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byline: Paula C. Squires

HMP Properties in Williamsburg acquires a Stafford hotel for $10 million

An affiliate of HMP Properties, a Williamsburg-based hotel development and management company, has purchased the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Stafford for $10 million.


Denton Realty Co. in Virginia Beach, which represented the purchaser in the transaction, announced the sale. According to Denton, the seller was an individual owner/operator who developed the hotel off Interstate 95 in 2013. “This is a well-built, well-located hotel with a track record of excellent guest service scores. We are very proud to add this hotel to our portfolio,” Hitesh M. Patel, president of HMP Properties said in a statement.

According to Edward C. Denton, president of Denton Realty Co., hotel fundamentals are strong at this time, with many owners enjoying a good cash flow, making them reluctant to sell. “…[S]o there are very few quality assets on the market,” he noted in a statement.

Denton Realty Co. provides hospitality and commercial real estate brokerage and consulting throughout Virginia and North Carolina. The company is a boutique realty firm, offering specialized services for hotels, self-storage, multifamily and retail investment properties.

Forty-seven unit apartment property sells in Richmond’s Manchester area for $5.4 million

 

Trolley Lofts LLC has purchased The Lofts at Trolley Station, a 47-unit apartment property in Richmond's Manchester District for $5.4 million.  The apartments are located at 212 W. 7th Street.

According to Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, who announced the sale, the buyer purchased the 44,000-square-foot property from 7th and Porter Street Apartments LLC as an investment.

Thalhimer's Birck Turnbull  handled the sale negotiations on behalf of the buyer.

Apartment sales in Richmond on the rise

Richmond is on a tear when it comes to apartment sales. CBRE in Richmond reports that sales volume increased significantly in the third quarter. While the year isn’t over yet, the total value of transactions, $446 million, surpasses the sales figures for the entirety of 2016 and is on track to set a decade-high record.

In 2009, 2,434 apartment units sold compared to 4,708 units by the third quarter of this year. According to CBRE’s market report, the average vacancy rate was 5.1 percent in the third quarter.
There are about 2,500 new units under construction, with 375 of them in Scott’s Addition. 

Apartment rents in the Richmond market also are rising. According to CBRE’s third quarter multifamily market report, the average effective rent within the metro area continued to climb, rising 2.5 percent over the year. Rental rates now stand at a historic high of $992 per unit, or $1.10 per square foot.

One recent apartment sale was Millspring Commons, 159-unit property located in an affluent West End submarket of Richmond.

KFF AC LLC purchased the 159-unit property for an undisclosed price.  According to CBRE, the units have an occupancy rate of
97 percent and are located close to major retailers such as Target and Kroger.

Jonathan Greenberg and Bob Dean of CBRE Washington DC’s Multifamily Investment Properties Group and CBRE|Richmond’s Peyton Cox and Charles Wentwort represented the seller in the transaction.

Fairlead Integrated is building a manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach

Fairlead Integrated has started construction on a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach. It will be larger than the size of the company’s existing manufacturing site in Chesapeake.

The company said the project at 561 London Bridge Road will extend Fairlead’s manufacturing footprint and allow the Portsmouth-based company to prepare for increased demand from military customers for new hardware and software.

Fairlead makes products that are part of mission critical systems in the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers, Virginia-class submarines, all classes of surface combatants and amphibious ships. It supplies components such as integrated electrical and control systems, large-scale mechanical fabrications and precision machined metal components.

“We are excited about expanding and moving our operations to Virginia Beach,” Fairlead Integrated President Fred Pasquine said in a statement.

The new facility will produce a variety of products made to military specifications, including control systems, such as the aircraft elevator on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers; variable-speed drives and communication and networking tools. It also will include a test lab that is double the size of the company’s current lab.

“Manufacturing is a vital segment of our economy that employs more than 51,000 workers throughout Hampton Roads,” Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms said in a statement. “I’m pleased that Fairlead Integrated is joining this global business community, and that its work here will also support our military around the world.”

Fairlead Integrated, a veteran-owned company, has retained The Miller Group as the developer and design build contractor for its new building at Oceana East Industrial Park.

Fairlead Integrated has facilities in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Newport News.

Meridian Group buys 209,669-square-foot office building in Tyson’s Boro District

The Meridian Group said Monday that it has purchased a 209,669-square-foot, Class A office building in the firm’s new Boro District at Tysons.  The price was not disclosed.

According to the Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment and development firm, the nine-story building at 8280 Greensboro Drive is 83 percent leased to a diverse group of tenants. It’s across the street from the Greensboro Metro station and offers access to the Dulles Toll Road, Capital Beltway, I-66 and Route 7.

The property also is adjacent to The Boro, the Meridian Group’s 4.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use development. The Boro includes offices, apartments, condominiums, retail, restaurants and entertainment. The development also will include the area’s largest Whole Foods Market and a 15-screen ShowPlace Icon movie theater. Eventually, plans call for 2 million square feet of office space with 10 buildings.
 
Bill Collins, Drew Flood and Sean Collins of Cushman & Wakefield represented the building’s seller. Marshall Scallan of Cushman & Wakefield represented Meridian in procuring its senior secured debt.

Republic Properties buys a 202-unit apartment community in Yorktown

Republic Properties has purchased a 202-unit apartment community in Yorktown for an undisclosed price.  CBRE and CBRE|Hampton Roads announced Tuesday that it had arranged the sale of The Courts at Yorkshire Downs, a 30-year-old property that is close to I-64, Route 17 and Hampton Highway. 


Robert Dean III, Jonathan Greenberg, Yalda Ghamarian and Thomas Leachman of CBRE’s Washington, D.C., Multifamily Investment Properties Team and Dan Johnson and Victoria Pickett of CBRE|Hampton Roads Multifamily Properties Team arranged the sale on behalf of the seller.

Built in 1987, the apartments consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with an average unit size of 883 square feet.

Long & Foster forms corporate partnership with VCU Athletics

Long & Foster Real Estate announced a new corporate partnership Tuesday with Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Athletics Department. The multi-year agreement is the first large-scale sponsorship that Long & Foster, based in Chantilly, has made with the Richmond university.


As part of the partnership, VCU has renamed the multi-purpose room at its Basketball Development Center as the Long & Foster Conference Room. The facility is used for business meetings during the workweek and serves as the hospitality suite for VCU’s major donors before basketball games.


Long & Foster said it also will have a suite at the women’s and men’s home basketball games, and its real estate agents will be able to invite buyers and sellers to join them in attending sporting events.
“Our agents are very enthusiastic about our most recent partnership with the largest sports attraction in the greater Richmond area,” Cindy Jez, vice president of regional marketing for Long & Foster’s Richmond, Southwest Virginia and Hampton Roads regions, said in a statement.  “It affords them the opportunity to support our community and, at the same time, be a player in this new marketing endeavor.”


The multi-faceted partnership includes advertising opportunities, as well as added sponsorships of key VCU events. As an example, Long & Foster is sponsoring the basketball game between Old Dominion University and VCU on Dec. 2 at The Siegel Center.


While Long & Foster has supported local institutions in the Richmond area, such as collecting Toys for Tots, the company says the VCU partnership presents an opportunity for the brokerage to give back to its local community in a new capacity.

Long & Foster Real Estate is part of The Long & Foster Cos., a subsidiary of HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. HomeServices is the nation’s second-largest real estate brokerage and one of the largest providers of integrated real estate services. Long & Foster Real Estate also is the exclusive affiliate for Christie’s International Real Estate throughout parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The company has more than 230 offices, and it represents more than 11,000 agents in seven mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, plus the District of Columbia. The company, which has a productive commercial business in addition to its residential side, sold more than $31.2 billion worth of homes and helped people buy and sell homes nearly 88,000 times in 2016.

Clint Greene joins Colliers International Retail Services Group as vice president

Colliers International, a commercial real estate brokerage firm with offices in Richmond and Norfolk, announces that A. Clint Greene III has joined the Retail Services Group as vice president.

According to Colliers, Greene has an extensive background in real estate, banking and sales. Before joining the firm, he was responsible for marketing and leasing shopping centers for national real estate development companies and REIT's.

Greene also has worked with national, regional and local tenants on site selection, market entries, relocations, and additional locations.

He is a graduate of Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He currently serves on the boards of the Westwood Club and Clemson Club and is a member of the Knights of Columbus.

The Meridian Group among winners at NAIOP Northern Virginia awards

The Meridian Group, a developer active in the remaking of Tysons, was among the group of winners at an annual awards gala, the Best of NAIOP Northern Virginia.

Held on Nov. 16 at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons, the event drew nearly 800 people from Northern Virginia’s commercial real estate industry. A total of 33 awards were presented in five categories: interiors, membership, marketing, transactions and buildings.

The Meridian Group, based in Bethesda, Md., was recognized in several awards:

Award of Excellence, Master Plan for The Boro at Tysons. NAIOP members include Gensler, Clark, Skanska, Kettler and CBRE.

Award of Merit, Real Estate Transaction, lease under 175,000 square feet for M.C. Dean at Boro Station, submitted by The Meridian Group. M.C. Dean, an electrical design-build and systems integration firm, moved its headquarters to Boro Station and is leasing more than 80,000 square feet. CBRE handled the leasing.

Award of Excellence, Real Estate Transaction, Sale, for Tysons Metro Center, now known as EastBoro, submitted by HFF. Meridian purchased the four-building Class A office portfolio near The Boro in February. HFF represented the seller of the 763,965-square-foot portfolio.

“We’re honored to be recognized for our efforts to create the Boro District, a vibrant new urban center in the heart of Tysons,” David Cheek, president of The Meridian Group, said in a statement.  “We are creating an amenity-rich community that offers easy access between our sites and the Greensboro Metro station.’’

Other award winners:
Membership Firm of Year, Award of Excellence to Balfour Beatty Construction.
Member of the Year, Award of Excellence to John Murphy, Washington Workplace.
Lease:  175,000 square feet and above, three winners
Award of Merit for Transportation Security Administration Headquarters submitted by Boston Properties and located in Springfield. NAIOP members include Gensler, Lend Lease, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield.
Award of Merit for One Dulles Tower submitted by Cushman & Wakefield and located in Herndon. NAIOP members include Federal Capital Partners.
Award of Excellence for Nestlé USA Inc. headquarters relocation submitted by Monday Properties and located in Rosslyn. NAIOP members include Monday Properties, JLL, and CBRE.

NAIOP Northern Virginia is a chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association. It comprises nearly 950 members serving the local Northern Virginia market.

Seafood restaurant opens in downtown Norfolk

Waterside District, the new dining and entertainment venue that opened recently on downtown Norfolk’s waterfront, announced the opening Monday of its newest restaurant. The Norfolk location of Stripers Waterside is the Outer Banks-based restaurant group's second location.

The 7,000-square-foot restaurant will have fresh seafood entrees like those at Stripers’ original location, Stripers Bar & Grille in Manteo, N.C.  In addition to its regular menu, the Norfolk restaurant will serve a Sunday brunch and have 30 beers on tap.

It joins a lineup of other restaurants and breweries on the Elizabeth River in one of Norfolk’s most recent revitalization projects. After a $40 million overhaul and rebranding of Norfolk’s Waterside Festival Marketplace, Waterside District opened in May.

It’s anchored by The Market, a 30,000-square-foot food hall that includes Starr Hill, Rappahannock Oyster Co., Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse and Blue Moon TapHouse, among others.