Posted by Katie Demeria on 4/30/2015 on RichmondBizSense.com

One of the biggest names in Richmond real estate just got bigger.

Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners on Wednesday announced the purchase of a 22-building portfolio of office space in three cities in the Hampton Roads market, encompassing 1.3 million square feet.

The seller was an affiliate of Liberty Property Trust, a publicly traded REIT from Pennsylvania that has a history of big deals with Lingerfelt.

The transactions closed Tuesday, and neither party would comment on the purchase price. Property records in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Hampton had not yet been updated to reflect the purchases but peg the combined assessed value of the properties at $147 million.

Continue reading the full article here.

Posted on Richmond Times Dispatch on 6/1/2015.  Mark W. Claud has taken a Henrico County-based commercial brokerage and turned it into a multifaceted business with more than 380 employees and offices in three states.  “We’re just getting started,” said Claud, who founded Commonwealth Commercial in 1996.  “We’re having a great time growing the company with great young people.” (more…)

Posted by J. Elias O’Neal on 4/30/2015 on Daily Press

A national homebuilder familiar with the Hampton Roads housing market is expanding its reach into the Middle Peninsula.

Hampton-based Virginia Enterprises Inc. recently entered into an agreement to sell 33 lots to Ryan Homes in Gloucester’s Dunston Hall community, according to a news release.

It will be Ryan Homes’ first venture into the Gloucester housing market — a positive sign that inventory in the area is low enough to support new housing construction.

Sam Worley and Ryan Fanelli with Richmond-based Commonwealth Commercial represented Virginia Enterprises Inc. during the transaction for an undisclosed amount.

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Posted on Richmond Times-Dispatch

The real estate sector changing the fastest is retail, author and futurist Christopher Lee said Tuesday during a visit to Richmond.  The country is over-retailed, as more people shop online and the need for brick-and-mortar stores shrinks, he said.  Lee was keynote speaker at “Leaders Predict the Future”, the sixth annual commercial real estate forum presented by Commonwealth Commercial Partners, a commercial real estate company based in Henrico County.  About 300 people attended the afternoon event at The Westin Richmond Hotel in Henrico County.

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Posted on Virginia Business

America is moving to a rental-based society. In the not-too-distant future, grocery stores will become the place to hang out, offering a hub of essential services. And large companies such as Microsoft will buy units for rent based on consumption, as opposed to square feet, from national landlords with smaller office spaces available to workers 24/7.

Those were some of the predictions shared by futurist Christopher Lee Tuesday during the sixth annual Land Forum sponsored by Commonwealth Commercial, a Henrico-County based commercial real estate services firm.

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Posted on Virginia Business

The Richmond office market ended the first quarter with a vacancy rate of 10 percent, up slightly from the previous quarter, according to a market report from Commonwealth Commercial Inc.

Rental rates among all classes ended the quarter at $17.53 per square foot, representing a 2.3 percent increase in rates from the end of the fourth quarter in 2014, the report said.

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Posted by Katie Demeria on 2/9/2015 on Richmondbizsense.com

A local nonprofit has outgrown its old space and is ready to settle into a new home.

Hanover Habitat for Humanity will vacate its current office, moving into a new location in the Atlee Square shopping center at 9159 Atlee Road by April 1.

The organization is swapping its 12,500 square feet at 8177 Mechanicsville Turnpike for nearly 15,000 square feet in its new space.

Continue reading the full article here.

Posted by Katie Demeria on 2/3/2015 on Richmondbizsense.com

A local real estate investment company has grabbed a handful of hotels in its latest round of acquisitions.

Glen Allen-based Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners acquired five hotels in four Southeastern cities, the company said Monday. Terms of the deal and the identity of the seller were not disclosed.

Lingerfelt CommonWealth’s purchases total 758 rooms at two Fairfield Inn properties in the Orlando market, a Hampton Inn and DoubleTree in Atlanta and a Courtyard by Marriott in the Charlotte area.

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Posted by Katie Demeria on 2/3/2015 on Richmondbizsense.com

A downtown law firm is moving two blocks up Main Street for some extra legroom.

Eckert Seamans, a Pittsburgh-based firm that has operated in Richmond since 2009, will be setting up shop in the SunTrust Center at 919 E. Main St. in late March with a 10-year lease on 13,000 square feet.

It will vacate its current 7,000-square-foot office at 707 E. Main St.

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Posted by Pete Stewart on Forest2Market.com

1. The sleeping giant will awake to biomass demand.

For years, the pulp and paper industry’s attitude toward bioenergy demand has shifted between head-in-the-sand and wait-and-see. In 2015, this sleeping giant will awaken as pockets of the US South experience significant price appreciation, the result of increased competition.

Continue reading the full article here.