FloridaFuture
January 26th, 2007, 11:12 PM
Some Atlanta stuff, but I thought it was worth posting.
Novare to raise $6.9M from private investors
Atlanta Business Chronicle - September 29, 2006by Lisa R. SchoolcraftStaff writer
Prolific Atlanta condominium developer Novare Group Inc. is raising more capital for more high-rise development.
A subsidiary, Novare 360 Investors LLC, told the Securities and Exchange Commission Sept. 14 it is seeking to raise nearly $6.9 million through private investors.
As of Sept. 14, Novare 360 Investors, an entity created Sept. 12 with the Georgia Secretary of State's office, had raised nearly $2.2 million. The money came from 12 investors, two from Connecticut who put up $350,000 each and 10 from Georgia who have invested a total of $1.8 million. Each investor must put up a minimum of $100,000, the SEC filing said.
The equity will be used to fund Novare's Austin, Texas, condo project called 360, said Tucker Alford, Novare's chief financial officer. Construction on the 433-unit, 44-story tower began earlier this year.
This is not the first time Novare has turned to private investors to fund its projects. In March 2005 Novare Group Holdings LLC initiated a similar fund, raising $85 million by June 30, 2005.
Existing Novare investors and management put $30 million into the first offering, and $55 million came from new investors, Alford said.
Novare used the $85 million to help fund ViewPoint, Novare's high-rise condo project across from Spire, on Peachtree Street in Midtown. The capital also funded Novare's Avenue condo tower in Charlotte, N.C., SkyPoint in Tampa, Fla., and Encore in Nashville, Tenn., Alford said.
ViewPoint, a 36-story, 385-unit tower, will be built on 2 acres on Peachtree, between Sixth and Seventh streets. ViewPoint also will have 30,000 square feet of two-story retail space fronting Peachtree and should be complete by second-quarter 2008.
ViewPoint, a joint venture with Robert C. "Robin" Loudermilk Jr., includes a historic Neel Reid building that will be converted into luxury condos.
Developers may be raising more private equity as some commercial lenders are becoming more conservative when it comes to housing projects, said Faron G. Thompson, managing director of Primary Capital, which does not lend for condo development.
"The condo market around the country, but especially in the Southeast, has weakened from its all-time high of last year," Thompson said. Last year, Lane Co. held an auction for its condo units at Atlantic Station. "That action has subsided tremendously."
Developers like Novare and John Williams, CEO of Williams Realty Advisors LLC, which is developing The Mansion in Buckhead, will still get their deals done, but not without obtaining more presales from home buyers and putting more equity into the project, he said.
"Those guys are good developers, but they are not going to get them done with as much bank debt as they used to," Thompson said. "It's a much more conservative market now. Lenders will be more sponsor-focused -- sponsors with deep pockets."
Lenders have been tightening up their underwriting as news has remained negative about the housing market for the past several months, Alford said.
Novare continues to seek private capital because "there's just a deep pool of private capital out there interested in private equity in real estate and we've been able to get into that channel," he said.
Novare continues to buy land for future projects and has more projects ready to start.
Novare recently closed on its $4 million purchase of the Atlanta Opera Company's West Peachtree Street site.
Tim Holdroyd, president of City Realty Advisors LLC, brokered the Aug. 3 land sale, according to Databank Inc. The opera will stay on the property at 728 West Peachtree St. for one year.
Novare has several projects in the works, including Gallery, a joint venture with Coro Realty Advisors LLC under construction in Buckhead, and ViewPoint and 3630 Peachtree in North Buckhead, a joint venture with Pope & Land Enterprises Inc., Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc. (NYSE: PPS) and Duke Realty Corp.
Novare plans to start construction on the 181-unit, 25-story condo portion of the mixed-use 3630 Peachtree in October.
Novare also plans to build The Roxy, a 445-unit condo tower in Buckhead in 2007, and The Atlantic, a 401-unit, 46-story tower in Atlantic Station in Midtown, which could start construction by the end of this year, Alford said.
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2006/10/02/story13.html?page=2
Novare to raise $6.9M from private investors
Atlanta Business Chronicle - September 29, 2006by Lisa R. SchoolcraftStaff writer
Prolific Atlanta condominium developer Novare Group Inc. is raising more capital for more high-rise development.
A subsidiary, Novare 360 Investors LLC, told the Securities and Exchange Commission Sept. 14 it is seeking to raise nearly $6.9 million through private investors.
As of Sept. 14, Novare 360 Investors, an entity created Sept. 12 with the Georgia Secretary of State's office, had raised nearly $2.2 million. The money came from 12 investors, two from Connecticut who put up $350,000 each and 10 from Georgia who have invested a total of $1.8 million. Each investor must put up a minimum of $100,000, the SEC filing said.
The equity will be used to fund Novare's Austin, Texas, condo project called 360, said Tucker Alford, Novare's chief financial officer. Construction on the 433-unit, 44-story tower began earlier this year.
This is not the first time Novare has turned to private investors to fund its projects. In March 2005 Novare Group Holdings LLC initiated a similar fund, raising $85 million by June 30, 2005.
Existing Novare investors and management put $30 million into the first offering, and $55 million came from new investors, Alford said.
Novare used the $85 million to help fund ViewPoint, Novare's high-rise condo project across from Spire, on Peachtree Street in Midtown. The capital also funded Novare's Avenue condo tower in Charlotte, N.C., SkyPoint in Tampa, Fla., and Encore in Nashville, Tenn., Alford said.
ViewPoint, a 36-story, 385-unit tower, will be built on 2 acres on Peachtree, between Sixth and Seventh streets. ViewPoint also will have 30,000 square feet of two-story retail space fronting Peachtree and should be complete by second-quarter 2008.
ViewPoint, a joint venture with Robert C. "Robin" Loudermilk Jr., includes a historic Neel Reid building that will be converted into luxury condos.
Developers may be raising more private equity as some commercial lenders are becoming more conservative when it comes to housing projects, said Faron G. Thompson, managing director of Primary Capital, which does not lend for condo development.
"The condo market around the country, but especially in the Southeast, has weakened from its all-time high of last year," Thompson said. Last year, Lane Co. held an auction for its condo units at Atlantic Station. "That action has subsided tremendously."
Developers like Novare and John Williams, CEO of Williams Realty Advisors LLC, which is developing The Mansion in Buckhead, will still get their deals done, but not without obtaining more presales from home buyers and putting more equity into the project, he said.
"Those guys are good developers, but they are not going to get them done with as much bank debt as they used to," Thompson said. "It's a much more conservative market now. Lenders will be more sponsor-focused -- sponsors with deep pockets."
Lenders have been tightening up their underwriting as news has remained negative about the housing market for the past several months, Alford said.
Novare continues to seek private capital because "there's just a deep pool of private capital out there interested in private equity in real estate and we've been able to get into that channel," he said.
Novare continues to buy land for future projects and has more projects ready to start.
Novare recently closed on its $4 million purchase of the Atlanta Opera Company's West Peachtree Street site.
Tim Holdroyd, president of City Realty Advisors LLC, brokered the Aug. 3 land sale, according to Databank Inc. The opera will stay on the property at 728 West Peachtree St. for one year.
Novare has several projects in the works, including Gallery, a joint venture with Coro Realty Advisors LLC under construction in Buckhead, and ViewPoint and 3630 Peachtree in North Buckhead, a joint venture with Pope & Land Enterprises Inc., Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc. (NYSE: PPS) and Duke Realty Corp.
Novare plans to start construction on the 181-unit, 25-story condo portion of the mixed-use 3630 Peachtree in October.
Novare also plans to build The Roxy, a 445-unit condo tower in Buckhead in 2007, and The Atlantic, a 401-unit, 46-story tower in Atlantic Station in Midtown, which could start construction by the end of this year, Alford said.
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2006/10/02/story13.html?page=2