NEWS & NOTABLES

ATLANTA—Fifth Third Securities hired Michael Ho and Jim Parrino to co-head the investment banking group's buy-side M&A advisory practice that offers clients support and assistance in defining and implementing their acquisition strategy. The buy-side service complements the bank's continued commitment to its existing merger advisory services for the middle market. Ho joins as managing director and co-head of the group's buy-side M&A advisory practice. Parrino joins as managing director and co-head of the group's buy-side M&A advisory practice. Parrino is a professor at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business Administration; a certified public accountant; and has over 30 years of operational, strategic and transactional M&A advisory experience.

BATON ROUGE—Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson and his peers from more than a dozen states completed a two-day State Commerce Leaders Forum in Washington, D.C., where the new working group set goals for better collaboration among the states and enhanced federal support of economic development priorities. “Through our new State Commerce Leaders Forum, we envision an effective clearinghouse for addressing the economic priorities that are important to all of us as state leaders,” says Pearson. “By communicating more effectively among ourselves, we will be able to establish a clear voice that speaks to federal leaders about the policies and programs than can stimulate our state economies and contribute to a more productive U.S. economy. We will not simply be looking inward, but we also will advance solutions that improve our performance on the import-export and foreign direct investment fronts.”

DEAL TRACKER

NASHVILLE—Dilweg Companies acquired Vantage Place, a five-story class B office building located Nashville's MetroCenter submarket. The building totals 167,818 square feet and was built in 1981. Major tenants include Centerstone Research Institute, CGS and Young Williams. The building was 92 percent leased at the time of sale. “Nashville is one of our target markets, and Vantage Place is our first of hopefully many acquisitions in the Nashville metro area,” says Zach Ashton, managing director of acquisitions for the Dilweg. The purchase of Vantage Place brings Dilweg's Southeast holdings to nearly 6 million square feet. The firm also owns assets in Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Atlanta.

CLARKSVILLE—Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of Gate 1 Mini-Storage, a 79,123 self-storage facility. The asset sold for $3.5 million. Gabriel Coe and Brett R. Hatcher, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap's Columbus office, represented the seller, a limited liability company. The duo also secured the buyer, a limited liability company. Gate 1 Mini-Storage is located at 178 Jack Miller Boulevard in Clarksville, TN. The facility has a total of 606 units, and offers 31 parking spaces. Gate 1 Mini-Storage was originally built in 1994 and renovations in 2003. The property offers a professional, on-site management office, as well as, a gated entry with 24-hour video surveillance.

NASHVILLE—Gold's Gym franchisee Tennessee Fitness LLC signed a franchise agreement to bring five additional Gold's Gym locations to Middle Tennessee. Owned by Robert Dennis, Andrew Davis and John Davis, the company owns and operates seven locations throughout the market in Murfreesboro, Henderson, Smyrna, Bellevue and Clarksville. The new locations will be opening throughout five counties in the Middle Tennessee region, including Wilson, Davidson and Williamson counties. The signing of the Nashville area franchise agreement is a continuation of Gold's Gym's aggressive expansion plans, both domestically and internationally, with 18 new locations opened in the first quarter of this year.

MEMPHIS—J.McLaughlin is expanding its retail fleet with a new location in Memphis. One of several new stores the brand is opening in the south this year, this is the second location in Tennessee and the 116th store to open nationwide. As part of its overall national retail expansion plan, J.McLaughlin made the decision to expand its presence in the south. This spring stores will open in Lexington, KY; Southern Pines, NC and Reston, VA. To coincide with these opening J.McLaughlin has planned a marketing and social media strategy to help shine a light on locations throughout the region. The March 2017 catalog was shot on location in Charleston, SC and the launch of this campaign will be followed by several in-store events to kick off the southern expansion.

JACKSON—Trustmark Corporation completed the acquisition of RB Bancorporation, as well as the merger of Reliance Bank with and into Trustmark National Bank. Under terms of the merger agreement dated November 14, 2016, Trustmark will pay $22 in cash for each share of RB Bancorporation common stock outstanding, which represents total consideration for common shareholders of approximately $23.7 million. RB Bancorporation common shareholders will receive a letter of instructions describing the procedure for exchanging their stock certificates. J.P. Morgan Securities served as financial advisor to Century; Greenberg Traurig acted as Century's legal counsel; and Builder Advisor Group provided certain real estate business services to Century. Citi acted as financial advisor for UCP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as UCP's legal counsel.

BUILDING BLOCKS

ATLANTA—Rubenstein Partners' Lake View II and The Falls in Sanctuary Park, a 1.6 million-square-foot office park complex in the North Fulton submarket of Atlanta, has achieved LEED recertification through Arc, arcskoru.com, the new performance platform launched by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) in 2016. Arc uses real-time data to measure sustainability performance in order to facilitate meaningful change and create greener, healthier spaces. Arc's data-centric approach connects actions and benchmarks performance against itself and projects around it. The new sustainability platform generates a performance score by tracking building activity across five categories including energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience. Rubenstein Partners, along with a minority equity partner, acquired Sanctuary Park in late 2016.

ATLANTA—Fulton Supply Lofts, a $12 million adaptive-reuse multifamily project near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, open for first move-ins. Located at 342 Nelson Street SW in Downtown Atlanta, the 1920s-era warehouse was restored and converted into 74 lofts. The historic warehouse previously served as a distribution center for Fulton Supply Company and is featured in over a dozen films, including Oscar-winning Best Picture “Driving Miss Daisy.” Fulton Supply Lofts consists of one-, two-, and three-bedroom lofts and ample covered deck parking. Rents in the community range from approximately $850 to under $2,500 per month. Construction began on the three-story warehouse in early 2015 and was completed in January 2017. The project is currently 70% leased.

This week in the Southeast saw a commercial real estate activity uptick in Tennessee. Atlanta was also busy, and a new hospitality report emerged that shows good news for Georgia.

BY THE NUMBERS

Following the most notable increase in room supply in six years during 2016, additional select-service rooms will come online in Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia this year. The delivery of new stock will likely result in the first annual decrease in statewide occupancy since 2010 and moderate RevPAR growth from the lofty levels of the past three years. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

While Georgia's economy continues to expand this year, additional growth in business and leisure travel will generate only a minor increase in occupied rooms from last year's record level. In addition, the strong US dollar could curtail international visitor volume. Some positive trends, however, could provide a lift to hotel performance. Relocations to the state and Atlanta in particular are healthy, offering hotel owners a new source of room demand as new residents arrange transitions to permanent housing. The Atlanta office sector is also growing. Companies including Anthem, Mercedes-Benz and Honeywell are expanding in the metro, a positive development for inbound business travel. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

NEWS & NOTABLES

ATLANTA—Fifth Third Securities hired Michael Ho and Jim Parrino to co-head the investment banking group's buy-side M&A advisory practice that offers clients support and assistance in defining and implementing their acquisition strategy. The buy-side service complements the bank's continued commitment to its existing merger advisory services for the middle market. Ho joins as managing director and co-head of the group's buy-side M&A advisory practice. Parrino joins as managing director and co-head of the group's buy-side M&A advisory practice. Parrino is a professor at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business Administration; a certified public accountant; and has over 30 years of operational, strategic and transactional M&A advisory experience.

BATON ROUGE—Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson and his peers from more than a dozen states completed a two-day State Commerce Leaders Forum in Washington, D.C., where the new working group set goals for better collaboration among the states and enhanced federal support of economic development priorities. “Through our new State Commerce Leaders Forum, we envision an effective clearinghouse for addressing the economic priorities that are important to all of us as state leaders,” says Pearson. “By communicating more effectively among ourselves, we will be able to establish a clear voice that speaks to federal leaders about the policies and programs than can stimulate our state economies and contribute to a more productive U.S. economy. We will not simply be looking inward, but we also will advance solutions that improve our performance on the import-export and foreign direct investment fronts.”

DEAL TRACKER

NASHVILLE—Dilweg Companies acquired Vantage Place, a five-story class B office building located Nashville's MetroCenter submarket. The building totals 167,818 square feet and was built in 1981. Major tenants include Centerstone Research Institute, CGS and Young Williams. The building was 92 percent leased at the time of sale. “Nashville is one of our target markets, and Vantage Place is our first of hopefully many acquisitions in the Nashville metro area,” says Zach Ashton, managing director of acquisitions for the Dilweg. The purchase of Vantage Place brings Dilweg's Southeast holdings to nearly 6 million square feet. The firm also owns assets in Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Atlanta.

CLARKSVILLE—Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of Gate 1 Mini-Storage, a 79,123 self-storage facility. The asset sold for $3.5 million. Gabriel Coe and Brett R. Hatcher, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap's Columbus office, represented the seller, a limited liability company. The duo also secured the buyer, a limited liability company. Gate 1 Mini-Storage is located at 178 Jack Miller Boulevard in Clarksville, TN. The facility has a total of 606 units, and offers 31 parking spaces. Gate 1 Mini-Storage was originally built in 1994 and renovations in 2003. The property offers a professional, on-site management office, as well as, a gated entry with 24-hour video surveillance.

NASHVILLE—Gold's Gym franchisee Tennessee Fitness LLC signed a franchise agreement to bring five additional Gold's Gym locations to Middle Tennessee. Owned by Robert Dennis, Andrew Davis and John Davis, the company owns and operates seven locations throughout the market in Murfreesboro, Henderson, Smyrna, Bellevue and Clarksville. The new locations will be opening throughout five counties in the Middle Tennessee region, including Wilson, Davidson and Williamson counties. The signing of the Nashville area franchise agreement is a continuation of Gold's Gym's aggressive expansion plans, both domestically and internationally, with 18 new locations opened in the first quarter of this year.

MEMPHIS—J.McLaughlin is expanding its retail fleet with a new location in Memphis. One of several new stores the brand is opening in the south this year, this is the second location in Tennessee and the 116th store to open nationwide. As part of its overall national retail expansion plan, J.McLaughlin made the decision to expand its presence in the south. This spring stores will open in Lexington, KY; Southern Pines, NC and Reston, VA. To coincide with these opening J.McLaughlin has planned a marketing and social media strategy to help shine a light on locations throughout the region. The March 2017 catalog was shot on location in Charleston, SC and the launch of this campaign will be followed by several in-store events to kick off the southern expansion.

JACKSON—Trustmark Corporation completed the acquisition of RB Bancorporation, as well as the merger of Reliance Bank with and into Trustmark National Bank. Under terms of the merger agreement dated November 14, 2016, Trustmark will pay $22 in cash for each share of RB Bancorporation common stock outstanding, which represents total consideration for common shareholders of approximately $23.7 million. RB Bancorporation common shareholders will receive a letter of instructions describing the procedure for exchanging their stock certificates. J.P. Morgan Securities served as financial advisor to Century; Greenberg Traurig acted as Century's legal counsel; and Builder Advisor Group provided certain real estate business services to Century. Citi acted as financial advisor for UCP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as UCP's legal counsel.

BUILDING BLOCKS

ATLANTA—Rubenstein Partners' Lake View II and The Falls in Sanctuary Park, a 1.6 million-square-foot office park complex in the North Fulton submarket of Atlanta, has achieved LEED recertification through Arc, arcskoru.com, the new performance platform launched by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) in 2016. Arc uses real-time data to measure sustainability performance in order to facilitate meaningful change and create greener, healthier spaces. Arc's data-centric approach connects actions and benchmarks performance against itself and projects around it. The new sustainability platform generates a performance score by tracking building activity across five categories including energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience. Rubenstein Partners, along with a minority equity partner, acquired Sanctuary Park in late 2016.

ATLANTA—Fulton Supply Lofts, a $12 million adaptive-reuse multifamily project near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, open for first move-ins. Located at 342 Nelson Street SW in Downtown Atlanta, the 1920s-era warehouse was restored and converted into 74 lofts. The historic warehouse previously served as a distribution center for Fulton Supply Company and is featured in over a dozen films, including Oscar-winning Best Picture “Driving Miss Daisy.” Fulton Supply Lofts consists of one-, two-, and three-bedroom lofts and ample covered deck parking. Rents in the community range from approximately $850 to under $2,500 per month. Construction began on the three-story warehouse in early 2015 and was completed in January 2017. The project is currently 70% leased.