Marathon Asset Management’s commercial real estate platform has originated a $120-million construction loan for 125 Perry St., a high-end residential development in Manhattan’s West Village. A Marathon’ team led by managing director Joseph Griffin, closely worked with sponsor Alf Naman Development and its preferred equity partner, Ascendant Capital Partners, to structure and originate the construction loan.

“We are proud to play a role in the revitalization of 125 Perry St. and will continue to provide lending solutions across asset classes and geographies through a combination of proprietary network relationships, deep property-level experience, and differentiated market intelligence,” said Griffin.

The development involves the adaptive reuse and conversion of a historic, four-story, 1930s vintage parking garage into a seven-unit ultra-luxury condominium. Contracts have already been signed for nearly 60% of the units. Completion of the project is expected for 2026.

Rendering courtesy of Sciame Construction.

Marquette Companies has completed The Thompson at Fulton Market, a 210-unit mixed-use apartment building at 150 N. Ashland Avenue, on the former Mary Thompson Hospital site in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood.

Named for Dr. Mary Thompson, Chicago’s first female doctor and the first woman known to have performed major surgery, The Thompson is comprised of a new, 12-story glass and concrete building. This structure is integrated directly with an original five-story brick building that was constructed in the 1920s as part of the hospital and is located on the south side of the property.

The Thompson offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as 32 affordable units. It’s the firm’s fifth development in the neighborhood and the property includes 2,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

ParkFowler Plus designed the property’s facade and Power Construction served as the general contractor. Chicago-based artist Lefty Out There (aka Francesco Campanella) created several murals for the building.

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A developer is planning on taking the risk of speculative office construction in the height of the coronavirus pandemic, betting that the appeal of working in a single-user building converted from a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood will make its bet pay off.

Courtesy of Capital Real Estate Group

Rendering, by Atlanta architectural firm ASD | Sky, for the adaptive reuse of the former Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Old Fourth Ward.

Charlotte-based Asana Partners is readying to kick-start the conversion of the 100K SF former bottling plant at 560 Edgewood Ave. into an office building that will deliver in 2022, Capital Real Estate Group founder Bennett Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb’s firm has been tapped by Asana to lease the property, which sits along the BeltLine Eastside Trail. Gottlieb said the project is unusual for adaptive reuse in Atlanta, where former warehouses and strip centers become mixed-use projects, but typically don’t offer office footprints bigger than 50K SF.

“If you’re a tenant in that size range, there aren’t single-tenant opportunities in the Old Fourth Ward,” he said.

Despite the economic fallout from the pandemic, Midtown, both Eastside, where the Old Fourth Ward is located, and Westside has remained active with office users looking for space. Last month, email marketing firm MailChimp announced that it would anchor New City’s $300M 760 Ralph McGill Blvd. development with a 300K SF lease. MailChimp was one of two major leases inked in Metro Atlanta during the third quarter.

“These notable deals represent the ongoing attraction of metro Atlanta for companies to locate and expand, despite the pandemic,” Colliers International officials wrote in a recent report. “This is further validated by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce’s pipeline of projects. When recently asked about their outlook for business activity in the region, leaders have noted they have never been busier with prospects.”

Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate founder Gene Kansas, who specializes in leasing historic and adaptive reuse properties in Atlanta, said these projects have been relatively unaffected by the coronavirus-caused office leasing slowdown. The activity has encouraged developers to move forward with adaptive reuse projects during the pandemic.

“It’s not just, ‘Well, we think someone will like this,'” Kansas said. “We’re getting the phone calls.”

This is Asana’s latest move into Atlanta’s trendy neighborhoods with adaptive reuse projects. The firm purchased both the iconic Krog Street Market and Stove Works back in 2018. And this past March, Asana bought Brickworks, a 194K SF adaptive reuse project at the corner of Marietta Street and Howell Mill Road.

Gottlieb said one of the potential draws to 560 Edgewood, is its location in a qualified opportunity zone. While Asana didn’t take advantage of raising funding from an opportunity zone fund for the project, Gottlieb said, the developer sees the designation as an added incentive for potential tenants, who can claim a tax break for locating in the area.

Gottlieb said single-tenant office projects in hot Midtown neighborhoods also will gain more popularity in a post-pandemic world, especially when companies will have the ability to control access to the space.

“[Tenants] are formulating plans related to their re-entry to the workplace, and control seems to be the most important thing,” he said. “When you’re in a big mixed-use building, control is harder to accomplish.”

Armada Hoffler Properties has announced plans to develop Chronicle Mill, a new adaptive reuse multifamily project in Charlotte. The total construction costs are expected to be approximately $45 million.

Originally built in 1901, Chronicle Mill was Belmont’s first textile mill. The project is expected to include the redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the existing structure into 240 apartment units, retail and amenity space as well as the construction of a new five-story apartment building.

“We are excited to announce another significant investment in the greater Charlotte market,” said Louis Haddad, CEO at Armada Hoffler Properties. “With its close proximity to both downtown Charlotte and the airport, Chronicle Mill is ideally positioned to capture the growing housing demand in the market. Furthermore, the adaptive reuse nature of this project will showcase our creative development and construction capabilities. We look forward to finalizing details with the County and breaking ground on the project later this year.”

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