Editors’ Weekly News Roundup August 18 – August 22
The Sunbelt has been a hotbed of commercial real estate activity in recent years, and therefore it makes sense that the most widely read stories on Connect CRE this past week were reported from markets within the “smile states.” Leading off the top five was 620-Acre Georgetown “Main Street” Project Greenlighted from the Texas city that currently ranks as the fastest-growing community in the U.S.
Columnar Investments’ Heirloom project is slated to include 3,600 housing units—a mixture of single-family homes, townhomes and apartments—along with at least 200,000 square feet of commercial space centered around a Main Street development. Georgetown officials reportedly called the project, which is looking at a 10-year construction timeframe, as one of the largest planned unit developments the city has seen.
Elsewhere in the Southwest, Macerich was moving in the opposite direction—divesting rather than investing. The past week’s second most-read story, Mall Owner Unloading Phoenix Properties, reported that the California-based retail owner-operator had sold about $150 million of Phoenix-area properties in the past year as part of a program of culling underperforming assets.
The largest of these divestitures was the sale of Macerich’s share of Biltmore Fashion Park to its partner in the venture for $110 million. Even with these sales, though, Macerich still operates 10 retail properties in the metro area.
Ranking third among our top five stories of the week was Georgia Power Pays $94.7M for Atlanta-Area Warehouse. The warehouse in question is River Park 10, an 825,000-square-foot Class A industrial facility developed by ICM Property Group and Waterloo Partners.
It’s part of an industrial development that spans more than 1,000 acres and will reach 21 million square feet at full buildout. ICM remains committed to investing in further industrial projects in Sunbelt growth markets.
A project at a different point in its development life cycle, a Winter Garden, FL luxury apartment property to be called Elysian, was the object of the week’s fourth most-read story. In Unicorp Inks $73M Construction Loan for Winter Garden Rental Property,Centennial Bank furnished the debt.
The borrower, Unicorp National Developments, obtained the financing at a time when Winter Garden is experiencing rapid population growth. Moreover, said CEO and president Chuck Whittall, “With construction pricing off its peak, we’re entering the right cycle.”
The top five was rounded out with another development story, this time in the Golden State. CH Realty Secures Entitlements for $1.5B Beaumont Development informed readers that the 622-acre project known as Beaumont Pointe, in Southern California’s Inland Empire region, would be going forward.
Plans call for construction to begin in early 2026. When it’s completed, Beaumont Pointe will span more than 5.3 million square feet of industrial and commercial space.
August marks the onset of back-to-school in many parts of the U.S. For the past few years at Connect CRE, it has also marked the onset of our Summer Leadership series. With several entries in the series now published and featuring insights into current market conditions, you can catch up on what you may have missed here.