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.

Nine months after emerging from bankruptcy, retailer Joann Inc. has commenced voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business. The Hudson, OH-based company is seeking court approval to commence a process for the sale of substantially all its assets, with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, LLC serving as the “stalking horse” bidder.

“Since becoming a private company in April, the board and management team have continued to execute on top- and bottom-line initiatives to manage costs and drive value,” said Michael Prendergast, interim CEO of Joann. “However, the past several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, forced us to take this step.”

If other qualified bids are submitted during the court-supervised sale processes, the company plans to conduct an auction or auctions, with the stalking horse bid setting the floor.   

Kirkland & Ellis is serving as legal counsel to Joann, with Centerview Partners LLC serving as financial advisor and Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC serving as restructuring advisor. The company operates more than 800 stores across 49 states. 

Two heavyweight apartment investors have spent over $183 million gobbling up Charlotte commercial real estate.

St. Regis Properties acquired Crown of Queen City near uptown from Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR) for $88 million in February 2021. The Charlotte Business Journal reported KKR bought the Class A apartment community at 101 W. Morehead St., formerly called Broadstone Queen City, for $90 million in February 2021. Alliance Residential built the $52 million, 260-unit development at the edge of South End and uptown.

It delivered in 2020 and has about 10,000 square feet of amenity space and 1,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The Aritzia at LoSo, a 350-unit complex in Charlotte’s lower South End neighborhood, sold on Nov. 19 for $95.5 million. Ares Public Fund acquired the property from RangeWater Real Estate.

The Class A development, located at 200 E. Cama St., was built in 2020. It has studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Monthly rent rates range from $1,402 – $2,854.

BWE secured a $103 million Fannie Mae Multifamily credit facility execution to finance three market rate housing developments: The Murray in Summerville, SC; 1505 Demonbreun in Nashville, TN; and 131 Ponce in Atlanta, GA. 

J. Tyler Blue, Paul Wallace, and Ty Blue originated the financing on behalf of FCA Partners. The loans in the facility have five-year terms and are full-term interest only.

J. Tyler Blue added, “The Fannie Mae credit facility is a powerful tool that offers borrowers, especially institutional owners, the ability to add or sell properties from their portfolio while still maintaining the facility.”

The Murray, located at 500 Lama Dr in Summerville, SC, is a 345-unit, mid-rise property constructed in 2021. 131 Ponce, located at 131 Ponce de Leon Dr in Atlanta, GA, is a five-story, 280-unit multifamily building constructed in 2014. 151 Demonbreun, located at 151 Demonbreun St in Nashville, TN, is a six-story, 209-unit multifamily property built in 2014.

Harrison Street has sold three senior living properties, Clarendale of St. Peters, Clarendale of Chandler and Clarendale at Indian Lake, to Inland Real Estate Group. Chicago-based Harrison Street developed the three high-end senior living communities located in St. Peters, MO; Chandler, AZ; and Hendersonville, TN in a joint venture with Ryan Companies and Life Care Services.

The properties comprise 635 senior living units and are 92% leased. Although the sale price was not disclosed, published reports last year said Harrison Street sold another Clarendale-branded property in Algonquin, IL to Inland for $63 million, or roughly $338,000 per unit.

“The successful sale of these properties highlights the ongoing investor interest in gaining exposure to high-quality senior living assets at a time when there are few institutional quality portfolios in the market and new construction is at a 10-year low,” said Ben Mohns, head of asset management – North America at Harrison Street. “We are committed to working with partners to develop top-tier senior housing communities that address the evolving needs of our aging population, and then identify the optimal time to engage in portfolio sales to generate liquidity on behalf of our investors.”

Pictured: Clarendale of St. Peters.

Sonida Senior Living Inc. paid $29 million for two senior living communities in the Atlanta area. The sale totals 178 units.

The assets have an average occupancy rate of 86% and average revenue per occupied room of more than $5,700. The deal will also give Sonida three assets in the Atlanta market. (Waterford at Decatur shown). Sonida intends to fund the transaction with cash on its balance sheet and proceeds from its senior secured revolving credit facility. 

The acquisition is the second purchase the company has announced in the past three months. Sonida also closed on a $102.9 million purchase of an eight-asset senior housing portfolio with 555 units across northern Florida and South Carolina. Once the purchase of the two additional communities closes, Sonida will have added 19 communities so far this year.  

The Company closed on an additional $75 million commitment under the senior secured revolving credit facility it entered with BMO Bank N.A.

Real estate investor and promoter Grant Cardone has purchased two Miami-area multifamily properties: the Manor at Flagler Village in Fort Lauderdale and the Laurels at Jacaranda in Plantation. The S. Florida Business Journal reports that Nuveen was the seller.

The Manor at Flagler Village has 382 apartments and about 25,000 square feet of retail space. It will be rebranded 10X at Flagler Village.The Laurel at Jacaranda at 9733 N.W. Seventh Circle has 468 apartments spanning about 31 acres. It will be rebranded 10X at Jacaranda. Cardone Capital also has the Edge at Flagler Village, a 382-unit complex at 475 N. Federal Highway, under contract for more than $100 million. He expects to close on September 16. It’s also owned by Nuveen. All three involve cash sales.

Cardone is believed to own about 15,000 apartment units, more than 10,000 of which are in Florida, plus others in Georgia, Alabama and Texas.

Foxtrot’s assets were sold at auction Friday for more than $2.2 million, reported Crain’s. The buyer was holding company Further Point Enterprises. The auction was conducted by JPMorgan Chase Bank, a debtor of Foxtrot, through its counsel, DLA Piper. 

The sale of the assets follows the sudden move by Outfox Hospitality, the group that owned Foxtrot and small-format grocer Dom’s Kitchen & Market, to abruptly close all stores in multiple states last month. Chicago-based Foxtrot had 33 locations in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Austin, while Dom’s had two stores in Chicago.

According to Crain’s, Foxtrot’s auctioned assets included goods, equipment, inventory, intellectual property, figures and more. Leases were not included. Assets belonging to Dom’s Kitchen and Market were also put up for bid but were not sold. The company is also facing several lawsuits from employees who allege the sudden closures did not provide the required 60-day notice under the Fair Notice Ordinance before jobs were terminated. 

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Net Lease Office Properties (NLOP), headquartered in New York City, said it had sold three office properties in March and April for gross proceeds totaling approximately $131.6 million. They included the $62.5-million sale of a Collierville, TN property leased to FedEx Corporate Services; the $36-million divestiture of a Hoffman Estates, IL asset leased to DMG Mori Seiki U.S.A., Inc; and the $33.1-million sale of a Stavanger, Norway property leased to Total E&P Norge AS.

NLOP didn’t disclose the buyer or buyers. Combined, the three properties total 770,703 square feet.

Net proceeds after closing costs were used to repay approximately $90 million on J.P. Morgan’s senior secured mortgage and approximately $14 million on its mezzanine loan year to date. This resulted in outstanding balances of approximately $199 million and $100 million, respectively, as of May 2, 2024.

Separately, in April, NLOP disposed of two office properties encumbered by individual non-recourse mortgage loans through transfers to the lender. One was was leased to Exelon Generation Company, LLC and the other was formerly leased to AVT Technology Solutions LLC.

Berkadia secured financing for the acquisition of Colonial Forest and Northwood Apartments, two garden-style multifamily properties with a combined 328 units located in Jacksonville. Both complexes have been the subject of numerous news stories reporting on the condition of the properties. The properties cost a total of $20.3 million.

Southeast Property’s Joe Rubin added, “We are very excited to have had the opportunity to purchase both assets at below-market pricing. We’re looking forward to improving not just the look of the properties, but the overall community for the immediate area as well as for the City of Jacksonville.”

Berkadia secured a $21.15 million bridge loan on behalf of Southeast Property. The fixed-rate, three-year loan includes $9.6 million for future capital expenditures. 

Built in 1969, Colonial Forest is located at 5928 Firestone Road. Built in 1975, Northwood Apartments is located at 1601 Dunn Avenue, just north of Downtown Jacksonville. The Chetrit Group was the seller.