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byline: Robyn Sidersky

Capital Square promotes two executives

Capital Square has promoted Michael Ollinger to senior vice president of construction and development, and Victoria Coates to vice president of acquisition and development, the Henrico County-based real estate investment firm announced Thursday.

Both started at Capital Square in 2020, Ollinger as vice president of construction and Coates as acquisitions and development associate.

Ollinger oversees all aspects of design and construction in existing assets and new development projects. He has supervised more than five million square feet of design and construction across the U.S. and has experience in multiple kinds of projects, including apartment buildings, hospitality, office, retail, educational, health care and industrial projects. At Capital Square, he has overseen 12 projects from the ground up with $600 million in development costs, Capital Square CEO Louis Rogers said in a news release.

Coates has participated in more than $350 million in property acquisitions and has helped grow the company’s development division.

Before starting at Capital Square, Ollinger served as a design and construction consultant at Diamond Rock Hospitality Group and was managing director and partner at Northpoint Services. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s from Georgetown. He has a Class A residential building construction license in Virginia.

Coates was part of the development team at JBG Smith before joining Capital Square. Before that, she worked at Capital One as a financial analyst. She earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Washington & Lee University.

 

 

255-apartment complex coming to Suffolk

The Cathcart Group, a Charlottesville-based real estate developer, is building a 255-unit apartment community in Suffolk planned to open in 2023.

The Gallery at Godwin will be on nine acres at 3061 Godwin Blvd. in Suffolk and will have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $1,200 to $1,900. The complex will also have 15,967 square feet of retail space and will be near the Publix grocery store coming to Suffolk and Sentara Obici Hospital.

Cathcart owns 1,930 apartments in Virginia and manages nearly 4,000 apartments, with another 1,600 in planning in different stages in Harrisonburg, Winchester and two out of state.

Castle, Pembroke partner on Va. Beach apartments

In a joint venture, Charlottesville-based Castle Development Partners and Virginia Beach’s Pembroke Square Associates will build a 12-story apartment complex as part of Pembroke Mall’s $200 million redevelopment in Virginia Beach.

The complex will be on top of the existing Stein Mart building, with about 35,000 square feet of ground-level retail, a four-story parking garage with nearly 600 parking spaces and 322 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The apartments will be 550 to 1,800 square feet with amenities such as a saltwater infinity pool, 2,500-square-foot fitness center, yoga studio, 7,000-square-foot clubroom and entertainment center, rooftop terrace with a dining room and coworking space on each floor.

Construction will start in March 2023, and the complex is set to open in spring 2025. Charlottesville-based Mitchell Matthews Architects will be the project architect, and Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. will provide civil engineering.

200 townhomes planned for Chesterfield County

Nearly seven acres of land in western Chesterfield County has been sold for $3.8 million in preparation for 200 townhouses to be built in the Westchester Commons area.

Westchester Towns Development Co. purchased 6.57 acres of land at 1400 WC Commons Way, from Zaremba Metropolitan Midlothian LLC, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced May 16.

Richmond-based StyleCraft Homes will start construction this summer.

Alex T. Wotring, Kevin South and David Crawford of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the sale negotiations on behalf of the seller.

Meet SBA’s Va. small biz person of year

Jeri Prophet joined the Navy on a whim.

She had been attending Arizona State University, saw a recruiter sign, and headed for the office. “Some people buy new shoes. I joined the Navy,” she recalled.

She served 10 years in the Navy, first as a data systems analyst and left as an information systems technician. That led her to start her own company, Virginia Beach-based IntellecTechs Inc., a software development and IT services contractor, in 2008.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Virginia-Richmond District Office’s 2022 small business person of the year, Prophet was recognized at a ceremony in Virginia Beach in early May during National Small Business Week (May 1-7). 

“I am delighted to recognize our National Small Business Week winners from across the country who have stepped up to build their businesses, create jobs, and power historic recovery over the past year,” U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Guzman said in a statement. “Entrepreneurs are innovators and creators at their core, delivering the products and services we depend on and making our neighborhoods, towns, and cities more vibrant places to live and work. They give their all to achieve their American dream of business ownership and, by doing so, advance America’s economy and global competitiveness. Our 2022 award winners represent the vibrancy and resiliency of our nation’s 32.5 million small businesses, and I look forward to celebrating these small business giants and the positive impact they have had on lives and livelihoods in communities all across America.” 

After accepting the award, Prophet said, “In business, if you don’t take some chances, you don’t really get to that next level.” Prophet said she’d done that by going after big contracts, stepping outside her comfort zone and even turning down contracts at times. 

She has grown IntellecTechs from just herself and one other employee to a company employing more than 200 workers. The firm made the Inc. 5000 list of private companies with the most revenue growth in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Her first big break was landing a contract with Norfolk International Airport, she said. Another milestone was winning a major military contract that allowed her company to scale up to a few hundred people around the country. In 2019, IntellecTechs began doing work with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and now has contracts with all the U.S. embassies around the world. IntellecTechs has earned many more contracts since then, including recent contract awards from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI and other agencies.

‘Novel’ project will add 275 apartments to Scott’s Addition

Crescent Communities, ParkProperty Capital and Thalhimer Realty Partners are developing a 275-unit apartment community in a joint venture on the border of Richmond’s fast-growing Scott’s Addition neighborhood and the city’s planned Diamond District.

Dubbed “Novel Scott’s Addition,” the community will be located at the former Wesco Distribution Site at 2902 North Arthur Ashe Blvd. The units will be studios, one-  and two-bedroom apartments and the top floor will have lofts. Most of the property will be five floors, with one wing rising to seven floors. The community will have a pool and pool deck, dining and gathering spaces including a fireside lounge, library, coworking rooms, dog park, spa, garden dining room, sky deck and resident speakeasy.

Construction will start this month and be completed by early 2024.

The apartment community site is located about 2.5 miles from downtown Richmond and across the street from the  Diamond District, which the city government is in the process of selecting a company to redevelop into the new Diamond District. Thalhimer Realty Partners is part of Diamond Partners, one of the three teams of finalists competing for the redevelopment project.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Crescent Communities will develop the project in partnership with Atlanta-based ParkProperty Capital, marking the latter company’s entry into the Richmond market. TRP N Blvd LLC, an entity controlled by Glen Allen-based Thalhimer Realty Partners, contributed the 3.17 acres of land to the joint venture, in a $6.7 million transaction. Other partners on the project include architecture firm KTGY; civil engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc.; landscape architect LandDesign; general contractor Clancy & Theys; and CID Design Group for interior design.

“We are excited to invest with such a high-quality developer in Crescent Communities and grow our footprint in the mid-Atlantic,” ParkProperty Capital Managing Director Brendan Whalen said in a statement. “This will be our first investment in Richmond and Scott’s Addition, and we see a lot of opportunity in this historic and quickly revitalizing neighborhood. As the first investment in our second discretionary fund, which invests in similar development opportunities throughout the major markets in the Sun Belt region, this is an important milestone for ParkProperty Capital on multiple fronts.”

 

78-unit apartment complex planned for Petersburg

A 78-unit apartment complex will be developed on a four-acre piece of land recently purchased in Petersburg, Colliers announced Thursday.

Thalhimer Realty Partners purchased the High Street Land Development from Monroe Properties for $875,000, according to Colliers.

Thalhimer will develop the apartments across two phases: With construction starting in 2023, the first phase will feature 14 duplexes and include two- and three-bedroom apartments with rooftop decks. The second phase will be a three- or four-story building with 50 apartments with one or two bedrooms each.

Garrison Gore, Charles Wentworth, Hank Hankins and Victoria Pickett with Colliers represented Monroe Properties in the transaction.

Goodwin House acquires Hermitage Northern Va.

Not-for-profit senior living and health care organization Goodwin House Inc. has acquired Hermitage Northern Virginia, a senior living community in Alexandria, from Pinnacle Living.

The financial terms were not disclosed.

Hermitage has 100 residents and more than 100 employees and offers independent living, assisted living and long-term care. It has two residential buildings and a penthouse, plus walking paths, a gazebo, gardens and a greenhouse.

When the sale is finalized, Pinnacle will own four senior living communities in the commonwealth. Goodwin House owns and operates two others in Northern Virginia: Bailey’s Crossroads at the corner of Arlington and Falls Church and Goodwin House Alexandria.

“Goodwin House is grateful and excited to welcome the residents and team members of Hermitage Northern Virginia into our organization. Together, we will continue to grow our mission to support, honor and uplift the lives of older adults and those who care for them,” GHI President and CEO Rob Liebreich said in a statement. “We are also grateful to Pinnacle Living for its 60 years of service to the older adults and team members who have resided and worked at Hermitage Northern Virginia.”

The sale is expected to close in August.

 

Cortland to invest $1B in Arlington apartments

Cortland, an Atlanta-based multifamily real estate investment, development and management company, will invest $1 billion in four Arlington apartment communities totaling more than 1,500 units, marking the company’s reentry into the metro Washington, D.C., market.

The four properties include the 331-unit Aubrey apartment building — rebranded by Cortland as Cortland Rosslyn — and the 534-unit Aura Pentagon City — now renamed Cortland Pentagon City — as well as two other apartment communities not disclosed by Cortland.

“Northern Virginia is a highly coveted location that is already seeing a rebound in growth as residents move back to the urban core,” Cortland’s chief investment officer, Mike Altman, said in a statement. “This is just the start of Cortland’s investment in the region, driven by our commitment to deliver an unrivaled resident-centric, hospitality-driven experience that is changing the standard of apartment living.”

Cortland Pentagon City, a 534-unit apartment building previously branded as Aura Pentagon City, is across the street from Amazon HQ2.

Cortland Rosslyn has three-bedroom apartments, penthouses, two-level townhomes, a rooftop sky lounge and pool. Completed in 2021, it was developed by D.C.-based Penzance Cos. and is part of The Highlands, a luxury residential development in Arlington.

Cortland Pentagon City is situated across from Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2.

“The combination of these investments allows us to gain a strong foothold in the region at a strategic time, based on our proprietary analysis of market trends. Cortland Rosslyn is a trophy asset, and we plan to match that with Cortland’s value-add capability in our other new communities,” Altman said.

Cortland owns and manages more than 250 apartment communities with about 85,000 units across the country. The company has regional offices in Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado.

“Cortland plans to double its investment in the area with the goal of becoming a top player in the market in the near future,” the company said in a news release.

Tegna shareholders approve $5.4B sale to hedge fund

Tysons-based broadcast and digital media giant Tegna Inc.’s shareholders approved an agreement at a special meeting Tuesday for the sale of the company to an affiliate of New York hedge fund Standard General.

On Feb. 22, Tegna announced it would be acquired in a $5.4 billion cash deal by an affiliate of Standard General LP.

Standard General, one of Tegna’s largest shareholders, and New York-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management agreed to buy Tegna for $24 per share in cash.

Holders of 78% of Tegna’s common shares voted to adopt the agreement, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year. Upon closing, Tegna will become a private company and will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and CEO Dave Lougee will be replaced by Deb McDermott, the current CEO of Standard Media and former chief operating officer of Media General. Soo Kim, founding partner of Standard General, will serve as board chairman.

Tegna owns 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets and reaches 39% of all television households nationwide. It was created in 2015 as a publicly-traded company after McLean-based Gannett Co. Inc., the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, spun off its broadcast and digital media divisions.