Urban Street Development and Berkadia secured $38.5 million in permanent and construction financing to fund the expansion of the Hotel Indigo Tallahassee – CollegeTown. The project at 826 Gaines Street, is near Florida State University.

Urban Street recently bought an adjacent .43 acre parcel in order to add on to the hotel. The hotel is expanding from 143 rooms to 237 and 5,500 square feet of prime ground floor retail at the roundabout entrance facing Doak Campbell Stadium.

Brad Williamson, Mitch Sinberg, and Harry Mancera of Berkadia Hotels & Hospitality, arranged the financing package on behalf of Urban Street. Synovus Bank provided the five-year loan which includes funds to refinance Phase 1 of the seven-story, mid-rise hotel – 143 rooms completed in 2020 – as well as construction of Phase II, 94 keys slated to deliver in 2026. Construction of Phase II has already commenced.

Wood Partners is eyeing a 350-unit apartment building at 361 Herron Dr. near Geodis Park. The structure will rise five stories and include a six-level parking garage and a pool courtyard area in the center of the development.

The project is slated for a 4.09-acre site near Tech Hill Commons, which Wood Partners does not yet own. The property currently holds an automotive parts shop. The permitting request shows 6,000 square feet of amenity space across from Matryoshka Coffee.  Proposed apartment sizes range from 525 square feet to 1,055 square feet. 

Over the past two years, Wood Partners has developed nine new Nashville-area communities that are either in production or in lease-up, nearing 3,000 units. Previously completed projects include Alta Union in the Nations, Alta Foundry near downtown Nashville, Alta Depot in Smyrna, Alta Riverwalk in Metrocenter, and Alta Farms at Cane Ridge in Antioch. 

National multifamily developer Wood Partners will expand its presence in Charlotte with Alta 10th and Seigle and Altera Mint Hill, bringing its total to 16 developments in the city and 30 in the state. These new multifamily properties will bring more than 550 units to one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

The 252-unit Altera Mint Hill broke ground earlier this month and is set to be delivered in the first quarter of 2026. Wood says the one, two and three-bedroom units will have “cost-effective” rates. The apartment community includes a fitness center, clubhouse, coffee bar, pool courtyard, outdoor grill station and lounge area.

Alta 10^th and Seigle will include 302 units, including a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment layouts. Its amenities include a rooftop lounge and sky terrace, fitness studio, private micro-offices, a saltwater pool and sun deck. Alta 10th and Seigle broke ground in April 2024, with the first units expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Simon announced plans to integrate luxury living at its Fashion Valley mall in San Diego. Following the recent completion of a multimillion-dollar revitalization, the property will add 850 multifamily units developed by AMLI Residential along with 100,000 square feet of new retail and new dining experiences.

 “Simon is leading the evolution of today’s retail landscape with the strategic transformation of key properties across the country,” said Mark Silvestri, president of development at Simon. “We’re excited about this next phase of Fashion Valley as we continue to reinvest and add a walkable, livable lifestyle community that is intertwined with handpicked luxury brands that can only be found here This redevelopment marks a new era of sophistication and convenient living in San Diego.”

Fashion Valley recently marked the openings of first-to-market luxury brands, including Dior, Bottega Veneta, David Yurman and Dolce & Gabbana. It was also recently announced three more first-to-market brands will join the lineup including Celine, slated to open later in the second quarter, and Christian Louboutin and Fendi, both of which will open in 2025.

Ackerman & Co. has experience turning old brick warehouses into thriving mixed-use developments. Along with MDH Partners, Ackerman developed the Lee + White project along Atlanta’s Westside Trail which contains restaurants, breweries and office space. The company has purchased another empty warehouse not far from Lee + White and hopes to add to its success. The 12-acre site was acquired in 2021 for $24 million. The site contains a 212,000-square-foot warehouse, about half the size of Lee + White.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports Ackerman has requested a meeting with Atlanta planners to discuss rezoning the property at 1200 White St. to allow for a mixed-use project with residential space. The meeting would allow the developer to refine its plans before submitting a formal rezoning application.

It’s not clear when Ackerman will move forward with a project.

Ackerman & Co. has more than 37 million square feet of office, medical, retail and mixed-used space developed, and 4.5 million square feet under management.

Wentworth Institute of Technology plans to expand its Boston campus with approximately 1,400 new dorm beds and new academic buildings over the next decade, Boston Business Journal reported. 

The plans include two new dorms on Huntington Avenue, replacing Edwards and Rodgers Hall with a 672-bed residence hall, and replacing Baker Hall with a 13-story, 522-bed residence hall. Another eight-story, 217-bed residence hall will be built with a new athletics field house.  

Wentworth also plans a new academic building for the School of Architecture and Design and new buildings for the engineering and management schools at the Annex complex. Renovations to Wentworth Hall will include a new welcome center and a new athletics field house, along with new green spaces and outdoor public areas. Construction could begin next year pending approval from the Boston Planning and Development Agency. 

Core Spaces has announced the continued growth of Oxenfree, the company’s Build-to-Rent (BTR) brand. Chicago-based Core has a portfolio of nearly 4,000 homes under development and in its pipeline across major markets including Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Nashville, Austin, Charlotte and Florida’s Gulf Coast.

This includes seven communities and approximately 1,500 homes currently under construction and groundbreakings scheduled for spring 2024. Oxenfree at Princeton, located outside of Dallas, spans over 50 acres and features 408 single-family homes. Oxenfree at WeHo, located in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood has 96 multi-level townhomes. Core has broken ground on five other communities in the last five months.

“After spending nearly 18 years understanding and perfecting the student housing and conventional resident UX, we saw a huge opportunity to bring our design-focused and hospitality-driven approach to their next phase of life with Oxenfree,” said Marc Lifshin, co-founder and CEO at Core. Core’s student portfolio consists of over 60 communities and over 37,400 beds across the country, with a pipeline of over 35,000 beds.

The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the University of California, Irvine, entered into a definitive agreement with Tenet Healthcare Corporation to acquire Tenet’s Pacific Coast Network for $975 million. The network will become part of UCI Health, the clinical enterprise of UC Irvine. 

“UC Irvine has deepened its healthcare commitment to the future of Orange County, our region and California,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman. “This journey in healthcare is deeply intertwined with the University of California’s dedication to bettering our communities, expanding access to premier healthcare, and pioneering the medical innovations of tomorrow, today. Our vision will bridge gaps in regional care and reinforce UCI’s place among the nation’s leading academic health systems while advancing solutions to challenges facing healthcare.”

Pending customary regulatory approvals, clearances and closing conditions, the proposed acquisition would bring four medical centers in Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley and Placentia and associated outpatient locations into the UCI Health system. UCI Health currently provides care at UCI Medical Center in Orange and a growing network of multispecialty care centers.

A development group, Gateway Jax, has been assembling downtown parcels to ensure it has the critical mass to get going on a project that looks to add a thousand apartment units and an abundance of retail space.

The Jacksonville Business Journal reports Gateway Jax is made up of a group of experienced investors. DLB Capital and JWB Real Estate will be helming the project, in the North Core, which the developers believe could be valued at $2 billion over the next ten years.

Work on the first phase of the project could begin in mid-2024, transforming a four-block area on the edge of downtown.

That phase will consist of five buildings centered on Pearl Street, with the project stretching between Union and Church Streets, near Florida State College at Jacksonville’s downtown campus.

The rest of the project would extend throughout the urban core, with Gateway saying it owns almost two dozen acres of properties in North Core, the center of downtown LaVilla and Cathedral Hill.

Orlando-based SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. has made an unsolicited offer to buy theme park operator Cedar Fair for $3.4B, according to Bloomberg.

If the deal goes through between the two publicly traded companies, SeaWorld could add 13 theme parks and thousands of acres of real estate to its portfolio. 

SeaWorld’s Antartica: Empire of the Penguin exhibit

Cedar Fair, based in Sandusky, Ohio, owns 13 parks, 12 of which operate seasonally. According to a 2020 year-end Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Cedar Fair’s real estate holdings include about 4,500 acres. SeaWorld owns about 2,000 acres. 

CNBC reported that Cedar Fair’s market cap is $2.8B compared to SeaWorld’s market cap of $4.6B.

CNBC quoted Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski, who wrote in a research note that SeaWorld “has lacked a more robust geographical footprint and lack of season pass penetration,” and acquiring Cedar Fair “would give them a bigger presence across North America and would allow them to more effectively cross market some of their bigger assets.”

SeaWorld suffered from bad publicity following the 2013 documentary Blackfish, and has since emphasized conservation, research and rides at its theme parks. 

In Sandusky, Cedar Fair’s flagship Cedar Point theme park sits on 870 acres with a waterpark, hotels, restaurants, employee housing complexes, three marinas, an upscale campground, a sports center and 145 undeveloped acres.

Cedar Fair’s other properties include:

• King’s Island, near Cincinnati — 680 acres.
• Knott’s Berry Farm, near Los Angeles — 175 acres.
• California’s Great America, in Santa Clara, California — 175 acres.
• Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort in New Braunfels, Texas — 90 acres.
• Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas — 40 acres.
• Canada’s Wonderland, near Toronto — 295 acres.
• Carowinds, in Charlotte, North Carolina — 400 acres.
• Kings Dominion, near Richmond, Virginia — 740 acres.
• Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania — 210 acres.
• Worlds of Fun, in Kansas City, Missouri — 350 acres.
• Valleyfair, near Minneapolis/St. Paul — 190 acres.
• Michigan’s Adventure, in Muskegon, Michigan — 260 acres.

Cedar Fair also manages and operates a theme park in Gilroy, California. All of the parks operate seasonally except for Knott’s Berry Farm, which is open year-round.

Combined, Cedar Fair’s parks host 26 million guests annually and generate revenues of more than $1.3B, according to its website. A November earnings release indicated attendance in Q3 of 2021 was 82% compared to the same period of 2019, yet net revenues totaled a record $753M, up 5% from the same time frame. 

According to SeaWorld’s 2020 year-end filing, it owns just over 2,000 acres that include:

• SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Aquatica in Orlando — 418 acres.
• Busch Gardens, Adventure Island and SeaWorld headquarters in Tampa — 362 acres.
• A breeding and holding facility in Dade City — 109 acres.
• Sesame Place San Diego — 66 acres.
• SeaWorld, Aquatica and Discovery Point in San Antonio — 415 acres.
• Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia — 654 acres.
• Sesame Place, near Philadelphia — 55 acres.
• SeaWorld also leases approximately 190 acres from the city of San Diego for SeaWorld San Diego. 

Of its holdings, about 400 acres of land are for future development.

According to the Sandusky Register, local officials expressed concern that Cedar Fair’s corporate headquarters could be relocated and affect the tax base if the company were to be acquired. However, Cedar Fair has been targeted for takeover before; company leaders rejected a $4B takeover bid from Six Flags in 2019.