Kristin Canine, Author at Ardent

Restaurant-bar with gaming element set for downtown

The downtown building once housing the since-closed The George Jones museum, restaurant and bar is slated to house DraftKings Sports & Social and a cowboy-themed bar, according to a Metro permit related to signage.

The effort to get the business operational comes after a partnership comprising Atlanta-based The Ardent Companies and local real estate investor Jeffrey Welk paid $28.5 million for the building in July 2022 (read here) — only seven months after it changed ownership hands for $21 million.

The three-story brick building is located in The District at 128 Second Ave. N. and home to no tenants. The Post was unable to determine an opening date.

Detroit also offers a DraftKings Sports & Social.

Based in Boston and founded in 2012, DraftKings bills itself as a fantasy sports contest and sports betting company. A release notes DraftKings Sports & Social — a partnership between the company and Baltimore-based The Cordish Companies Live! — will bring DraftKings’ sports gaming products “to life by offering engaging, interactive fan-first destinations to its customers.”

Signage designs submitted to Metro note “PBR” — a reference to the Professional Bullriders Association. The PBR and Live!, a division of The Cordish Companies Live!, co-operate multiple PBR Cowboy Bar locations, according to trade publication Chain Store Age (read here).

The DraftKings Sports & Social concept is likely to be similar to what Penn Entertainment Inc. (which has some ownership in sports- and pop culture-focused digital media company Barstool Sports) has planned for the downtown building last home to Joe’s Crab Shack (read here).

Ardent Launches $500 Million Debt Fund

Ardent, a privately held real estate firm focused on opportunistic and diversified investment strategies, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary – a period highlighted by dynamic growth of the firm’s team, its investment strategies, and its investor base. But the industry leader is just getting started. Today, Ardent announces the launch of its $500 million credit Fund V.

Ten Years of Exponential Growth

In the past ten years, Ardent has experienced significant growth both financially and geographically. To date, Ardent has invested more than $4.4B in real estate transactions, with more than $1.6B in assets under management, even after selling roughly half of its portfolio last year which led to sizable returns to its investors. In early 2021, the firm expanded into Europe with the opening of an office in London, which follows further growth in both New York and Charlotte.

“Ardent has a strong track record of outperforming the markets and we believe we can continue this trend,” said Ardent CEO, Matt Shulman. “With our substantial market intelligence and investment experience across all asset classes, we’re truly at the infancy of our business growth and are looking forward to what these next ten years bring, starting with the launch of Fund V.”

More than Numbers

With a handful of impressive new hires in origination and underwriting to support the Fund’s launch, Ardent is now a collection of over fifty talented professionals both in the United States and United Kingdom who share a singular focus to be an industry-leading real estate investment and asset management firm – one that is recognized for the integrity of its people, the ethics of its business practices, and the quality of the service it provides to our investors and business partners.

As the firm continues to build upon its infrastructure, portfolio, and footprint, Ardent is committed to creating a positive impact on its employees, investors, and communities. Ardent provides both time and resources to nonprofits that align with employees’ values including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Mary Hall Freedom House, Pebble Tossers, Operation Hope, and Open Doors Atlanta.

What’s Next

Building off a strong and consistent track record across more than $2B in prior debt originations, Ardent’s newest credit fund – Fund V – will target middle market senior debt ranging from $5MM-$75MM. The debt fund will lend on value-add and opportunistic repositioning, development, and redevelopment of all types of commercial properties in the US. Consistent with prior Ardent credit funds, the seasoned investment team will continue to seek out less efficient segments of the property and capital markets.

“We take an innovative and disciplined approach to investing, with the hopes that we are able to make the world a little better for our investors, our employees, and the community at large,” says Shulman. “We’re humbled by the impact we’ve been able to make for all these important stakeholder groups over the past ten years and are motivated and driven to keep the momentum going in the next decades.”

Ardent Launches Fund, Adds Staffers

Ardent Financial has kicked off fundraising for its latest bridge-loan vehicle earlier than expected and added four seasoned pros in a bid to capitalize on rising demand for commercial real estate debt investments.

The investment manager originally planned to start raising about $500 million of equity for Ardent Financial Fund 5 in the fourth quarter. It opted instead to launch the capital-raising campaign in late August amid a marked increase in investors seeking debt opportunities versus investments tied to equity stakes in commercial properties.

Debt is being viewed as a safer bet amid widespread concerns about rising interest rates, inflation and the economic impact of the war in Ukraine. Those factors also have fueled rampant capital-market volatility over the last six months, constraining lending by banks and commercial real estate CLO issuers. That, in turn, has created additional financing opportunities for fund shops.

Ardent’s new staffers started last month. Managing director Jennifer Wimmer, director Peyton Knisley and senior associate Grayson Jacobs report to managing director Christopher Kelly, head of loan originations. Director Monica Ortego works under managing director Michael DeGance, who oversees fundraising and investor relations.
Knisley is based in New York, while the other hires joined Ardent’s Atlanta headquarters.

Wimmer handles loan originations and asset management. She spent the last three years at Atlanta-based Access Point Financial, where she was a director focused on asset management and special servicing. Before that, Wimmer worked at iBorrow, Rialto Capital and SunTrust Bank.

Knisley, who concentrates on originations and underwriting, was previously a senior associate at Ruben Cos. Prior to joining that New York firm in mid-2021, she spent about three years at HUBB NYC Properties. Knisley previously worked at DHA Capital and Cushman & Wakefield.

Jacobs joined Ardent as an underwriter. He previously was an associate at New York-based iStar and Safehold, a ground-lease REIT managed by iStar. Prior to joining iStar in 2013, Jacobs was a senior underwriter assistant at Builders, an Atlanta-based insurer.

Ortego focuses on fundraising and client services. She had been vice president of operations at Skyfire, a Marietta, Ga.-based consulting firm that focuses on the use of drones for public safety purposes. Before joining Skyfire in early 2019, she spent almost two years as an investment analyst at Stan Johnson Co., a commercial real estate brokerage and advisory firm that on Aug. 31 announced a deal to sell to Northmarq.

Ardent is on track to write $400 million to $500 million of construction and bridge loans this year, up from about $330 million last year. Loans range from $5 million to just under $100 million but tend to be $25 million to $30 million.

With leverage, Fund 5 should have at least $1 billion of lending power. Ardent closed in March on the final round of equity for Fund 4, which raised $363 million and uses a similar amount of portfolio leverage. About 85% of that vehicle’s capital has been deployed.

For Fund 5, Ardent is targeting a return of 10% to 13%. Like its predecessor, the vehicle will charge a 1.5% management fee on invested capital. After the preferred return to investors reaches 8%, the manager is entitled to 20% of additional profits.

Ardent UK Positions for Growth with Senior Hires

The Ardent Companies UK (“Ardent UK”), the acquisitive subsidiary of US-based real estate investment and asset management firm The Ardent Companies, has strengthened its team and positioned itself for further growth with the appointment of development and investment directors into two new roles.

Joe Swindells arrives as development director, having previously held senior roles at Battersea Power Station, Capital & Regional and Ballymore. Drawing on extensive experience in the residential, retail and industrial sectors, Joe will manage Ardent UK’s development activity in line with the asset management strategies for existing holdings, as well as new regeneration and development-led opportunities.

In parallel, Gary McNamara joins as investment director, following a period of working for Ardent UK on a consultancy basis, during which time he has advised on the expansion of the firm’s industrial platform and potential regeneration and redevelopment projects. In the new role, Gary will oversee Ardent UK’s investment activity as it continues to expand its nationwide portfolio.

The new arrivals give Ardent UK an even stronger base for growth and expansion into new projects, sectors and business areas, alongside the existing senior team of managing directors Richard Benson and Andrew Hilston, and finance director Suzie Cooper.

Since its launch in early 2021, Ardent UK has been highly acquisitive and opportunistic, establishing an industrial and logistics platform of over 2.25 million sq ft and undertaking the market-calling acquisition of Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull. The firm remains highly acquisitive, looking to expand its portfolio and take on new regeneration and development opportunities.

Matt Shulman, CEO of The Ardent Companies, said: “The acquisitions we have made in the UK underline our ambitions in this market, and as such it is hugely pleasing that Joe and Gary have chosen to join Ardent. They are both excellent additions to the team, bringing broad skillsets and a depth of experience that will further strengthen our already formidable UK capabilities, enabling us to expand into new sectors, geographies and business lines.”

In line with its expansion, and reflecting the firm’s new requirements, Ardent UK has moved to a new London headquarters at 18A St James’s Place, London, SW1A 1NJ

Ardent UK Acquires Four Industrial Assets for £25 Million

London, 16^th August 2022: The Ardent Companies UK (“Ardent UK”), the acquisitive subsidiary of US-based real estate investment and asset management firm The Ardent Companies, has acquired four light industrial assets for £24.7 million.

The buys – split between the Shelby Portfolio of three Birmingham estates and a standalone asset in Crawley, West Sussex – provide a total of over 250,000 sq ft of space, increasing the size of Ardent UK’s industrial platform by more than 10%.

The Shelby Portfolio was acquired from LondonMetric Property for £21.6 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.7%. The portfolio provides a total of 235,314 sq ft of industrial space, split across three key strategic Birmingham locations: Forge Trading Estate (77,036 sq ft of space across 26 units) in Halesowen; Mucklow Hill Trade Park (96,369 sq ft across 19 units), also in Halesowen; and Long Acre Trading Estate (61,909 sq ft across eight units) in Aston. The portfolio has a current occupancy rate of 99%, with excellent reversionary potential.

51-55 Gatwick Road, part of Crawley’s Manor Road Industrial Estate area and within a mile of Gatwick Airport, comprises three light industrial units totalling 17,342 sq ft, 1,994 sq ft of retail space and 1,575 sq ft of offices, with occupancy standing at over 95%. It was Ardent UK’s second purchase from the Pears Group, acquired for £3.1 million which reflects a net initial yield of 6.62%.

The new acquisitions bring Ardent UK’s national industrial and logistics portfolio, which made its first buy in March 2021, to over 2.25 million sq ft of space. The Shelby Portfolio and Crawley assets represent new geographic expansions for the platform, which has targeted properties in strategic locations that offer the opportunity for significantly enhanced performance and value through active asset management and development.

Richard Benson, managing director of Ardent UK, said: “Our focus when building this industrial platform has been on quickly achieving scale and geographic balance with assets that offer asset management potential, and to grow the portfolio to over 2.25 million sq ft in less than 18 months is a sign of our ambition. Demand for these assets remains high, and as such it is particularly pleasing to secure the Shelby Portfolio, which was not only highly competitive but also partly due to our reputation for acting swiftly and with integrity when acquiring.”

Ardent UK was advised by Knight Frank on the Shelby Portfolio and Cushman & Wakefield on 51-55 Gatwick Road, with legal advice from Greenberg Traurig on both deals. ACRE Capital Real Estate acted on behalf of LondonMetric Property and the Pears Group was represented by Ereira Mendoza.