Source: Birmingham News

For most of 2010, those who work on the front lines of Birmingham’s commercial real estate industry have said it “feels like” things are getting better.

The problem is that in the real estate business, like NCAA recruitment allegations, it takes more than a feeling to convince those who have a stake in the game (just ask Auburn or Mississippi State fans).

Mike Graham, president of Graham & Co., wanted more than the feeling of his brokers before he was ready to agree that the market is, in fact, getting better. And in doing a “look back” of the deals his company handled this year, he found the evidence he needed.

“The Great Recession has ended (I am calling it as of April 2010 for Birmingham),” Graham wrote in an e-mail.

What convinced him of this?

As Donald Trump might say, it was the art of the deal, or deals in this case.

With two months left in the year, there have been 227 leases or sales of office, warehouse, industrial, retail or vacant commercial land in the Birmingham area. That’s a 33 percent bump from the 170 such deals done in 2009.

While those figures are a far cry from the 325 deals posted in 2004, Graham was looking for evidence of a recovery, not new records. This year will mark the first time since 2005 that the number of transactions are up from the previous year.

“The absolute numbers are not as important to the relative differences in them, and I would expect most real estate companies in town have had similar experiences,” Graham said.

The numbers show what his brokers were feeling — that unlike in 2009 where there were several letters of intent that never turned into sales or leases, 2010 was seeing more deals go the distance.

“There were numerous ‘practice deals’ last year, but the trend is for more and more LOI’s to convert to closed deals,” Graham said.

Still, the number of deals could be skewed if landlords are asking rock-bottom prices or if property is being sold at fire sales or through foreclosures.

So Graham took a look at the average transaction size in dollars. Again, the evidence showed 2009 was a new low with an average of $344,219. In 2010, that figure is $454,317, an increase of 32 percent.

Graham said that’s significant because it shows not only landlords and sellers are no longer willing to take what they can get, but also that tenants and buyers have come to the realization that the discounts of a year ago are gone.

“From the shock of the Wall Street meltdown in September 2008, it took about 18 months for the business community to get over it, and start moving on real estate bargains,” Graham explained.

Graham took his analysis one step further to see what the bottom line was for the landlords and sellers by calculating the average price per square foot of leases and sales. Again, 2009 was the low point at $20.40 per square foot, a 50 percent drop from the highs of 2007 and 2008. In 2010, the figure is up 23 percent to $25.06.

Graham is happy to have evidence instead of just a “feeling” of improvement. Still, he has a feeling the upswing will continue in 2011.

“While we have bounced off the bottom, there are plenty of value deals out there, primarily depending on the owners’ circumstances, and how much pressure they are receiving from their lender,” he said. “Supply still exceeds demand, so while the market still favors buyers and tenants, the demand level has finally started increasing.”

That has Graham predicting the number of deals will go up by more than 6 percent in 2011 compared to this year. He’s even more optimistic that prices will go up — by nearly 25 percent — now that much of the distressed property has worked its way through the market. When it comes to price per share foot, Graham expects an 11.2 percent jump next year to $27.87.

“While the financial markets still have a long ways to go to stability, the uptick in demand to occupy space will enhance the overall economy, making the banking system a little more secure,” Graham predicted.

Economic downturns cause cuts and short-term reactions. It’s when companies stick their heads up out of the foxholes and look around that they realize they survived and can start plotting their next strategy.

“During the freeze that started in October 2007 and lasted through April 2010, most companies hunkered down, cut costs, and fortunately many started making money again, even with greatly reduced revenues,” Graham said. “Hoarding cash was a way of life during this same period. We are now seeing businesses commit to long-term leases, and purchase properties, thereby locking in low operating costs for the future.”

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][ Read article at al.com ][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Source: The Birmingham News

Sister companies that own Taco Bell and Sonic restaurant franchises have purchased a building in Liberty Park for $2.4 million with plans to make it their new corporate headquarters.

Tacala LLC and Boom Foods LLC, which operate 162 Taco Bell and 70 Sonic locations, respectively, plan to move from the current leased office space in Cahaba Heights to the 18,000 square-foot offices at 3750 Corporate Woods Drive.

Marjorie Perlman, vice president of marketing for the companies, said the move will likely come in May 2011. She said the company decided it wanted to own its offices rather than to continue leasing. RTR Partners LLC, a sister company established to buy real estate, was the actual purchaser of the Liberty Park building from the previous owner, TNS Building LLC.

Graham & Co. broker Sam Carroll represented RTR Partners in the purchase.

Carroll also represented Boos Development Group Inc. in its sale of a 3,600-square-foot office building at 2067 Columbiana Road. Silver Oak Realty purchased that building for $382,500, with plans to house the law offices of bankruptcy attorney Taylor Crockett on the second floor.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][ Read article at al.com ][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Source: Bizjournals.com

American Lumber said it will transform the former Georgia-Pacific facility in Tarrant into a manufacturing facility.

The Texas-based company recently closed the purchase of the 98,000-square-foot facility, which Georgia-Pacific used to manufacture corrugated paper, but did not disclose the purchase price. According to LoopNet, the asking price was $2.2 million.

And it plans to use the facility as a major remanufacturing facility and distribution center for the Southeast, said a news release.

With operations in Tuscaloosa for the last five years, American Lumber will relocate its local employees to the Birmingham facility, which will eventually employ more than 50 people.

“American Lumber is a good, quality company and having them in Birmingham will be an asset to our region,” said Jim Searcy, vice president of business and industrial retention for the Birmingham Business Alliance, in the release. “This is a meaningful investment for the Birmingham region and especially for the City of Tarrant. It is always encouraging to see a vacant building occupied and jobs created.”

Tarrant Mayor Loxcil Tuck and Graham & Co. Brokers Ogden Deaton and John Coleman were instrumental in the transaction, according to the press release.

American Lumber is based in Uvalde, Texas, and inventories large quantities of lumber. It has other manufacturing facilities in Bryan, Texas, and sales offices throughout that state.

[ Read article at bizjournals.com ]

Source: Bizjournals.com

Local contractor P&M Mechanical said it recently purchased a new building north of Birmingham to relocate and add more jobs.

Terry Wideman, a principal of P&M, said the company paid $995,000 for the new building off Carson Road and plans to add up to 35 new employees over the next year and a half to its roster of 80 people.

While the company has been successful in school construction projects locally during the recession, Wideman anticipates P&M’s upcoming woman-owned business certification will open new – and prosperous – federal doors and help it grow into its new space.

The company is owned by Wideman’s wife, Amanda Wideman, who runs the commercial heating and air and plumbing company day-to-day with her husband. Amanda Wideman’s father originally owned the business and handed over the remainder of his stock to her earlier this year…

[ Read entire article at bizjournals.com (subscription required) ]

SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla. – Young Professionals @ the Beach (YP@TB), the area’s premier organization for up and coming business men and women, were the lucky guests to tour the nearly completed Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) in Panama City on April 14th. The local group boarded a tour bus guided by Access Public Relations’ Amy Ausley and sponsored by Panama City Beach business Graham & Company. Those on board were able to see firsthand the airport entrance, terminal, jetway, ride down the runway and even go inside the control tower for a bird’s eye view of the entire property. Much of the ground covered on the tour will not be seen by the general public until the airport opens next month.

With over 50 YP@TB members and non-members in attendance, YP President Cory Fosdyck felt the turnout offered growth potential for the relatively new organization. “I believe the success of this event will catapult YP@TB’s membership growth. We received a number of applications and all of the feedback from patrons after the trip was extremely positive.”

The airport tour was part of the group’s meeting schedule, which alternates social events with professional development lunches and semi-annual field trips. The group’s members come from Okaloosa, Walton and Bay counties with the mission of bridging social, geographic, political and economic boundaries across Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast.

For more information about YP@TB contact the Walton Area Chamber (www.waltonareachamber.com or 850-267-0683) or Panama City Beach Chamber (www.pcbeach.org or 850-235-1159).

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][ Read entire article including pictures at YPATB blog ][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Source: The Birmingham News – article by Michael Tomberlin

Nextran Truck Center’s Birmingham operation has purchased its building and adjacent property as it pursues expansion.

Officials at the Jacksonville, Fla.-based network of medium and heavy-duty truck sales and service centers spent months looking around the metro area for a new site to buy but ended up purchasing the building it has leased for five years from the Barber Companies.

Nextran not only bought the 31,000-square-foot building at 3101 Messer Airport Highway, but also 4.6 acres of property.

Jimmy Sirmans, general manager of Nextran’s Birmingham facility, said the purchase puts the company in position for growth.

“We wanted to get some longevity here by buying property,” Sirmans said. “In eight to 12 months, we will probably do something with the adjacent property.”

Birmingham Mayor William Bell said keeping Nextran in the city was important.

“We are extremely excited that Nextran has chosen to stay in Birmingham when they had options to relocate outside of the city,” Bell said Tuesday. “This punctuates Birmingham’s location as a transportation center, which is a key element in site location decisions.”

Tracey Morant Adams, director for the mayor’s economic development office, said retaining a company is often more important than luring new prospects.

“Business retention is a critical element to our economic development efforts in the city,” she said. “Nextran’s decision to remain in Birmingham gives us the opportunity to retain over 50 jobs with future growth opportunity.”

Nextran has a large parts and service center for working on trucks. It uses Birmingham and 11 other locations in Georgia and Florida as a network for servicing trucks on the road. It also sells trucks built by Mack, Volvo, Ford, Isuzu, GMC and Mitsubishi, as well as used trucks.

Jack Brown, broker with Graham & Co., said he spent 18 months trying to find a suitable site for Nextran to buy so it could develop a new center for the metro area.

“We needed something with good interstate access and good visibility,” Brown said. “We looked and looked and decided to approach Barber about selling the existing facility along with some extra land Barber also owned next to it.”

Sirmans said the company considered a number of sites, including vacant car dealerships but decided it needed a larger building for its parts and service facility — a building about the size as it already had.

“We’re glad it worked out,” Sirmans said.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][ read entire article at al.com ][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Source: Birmingham Business Journal – by Lauren B. Cooper

BBVA Compass recently signed a multiyear lease for more than 50,000 square feet of space at SurModics Pharmaceuticals’ new facility off Lakeshore Parkway.

The bank is taking the space in SurModics’ 130,000-square-foot office tower, which it purchased in 2008 along with a distribution center that was owned by Saks Inc. and now serves as a consolidated campus for SurModics Pharmaceuticals.

BBVA Compass declined to comment on the specific use of the space, but said it will be additional square footage for the Spanish-owned bank that calls Birmingham home for its U.S. operations.

A recent quarterly report for BBVA revealed the level of confidence the parent company has in BBVA Compass, which constitutes 53 percent of its U.S. assets, particularly when integrating acquired banks.

“Compass has thus proven to be a solid foundation for growth for the BBVA franchise’s subsequent construction in the United States,” said the report of the integration of Guaranty Bank, a failed Texas-based institution that it bought last year for $12 billion.

BBVA said lending to customers at BBVA Compass increased by 11.3 percent year-over-year and deposits rose nearly 32 percent. It closed the quarter with a net profit of nearly $33 million.

The lease leaves SurModics plenty of room for future growth and is a good sign things are picking up in the market, said Dan Lovell, the broker with Graham & Co. that represented SurModics. Max Taylor and Mike Lawley represented BBVA Compass, he said.

“There’s definitely more activity than any period of time last year,” said Lovell. “February through May have been the most active in 18 months.”

And companies that have an idea where they are headed are realizing now is a good time to make decisions for the long term, agreed Joe Sandner, whose Sandner Commercial Real Estate handles office leasing throughout Birmingham.

“Things are heating up across all markets,” he said. “Folks are looking to do business and a year ago they weren’t.”

But the market is still not healthy, he said, with commercial real estate sales transactions still down and property owners coming to grips with pricing.

Representatives from SurModics did not return phone calls in time for press. But the company said in a quarterly conference call the multiyear BBVA Compass lease that will go into effect later this year will reduce the company’s operating expenses. However, the company did take a $2.1 million impairment charge in the quarter related to the consolidated facilities in Birmingham, which it said reflected the decline in the commercial real estate market.

Minnesota-based SurModics bought Birmingham’s Brookwood Pharmaceuticals in 2007, creating SurModics Pharmaceuticals and furthering Brookwood’s technology solutions for pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devise companies.

In 2008, SurModics announced a $30 million expansion project that would turn the shuttered Saks Inc. headquarters and distribution center off Lakeshore Parkway into a manufacturing and research and development facility, creating 300 jobs. It moved in earlier this year, consolidating its Birmingham facilities.

[ Read at bizjournals.com ]

Source: Birmingham Business Journal

John Coleman of Graham & Co. represented GE Capital in the disposition of the former Expressions Cabinetry facility in Gadsden. The 55,000-square-foot building was purchased by United Caseworks and will continue to be used for cabinet manufacturing. Coleman also represented Thistle Properties in the acquisition of a 10,000-square-foot office warehouse off of Academy Drive in Bessemer. The building will be occupied by an automotive related company providing automotive solutions, from mechanical and controls design to fabrication and installation. The seller, Crew Development, was represented by Jack Brown, also of Graham & Co.

Source: Birmingham News

A cabinet company is taking over space and equipment left behind by another cabinet company in Gadsden.

United Casework paid $775,000 for the 55,000 sf former Expressions Cabinetry facility in Gadsden.

United also purchased the equipment in the building from the former lenders and is preparing to begin manufacturing cabinets by June, according to John Coleman of Graham & Company, who brokered the sale of the building in a disposition by lender GE Capital.

Coleman said United plans to eventually have 20 jobs at the plant.

Source: Birmingham News

Waste Pro USA Inc. plans to invest $3.2 million in an operation in Tarrant that could eventually have up to 125 workers as the company collects garbage contracts with communities throughout the metro area.

Longwood, Fla.-based Waste Pro has leased the 121,750-square-foot former Clean Earth Environmental building off Pinson Valley Parkway near Valley East Industrial Park.

The company is adding equipment to turn the facility into a full-scale recycling center. Garbage collected from residential and commercial users will be taken to the facility, where recyclable material will be separated before the rest of the garbage is sent off to a landfill.

“Traditional waste haulers have never really looked at farming the commodities,” said Bucky Fowler, regional vice president with Waste Pro. “They all own landfills. We feel like it’s the environmentally friendly thing to do, the right thing to do. The thing that can sustain us long-term is to take the waste stream, dig deeply into the waste stream, extract more commodities and send as little as possible to the landfills.”

Fowler said Waste Pro plans on competing for every residential garbage collection contract that comes up for bid in Jefferson and surrounding counties. That will put Waste Pro up against the likes of Waste Management, Allied Waste Services, Waste Away Inc., Arrow Disposal Service, Veolia and Advanced Disposal Services of Birmingham.

Fowler said Waste Pro’s bids will always include a curb-side recycling plan.

“We really want to expand curb-side recycling,” he said. “Most of that falls under a solid-waste bid, but we definitely want to bring curb-side recycling to every municipality. We’re trying to touch eight contiguous counties in the Birmingham area — Walker, Jefferson, Shelby, Tuscaloosa, St. Clair, Blount, Talladega and Calhoun.”

Even though this is Waste Pro’s first large-scale “material recovery facility” in Alabama, the company is no stranger to recycling operations here. In September 2008, Waste Pro acquired American Recycling of Alabama from American Recycling Group and took over its facility in Bessemer.

“We already do about 2,000 tons a month in recycling just in the Bessemer facility,” Fowler said. “We’re looking to increase that by more than 100 percent. We’re looking to be at 5,000 tons a month in the next 18 months.”

Fowler said Waste Pro aims to use the operation in Tarrant to expand the commercial recycling business it already has in the metro area.

“It will be full-scale waste hauling from commercial to residential and it will have full-scale public recycling,” he said. “From e-waste, plastics, batteries, everything that can be recycled, we’ll be able to take at the facility.”

The company has a similar operation in Atlanta whose customers include the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Waste Pro also handles tissue recycling for Kimberly-Clark Corp. and SCA Tissue North America, including its facility in Barton in Colbert County.

The Tarrant facility is set to begin operations May 15. Fowler said Waste Pro has already submitted a bid on its first area residential contract, set to be awarded in July. He declined to disclose the community because the bids are confidential.

The facility will open with around 50 workers this summer, but Fowler said he expects the number to grow quickly, along with Waste Pro’s customers.

“In Birmingham specifically, the facility will grow to between 100 to 125 jobs over the next three years,” he said.

Waste Pro is already eyeing other parts of the state as part of its expansion plans.

“It is our first facility like this in Alabama,” Fowler said. “We are looking very seriously in the Mobile and Huntsville areas.”

Waste Pro wants to expand beyond its current base of operations in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and the Carolinas.

“We’re really dominant in Florida, and we’ve got a 10-state footprint we’re looking to expand in over the next five years,” Fowler said.

Jack Brown of Graham & Co. handled the lease deal on the Tarrant facility and its 22½ acres in unincorporated Jefferson County, with assistance from Jim Searcey of the Birmingham Business Alliance and Frank Humber, Jefferson County’s director of land development.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][ read entire article at al.com ][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]