Commercial Brokerage Advisors, Commercial Real Estate in Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Niceville, Crestview, Santa Rosa Beach, Panama City, northwest Florida.

WILDWOOD - Sperry Van Ness has completed the sale of a four-acre, fully entitled commercial zoned site to Wildwood Hospitality Group LLC of Tallahassee. The land is at the corner of SR 44 and CR 229, near I-75.

The buyer plans to develop the four-acre site to include a 78-unit Comfort Inn and a restaurant/retail outparcel.

Hospitality advisors Rumit Nana, T.C. Chen and Natvar Nana of Sperry Van Ness in Orlando represented the seller, M&R Motel Investments of Leesburg.

Gordon MacLean and Terry McDevitt of Sperry Van Ness in Fort Walton Beach represented the buyer.

Landmark Center ready to start 'turning dirt'

Developers seek new era for downtown FWB

August 12, 2008 - 4:15PM

FORT WALTON BEACH - Ted Corcoran with the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce calls the proposed Landmark Center "the biggest thing to come to downtown Fort Walton in the last 50 years."

And according to its developers, the $27 million, four-story residential and retail project is finally ready to start.

"Being located at Highway 98 and Perry Avenue, so close to the Brooks bridge, it's a welcome to the downtown area to those traveling west," Corcoran said. "It continues the resurgence of the past several years and it accomplishes so many things."

Sperry Van Ness, one of the nation's largest commercial real estate brokerage firms, has just taken the leasing assignment for the retail and office space.

Site work could begin on the center's parking deck in the next few weeks, according to Bruce Houle of Emerald Coast Partners, the project's developer.

"We hope to start on the parking deck by the end of August and have it completed by May 2009," he said last week.

The five-level parking deck is projected to cost about $4.6 million. If it goes well, construction of the Landmark Center itself will follow within several months. The center will boast 123,000 square feet. That's where an investment of about $23 million comes in.

Last year, the Fort Walton Beach City Council voted 6-1 to approve the 343-space parking garage partly on private property and partly on city-owned land. When the garage is finished, the city will buy 107 spaces for $1.5 million.

Each year after that, the city has the option to buy an additional 40 spaces for about $555,000. Thirty-eight spaces will be reserved for Landmark Center residents.

Sperry Van News will lease the space on the first two floors, with Gordon MacLean and Terry McDevitt acting as agents

As designed by DAG Architects in Destin, the first floor will have 34,000 square feet of retail space. Emerald Coast Coffee, whose local success could one day lead to a regional concept, has signed a letter of intent for 1,800 square feet.

Plans call for 29,000 square feet of office space on the second floor. Leasing rates will be about $25 per square foot, MacLean said, and a minimum contract of three years will be the normal arrangement. The cost per square foot could be less if the business coming in does its own "build out."

An ideal mix of tenants would include two or three eateries and several specialty shops, said MacLean, who added that his company is seeking tenants from local, regional and national markets.

"We had been watching the downtown market for quite a while," he said. "It really came down to a lot of competing interests and obviously the best project has won.

"The public-private partnership to get the parking garage done was a big key of it," MacLean added. "We think this project is going to transform the look and feel of downtown ... make it more of a tourist destination."

Sperry Van Ness recently has opened an office in Landmark Office Center. The building once was a small supermarket and is adjacent to where the new building will take shape.

Student housing investors attracted by recession-proof asset as market transforms

Following the footsteps of self-storage, student housing has emerged as an institutional investment category - and it's riding on the back of a college enrollment boom. The recipe for success is too many students and too few housing options.

Here are the facts: Three student housing REITs have formed since 2004 to tap into the opportunity. And according to RREEF, university-owned supply of student housing is failing while the student population is rising twice as fast as the total U.S. population. That creates the private-sector opportunities en mass.

Florida is a prime location with 11 state universities, four major medical schools - and two new ones coming online soon - and dozens of private colleges and universities, as well as 52 community college campuses. As such, institutional players are developing, managing and investing in student housing to tap into the attractive ROI forecasts.

"Anyone who has land in close proximity to university is looking to build student housing. It is a coveted asset right now," said Dorothy Jackman, a senior investment associate in the national multifamily group at Marcus & Millichap. "Everyone is looking for dirt near universities, and that includes REITs, the institutions, the regional private developers and the local developers in each market."

Jackman cites multiple benefits for builders and investors, including the long-term viability of the market, its associated returns, the expectation of higher occupancy levels, and the ability to increase rents every year. What's more, according to RREEF, attendance is growing fastest among the types of students that are most likely to seek institutional-quality student housing: female, full-time students attending four-year public colleges.

"In Florida, Tallahassee is seeing most of the student housing development today," said Byron Moger, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield of Florida's apartment brokerage services. "Gainesville, Orlando and Tampa are seeing some activity, but to a lesser degree. There are a few new deals that may be breaking ground soon."

The student housing investment landscape is diverse. The major players in Florida include Paradigm Properties in Gainesville, Rich Properties in Boca Raton, Epoch Management and Development in Winter Park, JPI Partners in Irving, Texas, and Wood Partners in Atlanta, as well as Inland American, Dinerstein Companies and some private groups.

Rich Properties recently launched Capital Walk in Tallahassee, offering student housing in the lap of luxury with a tropical swimming pool and a heated spa, as well as a fitness center. Epoch Management's newest property is The Evergreens at Mahan on the east side of Tallahassee, another development with resort-style amenities. In all, Gordon MacLean, a multifamily specialist in the Destin office of Sperry Van Ness, said there are nearly 2,000 new student housing units coming out of the ground in the Tallahassee area. And institutional investors are snapping them up.

Indeed, despite a few large institutional players, RREEF reports the student housing market is still highly fragmented and dominated by small, undercapitalized owners whose market share would be vulnerable to capture by larger, more professional institutional developers, managers, investors and owners.

"American Campus Communities has been very active in the market. They own several properties in the Tallahassee market. GEM Investors owns a handful of properties as well," Maclean said. "New private investors are coming into the Tallahassee market to buy up properties because of the tremendous forecasted growth in student housing over the next 10 years. During soft economies, student populations tend to increase, so there's strong focus on student housing."

Over the past 12 months especially, student housing has seen a transformation from mom-and-pop ownership to private and institutional investor ownership, according to Moger. Private groups, he said, are selling out to both domestic and foreign investors such as Campus Apartments, a U.S. group that has a joint venture with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

But beyond the opportunities brought by a so-called Echo Boom generation that has the financial wherewithal to move away from no-frill dorms to more luxurious properties with pools and saunas, there are still challenges for developers and investors in this asset class. "It can be tough for developers to get sites close enough to campus. The farther you get away from campus, the less attractive the site becomes," Moger says. "Even if kids drive to school, they still want to be close."

Redeveloping aging properties around the universities represents a large opportunity to overcome the site selection challenge, but developers must still be mindful of over-saturating markets, according to Jackman. "You have to be very careful to research your market to make sure that the university has continued growth enrollment forecasted and that they are not going to employ things like a freshmen rule, which requires all freshmen to live on campus," she says. "Of course, there are some markets that have an exorbitant amount of failed kiddy-condo conversions that are also coming online as rentals in those markets."

Student housing also demands stronger management by virtue of the demographic. That may dictate higher replacement reserves, Maclean said. Moreover, leases are often tied to the school terms. That means higher turnover and more hands-on management. "Your management needs to be a bit more intensive," he said, "and you have to structure your leases where you are not going through huge swings in turnover."

All in all, experts agree student housing development and investment is a trend that should continue to grow in Florida. Student housing is somewhat recession-resistant. While the immediate future may see some decrease in enrollment, Jackman said, the bottom line is Florida is home to flagship universities, and the state population will keep growing.

"We might have a hiccup," she concludes, "but the long-term outlook for student housing in Florida is very strong."

Under the Radar

Tallahassee doesn’t garner the attention of other Florida markets, but prying eyes know what they see: steady, strategic growth.

By Dana Enfinger with Gordon MacLean

Tallahassee—This market is not one you think of when talking about the multifamily climate in Florida. The state capital may shy away from the spotlight, but a growing student population and a fairly stable job market positions it for a starring role.

“When people are talking about Florida markets, you assume that they are going to launch into a conversation about condos in South Florida,” said Sam Chandan, chief economist for Reis, Inc., a real estate research firm based in New York City. “There’s a whole other part of the state that’s not getting a lot of attention, and that’s Tallahassee.”

At the 2000 Census, the city recorded a 12.4 percent growth in population— higher than both Miami and Tampa. Plus, the Tallahassee metro did not experience the glut of rentals that many other Florida markets have witnessed.

“The market has slowed a little bit because of a little more construction in 2007, but overall the trend is very positive. Demand is good,” said Chandan.

On average, the Tallahassee market has about 700 rental units being built annually, said Charles Dalton, president of Real Data, an apartment market research firm based in Charlotte, N.C. At the end of 2007, the market recorded about 1,000 units under construction.

“With those units coming online over the next year, we’ll probably see a little more competition, a few more concessions,” said Dalton. “But [the multifamily market] should stay relatively stable. A good portion of the growth in Tallahassee is due to the growth of the universities. We consider about a quarter of the market to be product specifically built for students.”

The college student population in the capital is recording an annual growth rate of about 7 percent to 8 percent. Florida State University (FSU) is expected to build new medical school facilities.

“In the area around the campus, that’s where rents are staying strong,” said Gordon MacLean, investment adviser for Sperry Van Ness. MacLean is based in Fort Walton Beach and is involved in multifamily transactions from Tallahassee to Mobile, Ala. He revealed that Seminole Oaks, an apartment community built in 1965, recently sold for $15.7 million, representing a per-unit price of $60,000.

“That figure is a bit high for that type of product,” said MacLean. “It’s not specifically set up to house students, but the property’s good location to campus makes it very appealing. So it will no doubt attract students.”

Dorothy Jackman agreed. She is a senior associate for Marcus & Millichap in the real estate firm’s Tampa office. She specializes in student housing and has been involved in a number of apartment deals in Tallahassee.

“This older product located close to college campuses is attracting a number of institutional investors who are obviously looking down the road for redevelopment play,” said Jackman.

In 2006, the Tallahassee market recorded 14 multifamily transactions. The average deal size was $16.2 million, according to research firm Marcus & Millichap. At the end of 2007, only nine transactions had been closed, but the average deal size was higher than in 2006 by more than a million dollars at $17.3 million.

Everything from Class A to Class C product traded hands in 2007, said MacLean. He predicted that investors might seek out more Class A units in the next five years as students from upperincome families are increasingly attracted to the college town. If MacLean’s theory plays out, it would be good news for developers of new Class A properties. Properties built before 1970 recorded a healthy vacancy rate of 2.9 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2007, according to Reis, while properties built after 1999 experienced a vacancy rate of a whopping 8.7 percent.

“We may see more of a separation between families and students,” said MacLean. “Many of these former homeowners [displaced by the mortgage crisis] aren’t going to want to be moving into a complex full of students. And students are going to want more amenities catered to them that a student housing complex provides. We’ll likely see more by-the-bed housing going up.”

MacLean added that developers would need to get creative to get that type of housing built, as land is scarce around FSU and Florida A&M University.

The mortgage crisis has definitely affected the multifamily climate in Tallahassee, said Jackman, maybe for the better.

“Potential buyers are really doing their homework before they put in bids,” said Jackman. “Sellers are getting more realistic about what the value of their properties are. The number of deals is down a little but not significantly so. Obviously, the loan-to-values are lower, and buyers continue to be cautious. But these people that can get a good loan on a good product are still willing to invest. We may not see as many offers to deals, but now those offers are well thought out.”

The careful analysis of the market in the capital extends to developers, she said. They are looking more carefully at forecasts, and Jackman said she figures this will help Tallahassee avoid the rental glut that has plagued many other Florida markets.

Fort Walton Beach, FL - We are proud to announce the launch of our new state of the art Real Estate Services Web site today. The new site is powered by a la mode, inc. net.X technology, which integrates and leverages a range of desktop and Internet applications and data sources to extend the network to better serve our clients.

This new site provides streamlined services for existing as well as potential new clients, while also providing our staff with technology integration that allows us to be more effective in our daily operations. Not only can clients view our listings, but they can also search for a home or get pre-qualified for a mortgage and much more. The new site also provides rich multi-media content for potential new clients, showing them the benefits of hiring a professional Agent in an engaging, highly professional presentation format that will create new demand for our services. Going forward, the underlying a la mode net.X platform of our new site means that we are automatically going to be adding features and capabilities to meet our changing business requirements and keep up with the technology curve in Real Estate. We are a full service Real Estate Services firm and a recognized leader in the local market. Our firm combines a focus on customer service with the utilization of technology to provide clients with the highest quality and fastest turnaround times in the market.

Sperry Van Ness EXPANDS PRESENCE IN Florida;

aligns with Commercial Brokerage Advisors, Inc.

Fort Walton Beach, FL - 10/30/2006 – Sperry Van Ness, one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate investment brokerage firms, has expanded its presence in the Florida and Alabama commercial real estate market by aligning with Commercial Brokerage Advisors, Inc. Terry McDevitt will now serve as managing director and senior advisor for Sperry Van Ness. Additionally, Gordon MacLean will serve as a senior advisor. The office is located at 189 Eglin Parkway, Suite 200.

The addition of Commercial Brokerage Advisors, Inc. is part of Sperry Van Ness’ national expansion program, which has grown from nine markets to more than 100 markets in approximately four years. Julianne Bawden director of organizational development for Sperry Van Ness, is responsible for the company’s growth in Florida, while Rod Santomassimo, regional director for Sperry Van Ness, oversees the region’s team of advisors.

“Commercial Brokerage Advisors, Inc. team is one of Florida’s premier commercial real estate firms and we are proud that they are joining Sperry Van Ness,” said Santomassimo. “With their knowledge and proven track record in the region, we’re confident that they will be an extremely valuable asset in helping to grow our business.”

McDevitt specializes in the sale and lease of office and industrial properties from Tallahassee, Florida west to Mobile, Alabama. He has over 35 years of real estate investment and brokerage experience and holds a brokers license in both Florida and Alabama. He is a Real Estate Alumni of the University of Michigan (RAM), a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) and the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors (ECAR). He is also the author and educator of the seminar titled “Working Smarter”, which teaches the use of financial calculators and application of “net present value” to the acquisition and disposition of real estate investments. Additionally, McDevitt was the co-founder of the Tennessee Real Estate Exchange (TREE).

MacLean specializes in the sale of multifamily properties and land in the Florida panhandle and Alabama. Over his 10-year career, he has completed more than 200 commercial real estate transactions. MacLean holds both Florida and Alabama brokers licenses and is a member of the National Association of Realtors, the Florida Association of Realtors, and the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors. Additionally, MacLean served in the United States Air Force during Desert Storm.

Founded in 1987, Sperry Van Ness is one of the largest commercial real estate investment brokerage firms in the United States with more than 850 advisors in 42 states. Sperry Van Ness provides advisory, brokerage, consultation, asset management, property management, leasing, financial, accelerated marketing and auction services. To provide the highest value to its clients, Sperry Van Ness is the only national firm that implements a broker marketing plan in addition to its investor marketing plan for all listings. Sperry Van Ness is the only firm that proactively shares its fee 50/50 with cooperating brokers. Guided by this principal of cooperation, Sperry Van Ness, based in Irvine, Calif., has advised clients on billions of dollars in office, multifamily, retail, industrial, hospitality and land transactions. For more information, please visit www.svn.com.

SVN arranges $1.2M sale of land for hotel