FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Bell Partners Inc.
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Recent Bell Transactions Exceed $125 Million
Greensboro-based Steven D. Bell & Company recently completed real estate transactions valued at more than $125 million, including a major shopping center development near Atlanta, the purchase of senior living communities in Georgia and Florida and the sale of two apartment communities in Tennessee.
In a joint venture with Atlanta developer The Sembler Company, a Bell-sponsored limited liability company closed on approximately 80 acres of land in Canton, Ga., in preparation for the development of a retail center to be known as Canton Marketplace.
The total cost for the retail center, scheduled to be completed in mid-2007, has been set at $76.5 million. Target and Lowe’s will be major anchors in the center, supported by a wide variety of nationally-respected chains, as well as local retailers.
The Sembler Company is a widely known developer and is a partner with Bell in several other retail properties in the Southeast. Sembler has been named the top retail property developer in Atlanta for the last four years.
Canton Marketplace will be a 695,000 square foot shopping complex at the intersection of Interstate 575 and Georgia Highway 20 about 25 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. Construction is expected to begin in March of 2006.
“The development of Canton Marketplace, the acquisition of two more senior living communities and recent sales of two apartment properties demonstrate how diversity adds value for investors,” said Ed Harrington, Bell President.
Harrington added, “Our recent activity included investment in retail, investment in eldercare properties and return on investment in multi-family. This variety in real estate investment opportunity is important to our ownership interests.”
In late September, Steven B. Bell & Company-sponsored investment groups completed the purchase of two senior living communities in Florida and Georgia for a combined purchase price of approximately $22 million, bringing to 18 the number of eldercare properties now either owned or managed by Bell business entities.
A Bell investor group bought Habersham House in Savannah, Ga., a 63-unit assisted living and Alzheimer’s care community for approximately $8 million. Habersham is located near Savannah’s Memorial Health University Hospital and Candler Hospital, close to downtown Savannah.
A Bell-sponsored partnership also purchased Barrington Terrace of Boynton Beach (Fla.) for $13.8 million, in a joint venture with a Chicago-based real estate investment firm. The 70,000 square foot building contains 104 assisted living units and 29 beds for skilled nursing care.
Jon Bell, Vice President for Capital Transactions at Bell, said, “The Barrington Terrace purchase is a combination of investment from a group of high net worth individuals and a major institutional investor. That is becoming a more typical arrangement for us.”
During the same period, the Bell firm sold two apartment properties in Tennessee.
According to sales executive David Bell, negotiations and sales were completed for Waterford Place in Murfreesboro, Tenn., as well as for Carrington Park, also in Murfreesboro, both apartment communities. The Waterford sale price was $13,250,000 and Carrington Park sold for $14,375,000.
David Bell commented, “The current access to capital in the real estate marketplace has created an attractive selling environment and, in the interest of our investors, we were able to take advantage of that with the Murfreesboro sales.”
The Bell firm, founded in 1976, now has more than 850 employees working in investment property locations across the Southeast and Texas.
Steven D. Bell & Company manages a property portfolio valued at more than $2 billion. The portfolio is made up of approximately 18,200 apartment units under management, 18 senior living facilities and about four million square feet of retail space in 25 shopping centers and three office buildings.
