Source: bizjournals.com

Graham & Co. reported the following deals:

Graham & Company sold 3.2 acres at 3225 Montevallo Road in Mountain Brook. The development site formerly served as the former Knesseth Israel synagogue which relocated to Overton Road. Realty Choice also participated as broker in the transaction.

The Catholic Diocese of Birmingham purchased a 15,268 square foot office/warehouse facility at 92 Oxmoor Road for $700,000. Jack Brown represented the buyer and the J.H. Berry & Gilbert firm represented the purchaser.

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Source: bizjournals.com

CRE deals

Graham & Co., a Birmingham real estate firm, reported the following deals:

Helix Systems – a Bessemer electrical, engineering and automation solutions company – purchased a 10,000-square-foot industrial building at 5530 Powder Plant Lane. Jack Brown and John Coleman handled the transaction.

GFA Inc., a New Jersey based logistics company serving both Hyundai and Kia, renewed an industrial lease of 280,000 square feet at 404 Fox Run in Opelika. John Coleman represented GFA in the transaction.

Dominion Door Co., a subsidiary of Sweden-based Assa Abloy, leased 52,000 square feet of class A warehouse space at Moody Commerce Park at Exit 147 on I-20 in Moody. Sonny Culp represented the landlord while UGL Services of Chicago, working with Sander Commercial, represented the tenant.

Royal Cup Coffee leased a 25,500-square-foot industrial building at 2720 Southeastern Circle in the Pinson area. EGS Commercial represented the tenant and Jack Brown represented the owner.

Integral Partners renewed its lease of 6,190 square feet of office space at 7008 Champions Boulevard in Shelby County. Dan Lovell represented the landlord.

The Guardian Life Insurance Group has renewed it lease of almost 6,000 square feet at the SouthBridge Building. Brad Jones and Maddie Humphries represented the landlord.

RealtyLink, a real estate development group, leased 2,520 square-feet at 1401 Providence Park. Sam Carroll and John Coleman represented the landlord.

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Source: al.com

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Bart Smith was recently appointed to the Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE) Leadership Council at The University of Alabama. Bart joined Graham & Company in 2002 and specializes in the office sector and has earned the Society of Industrial & Office Realtors (SIOR) designation, as well as the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation. He is presently the Managing Broker for the Huntsville office and has been involved in more than $60 million of real estate transactions over the last 3 years. Bart is also responsible for tracking market data and publishing the Huntsville Graham Report. This survey covering Huntsville’s office, industrial and retail market is the area’s only such report. Bart holds a Bachelors of Science (Finance with concentration in Real Estate) from the University of Alabama. He is the past president of NALCOM and the Huntsville International League. Council members focus on long-term growth and development of the Center, provide insight and counsel on current market trends, and enhance the sustainability of ACRE through vision, resourcefulness, and creativity. A complete list of members can be viewed at www.acre.cba.ua.edu

[ Read article at al.com ]

Source: al.com

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Graham & Co. is heading into 2012 boosted by a number of property sales and leases in the last quarter of 2011.

The Birmingham-based company completed 25 sales valued at more than $20 million and 40 lease deals with a value of $41 million in the quarter, according to Mike Graham, president of the company. That was up from the 14 sales and 33 leases completed in the third quarter.

“We are expecting the current trend to continue into 2012,” Graham said.

One of the more significant property sales in the quarter included 34 acres in the Lee Branch Corporate center near Greystone, including the 50,750-square-foot former headquarters of AIG Baker Shopping Center Properties. BBVA Compass sold the property to Church of the Highlands. Graham & Co. represented BBVA Compass.

Graham & Co. also brokered the sale of the former Cathedral of the Cross in Center Point to another faith-based group and a 3,872-square-foot office building at 1314 Cobb Lane to a new owner. Other fourth-quarter sales included a former day care, partially developed subdivisions, warehouses and other properties.

Graham noted many of the deals seem to be tied to internal or local expansion, a good sign that local companies are growing.

“We see this is a particularly healthy sign,” he said.

Leases in the fourth quarter included a 130,000-square-foot office lease in Meadowbrook and a 220,000-square-foot lease in the Jefferson Metropolitan Park-McCalla.

Dan Lovell, head of Graham’s office division, said the office market is trying to bounce back.

A net drop in occupancy of 17,870 square feet in 2011 means the overall market was virtually flat, he said, and much more stable than the 450,000 square feet of net loss in occupied space the metro area dealt with in 2009.

But Lovell noted it’s not bad everywhere.

“Some pockets of midtown are as tight as they have been in several years, therefore some owners are doing very well in this area,” he said.

[ Read article at al.com ]

Source: bizjournals.com

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Looking back over the year, Birmingham-area office building brokers said their market has seen steady improvement with fewer vacancies and higher rents.

Although new office construction is at a standstill, relocations and expansions are expected to grow through next year, said Dan Lovell, director of Graham & Co.’s office division.

“It’s not 2009, which is a saying we have around our office. That’s a good thing,” Lovell said. “I predict it’ll be a very active 2012.”

Since the fourth quarter of 2010, the overall metro area vacancy rate has steadily dropped 1.6 percentage points to 13.3 percent in the third quarter of 2011 from 14.9 percent, according to the latest report by real estate trends researcher Xceligent.

Meanwhile, the area’s average asking lease rate was at $18.03 per square foot in the third quarter, which is the highest it’s been since the fourth quarter of 2010, the report says.

While the numbers aren’t nearly as good as the pre-recession numbers, Meredith Ray Calhoun, vice president of brokerage and corporate oversight for Corporate Realty, said there was a “lot of opportunity” in the Birmingham office market, especially for smaller tenants.

“It’s a great time for buyers to get out and expand, relocate or renovate because landlords are getting creative,” she said.

Sorrell Chew of Liberty Park’s Richey Management Co. said the market was slightly better this year than he would have predicted, and he expected to see modest activity in 2012.

“It’s not going to be gangbusters, but it’ll be slightly better,” he said of next year.

As the market heals, Chew said he expects competition to heat up as landlords grow more aggressive in marketing their properties and offering concessions.

Perhaps the best example of a landlord getting “creative” is the Regions Plaza, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency rented 140,000 square feet after the April 27 tornadoes.

The 613,746-square-foot Plaza, which was purchased for a discounted $5 million in March by West Second Street Associates, has 114,520 square feet available for lease, or 18.6 percent of the building.

But FEMA is winding down its Birmingham operations now, and will likely be out of the plaza within six months, Calhoun said. Just in the third quarter, the Plaza released 89,615 square feet of sublease space into the market.

The FEMA lease is skewing the overall vacancy rate of the central business district, which saw its first improvement this year to 12.9 percent in the third quarter, down from 17.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Despite the numbers, Calhoun said she saw the CBD as an opportunity zone.

“There’s definitely activity,” she said. “It’s not dead – just really steady movement.”

The strongest market for the office sector is Midtown, which includes Homewood and Mountain Brook. It has consistently had the lowest vacancy rate in recent years, at about 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

In the third quarter, several companies signed leases for large blocks of space, including BASS LLC, which leased 15,662 square feet in the Colonial Center at Blue Lake in the 280/459 district for a new headquarters, according to Xceligent.

Also in that district, home and crafts publisher Hoffman Media continued its expansion, taking 21,769 square feet at 1900 International Park in the third quarter, the research firm said.

On the brokerage side of the industry, Xceligent reported several major transactions in the third quarter.

AREA Property Partners sold the city’s tallest building, Wells Fargo Tower, to an affiliate of Commonwealth REIT for $68.5 million in August.

Also, Legal Properties-Birmingham LLC – an entity registered to Dothan real estate investor Chase Givens – purchased the 43,581-square-foot class-C Farley Building downtown in the CBD from Farley Properties LLC in July, according to public records.

Counting sales and leases, the Birmingham metro area saw 63,864 square feet absorbed in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date positive absorption up to 295,579 square feet. That leaves 2.4 million square feet of the 17.8 million surveyed by Xceligent vacant.

[ Read article at al.com ]