NEWS & NOTABLES

ATLANTA—Colliers International Group acquired an industrial and logistics site selection and location capability through a purchase from Walker Companies. The new solution includes specialty site selection and incentive negotiation technology fully integrated with proprietary project and construction management expertise. Branded as “Colliers Indsite,” this new solution will be available exclusively to Colliers clients in the US. “The cutting-edge software, consolidated databases and proprietary site selection and incentive management process is designed to provide clients with a unique solution to their complex site selection needs especially in the world of logistics,” says Martin Pupil, Colliers president of US Brokerage.

ATLANTA—Berkadia hired senior vice president and FHA Chief Underwriter Robert M. Warren. He brings more than 21 years of experience to Berkadia and will report to managing director and Chief Credit and Risk Officer Phillip Long. Based in Atlanta, Warren is responsible for managing FHA underwriting activities for all of Berkadia's insured programs. Throughout his career, Warren has been involved in more than $9 billion dollars of closed HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and conventional loans. Prior to joining Berkadia, he served as managing director and FHA Chief Underwriter in Wells Fargo's Multifamily Capital group, where he was involved in the 2012 $621.5 million financing of Coop City, the largest multifamily deal completed with HUD.

DEAL TRACKER

ATLANTA—HRE Citadel Square, an affiliate of Highline Real Estate Capital, acquired the 50,878-square-foot Citadel Square Shopping Center in Atlanta for $1.75 million. CSFB 2005-06 Citadel Square Shopping Center, CMBS trust that obtained title to the property earlier this year after foreclosing on a $4.5 million loan placed in the property in 2005, sold the asset. The Citadel Square acquisition marks Highline's first foray into the Atlanta market since its formation in February of 2016. “While smaller than our typical acquisition target, we were presented the opportunity to acquire this lender owned asset at less than 40% of the prior loan balance and saw it as a great opportunity to acquire a strong performing property at a substantial discount. Part of our advantage was our ability to move quickly and satisfy the sellers objective of closing prior to year-end. We closed within five weeks of contract execution and were able to negotiate favorable pricing as a result,” says David Moret, Highline's founder.

TUCKER, GA—Broadtree Residential, a private REIT Broadstone Real Estate manages, acquired Somerset at the Crossings, a 264-unit multifamily community located in Tucker, for $23.5 million. Broadtree acquired the community from the Atlanta-based, multifamily operator Cortland Partners. As part of the transaction, Broadtree assumed a $17.1 million Freddie Mac mortgage, which matures in 2023. Built in 1987, the Somerset community has 28 multifamily buildings and is 94.7% occupied. Tones Vaisey PLLC represented Broadtree on this transaction.

ATLANTA—Crown Bay Group and its partners acquired Flint River Crossing in Jonesboro, in Atlanta's Southern Crescent Region. This property has strong demand drivers resulting from its strategic Interstate 75 South Corridor location, the Airport/South Atlanta office and industrial district, and the Clayton County office and industrial district. The multifamily asset is near shopping and restaurants. It was Crown Bay Group's fifth Atlanta acquisition in 2018, with more deals in the pipeline for 2017. “I am still very bullish on the Atlanta area,” says Steve Firestone, managing partner and CEO of Crown Bay Group. “I think we may see a little slowdown in the unprecedented 7% rent growth of the last couple of years, but with development, job growth, and an increasing population going on here, there is still great opportunity in this market, probably not ending this cycle until 2019.”

MACON, GA—Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust acquired Rivergate Shopping Center, a grocery-anchored shopping center in Macon. Rivergate is a 205,811-square-foot Publix-anchored shopping center and is 95.52% leased and occupied. Macon is the fourth-largest city in Georgia. Publix has been the anchor tenant in the center for 22 years and is joined by Dollar Tree, T-Mobile and H&R Block. The retail property completed a major renovation and facade upgrade within the past four years and has 11 access points of entry. The asset sits at the main thoroughfare of the North Macon retail corridor and is approximately 70 miles south of Atlanta. Total acquisition value is $37.25 million, or $181 per leasable square foot.

ATLANTA—Preferred Apartment Communities acquired Three Ravinia, a class A office building in the Central Perimeter submarket. The company acquired this asset through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Preferred Office Properties. “Three Ravinia is an iconic trophy asset, which we believe will provide very substantial earnings to PAC,” says Daniel M. DuPree, PAC's vice chairman and Chief Investment Officer. The office building is 98% leased with an average remaining lease term of approximately 10 years.

BATON ROUGE—New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees, in partnership with existing franchisee Vik Patel, has signed an agreement to develop up to 69 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria, Louisiana over the coming years. The first location under the new partnership is planned to open in 2017, and the group will also co-own five existing Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in Louisiana. Bourbon Street Donuts is led by Patel, the CEO of Tampa-based Purple Square Management Co. Patel has been a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee for 10 years and currently operates 46 restaurants in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. Purple Square also has plans to open additional units in 2017. Brees and former New York Giants offensive lineman and current FOX Sports broadcaster David Diehl are also partners at Bourbon Street Donuts.

BIRMINGHAM—Griffin Capital Corporation acquire a class A, two-building, 669,438 square-foot office campus fully leased to Southern Company Services. The REIT purchased the office property from a subsidiary of Zurich Alternative Asset Management. “The fact that this property is situated in an economically vibrant neighborhood in the Birmingham area, and is under a multi-decade lease through a corporate tenant with superior credit quality, further positions the REIT to drive shareholder value,” says Eric Kaplan, Griffin Capital's managing director of acquisitions. In March of this year, SCS executed a 28-year absolute triple net lease. Guy Ponticiello and Bruce Westwood-Booth of CBRE represented the seller.

Lots of wheeling and dealing going on this week. Retail was a major focus, but multifamily got its fair share of the air time. The capital market are still active, big players are still playing musical chairs and brands are expanding in the Southeast.

BY THE NUMBERS

Rising household incomes and steady population growth fuel retail sales. Median household incomes continue to climb year over year in Atlanta as companies relocate to the metro and bring higher-paying jobs. This, coupled with population growth, has driven up retail sales nearly 4% over the last four quarters and sparked demand for retail space. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

Builders are working to retail boost supply additions as vacancy continues to tighten. The rate has fallen 350 basis points from the 10-year high. In particular, larger shopping centers and necessity retailers are popping up across Atlanta in order to appeal to the growing consumer population. Much of the new development will take place in the North Cobb and Georgia 400 submarkets. This includes Dawson Marketplace, a 468,000-square-foot shopping center in the Georgia 400 submarket. The project will be anchored by a Kroger and will contain many big-box retailers including Marshalls and Hobby Lobby. As a majority of new construction this year is pre-leased, many tenants are scouring the market for existing space, placing further downward pressure on vacancy while asking rents continue to rise. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

NEWS & NOTABLES

ATLANTA—Colliers International Group acquired an industrial and logistics site selection and location capability through a purchase from Walker Companies. The new solution includes specialty site selection and incentive negotiation technology fully integrated with proprietary project and construction management expertise. Branded as “Colliers Indsite,” this new solution will be available exclusively to Colliers clients in the US. “The cutting-edge software, consolidated databases and proprietary site selection and incentive management process is designed to provide clients with a unique solution to their complex site selection needs especially in the world of logistics,” says Martin Pupil, Colliers president of US Brokerage.

ATLANTA—Berkadia hired senior vice president and FHA Chief Underwriter Robert M. Warren. He brings more than 21 years of experience to Berkadia and will report to managing director and Chief Credit and Risk Officer Phillip Long. Based in Atlanta, Warren is responsible for managing FHA underwriting activities for all of Berkadia's insured programs. Throughout his career, Warren has been involved in more than $9 billion dollars of closed HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and conventional loans. Prior to joining Berkadia, he served as managing director and FHA Chief Underwriter in Wells Fargo's Multifamily Capital group, where he was involved in the 2012 $621.5 million financing of Coop City, the largest multifamily deal completed with HUD.

DEAL TRACKER

ATLANTA—HRE Citadel Square, an affiliate of Highline Real Estate Capital, acquired the 50,878-square-foot Citadel Square Shopping Center in Atlanta for $1.75 million. CSFB 2005-06 Citadel Square Shopping Center, CMBS trust that obtained title to the property earlier this year after foreclosing on a $4.5 million loan placed in the property in 2005, sold the asset. The Citadel Square acquisition marks Highline's first foray into the Atlanta market since its formation in February of 2016. “While smaller than our typical acquisition target, we were presented the opportunity to acquire this lender owned asset at less than 40% of the prior loan balance and saw it as a great opportunity to acquire a strong performing property at a substantial discount. Part of our advantage was our ability to move quickly and satisfy the sellers objective of closing prior to year-end. We closed within five weeks of contract execution and were able to negotiate favorable pricing as a result,” says David Moret, Highline's founder.

TUCKER, GA—Broadtree Residential, a private REIT Broadstone Real Estate manages, acquired Somerset at the Crossings, a 264-unit multifamily community located in Tucker, for $23.5 million. Broadtree acquired the community from the Atlanta-based, multifamily operator Cortland Partners. As part of the transaction, Broadtree assumed a $17.1 million Freddie Mac mortgage, which matures in 2023. Built in 1987, the Somerset community has 28 multifamily buildings and is 94.7% occupied. Tones Vaisey PLLC represented Broadtree on this transaction.

ATLANTA—Crown Bay Group and its partners acquired Flint River Crossing in Jonesboro, in Atlanta's Southern Crescent Region. This property has strong demand drivers resulting from its strategic Interstate 75 South Corridor location, the Airport/South Atlanta office and industrial district, and the Clayton County office and industrial district. The multifamily asset is near shopping and restaurants. It was Crown Bay Group's fifth Atlanta acquisition in 2018, with more deals in the pipeline for 2017. “I am still very bullish on the Atlanta area,” says Steve Firestone, managing partner and CEO of Crown Bay Group. “I think we may see a little slowdown in the unprecedented 7% rent growth of the last couple of years, but with development, job growth, and an increasing population going on here, there is still great opportunity in this market, probably not ending this cycle until 2019.”

MACON, GA—Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust acquired Rivergate Shopping Center, a grocery-anchored shopping center in Macon. Rivergate is a 205,811-square-foot Publix-anchored shopping center and is 95.52% leased and occupied. Macon is the fourth-largest city in Georgia. Publix has been the anchor tenant in the center for 22 years and is joined by Dollar Tree, T-Mobile and H&R Block. The retail property completed a major renovation and facade upgrade within the past four years and has 11 access points of entry. The asset sits at the main thoroughfare of the North Macon retail corridor and is approximately 70 miles south of Atlanta. Total acquisition value is $37.25 million, or $181 per leasable square foot.

ATLANTA—Preferred Apartment Communities acquired Three Ravinia, a class A office building in the Central Perimeter submarket. The company acquired this asset through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Preferred Office Properties. “Three Ravinia is an iconic trophy asset, which we believe will provide very substantial earnings to PAC,” says Daniel M. DuPree, PAC's vice chairman and Chief Investment Officer. The office building is 98% leased with an average remaining lease term of approximately 10 years.

BATON ROUGE—New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees, in partnership with existing franchisee Vik Patel, has signed an agreement to develop up to 69 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria, Louisiana over the coming years. The first location under the new partnership is planned to open in 2017, and the group will also co-own five existing Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in Louisiana. Bourbon Street Donuts is led by Patel, the CEO of Tampa-based Purple Square Management Co. Patel has been a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee for 10 years and currently operates 46 restaurants in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. Purple Square also has plans to open additional units in 2017. Brees and former New York Giants offensive lineman and current FOX Sports broadcaster David Diehl are also partners at Bourbon Street Donuts.

BIRMINGHAM—Griffin Capital Corporation acquire a class A, two-building, 669,438 square-foot office campus fully leased to Southern Company Services. The REIT purchased the office property from a subsidiary of Zurich Alternative Asset Management. “The fact that this property is situated in an economically vibrant neighborhood in the Birmingham area, and is under a multi-decade lease through a corporate tenant with superior credit quality, further positions the REIT to drive shareholder value,” says Eric Kaplan, Griffin Capital's managing director of acquisitions. In March of this year, SCS executed a 28-year absolute triple net lease. Guy Ponticiello and Bruce Westwood-Booth of CBRE represented the seller.