VOL. 127 | NO. 244 | Friday, December 14, 2012
Inked
Sarah Baker
Levenger Leases Up EastPark IV
By Sarah Baker
A Delray Beach, Fla.-based specialty retail company is relocating its Memphis distribution warehouse within the Southeast submarket.
Levenger has inked 96,400 square feet in EastPark Distribution Center IV, 5265 Hickory Hill Road, bringing the 372,800-square-foot building to full occupancy. Levenger also has an operation at 3530 E. Raines Road.
Levenger’s product line includes upscale notebooks and journals, pens, wallets and bags, furnishings and desk accessories. Merchandise is sold through Levenger’s catalogs, website and stores in Boston, Chicago and the Washington area. Memphis is home to Levenger’s customer service and fulfillment center.
Wyatt Aiken, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors LLC, represented the tenant in lease negotiations. CB Richard Ellis Memphis’ senior vice president Tommy Jackson and vice president Brad Murchison represented the landlord, a joint venture between Panattoni Development Co. and California State Teachers’ Retirement System.
Grafco Inc. is the contractor building out Levenger’s new space in EastPark, including the installation of a pallet rack system.
• In other commercial real estate news, RRE Foxwood Holdings LLC, an entity of Philadelphia-based Resource America Inc., has bought Southeast Memphis’ distressed Foxwood Apartments for $2.3 million, or $10,341 per unit.
Foxwood is a 220-unit, 30-building apartment community built in 1972 at 2778 Pickering Drive. The property includes one-, two-, and three-bedroom garden and townhouse style apartment homes with units averaging 964 square feet.
Amenities of Foxwood include a swimming pool, courts that serve as a playground area, laundry facility and controlled access gates. The property has frontage along Mount Moriah Road, which provides immediate access to Tenn. 385.
Resource, which typically acquires multifamily Real-Estate Owned properties, said in a company release that it will invest capital to improve the overall condition and marketability of the property to bring units to leasable condition, stabilize its occupancy rates, and make it cash-flow positive. Upgrades will be made to exterior painting and landscaping as well.
Tommy Bronson III and Blake Pera with CBRE’s Memphis Multifamily Division represented the seller, Tritex Real Estate Advisors Inc.
“Foxwood offers the buyer additional economies of scale in the submarket, and another opportunity to succeed with their already proven value-add strategy,” Bronson said.
• Also in acquisitions, Nashville-based Anchor Investments LLC bought Town Center North – a 51,000-square-foot shopping center at 6 and 8 Stonebridge in Jackson, Tenn. – for $2.7 million.
The center was foreclosed in March and sold Nov. 30 via Auction.com. Colliers’ Andrew Phillips and Ed Thomas represented the buyer.
Colliers will continue to handle leasing and management on behalf of the new ownership, and Phillips and Thomas have already represented the new owner with two new leases. Gericare Inc., a subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based pharmaceutical firm BioScrip Inc., inked 2500 square feet in Building 6.
The tenant was represented by Chris Carothers, Realtor with Hickman Realty Group Inc., and David Lee, president of Beale, Lee and Associates Inc.
And Lisa Hollins, doing business as Once Upon A Child, signed a lease for 4,191 square feet. The tenant was also represented by Carothers.
• Meanwhile, Hamid Latifi bought the former Kettle Restaurant at 4139 Winchester Road from Kanfield Co. for $250,000.
J. Max Hamidi, broker with Re/Max on Track, was the buyer’s representative. Charles Sevier, principal broker of Crump Commercial LLC, was the seller’s rep.
Hamidi said the buyer plans to put in a 10,000-square-foot retail strip center, a Z-Market and an Exxon gas station.
• In other deals, Bike Plus has leased 8,150 square feet in the freestanding retail building at 7007 U.S. 64.
Bikes Plus has two locations – one in Germantown and this new Bartlett location, which is a relocation of the company’s existing shop near Wolfchase Galleria. Memphis-based Bikes Plus is a full-service bicycle shop and was recently named by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News as one of the top 100 retailers in the U.S.
Mike Slattery, owner and principal real estate broker of Slattery Realty LLC, represented the tenant and landlord Crews H64 LLC on the five-year lease.
“The new space doubles the size of their existing location,” Slattery said. “The facility will be a state-of-the-art showroom for more product display and an expanded service area.”
Improvements are under way with occupancy expected in February.
• And in renewals, Forever Fit Fitness Center has renewed its 3,394-square-foot lease at Clark Tower, 5100 Poplar Ave.
Representing building owner Lake Worth, Fla.-based In-Rel Properties Inc. was Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors Asset Services LLC’s senior associate Anna Tranum and senior vice president Phil Dagastino Jr.