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Buffalo Rock Co. is expanding its presence in metro Birmingham with a large distribution campus off Lakeshore Parkway that will create about 50 new jobs.

It’s a $75 million investment for the Birmingham-based company in a new center that encompasses about 77 acres off Lakeshore Parkway.

The company acquired 895,000 square feet of warehouse space in the facility at 400 Industrial Drive as well as the adjacent 120,000-square-foot office building at 800 Lakeshore Parkway in deals totaling $39.2 million, according to Jefferson County public records. Real Capital Solutions in Louisville, Colorado, was the seller.

Philip Currie and Edwin Moss of J.H. Berry & Gilbert represented the buyer, and Ogden Deaton and Walter Brown of Graham & Co. represented the seller.

PNC Bank provided $46 million in financing for the deals, according to public records. Burr & Forman provided legal support.

“This is the largest infrastructure investment in our company’s history, and we are proud to make it in Birmingham,” said Jimmy Lee, chairman of the board and CEO of Buffalo Rock. “We’ve been in business in Birmingham since 1901, and today’s announcement is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to this community. We are grateful for the hard work of all our employee-partners and for local elected officials whose support sustains our continued success.”

The company will add between 25 and 50 new jobs at the center.

“Buffalo Rock has been a great corporate partner to the city of Birmingham for well more than a century,” Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “We are grateful for the company’s investments that create jobs in our community, as well as the Lee family’s significant contributions over all these years to support education, workforce development and other city initiatives. Jimmy, the Lee family, and Buffalo Rock have demonstrated unwavering commitment to our city.”

The warehouse property sits on about 64 acres and includes a 780,000-square-foot dry storage warehouse, a shallow bay warehouse that is 70,000 square feet and cross dock and fleet building totaling 45,000 square feet. The office building and its parking lots make up the remaining almost 13 acres.

The warehouse and office building will serve as the company’s central office and warehouse distribution center with new technology such as a $20 million vertique system, a high-speed automated four-lane pick system, which will be able to handle up to 2,000 different beverage cues, said Matthew Dent, president and COO at Buffalo Rock.

Coronavirus has been a challenge, Dent told the Birmingham Business Journal, but this project is not in response to the pandemic but part of the company’s long-term, strategic plan as it sports growth numbers that have not been published yet, he said.

“We are investing in meaningful ways over the next few years to enhance our supply-chain infrastructure, and the goal of that is to be able to better serve our customers across our entire Buffalo Rock footprint,” Dent said. “We have enormous growth coming for the company as part of our strategic plan, and this infrastructure is going in place to be able to support that growth. The technology that we’re adding is going to really enhance our ability to serve our customers across the whole footprint as we expand that portfolio.”

The project is also part of the company’s vision to be a major player in the beverage industry.

“We will have the greatest consumer offering of anybody in the industry,” Dent said. “We’re not at liberty to disclose what those moves are, but over the next year or two we’ll be expanding our portfolio in major ways.”

Hoar Program Management has begun pre-construction planning, and the renovation project is expected to last about 12 months.

It is another significant project for the Lakeshore Parkway corridor that is seeing large facilities under construction for several major companies including Amazon, Carvana, FedEx Ground and Lowe’s.

[Read Article Here]

Buffalo Rock Co. is expanding its presence in metro Birmingham with a large distribution campus off Lakeshore Parkway that will create about 50 new jobs.

It’s a $75 million investment for the Birmingham-based company in a new center that encompasses about 77 acres off Lakeshore Parkway.

The company acquired 895,000 square feet of warehouse space in the facility at 400 Industrial Drive as well as the adjacent 120,000-square-foot office building at 800 Lakeshore Parkway in deals totaling $39.2 million, according to Jefferson County public records. Real Capital Solutions in Louisville, Colorado, was the seller.

Philip Currie and Edwin Moss of J.H. Berry & Gilbert represented the buyer, and Ogden Deaton and Walter Brown of Graham & Co. represented the seller.

PNC Bank provided $46 million in financing for the deals, according to public records. Burr & Forman provided legal support.

“This is the largest infrastructure investment in our company’s history, and we are proud to make it in Birmingham,” said Jimmy Lee, chairman of the board and CEO of Buffalo Rock. “We’ve been in business in Birmingham since 1901, and today’s announcement is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to this community. We are grateful for the hard work of all our employee-partners and for local elected officials whose support sustains our continued success.”

The company will add between 25 and 50 new jobs at the center.

“Buffalo Rock has been a great corporate partner to the city of Birmingham for well more than a century,” Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “We are grateful for the company’s investments that create jobs in our community, as well as the Lee family’s significant contributions over all these years to support education, workforce development and other city initiatives. Jimmy, the Lee family, and Buffalo Rock have demonstrated unwavering commitment to our city.”

The warehouse property sits on about 64 acres and includes a 780,000-square-foot dry storage warehouse, a shallow bay warehouse that is 70,000 square feet and cross dock and fleet building totaling 45,000 square feet. The office building and its parking lots make up the remaining almost 13 acres.

The warehouse and office building will serve as the company’s central office and warehouse distribution center with new technology such as a $20 million vertique system, a high-speed automated four-lane pick system, which will be able to handle up to 2,000 different beverage cues, said Matthew Dent, president and COO at Buffalo Rock.

Coronavirus has been a challenge, Dent told the Birmingham Business Journal, but this project is not in response to the pandemic but part of the company’s long-term, strategic plan as it sports growth numbers that have not been published yet, he said.

“We are investing in meaningful ways over the next few years to enhance our supply-chain infrastructure, and the goal of that is to be able to better serve our customers across our entire Buffalo Rock footprint,” Dent said. “We have enormous growth coming for the company as part of our strategic plan, and this infrastructure is going in place to be able to support that growth. The technology that we’re adding is going to really enhance our ability to serve our customers across the whole footprint as we expand that portfolio.”

The project is also part of the company’s vision to be a major player in the beverage industry.

“We will have the greatest consumer offering of anybody in the industry,” Dent said. “We’re not at liberty to disclose what those moves are, but over the next year or two we’ll be expanding our portfolio in major ways.”

Hoar Program Management has begun pre-construction planning, and the renovation project is expected to last about 12 months.

It is another significant project for the Lakeshore Parkway corridor that is seeing large facilities under construction for several major companies including Amazon, Carvana, FedEx Ground and Lowe’s.

[ Read article on bizjournals.com]

An adult gastroenterology group has signed a bigger lease for its location off U.S. 280.

Gastro Health or Southeast Gastro expanded its space at 3570 Grandview Parkway from 3,800 square feet to 12,000 square feet, leasing the entire top floor of the building. The space formerly housed Stayer University, which opened a new location downtown.

David Spencer of Shannon Waltchack represented Gastro Health, and Walter Brown of Graham & Co. represented the landlord in the lease transaction.

“Expanding our presence on the 280 corridor is part of a long-term strategic plan,” said Mark Johnson, division vice president, Alabama, at Gastro Health. “That area is convenient to many patients in and around the Birmingham metro area.”

The company is customizing the space to include modern exam rooms, an infusion center and plenty of free parking outside the building.

As for future expansions, Johnson said the company constantly evaluates customer needs and changing demographics in the area.

Like all health care providers, Gastro Health has had to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic.

“For the well-being of our staff and patients, we have implemented strict safety and cleanliness protocols,” Johnson said. “We are also offering several different appointment types including telephone, video and in-person visits.”

The deal adds to a significant amount of activity for the U.S. 280 and Interstate 459 intersection with new construction projects underway, including a new professional building for Grandview Hospital.

[Read Article Here]

In a push to prepare for its growing electric vehicle business, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International is investing in a new facility that would create hundreds of new jobs.

It’s a $50 million project by Birmingham developer Graham & Co. in partnership with MBUSI that will bring another parts consolidation center across Interstate 20/59 from the automaker’s campus in Vance and generate 370 new jobs.

MBUSI declined to comment but did indicate that it would begin using the facility late next year or early 2022. The automaker had previously announced plans for a $1 billion expansion that would include several new facilities and would include the launch of electric vehicle construction in Alabama.

Mercedes is investing about $10 million into the project, and Graham & Co. and its affiliate Vance Ventures LLC is investing $40 million into the property. The automaker is signing a 10-year lease with some renewal options.

The 530,000-square-foot facility will be a Class A, concrete tilt-wall building, cross-docked, fully air-conditioned with parking for over 250 tractor trailers.

It’s a sequencing facility and parts consolidation center that is designed to boost the just-in-time delivery of the components and car parts needed for Mercedes’ electric vehicle assembly line.

The 53-acre site sits behind a facility for Mercedes supplier Truck and Wheel USA Corp. and next to a spare parts warehouse for MBUSI — both of which Graham & Co. had developed in the past.

Cooper Construction is the general contractor, Five South Architecture is the designer, and CCI is the civil engineer. Construction is expected to be complete by November next year.

IberiaBank is providing construction financing for the project, which also received sales and use tax as well as ad valorem property tax abatements.

Henry Graham at Graham Co. said the project was awarded about two months ago even as the coronavirus pandemic was bringing much of the economy to a halt.

“Even during the height of Covid, this was still something very important because Mercedes has made a commitment to transition over to have a certain percentage of their production be related to electric vehicles,” he said.

Since MBUSI ran out of room on its campus, it has been looking for new sites as it expands into electric vehicle production. Graham & Co. has had the properties in that area under long-term option after Sonny Culp of Graham & Co. identified the site several years ago, Graham said.

“Our site was properly entitled, it was properly located, and our development team was a proven commodity known to MBUSI,” he said.

The new facility is part of an effort to prepare Mercedes for its future electric vehicle production, including a new battery plant and several suppliers such as Mobis.

[ Read article on bizjournals.com]

Matt Gilchrist and Sam Carroll of Graham & Co. represented the landlord in the following deal:

A new medical aesthetic spa is taking the ground floor of the historic Woodward Building at the intersection affectionately known as the “Heaviest Corner on Earth.”

Total Skin & Beauty Dermatology Center plans to open its new spa called Total on 1st after signing a lease for 25,000 square feet at the building on the corner of 20th Street and First Avenue North. The spa is expected to open in May next year.

John Lauriello and Blake Crowe of Southpace Properties represented Total Skin & Beauty, which is currently located at 2100 16th Ave. S. in Five Points South. Matt Gilchrist and Sam Carroll of Graham & Co. represented the landlord in the deal.

The spa concept will offer new services such as facials, skin rejuvenation and anti-aging treatments, cosmetic dermal fillers, resurfacing treatments, laser therapy, medical-grade skincare products, massages, CoolSculpting and spa packages among others.

Total Skin & Beauty had been looking for a new space for two years, according to a release.

“We are ecstatic to be opening our own freestanding medical aesthetic spa in an area with such rich history but also booming with innovation and development,” said Jennifer Cork, CEO of Total Skin & Beauty. “It’s the best of both worlds. The spa is certainly a reflection of our company’s continued success and only the beginning of a larger strategic plan of extended growth to come.”

Crowe said the spa will be a valuable amenity to the residents and workforce of the downtown area, which serves the largest daytime population and hotels in the metro area.

“We believe that amenities like Total on First will continue to boost the downtown residential market as well as bring people from the suburbs to downtown,” Crowe said. “We think this is a ‘win, win, win’ for the tenant, landlord, residents of downtown and their suburban patients.”

Founded in 1977 by Dr. Gary Monheit as a solo practice, Total Skin & Beauty has evolved into a specialty, full-service clinic for dermatologic medical, surgical and cosmetic care. Monheit is joined by the center’s original physician group that includes Dr. James M. Krell, Dr. Melanie L. Appell and Dr. A. Michele Hill.

The facility also provides patients with a phototherapy clinic, an aesthetic center for cosmetic and laser procedures, a full research department that conducts clinical trials for a variety of medications, treatments and devices, as well as a superficial radiation area for non-invasive treatment of skin cancers.

The staff of more than 85 employees also includes board-certified dermatologists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The team looks to prevent and provide early detection of skin problems with effective treatment options.

The move is significant as it will add activity to a prominent intersection along the historic First Avenue corridor. Commercial real estate pros look to more ground-floor retail coupled with residential development to keep the revitalization of downtown going. That is a challenging hurdle to overcome with the coronavirus pandemic, but CRE experts are confident the local market will continue moving forward.

[Read Article Here]

Dan Lovell of Graham & Company represented the Landlord while Matt Gilchrist and Sam Carroll of Graham & Company represented the Tenant.

A Birmingham law firm has changed spaces.

Gaines Gault Hendrix PC moved from an office at the Blue Lake Center to a 9,403-square-foot suite at 361 Summit Blvd.

With the move, the firm reduced its square footage by about 1,000, but the space was designed with the pandemic in mind. Firm Managing Partner Julie Pearce said the close proximity to U.S. 280 and I-459 as well as a bright, airy and modern space were appealing in the new location.

Thirty-three employees made the move over to the new office, and seven employees in the Huntsville office will be moving into a new space there shortly. Pearce said employees working from home during Covid-19 and collaborating online during the move made the renovation, which started in December 2019, easier.

“Covid-19 actually caused us to re-evaluate the collaborative spaces we’d incorporated into our design,” Pearce said. “We found that for the most part, our employees worked well at home, and we began utilizing online tools such as Zoom and Google Teams to help us collaborate. The silver lining to this pandemic has been seeing how our employees came together to make working from home successful. The pandemic has taught us that we can work effectively away from the office, and we can give up (most of) our paper. I’m grateful that we were pushed into this situation in some ways. I’m sure it will make us all more effective and allow for more growth in non-traditional ways.”

Pearce said the office move also was made with company growth in mind.

“We do anticipate continued growth,” she said “Due to the success of our remote work policy, I anticipate we would consider adding remote employees to allow us to grow but still have the space to socially distance, at least for the time being.”

[Read Article Here]

A Tennessee-headquartered health care company is coming to Homewood.

SEES Group Alabama LLC has inked a lease at 200 Patriot Midtown Park, a Class-A, multi-tenant office park.

According to a release, the company plans to operate an eye surgery center called Eye Surgery Center of Homewood in the first floor of the building. The location will support clinical operations at VisionAmerica, a medical and surgical eye care practice with multiple locations throughout Alabama. The firm also operates a network of medical and surgical eye care practices, ambulatory surgery centers and aesthetic medical clinics.

SEES Group also operates Center for Facial Rejuvenation, Complete Eye Care, Eye Health Partners, Eye Surgery Center of Chattanooga, Ocean Ophthalmology Group, Pediatric Eye Specialists, Plessen Ophthalmology, SouthEast Eye Specialists, Southeast Eye Surgery Center, and VisionAmerica.

Children’s Hospital also occupies space on the first floor, and more space is available in the nearby 210 building.

Dan Lovell and Matt Gilchrist with Graham & Co. as well as Brad Jones with Cushman & Wakefield were involved in the deal.

[Read Article Here]

A newly constructed office property near English Village has a new owner.

Oxmoor Holdings LLC acquired 2231 20th Ave. S. for more than $3.049 million, or about $275 per square foot, in deals that closed this week, according to Jefferson County public records.

Matt Gilchrist of Graham & Co. was the listing broker.

The purchasing entity is registered to Ken Horton and Judy Horton of NuTech Spine and Biologics in Birmingham. The Hortons did not immediately respond to requests for comment about their plans for the office property. NuTech’s office space on the fourth floor of The Luckie Building is currently available for sublease with Philip Currie of J.H. Berry & Gilbert Inc. as the listing agent.

Almost all the space in a prominent suburban office building that was vacated by a major tenant has been backfilled.

Grandview II, a Class A office building near the intersection of Interstate 459 and U.S. 280, saw about 54,000 square feet open up this month when Iberia Bank vacated the space. Wettermark Keith had also recently relocated to the Bruno Capital Building on Grandview Place.

But about 44,000 square feet has already been backfilled as Grandview Medical Center took almost 17,000 square feet, and an undisclosed tenant that is relocating from downtown signed a lease for about 27,000 square feet last Friday.

Sam Carroll and Matt Gilchrist handle the leasing for the approximately 150,000-square-foot building. They say building occupancy is now at about 88%.

“With the addition of these new tenants, Grandview II should be well positioned for years to come,” Carroll said.

Built in 1998, Grandview II provides surface parking and an on-site fitness room. The property is owned by an affiliate of the Derbyshire Group in Destin, Florida, which acquired the property in 2016 for $24.1 million.

The property is part of the Highway 280/Interstate 459 office submarket, which is the largest behind downtown. At 82.41%, it has the second lowest occupancy rate of Birmingham’s five submarkets, but at $21.24 per square foot, it has the highest rental rate behind Midtown.

Still, it had more significant leasing activity than any other submarket last year, according to a recent report by Graham & Co. It also saw the largest office sale transaction in 2019 with the acquisition of the Encompass Health headquarters building for $74.5 million by an affiliate of AR Global Investments in New York City.

The U.S. 280 corridor has seen a steady amount of activity, including several office renovation projects and retail projects like Tattersall Park.

There is a substantial amount of office space available in the metro area – due in part to a series of previous acquisitions, particularly in the banking world – but that hasn’t deterred investors and commercial developers from buying and upgrading a number of projects in the metro area over the past two years. That list includes several properties along U.S. 280.

[ Read article on bizjournal.com ]

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2020 Graham Industrial Market Survey

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Continuing the trend from 2018, the Birmingham metro’s overall industrial real estate market experienced slight negative absorption for multi-tenant properties and modest positive absorption for single-tenant buildings in 2019. (more…)