{ Full Article Here } SYKES Enterprises is set to open a new customer service support center in east Montgomery by September and hire 500 workers over three years, officials announced today. Half of those employers will be hired this year, SYKES North America operations Senior Vice President Rob Duncan said, during a press conference held at the Montgomery Area …

{ Full Article Here } Google plans to build a $600 million data center in Stevenson, according to Gov. Robert Bentley. The center — Google’s seventh in the U.S. and 14th worldwide — will bring 75-100 “high-paying” jobs to Jackson County in northeast Alabama, Bentley said. Construction will begin in 2016. “This a fantastic and exciting day for Jackson County,” said …

BERLIN—Spanish automotive supplier Gestamp is planning to open a new pressing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., to supply Volkswagen AG, according to people familiar with the situation. A formal announcement is planned for next Tuesday. VW has invited journalists to a news conference to announce a “major economic development” in Chattanooga. Gestamp will create 500 new jobs at the plant, which …

{ Full Article Here } A Nashville investor has bought a 96-unit apartment complex in Homewood for $3.1 million. Highland Homewood Investments bought Oxmoor Ridge Apartments at on Edgecrest Drive, representing the group’s first in Alabama. The group has plans to renovate the exterior and interior of the property. New Lexington Properties II of Tuscaloosa sold the complex, which was …

{ Full Article Here } The Scenic City lived up to its name: Chattanooga is a two-time winner of Outside magazine’s Best Town title. Chattanooga defeated  Port Angeles, Wash., with more than 52 percent of the final round voting, winning by a  67,432-to-62,130 vote margin in a final round that almost consistently had it outpacing the tiny Northwest city. Chattanooga …

{ Full Article Here } Irvine, Calif.-based Passco Companies LLC has purchased The Arlington at Eastern Shore for nearly $42.975 million. The 300-unit multifamily development in Spanish Fort was acquired using Fannie Mae financing, Gary Goodman, Passco’s senior vice president of acquisitions, said in a prepared statement. “With increasing population and job growth anticipated in the region, this property is …

As prices surge in big cities, investors go hunting in places like Buffalo and Birmingham { Full Article Here } As prices for multifamily properties in big cities escalate, some investors are setting their sights on smaller markets where prices are lower and yields are higher. These investors are following the lead of companies like Wilkinson Group Inc., an Atlanta-based …

Just 2.4% of the 2006/2007 CMBS backed by Manhattan properties faces challenges in refinancing. { Full Article Here } NEW YORK CITY—The wave of 10-year CMBS maturities is set to roll in beginning in 2016, and while it will be a massive wave, it’s not likely to come crashing ashore with tsunami-like force. Not according to Real Capital Analytics, which …

{ Full Article Here } A Cleveland, Ohio-based investment company bought two Hoover apartment complexes  totalling 696 units for a combined $75 million. Crowne Falls and Crowne at Galleria Woods, near Hoover’s Embassy Suites and Riverchase Galleria, have been sold to Zaremba Management Company. The seller was Birmingham’s Vista Communities Venture, LLC, who bought the properties in 2011. Bo Flurry and …

{ Full Article Here } A focus by builders on high-end apartments helps explain why rents are soaring across the country Developer Mark Randall cut his teeth over the last few decades building apartments for Atlanta’s middle-class with properties such as Alta Ridgewalk, a complex of low-rise buildings clustered around a swimming pool in suburban Atlanta. That development stands in …