NEWS & NOTABLES

LAKE CHARLES, LA—Home2 Suites by Hilton, part of Hilton's All Suites portfolio, opened its newest property, Home2 Suites by Hilton Lake Charles. That brings brand one step closer to its 200th property milestone. Designed for travelers who want to maintain their normal routine, the hotel features 87 suites and a range of value, tech-focused and eco-conscious amenities. Home2 Suites by Hilton Lake Charles caters to the 46.7 million visitors traveling to Louisiana annually. AAA Hotel Company owns the hotel asset.

DEAL TRACKER

SAVANNAH, GA—Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of a 168-unit apartment property. John E. Brigel, first vice president Investments with the National Multi Housing Group, by leveraging long-term relationships closed Heritage Square at $13.5 million. Brigel represented the sellers and procured the buyers for the transaction. “For a product built in 1971, $90 per square feet is a very strong number and $80,000 per unit for a mix of one and two bedrooms is quite impressive for a tertiary market like Savanna”, says Brigel.

CONYERS, GA—NAI Brannen Goddard facilitated the sale of 801 Blacklawn Road, a 111,540-square-foot single-story office/warehouse/distribution property located at the northwest corner of Blacklawn Road and Dogwood Drive in Conyers, Rockdale County, GA.NAI Brannen Goddard managing director David Beak marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Block Income Fund III. The property sold for $4,575,00, $41.02 per square foot, and was 82% leased at the time of sale.

ATLANTA—HFF brokered the sale of a 27-property self-storage portfolio totaling 1.7 million square feet and 12,171 units in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. HFF team marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a joint venture partnership between certain funds managed by Westport Capital Partners and Store Here Management. The portfolio, which currently operates under the Store Here brand, is 80.6%-occupied and features fully integrated amenities. The properties are in eight MSAs, including Colorado Springs, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Kansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, Texas. The HFF self-storage team representing the seller included senior directors Barbara Guffey and Tom Doyle. Additional local market expertise was provided by senior managing directors John Merrill and Jason Nettles and managing directors Sean Fogarty and Jules Sherwood.

ATLANTA—The Towers at Wildwood, a class A office building, has reached 90% occupancy. CBRE's Sabrina Gibson, Clark Gore and Eric Ross represented America's Capital Partners, the building's owners, since early 2016. In that time, the team has brought the building from 66% to 90% occupied, through a combination of new tenants and existing tenants that have renewed their leases. “This asset is 720,000 square feet and is the largest building in the submarket,” Gibson, CBRE senior associate, tells GlobeSt.com. “Hitting 90% occupancy is a milestone, and we continue to experience great activity in Atlanta's suburban markets. Tenants are looking for buildings that are of the same quality as what they experience intown, and are easily accessible from prime residential areas. Bringing this asset to stabilization with this caliber of new tenants is a win in Atlanta.”

ATLANTA—The former Leggett & Platt site has traded hands. The sale price: $29.75 million Cushman & Wakefield arranged the sale of the site. It sits at the corner of Memorial Drive and Bill Kennedy Way in Atlanta's Reynoldstown submarket. Cushwake's Matt Hawkins, Pierce Owings and Ron Willingham represented the seller in the transaction. Fuqua Development acquired the 17-acre property. The mixed-use development could open as early as the spring of 2019. The property will include 160,000 square feet of retail, 80,000 square feet of loft office, 550 apartments and townhomes.

MEMPHIS—Hunt Mortgage Group provided a $10.4 million Fannie Mae conventional mortgage to refinance Highland Meadows, a 588-unit garden style apartment community built in 1975 and located south of the Memphis central business district, adjacent to the Memphis International Airport. The borrower acquired the property in 2012 when it was 52% occupied and completed over $2.9 million of renovations to the property that included exterior siding replacement, additional lighting, roof repairs, a new pool deck, pond repairs, sidewalk and fence repairs, the installation of video/security monitoring and the installation of an automatic entry gate.

BIRMINGHAM—Bluerock Residential Growth acquired the 300-unit multifamily community known as Springs at Greystone in Birmingham. The REIT acquired the property for a total purchase price of approximately $36.25 million, or approximately $121,000 per residential unit. The company plans to implement a $1.8 million interior, exterior and amenity renovation program to improve the property's curb appeal and strengthen its position among its competitive set. The acquisition is projected to yield a pro-forma stabilized cap rate of 6.3% after implementation of the value-add program.

BUILDING BLOCKS

SANDY SPRINGS, GA—Westdale recently broke ground on a new mixed-use development in Sandy Springs. The development, Aria Village, will be comprised of 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurants along with a five-story residential community, The Alastair. The project is part of Aria, a larger master-planned community by Ashton Woods. Aria Village will be StreetLights' first development in Georgia since opening its Atlanta office in July 2016.

This week in the Southeast saw plenty of action in the region's submarkets. Georgia, and especially Atlanta, still drove most of the deal flow on the radar screen.

BY THE NUMBERS

After the financial crisis, Atlanta registered a 16% drop in its office sales volume, which set the market back two spots in Commercial Café's Top 20 markets to invest. (Source: Commercial Café)

The average maturity for office loans at the close of the second quarter of 2017 (around 10 years) was roughly three years longer than in 2007 and 2008 (7 years), and on par with values recorded 20 years ago. (Source: Commercial Café)

NEWS & NOTABLES

LAKE CHARLES, LA—Home2 Suites by Hilton, part of Hilton's All Suites portfolio, opened its newest property, Home2 Suites by Hilton Lake Charles. That brings brand one step closer to its 200th property milestone. Designed for travelers who want to maintain their normal routine, the hotel features 87 suites and a range of value, tech-focused and eco-conscious amenities. Home2 Suites by Hilton Lake Charles caters to the 46.7 million visitors traveling to Louisiana annually. AAA Hotel Company owns the hotel asset.

DEAL TRACKER

SAVANNAH, GA—Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of a 168-unit apartment property. John E. Brigel, first vice president Investments with the National Multi Housing Group, by leveraging long-term relationships closed Heritage Square at $13.5 million. Brigel represented the sellers and procured the buyers for the transaction. “For a product built in 1971, $90 per square feet is a very strong number and $80,000 per unit for a mix of one and two bedrooms is quite impressive for a tertiary market like Savanna”, says Brigel.

CONYERS, GA—NAI Brannen Goddard facilitated the sale of 801 Blacklawn Road, a 111,540-square-foot single-story office/warehouse/distribution property located at the northwest corner of Blacklawn Road and Dogwood Drive in Conyers, Rockdale County, GA.NAI Brannen Goddard managing director David Beak marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Block Income Fund III. The property sold for $4,575,00, $41.02 per square foot, and was 82% leased at the time of sale.

ATLANTA—HFF brokered the sale of a 27-property self-storage portfolio totaling 1.7 million square feet and 12,171 units in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. HFF team marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a joint venture partnership between certain funds managed by Westport Capital Partners and Store Here Management. The portfolio, which currently operates under the Store Here brand, is 80.6%-occupied and features fully integrated amenities. The properties are in eight MSAs, including Colorado Springs, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Kansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, Texas. The HFF self-storage team representing the seller included senior directors Barbara Guffey and Tom Doyle. Additional local market expertise was provided by senior managing directors John Merrill and Jason Nettles and managing directors Sean Fogarty and Jules Sherwood.

ATLANTA—The Towers at Wildwood, a class A office building, has reached 90% occupancy. CBRE's Sabrina Gibson, Clark Gore and Eric Ross represented America's Capital Partners, the building's owners, since early 2016. In that time, the team has brought the building from 66% to 90% occupied, through a combination of new tenants and existing tenants that have renewed their leases. “This asset is 720,000 square feet and is the largest building in the submarket,” Gibson, CBRE senior associate, tells GlobeSt.com. “Hitting 90% occupancy is a milestone, and we continue to experience great activity in Atlanta's suburban markets. Tenants are looking for buildings that are of the same quality as what they experience intown, and are easily accessible from prime residential areas. Bringing this asset to stabilization with this caliber of new tenants is a win in Atlanta.”

ATLANTA—The former Leggett & Platt site has traded hands. The sale price: $29.75 million Cushman & Wakefield arranged the sale of the site. It sits at the corner of Memorial Drive and Bill Kennedy Way in Atlanta's Reynoldstown submarket. Cushwake's Matt Hawkins, Pierce Owings and Ron Willingham represented the seller in the transaction. Fuqua Development acquired the 17-acre property. The mixed-use development could open as early as the spring of 2019. The property will include 160,000 square feet of retail, 80,000 square feet of loft office, 550 apartments and townhomes.

MEMPHIS—Hunt Mortgage Group provided a $10.4 million Fannie Mae conventional mortgage to refinance Highland Meadows, a 588-unit garden style apartment community built in 1975 and located south of the Memphis central business district, adjacent to the Memphis International Airport. The borrower acquired the property in 2012 when it was 52% occupied and completed over $2.9 million of renovations to the property that included exterior siding replacement, additional lighting, roof repairs, a new pool deck, pond repairs, sidewalk and fence repairs, the installation of video/security monitoring and the installation of an automatic entry gate.

BIRMINGHAM—Bluerock Residential Growth acquired the 300-unit multifamily community known as Springs at Greystone in Birmingham. The REIT acquired the property for a total purchase price of approximately $36.25 million, or approximately $121,000 per residential unit. The company plans to implement a $1.8 million interior, exterior and amenity renovation program to improve the property's curb appeal and strengthen its position among its competitive set. The acquisition is projected to yield a pro-forma stabilized cap rate of 6.3% after implementation of the value-add program.

BUILDING BLOCKS

SANDY SPRINGS, GA—Westdale recently broke ground on a new mixed-use development in Sandy Springs. The development, Aria Village, will be comprised of 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurants along with a five-story residential community, The Alastair. The project is part of Aria, a larger master-planned community by Ashton Woods. Aria Village will be StreetLights' first development in Georgia since opening its Atlanta office in July 2016.