An Atlanta-based real estate investment firm is adding $1B in warehouses and distribution centers to its portfolio from Blackstone’s Link Logistics.

Stonemont, in a joint venture with Los Angeles-based PCCP, bought a 38-building portfolio totaling 5.9M SF in markets including Austin, central Florida, Charlotte, Dallas and Phoenix, the company announced in a Wednesday press release. The projects add to Stonemont’s 15M SF industrial portfolio.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo financed the transaction, and Eastdil Secured brokered the debt execution.

“We carefully curated this portfolio by emphasizing properties that sit at the intersection of population growth, cross-border trade activity and tenant demand,” Stonemont President Bryan Blasingame said in the release. “These assets, which consist of bulk and light industrial properties, come with a stable, long-term tenant base.”

Stonemont declined a request to identify the properties it acquired.

The purchase comes as the national industrial market is showing a turnaround from its slower period. For the first time after two years of steady increases, the U.S. vacancy rate fell by 7 basis points to 7.3% in the second quarter, Colliers reported, with Indianapolis, Phoenix, Charleston, South Carolina, and Columbus, Ohio, demonstrating the biggest drops in empty space.

At the same time, companies absorbed 59M SF in the second quarter, more than double the 27M SF tallied in the same period last year and up 17% from the first quarter, according to Colliers. Absorption leaders included Houston at 7.6M SF, Dallas-Fort Worth at 4.7M SF, and Atlanta at 4.5M SF.

Investors have been focused on the Sun Belt and Midwest industrial markets, where demand has been stronger than supply, according to a Marcus & Millichap report.

Link said the artificial intelligence revolution has benefited its industrial portfolio, with 15% of new leases linked to data center-related tenants, Bloomberg reported.

Link has sold other properties in recent months, including a 17K SF warehouse used by FedEx in Boston to Stockbridge Capital Group for $45M and two flex industrial buildings totaling 142K SF in suburban Atlanta to Faropoint in May for $20.1M.

Charlotte is in the early stages of working toward a new data center policy amid a development moratorium, part of a growing wave of project pauses happening in jurisdictions around the country.

Since its 150-day moratorium began in June, city staff has been doing research, engaging with stakeholders and working to create policy recommendations, Charlotte officials told Bisnow. Part of that research involves looking at how other cities and counties have utilized moratoriums in recent months, City Council Member Ed Driggs said.

The steps the city takes during its moratorium are representative of how more than 100 local governments across the U.S. are grappling with an issue that has sparked escalating backlash, driven by data centers’ massive demand for water and power. The outcome of Charlotte’s moratorium could determine whether major developers like American Tower Corp. can proceed with their projects.

“We are experiencing in Charlotte the same sort of controversy you’re seeing elsewhere in the country, over their impacts and lack of regulation,” Driggs said in an interview.  

Charlotte approved its moratorium following months of heated debate over the build-out of data centers in the city, largely sparked by American Tower’s controversial proposed project that would sit on 58 acres near Reedy Creek Nature Preserve. 

The city hasn’t approved American Tower’s rezoning request to build its data center, and a hearing for the project was delayed from June until at least November. American Tower declined to comment for this story. 

The 150-day pause is slated to end in November, but Driggs said there is a chance it could get extended.

“There’s a possibility, depending on what work gets done during the 150 days, that the moratorium could be longer,” he said.

Charlotte is a hot spot for data center development, housing roughly 40 operating facilities, according to Data Center Map. North Carolina is home to 95 active data centers.

Several cities in North Carolina have approved moratoriums as the issue reaches the state level nationwide. Earlier this month, nearby Davie County passed its own one-year data center moratorium. New York became the first state to impose a yearlong ban on data center construction as a handful of other states consider similar measures.

While supporters of data centers say the facilities will stimulate the economy and generate tax revenue, opponents cite concerns over environmental impacts — especially as North Carolina grapples with a drought — and a potential spike in power costs for consumers. 

Duke Energy said in the spring that 6 gigawatts of data center demand was in its development pipeline in the Carolinas, an amount that could power roughly between 3 million and 6 million homes. Duke last month proposed an 18% electric rate increase for households, but it cut that request to around 9.5%, Axios reported this week.  

Newly sworn-in Mayor Rob Harrington told Bisnow in an email that the moratorium in Charlotte “allows staff the necessary time to consider questions before any additional development moves forward.” He said he looks forward to reviewing the feedback to find the best path forward. 

The site near 8036 Hood Road in Charlotte where American Tower Corp. has proposed a data center

As the moratorium continues, data center projects that were in development before the pause was approved can continue construction. 

Data center projects in Charlotte include PowerHouse Data Centers’ plans for a 122-acre campus off of University City Boulevard and Digital Realty’s plans for a 12 megawatt, four-story data center at 725 E. Trade St. Spokespeople for the two companies didn’t respond to requests for comment on the status of their projects.

On Aug. 20, the city council is slated to hold a town hall on the moratorium, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

At the end of the moratorium, Charlotte city staff is expected to present its findings to the council, and members will then hold discussions and gauge community input before deciding on policy changes, Driggs said.  

“We found that we could establish this 150-day pause while we look at our policies and consider whether, in light of the rise of AI and the growth and demand for data centers, a more differentiated policy is called for,” he said.

If it extends the moratorium to a one-year period, Driggs said Charlotte could better prepare itself for a future of data center development.

A new nontraded multifamily REIT was born this week as part of a $617M recapitalization of more than 60 properties, including an under-construction apartment tower in Manhattan. 

Grubb Properties’ 8 Carlisle St. multifamily project is expected to top out this month.

Charlotte-based Grubb Properties consolidated several legacy funds into Link Apartments REIT, a newly formed managed REIT with more than 5,600 apartments in its portfolio.

The rollup of high net worth funds and rebranding to create the single entity occurred as Grubb also secured a $240M credit facility for the new REIT and its Link Apartments Opportunity Zone REIT, which was formed a few years ago and isn’t part of the consolidation. 

Grubb also secured a $300M senior construction loan from Maxim Capital Group and a $77M mezzanine loan co-originated by GreenBarn Investment Group, Skylight Real Estate Partners, Axonic Capital and Meadow Partners that fully capitalizes its Manhattan multifamily project called 8 Carlisle. 

“The REIT was created partially to have a vehicle with a bigger balance sheet that’s going to allow us to get bigger financing. But at the same time, it was also a move towards simplicity and efficiency,” Emily Ethridge, a spokesperson for Grubb, said in an interview Tuesday morning. 

Grubb values the new 45-property REIT at roughly $1.9B. It includes 8 Carlisle, a 64-story tower with 462 apartments that is set to top off construction this month, Ethridge said. The OZ REIT, which was also created through the merger of several funds a few years ago, has a 17-property portfolio, and fewer than 10 of Grubb’s other assets are still individually owned outside either entity, Ethridge said. 

The fund isn’t open for new investment, and there are no plans to pursue a public listing, she said. 

Grubb collectively secured the $617M in financing across the portfolio recapitalization with help from several teams at JLL, according to a release from the global brokerage. 

“By coordinating our M&A, Corporate Banking and Debt & Equity advisory expertise, JLL was able to sequence the series of transactions appropriately to ensure a seamless structure,” JLL Managing Director Stephen Van Leer said in a statement. 

Grubb’s refinancing move comes as the multifamily sector broadly emerges from a supply-driven malaise, with second-quarter apartment absorption hitting 124,600 units, among the highest in 25 years, and helping to push vacancy lower. 

A slowdown in new housing construction adds another tailwind to the back of multifamily developers. But the sector is also facing a demographic challenge, with the pace of U.S. population growth rapidly declining as President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigration. 

UPDATE, JULY 22, 10:23 A.M. ET: This story has been updated to clarify what assets are covered under the new $240M credit facility. 

Lincoln Property Co. has purchased Charlotte-based developer The Spectrum Cos. in a deal that Lincoln says will help it grow its footprint across the Carolinas.

Dallas-based Lincoln will combine its Carolinas platform with Spectrum and will also include Spectrum’s northern and central Florida multifamily business, Lincoln said in a Tuesday press release. The companies say the move will help boost the combined firm’s development and acquisition pipeline.

The companies’ portfolios will merge well because of Spectrum’s strong focus on multifamily development, executives from both firms told the Charlotte Business Journal, which first reported the news. Spectrum has developed almost 7,000 multifamily units since its founding, according to the release.

The sum of the sale was not disclosed.

“Lincoln has been focused on growing and investing in the Carolinas for many years, and Spectrum presented a unique opportunity to accelerate that strategy,” Johno Harris, senior executive vice president at Lincoln, told Bisnow.

He added that Spectrum’s “exceptional team” complements Lincoln’s existing platform well.

“As we looked at the next phase of growth in the region, it became clear that bringing our organizations together would create a stronger business, expand our capabilities and position us to better serve clients and pursue new opportunities across the Carolinas,” he said.

A spokesperson for Spectrum didn’t comment in time for publication.

Spectrum’s 43 employees will move from a 5K SF office into Lincoln’s two-floor, 200K SF headquarters at Piedmont Town Center in SouthPark, which already employs 260 people, CBJ reported. No job cuts are expected.

Executives told CBJ that Spectrum’s name will soon change to Lincoln.

Lincoln’s global portfolio spans 720M SF, according to the company’s website. It manages 27M SF in the Carolinas. The developer’s Charlotte-based work includes the 3M SF Legacy Union office tower complex.

Spectrum’s 4.4M SF portfolio will now become “a significant expansion of Lincoln’s regional footprint,” according to the press release. The company’s local assets previously included Vantage South End, a 635K SF mixed-use development that it sold to Cousins Properties in 2024.

Charlotte ranks among “the most attractive markets for investors” in the country, according to CBRE’s 2026 North America Investor Intentions Survey. Charlotte’s multifamily market is “maintaining stronger demand fundamentals than most peer markets,” a first-quarter Matthews report said, with a 6.2 percent vacancy rate a signal that demand has absorbed new supply.

PPR Capital Management just began investing in the build-to-rent housing sector last year, and now it is looking to pounce on a market it sees as benefiting from the new federal housing law. 

The Wayne, Pennsylvania-based firm this week is launching the PPR Keystone Housing Growth Fund, its first-ever fund focused on build-to-rent housing. PPR executives tell Bisnow it has a fundraising target of $100M. 

Courtesy of PPR Capital Management

A build-to-rent property PPR acquired in the Nashville metro area

The fund is designed to buy build-to-rent communities from the developers that constructed them. This type of sale was ultimately allowed by the 21st Century Road to Housing Act after months of debate over a proposal that would have required these types of homes be sold to individual buyers. 

The lengthy period of uncertainty froze the BTR market and caused financial distress that PPR is looking to capitalize on.

“There’s a lot of product available across the markets we’re targeting that has been built to rent but that the builder, their original take-out isn’t there anymore,” PPR Chief Asset Officer Craig Johnsen said. “So we are targeting build-to-rent properties, but also taking the development risk out of there and buying from distressed sellers.”

He named 10 regions the firm is targeting: Dallas, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Chicago, Raleigh, Denver, West Palm Beach and Richmond. 

The fund is raising money from accredited individual investors, and its minimum check size is $50K. It is looking to buy properties with between 150 and 250 units, and with its $100M fundraising target, Johnsen said he anticipates that would yield six to eight deals. 

Founded in 2007, PPR is a private equity firm with $1.5B in assets under management. It has historically focused on acquiring nonperforming loans and residential mortgages. The firm began buying some multifamily in 2022 before entering the BTR sector last year. 

Johnsen said there were distressed BTR situations popping up early last year even before Congress disrupted the market. An overbuilding of units in some markets made it impossible for some developers to achieve the rents they needed to hit their return projections. 

An estimated 68,000 build-to-rent housing units began construction in the U.S. last year, according to the National Association of Home Builders, below the 2024 peak of 84,000 units but above most other years this century. 

BTR housing starts soared after the pandemic and became a larger share of the single-family housing market.

Some developers that have been unable to hit their rent projections have decided to cut their losses and sell, Johnsen said. 

This was the case for the first BTR deal PPR closed in March 2025: the $87M purchase of the Highline at Knoxville in Tennessee.  

“That happened to be one where the first phase of construction was totally complete and the second phase was underway, and they were looking to get out of the deal — they could see how the economics were going,” Johnsen said. 

While these conditions existed early last year, the lengthy Road to Housing debate made it much more difficult for BTR developers to sell their assets, as prospective buyers didn’t know how the rules for the market would be rewritten. 

Now that the bill became law Saturday at midnight — without President Donald Trump’s signature — the market appears ripe for a rebound. Hunter Housing Economics President Brad Hunter told Bisnow this week that BTR “could absolutely be one of the biggest winners” of the legislation.

Johnsen described the BTR market as being “over the hurdle.”

“We’re not anticipating any additional headwinds from a regulatory standpoint for build-to-rent going forward,” he said. “So that makes it a great time, especially given one reason a building might be under distress or needs capital to take them out was because of this three- to six-month period where there was a pause.”

Much of the debate over the bill had centered on lawmakers’ concerns about large companies buying up single-family houses and pricing individuals out of the market. The law ultimately kept some restrictions for institutional investors buying single-family homes, but it included a carve-out for build-to-rent properties. 

Developers that built single-family home projects intentionally for renters did so with the plan of ultimately selling to another landlord, rather than individuals, so Johnsen said the economics wouldn’t work for them to sell homes one by one.

And he said these properties don’t present an attractive investment for homebuyers compared to renting, given the elevated interest rates and homeownership costs like association fees and maintenance. 

“The levered return on buying a townhome for a homeowner is not actually good anymore,” he said. “When I look at it in terms of PPR wanting to supply housing to people, it’s more cost-effective for a company like ourselves to experience economies of scale.”

While PPR isn’t building new housing with this fund, Johnsen said allowing developers to exit their prior projects frees them up to build more.

More build-to-rent housing is needed across the country because Americans are increasingly renting for longer periods of their lives, but some still want the comfort of a single-family home with a yard. 

This creates strong demand for BTR housing, and Johnsen said he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. He said that is part of why PPR decided to focus on BTR with its new fund.

“Going forward, rents in build-to-rent properties — or properties that mimic single-family housing, whether it’s a townhome or detached single-family — are going to significantly outperform rents at your more traditional garden-style, podium-style multifamily property,” he said. 

“But right now, especially given some of the supply surges that have happened in these Sun Belt markets, that’s not really reflected in their valuations,” he added. “So we think there’s a great opportunity for our investors to get in with relatively low downside.”

It’s not just New York and California — the office market is getting healthier across the country.

Bisnow/created with ChatGPT

National office vacancy rates declined 10 basis points in the second quarter, with more than half of the 92 markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield notching a dip in vacancy rates. The second-quarter results reinforced an uptick at the start of the year that has been building despite macroeconomic volatility. 

Vacancy has declined for two consecutive quarters as tenants fill the highest-quality buildings, leading some demand to trickle into the Class-A tier as the worst office space is being taken out of commission, with more than 90,000 apartments in the office-to-residential conversion pipeline. 

“The first half of 2026 reinforced that the office recovery is no longer confined to a handful of leading markets or trophy assets,” David Smith, the head of Americas insights at Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement. 

Vacancy declined in 49 of the 92 markets tracked by Cushman, or 53% of cities. Tech firms building artificial intelligence tools continue to drive leasing activity, and the best-performing markets continue to be tech-centric hubs. San Francisco, Orange County and Midtown Manhattan recorded the largest year-over-year declines in vacancy, according to Cushman.

Other areas around New York City are well represented in the top 20 markets for vacancy declines, joined by secondary markets including Kansas City, Missouri; Charlotte; Jacksonville, Florida; Austin; and others. Many of the markets are bouncing back from cyclical vacancy highs, with San Francisco gaining 364 basis points of occupancy but leaving overall vacancy elevated at 30%. 

The wide representation of markets seeing vacancy dips suggests that office leasing activity is more broad-based and not solely reliant with tech tenants.

Total U.S. office inventory also contracted by 33M SF over the past five quarters, and 20 markets have had at least 1% of their office space taken off the market, as more conversions are proposed. 

Among markets moving in the other direction, vacancy climbed the most year-over-year in Cleveland, although the city’s vacancy rate is below the national average of 20.1%.

Boston, Oklahoma City, Puget Sound’s Eastside outside Seattle and Los Angeles’ central business district round out the five markets where vacancy has grown the most year-over-year. Boston’s vacancy rate is still below the national average, and neighborhoods outside Downtown Los Angeles have seen vacancy plateau over the last three quarters.

Tenants vacated a net 300K SF of space during the second quarter, but absorption for the rolling 12 quarters totaled 14.3M SF after revisions to previous quarters’ totals pushed move-ins higher and suggest that this quarter’s total could also shift upward.

Sublease availability has also declined 15% year-over-year to 96M SF, its lowest point since early 2021, and continuing a downward trend that Cushman says historically precedes a broader market recovery. 

More conversions will be announced, helping support gradual occupancy improvement across the sector as it benefits from healthier supply-side dynamics, Smith said. 

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is going local with its latest investment in U.S. real estate.

Norges Bank Investment Management invested $500M with Asana Partners to buy high-quality neighborhood retail assets, the Charlotte-based retail investment firm announced Tuesday. It is at least the second — and a relatively small — bet on U.S. retail real estate from Norges this year.

Asana Partners, which has more than $9B in assets under management, and Norges are creating a fund called Asana Partners Strategic Partners I to hold the investments. The strategic partnership is starting with a 50% stake in a portfolio of grocery-anchored retail centers but will also target unanchored centers, street retail and mixed-used assets for investment.

“Forming APSP I reflects our shared conviction in the strength and resilience of neighborhood retail real estate and expands our existing capability to capitalize on attractive investment opportunities across the country,” Asana partner Reed Kracke said in a statement.

Asana and Norges didn’t disclose the properties the sovereign wealth fund bought into and declined a request from Bisnow to provide additional details Tuesday morning. Asana’s portfolio spans 10.3M SF in 25 cities, according to its website.  

The partnership with Norges is running alongside Asana’s existing Asana Partners Select Fund, and Asana has acquired at least two assets separately since the start of the year. It paid $151M for a Huntington Beach, California, shopping center in February, the same month it cut a deal to acquire a 197K SF retail center called The Arboretum in Austin.

The investment comes after Norges announced a strategic pivot to diversify its real estate investments across sectors and geographies.

The manager of some $2.2T in assets as part of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global said in December that it would invest up to 7% of its capital in global real estate, with a focus on buying into platforms and funds. Norges is looking to hold a diversified portfolio spread across the globe, with 30% to 70% of its portfolio allocated to North America. 

The three-year strategic plan aims to create a more balanced portfolio after the firm told the Norwegian government in a November letter that its real estate investments had underperformed its equity and bond holdings. 

Norges has already been putting some of that capital into grocery-anchored retail. Last month, it partnered with TPG, PSP Investments, La Caisse and others to buy Echo Realty and its 230 retail centers across the Midwest and Southeast in a deal valued at around $2B. 

Grocery-anchored retail and other necessity-based asset classes have become popular investment targets for institutional capital, including a $1.6B fund launched in December by Bain Capital Real Estate and 11North.

Law firms across the country have watched their caseloads explode under a triple whammy of increased artificial intelligence usage, rising regulatory uncertainty and a more litigious business climate.

These new business challenges have supercharged law practices’ growth. Flush with cash, they have been gobbling up office space at a pace few other industries can match, growing their footprints after years of shrinkage.

“The folks who signed a lease in 2019, 10-year leases, they’re coming up in a few years,” said SmithGroup senior workplace strategist Madeline Dunsmore, who focuses on legal clients. “These are big firms with big budgets, and suddenly, in this market, those budgets go pretty far.” 

Bisnow/created with ChatGPT

Compared to the pre-pandemic average, legal leasing activity was up 46% in the year trailing the first quarter of 2026, while tech leasing in the same period was down 8% from its pre-pandemic average, according to CBRE.

The legal industry signed 4.6M SF leases in the first three months of 2026, part of a string of four years of record leasing activity, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The trend represents a reversal from a decade ago, when the average law firm was giving back 25% of its office space when signing a new lease.

Firms are signing for larger blocks, renewing early and planting flags in fast‑growing markets as they compete for attorneys with specialized AI and compliance expertise. With legal hours rising and AI‑related legislation proliferating across the country, the sector’s office growth now reflects a broader shift.

“The legal profession is recession-proof, and it’s been consistently more office-centric than other industries,” Cushman & Wakefield Head of Insights for the Americas David Smith said. “I think some firms are opportunistic.”

The average firm’s profit growth last year was 13%, according to a joint state of the industry report by Georgetown Law and the Thomson Reuters Institute. 

The report says the surge in demand lifting profits is due in large part to chaos, including trade wars, regulatory upheaval and geopolitical tensions that “require constant legal navigation.” 

These demand drivers led to a 3.9% year-over-year jump in the total hours worked by lawyers last year, one of the most rapid expansions the report has ever tallied. 

Legal leasing continues to grow in top-tier markets. In May, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett finalized a 916K SF lease at Extell Development’s upcoming New York tower at 570 Fifth Ave., Manhattan’s largest office lease in six years. 

Firms like Kirkland & Ellis and Goodwin Procter expanded late last year as part of an industry “space race.” 

Legal clients have accounted for 17% of Manhattan leasing volume this year, up from 11% in all of 2025, according to Savills.

But the industry’s growth is also driving more activity in regional markets with growing populations, business expansion or evolving office dynamics. In Miami, the legal industry now makes up 20% of office leasing, versus 10% pre-pandemic. 

Nashville, Charlotte and Charleston, South Carolina, have all seen similar jumps, and Austin and Dallas have seen booms in new legal spaces due to firms opening satellite offices, Smith said.

“There are countless examples of people just doubling down and renewing with similar amounts of space or slightly more than they had at their large offices,” Smith said.

The number of job postings among law firms for lawyers with AI skills and experience has jumped seven times since generative AI became more prevalent in 2022, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

“There has also been an increase in AI-related bills introduced into current legislative sessions across more than half of states,” Smith said. “This unprecedented legislative activity is a driving force for top law firms to have and grow their AI practice groups.”

But it remains to be seen if the chaos that has driven increased revenues proves to be a sustainable business strategy. The Georgetown-Reuters report hints at substantial financial pressures — including growth in spending on AI tools but an inability to charge premium AI-level fees — and the potential for a boom-and-bust cycle coming to the industry.

Firms are racing to load up on tech and talent, and workforce costs are up 8.2% compared to 2024, according to the Georgetown-Reuters report. 

“Certain law firms, even though they’re becoming more efficient from a utilization-of-space perspective, are actually growing because they’re acquiring attorneys and end up expanding their offices as a result,” said Ryan Lopez, vice president of leasing at Carr Properties.

The amount of office space needed per attorney is down from 925 SF before the pandemic to 746 SF today, but other needs are filling the gaps in law firms’ requirements.

Legal firms want to expand with more collaboration areas and more war room space for mock trials and strategy sessions, and they want high-end amenity space as a talent magnet.

Hospitality-driven design, gyms, pools and collaboration spaces are in, taking up to one-fifth of new offices, Smith said. Other in-demand amenities include parking, especially for partners, as well as conference and meeting rooms sizable enough for events and dinners.

“Rather than just cutting costs, firms are investing in placemaking, shared spaces that support culture and client interaction,” CBRE Managing Director of Americas Consulting Emily Botello said.

They are also investing in proprietary software and AI systems that need staff to oversee them, scaling up space needs where the mid-2010s removal of physical law libraries shrunk office footprints.

“The bottom line is that AI is creating demand for AI legal services, and it is also creating demand for AI support positions within law firms to implement, manage and maintain AI systems,” Smith said. 

New York-based DLC Management Corp. has acquired an open-air shopping center in Charlotte’s Northlake neighborhood.

The center, Perimeter Woods, sits at 10125 Perimeter Parkway, across from Northlake Mall, and is accessible via Interstates 485 and 77, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. The 127K SF retail center is anchored by Best Buy, PetSmart, Burlington and Michael’s. The property spans more than 20 acres along the parkway.

The $36.6M deal for the site was part of a six-property acquisition by DLC, which specializes in open-air shopping center development. DLC owns and operates nearly 100 centers in the U.S., including the 303K SF Pavilion at King’s Grant in Concord, north of Charlotte. The six-property deal adds more than 1M SF to the firm’s portfolio across several states, according to the CBJ.

The Perimeter Woods acquisition reflects continued investor interest in Charlotte’s retail market, despite the challenges the 1.1M SF Northlake Mall across the street has faced. The enclosed mall sold last year for about $39M following a period of financial distress. 

Open-air shopping centers tend to be more reliable assets than enclosed malls, as their mainstream retail anchors, like grocery markets or big-box stores, provide stable shopping traffic, according to investment firm RockStep Capital. Enclosed malls include a variety of tenants to manage, from entertainment to dining to fitness, and often require longer lease terms. Open-air centers usually have lower operating costs, better visibility and accessibility, and are more sustainable than indoor malls, according to a McNeil Engineering report.

In recent years, many retailers have shifted from malls toward “outdoor, non-mall locations such as grocery-anchored shopping centers and strip malls,” The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024.

Among three different mall formats — indoor malls, open-air shopping centers and outlet malls — open-air shopping centers saw the most traffic growth year-over-year, according to the April Placer.ai mall index. Those centers’ visits rose 3.5% in April compared to the previous year, while indoor malls saw a 2.2% increase.

Retail vacancy in Charlotte is among the lowest in the U.S., at less than 2.9%, according to a first-quarter Colliers report. The rate has stayed below 3% for three consecutive years.  

Charlotte has a few more enclosed malls in addition to Northlake, including SouthPark Mall, Concord Mills and Carolina Place Mall. But the metro has many more open-air shopping sites — at least 15 open-air malls, like Phillips Place — as well as walkable shopping-oriented villages.

DLC made the acquisition with a fund managed by investment adviser DRA Advisors, the CBJ reported. The seller was KRG Charlotte Perimeter Woods LLC, affiliated with Kite Realty Group. 

Charlotte-based Atrium Health is seeking to build its first hospital in Metro Atlanta.

Atrium is proposing to build an acute care general teaching hospital on a 40-acre campus in Fulton County, according to a filing with the Georgia Department of Community Health, first reported by Axios.

The proposed facility would help provide care to underserved patients who previously went to WellStar Atlanta Medical Center and its affiliate WellStar AMC South, which both closed in 2022, according to the filing.

The hospital would include an emergency department and could provide other services, such as perinatal and neonatal care, diagnostic imaging and surgeries. It would start out with 50 beds and be affiliated with the Morehouse School of Medicine, Axios reported.

Atrium, which is part of Advocate Health, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed hospital would anchor a mixed-use campus at 675 Metropolitan Parkway SW that is intended to include office, retail, residential and medical facilities. It would be located about half a mile from Morehouse School of Medicine’s main campus.

Atrium bought the 40-acre campus near the West End MARTA Station in 2024. It hadn’t previously revealed its plans for the land — home to MET Atlanta, a 1.1M SF historic warehouse — since the purchase. But one city council member predicted at the time that it would mean a new hospital for Atlanta.

In May, city officials unveiled that Atlanta was teaming up with Morehouse and a nonprofit health system to build an $800M hospital, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. The officials didn’t disclose the nonprofit or where the hospital would be located. 

Atrium Health has two other health facilities in Georgia: Atrium Health Navicent in Macon and Atrium Health Floyd in Rome, according to Atlanta News First.