StreetLIghts and Eastern Federal have been greenlit by the Charlotte City Council to move ahead on the redevelopment of a site that includes a vintage theater. Eastern Federal owns the theater site.

Dubbed The Manor, The Charlotte Business Journal reports the project is expected to include between 120 and 130 residential units and about 35,000 square feet of retail uses. The site currently has about 40,000 square feet of existing retail space, including the 70-year-old Regal Manor Twin Theatre, which closed during COVID.

Besides the movie theater, the site has a few retail buildings and an office building. It’s not yet clear what will be done to the structures as the project moves forward.

On its website, StreetLights Residential says it takes a design-centric approach to urban development, focusing on multifamily apartment homes and mixed-use developments. 

The Raleigh skyline

Retail space is becoming such a hot commodity in North Carolina’s urban markets that developers are changing their plans to include more of it.

New York-based Tidal Real Estate Partners has altered plans for its proposed 20-story mixed-use tower in downtown Raleigh to add retail space, the Triangle Business Journal reported. The project’s ground-floor retail space will now span 20,601 SF instead of the originally planned 18,650 SF.

A Colliers Raleigh-Durham Q1 2026 retail market report noted that this is “the fourth consecutive year the market has maintained sub-3% vacancy, highlighting the ongoing scarcity of available space.” Raleigh’s Village District even has a waitlist for retailers looking to lease space, TBJ reported. 

A Marcus & Millichap retail forecast published in March ranked Raleigh and Charlotte as the top two retail markets in the U.S. Throughout last year, the report found, Raleigh withstood the departures of many big-box retailers through increased leasing demand from small-business owners.

Andrew Margulies, Marcus & Millichap’s senior managing director of investments for the Carolinas, previously told Bisnow that there is an almost unlimited appetite for well-located retail centers in both Charlotte and Raleigh. 

Several of Raleigh’s incoming high-rises will include ground-level retail, among them the 20-story The Strand, a predominantly residential building with nearly 9K SF of retail, and the 37-story Highline Glenwood, another residential building that will include 7,500 SF of retail.

With Tidal’s revamped plans for its tower, which sits on a 1.4-acre lot at 521 and 529 S. Wilmington St. and 108 Stronachs Alley, the developer has also added parking space and taken away some apartment units. There will now be 368 parking spaces in a 153,812 SF parking deck instead of 313 spaces in a 166,400 SF deck, as well as 13 fewer apartment units.

These changes — part of Tidal’s application to extend the approved site plans, which had been set to expire in February — have increased the size of the proposed tower from about 583K SF to just under 591K SF. 

The developer reportedly originally paid $12M for the site in 2021. 

Tidal’s extension was permitted, and the revised plans are good until January 2028, according to TBJ. While the developer has not yet submitted an application for a building permit, the site review process is already complete. 

Tidal’s other Raleigh projects in the works include the renovation and rebranding of its Holiday Inn on Hillsborough Street and the construction of a 13-story luxury hotel next to it.

Coterie Properties is leading a team aiming to transform The Station and Jefferson Plaza office properties along Holcomb Bridge Road in Norcross into a mixed-use development.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports plans include 320 wrap-style apartments, 30 townhomes and 16,100 square feet of restaurant and retail space.

The first phase of the redevelopment would focus on a pair of restaurant and retail buildings that would rise on the footprints of two existing buildings.

The rest of the buildings to the south of the creek would be torn down to make room for the apartments and townhomes.

A second phase of the project would likely include a new parking deck and approximately 150 age-restricted apartments for people ages 55 and older, replacing surface parking behind Jefferson Plaza.

With an estimated price tag exceeding $100 million, the first phase would be built concurrently and take about two years to complete.

Norcross City Council would have to rezone the properties in order for the project to move forward.

StoneRiver Co. purchased the 288-unit 198 Milltown Apartments from Zimmerman Development Co. for $66.9 million.

198 Milltown Apartments, which are located at 198 Milltown St., were built in 2020 and offer one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, with sizes ranging from 700 square feet to over 1,200 square feet. The complex is just north of Interstate 40/85 on the west side of University Drive in a high-growth area near Alamance Crossing and only a few minutes from Elon University.

The apartment’s amenities include a 24-hour health club, resident lounge, pet spa and pet park,  salt-water swimming pool, outdoor social lounge and grill area, Amazon package lockers, a playground, a car care center and garages. 

The Triad Business Journal reports that the acquisition is the first investment by StoneRiver Investment Fund III, which includes institutional, family office, and high-net-worth investors, according to a press release from Berkadia. StoneRiver Investment Fund III recently held its initial equity closing and raised $81.75 million in capital commitments.

A 361-unit property in South Jacksonville sold for $69.6 million, nominally more than the seller paid for it. The Mirage on Kernan at 3601 S. Kernan Blvd. sold for $192,847 per unit. Element Property Company sold the property to Bridge Investment Group. The property last sold for $68 million in May 2022.

The multifamily asset, consisting of 26 three-story buildings, was built in 1996 on 33.9 acres. It offers two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments with two to four bathrooms, ranging from 787 to 1,320 square feet. Rents are between $1,372 and $2,373 per month.

On-site amenities include a dog park and dog wash station, outdoor kitchens, two pools, pickleball and bocce ball courts, package service, fitness center and more.

Bridge Investment Group’s website states, “We embed ourselves in our properties from the moment we acquire them, overseeing capital investment, leasing, operations, maintenance, and capital structure, as well as the enhancement of amenities and resident services.”

MRP Realty, Asana Partners and the Rockefeller Group announced the first joint venture between their firms and the final close of funding for the Brooklyn & Church redevelopment. The partnership closed with lenders on construction financing for the conversion of the former Duke Energy headquarters located at 526 S. Church Street in Charlotte. When completed, the project will consist of 460 apartments and 57,000 square feet of retail.

The first conversion of office to mixed-use in Charlotte, the 800,000-square-foot building will repurpose the 1970s office tower into loft-style apartments with ground-floor retail and a new three-story, 30,000-square-foot retail building at the corner of Church Street and Brooklyn Village Avenue. 

Brooklyn & Church will rise thirteen stories and provide modern industrial loft-style living and balconies. The building’s core and shell will be preserved, and the façade will be completely reskinned, providing new glass windows and spacious balconies.

Le Investment Group closed the sale of The Mango Tree Apartments, a 56-unit multifamily property located at 8021 Mango Ave., Fontana. The property was sold for $10,850,000, equating to $193,750 per unit.

The all-cash sale closed within 14 days at a 4.50% cap rate, with a GRM of 13.09 and a Pro Forma CAP rate of 6.86%. The property was a value-add play, with low existing rents and renovations required, presenting significant potential for increased revenue and asset appreciation. Le Investment Group represented both the seller and the buyer.

“We are proud to have successfully facilitated this transaction with such efficiency,” said Albert Le, managing partner at Le Investment Group. “This sale helps demonstrate the momentum of the current commercial real estate landscape. Investors are eager to re-enter the market after a period of hesitation, and this transaction highlights the demand for well-located, income-generating properties.”

Green River Builders and ARC Multifamily Group obtained a construction loan, allowing them to proceed with a 282-unit multifamily development in Monroe, Georgia. The $42.7 million loan is for The Jax, a garden-style apartment complex. Green River is based in Monroe, about 20 minutes east of Atlanta.

Blake Cohen and Charlie Clark with CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance in Atlanta represented the borrowers. Peachtree Group provided the two-and-a-half-year full-term, interest-only loan at approximately 74% loan-to-cost. The loan was also structured with an earnout based on completion and leasing hurdles.

Located at 200 Aycock Avenue, the project will comprise seven three-story residential buildings with one-, two-, and three-bedroom floorplans averaging 1,117 square feet. Community amenities include a business center, clubhouse, pool, fitness center, volleyball court, picnic area, EV charging, and a breakfast/coffee concierge.

ARC Multifamily invests in multifamily properties throughout the Southeast United States. 

Echelon Resources Inc. and LBD Investments are taking over Showplace West/One Plaza Center to redevelop it into market-rate apartments and about 9,000 square feet of retail.

The eight-story, 135,000-square-foot concrete office building at 101 S. Main St. was completed in 1971. In 2019, International Market Centers donated it to Downtown High Point. It was acquired in 2011 for about $1.49 million. The former office building was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Echelon Resources specializes in redeveloping historic buildings. It says it has repurposed several former factories, mills, warehouses, schools and residential buildings.

EDB, meanwhile, focuses on urban and suburban infill mixed-use and historic redevelopment projects in the Southeast.

High Street Residential (HSR), the residential subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company, has broken ground on the Residences at Perimeter Summit. The seven-story, 350-unit mid-rise multifamily community is located in Brookhaven, Georgia. HSR paid $11.5 million for the property at 1251 Perimeter Summit Pkwy. The project is part of Perimeter Summit, a mixed-use community consisting of 1.7 million square feet of office and retail space across four buildings, a 182-room hotel, and a condo building.

The Residences at Perimeter Summit will include units from 900 square feet to mid-1,400 square feet. Unit amenities will include private balconies in select units. The project will also boast amenities such as an elevated pool, three spacious courtyards, a 1,200-square-foot speakeasy lounge, a fitness center, a clubroom, a coworking center, private conference and study rooms, a tasting room, a pet spa, and a golf simulator.
 
Cooper Carry is leading the design of the project, and New South Construction is providing construction services for the development