portfolio, collateralized by a variety of high-quality commercial and multifamily assets in Georgia, West Virginia, California and North Carolina. NGKF executive managing directors Steven Schultz and John Howley handled the transaction. The buyers consisted of a mix of private equity groups and regional banks. The loans ranged in size from $7.5 million to $49 million. “The timing of the market cycle and our strong directed marketing campaign made for a very attractive investment opportunity for the buyers with such a geographically diverse portfolio,” says Schultz.