A mixed-use portfolio in Old Town Alexandria that Asana Partners assembled between 2016 and 2018 and invested $20M to renovate has hit the market.

Asana owns 815 1/2 King Street in Old Town, Alexandria

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm is looking to sell a 21-building portfolio totaling just over 200K SF on and around Alexandria’s historic King Street commercial corridor, according to a JLL Capital Markets brochure.

JLL Senior Director Daniel Naughton announced the listing last week in a LinkedIn post, saying it represents the largest-ever assemblage of properties on King Street. 

JLL didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Asana declined to comment.

The low-rise buildings include national retailers Sephora, Ben & Jerry’s, Alo Yoga, Emmy Squared, Patagonia, and Warby Parker. Its office tenants include Compass Real Estate, KVS Title and Sourced Intelligence, and it has at least 38 apartment units.

The portfolio is 76% leased, according to the brochure, with the retail portion 94% leased, the office 49% leased and the residential portion 95% leased. 

Two of the properties, a 6,500 SF building at 900 Prince St. and a 4,500 SF building at 1104 King St. are fully vacant, and 12 of the properties are fully leased, JLL brochure says. 

The brokerage breaks up the portfolio into “Lower King” with five assets, “Middle King” with 11 assets and “Upper King” with five assets. 

JLL’s Danny Naughton, Jordan Lex, Danny Finkle and Dave Baker are the investment sales advisers marketing the property, and Evan Parker is the financing adviser. 

Asana acquired at least 15 of the properties between December 2016 and July 2017, Bisnow first reported at the time. It purchased the first eight properties at the end of 2016 for $40M from PMA Properties. It purchased six more totaling 35K SF for $21.9M in August 2017. 

By the end of 2017, the company had spent $115M to acquire 23 properties totaling 210K SF on and just off of King Street, Asana Managing Partner Reed Kracke told Bisnow in a December 2017 interview.

Kracke said the stretch had “so many of the factors that are compelling for retailers today,” pointing to factors like income levels and density.

“The buildings are really irreplaceable historic buildings that have been around — some since the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s,” he said in the 2017 interview. “The authenticity of the buildings on the street is not something you can re-create.”

Old Town Alexandria’s 719K SF of high-street retail space has a 5.84% vacancy rate, according to Dochter & Alexander Retail Advisors’ latest market report released last month. Its 5M SF of office space is 17.6% vacant, according to CBRE’s Northern Virginia first-quarter office report.

Asana has $7B in “neighborhood assets under management” across 25 cities, according to its website. In D.C., Asana also owns Sam’s Park and Shop, a 50K SF strip shopping center on Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park, which it purchased from Federal Realty for $39M in 2021.

Kempner Properties, a White Plains, NY commercial real estate company, has acquired a portfolio of six shopping centers located in Connecticut and Rhode Island and anchored by Town Fair Tire for $30.75 million.

The portfolio totals 126,299 square feet and is 92% occupied. Town Fair Tire leases 40% of the space on triple net leases, with the rest filled by a mix of local, regional and national tenants. 

The six properties were sold by the Estate of Neil Mellen, the founder of Town Fair Tire, who passed away in January 2024. Jeffrey Winokur of J H Winokur, Inc. represented the seller.

 “These properties are in prime, high-traffic regional locations,” said Douglas Kempner, managing partner of Kempner Properties. “We are excited about this acquisition and believe we’ve secured high-quality assets with a strong anchor and a well-balanced mix of tenants.” The new ownership plans to invest in improvements, including parking lot upgrades and exterior enhancements at several of the centers.

Branch Properties received unanimous rezoning approval from the City of Gainesville for Lakeshore, the 49-acre mixed-use redevelopment of Lakeshore Mall. Branch Properties will break ground on Lakeshore in late 2026, and completion is anticipated in 2028. Positioned between Lake Lanier and Interstate 985, Lakeshore is anticipated to become Gainesville’s premier town center. Gainesville is a town of just over 40,000 residents NE of Atlanta.

At full buildout, Lakeshore will feature 305,444 square feet of retail space, 652 multifamily residential units and 38,200 square feet of outdoor community greenspace. The redevelopment will also include capacity for a hotel and townhomes in future phases. Anchors Dick’s Sporting Goods and Belk will remain open throughout the transformation, with Dick’s Sporting Goods relocating within the property. Franklin Street’s Len Erickson will work in tandem with Branch Properties on the retail leasing. 

Marcus & Millichap, in association with Northeast Retail, closed the sale of 31 net lease properties anchored by Town Fair Tire on behalf of the estate of the East Haven, CT-based retail chain’s founder. The portfolio sold for $88,505,802.

Senior managing director James Koury and senior associate Alex Quinn, in association with Dan Plotkin of Northeast Retail, represented the estate of Neil Mellen, who passed away in early 2024. Koury and Quinn also procured the buyer, Orion Buying Corp., an affiliate of Miami-based Orion Real Estate Group

“The portfolio consists of identical, absolute net leases with Town Fair Tire, the Northeast’s dominant retailer of tires and wheels,” said Quinn. “All locations have 16-year terms remaining, rent increases every five years and are backstopped with parent guarantees. Since the sites were sold from the founder’s personal portfolio, they tend to be in the best locations with the highest sales volumes.”

Part of a retail footprint spanning 199 stores, the properties are in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Thomas Shihadeh is the firm’s broker of record in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island. The firm’s brokers of record in Connecticut, New York and Vermont are John Krueger, John Horowitz and Jeffrey R. Nick, respectively.

Separately, Koury and Quinn represented Orion in the sale of three of the Town Fair Tire properties for $7,955,360. They’re located in Billerica and Brockton, MA and Nashua, NH.

Fuquay-Varina had 18,000 people in 2010. Now it’s near 40,000, and town leaders are moving fast to accommodate the growth. A rezoning was for nine parcels totaling 87.98 acres that went from residential agriculture to commercial mixed-use.

A development, to be called Vaughan Park, will include a medical building, two multifamily buildings, six commercial buildings and six mixed-use buildings. The multifamily projects will consist of 742 units. DR Horton is the lead developer. In addition to the commercial component, the company will also build hundreds of homes.

The project will be divided into two distinct developments, each with its own unique features. Amenities for the west side will include a swimming pool, a promenade with public art, two playgrounds and a greenway around the wetlands and ponds.

The east side’s amenities include a swimming pool, clubhouse, a playground, food truck area with shelter and a dog park.

Marcus & Millichap closed the $7.1-million sale of the Town Fair Tire Headquarters at 460 Coe Ave. in East Haven, CT. The portfolio included a 207,000-square-foot distribution center with 20,000 square feet of office space, and a 176-trailer position industrial outdoor storage (IOS) site. 

Harrison Klein, Jim Koury and Alex Quinn, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Boston office, marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Mellen East Haven Associates, LLC and procured the buyer. John Krueger is Marcus & Millichap’s broker of record in Connecticut.   

“This offering generated significant interest from the private buyer pool. Family offices, in particular, recognized the value in this long-term, below-market lease,” said Klein. “This sale is indicative of investors’ desire for quality distribution assets throughout New England.”  

The portfolio is leased to Town Fair Tire, a subsidiary of Mavis, on a long-term, absolute triple-net lease.

Besides approving the project which will permit Hood Ventures to build a 210-unit multifamily community, the Concord City Council approved just over $170,000 in grants from the towns economic development office.

The $48.3 million project will also have 10,379 square feet of commercial space.

The project, that will have 148 two-bedroom units and 62 one-bedroom units, is going in between Bonnie Street Southeast and Woodsdale Place Southeast, along Cabarrus Avenue East.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports Concord city documents state that the area eyed by Hood Ventures is identified by the plan as one of nine opportunities for the public sector to intervene to help attract private investment.

Pappas Properties hopes to rezone a 98-acre parcel in Mooresville to build homes and up to 400,000 square feet of commercial space. Mooresville’s planning staff has already recommended approval of the rezoning request. Mooresville is near Lake Norman just north of Charlotte.

The site at 1740 Mecklenburg Highway would be home to a project named Mooresville Village. The Charlotte Busiiness Journal reports the proposed commercial element includes a mix of retail, grocery, bank, office and hotel uses.

Town documents show Mooresville Village would be developed in four phases.

The first phase calls for residential uses. The second and third phases are being planned for a mixed-use area with multifamily, retail and grocery uses. The fourth phase is being plotted for “higher-intensity retail and office uses.” The final phase could also include a hotel and more multifamily development.

In a ranking of the top college towns in the U.S., Bozeman, MT came in at number one, according to a RentCafe study reported by Coldwell Banker Commercial. The ranking was based on 12 different metrics, including cost of living, tuition fees, graduation rates, and others.

“Staying informed about the top college towns of any given year is important for student housing investors,” according to Coldwell Banker Commercial. “These towns serve as hotbeds of academic achievement and vibrant student life, attracting a constant influx of potential tenants seeking quality living spaces. By understanding the dynamics and allure of these prime locations, investors can strategically position themselves to capitalize on the steady demand for student accommodation.”

Home of Montana State University, Bozeman offers a mix of affordability, student activities and nearby parklands, such as Yellowstone National Park. Click here for more on Bozeman and other college towns in the top five.

Land Innovations and Rochford Realty are planning a 27-acre mixed-use development in Nolensville, just south of Nashville. Nolensville has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The city’s population has grown from 2,000 to more than 15,000 people since 2000.

The Nashville Business Journal reports the Nolensville Town Square will feature 70,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space across multiple buildings that will surround a central square. The development will offer 404 residential units including studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as two- and three-story townhomes.

The town square project team includes local firms Smith Gee Studio, landscape architecture firm HDLA and civil engineering firm CSDG.

The first phase of Nolensville Town Square will break ground this summer. The final development, which is comprised of three phases, is expected to be finished in late 2028.