News & press archive

Blue Sky Services Facilitated Acquisition Of Closed Applebee’s On Hillsborough Street

Blue Sky Services facilitated acquisition of former Applebee’s location at 3625 Hillsborough St near NC State University days after restaurant’s permanent closure.

Raleigh, NC, United States - January 11, 2018 /MarketersMedia/ — Blue Sky Services has facilitated acquisition of the former Applebee’s Restaurant near downtown Raleigh on behalf of its long-term investors. This 4,942 sq ft building on 0.95 acre, situated on the hard corner at the prime intersection of Hillsborough and Gorman Streets in Downtown Raleigh, is poised as an excellent investment surrounded by NC State University and Meredith College. Originally constructed as an Applebees restaurant in 1991, it was continuously operated by Apple Gold, one of Applebee’s largest franchisees. Days after the restaurant permanently closed in mid-December, a holding entity represented by Nikita Zhitov of Blue Sky Services acquired the building from the franchisee on December 21, 2017 for a reported price of $1.75M. Charlie Coyne of CBRE represented the Seller in this transaction.

Earlier in 2017, principals of the same holding company acquired a building directly across the street from this Applebee’s at 407 Gorman Street, an office building fully leased to various NC State Departments. Over the past 5 years Blue Sky Services and its affiliate companies, subsidiaries, clients, and investors have been continuously acquiring various prime sites around NC State University. A spokesperson for Blue Sky Services commented on the transaction: “We think it’s great investment thinking by the new ownership to acquire this prime site for a long-term hold, as they already own several prime sites nearby on Hillsborough Street and Western Blvd. It is very hard to find anything along the Hillsborough Street corridor that can be bought on fee-simple basis. We, at Blue Sky, share the excitement of the principals about the future opportunities for this prime location.” According to informed sources at the company, Blue Sky Services has seen a spike in commercial activity since the beginning of the year with total of 34 transactions closed in 2017.

Blue Sky Services Acquires Prime Residential Acreage In North Raleigh

Raleigh, NC, United States - November 2, 2017 /MarketersMedia/ — Blue Sky Services and their Investment Partners recently celebrated their newest acquisition of a fully entitled, shovel ready tract of 18.5 acres of residential land in Raleigh, North Carolina. Slated for a luxury, Estate home community, the property is nestled in sought-after North Raleigh near Leesville Road and I-540.

Featuring 17 luxury homes on approximately one acre lots, price points are expected to be in a $700K-$950K price range. The subdivision is scheduled to break ground in January 2018 with site work being completed early summer 2018. Pre-construction home reservations will be available late Spring 2018 for late Summer/early Fall delivery.

Nikita Zhitov, a Principal in Blue Sky commented, “It is so hard to find undeveloped land within the City of Raleigh’s jurisdiction. This is a great find and we are very excited about the opportunity to develop this subdivision into a luxury, Estate home community. With so many people relocating to Raleigh from other states right now, there is certainly a need for new housing in Raleigh.”

Blue Sky Services Makes Commercial Acquisition In Cary NC

After over 30 years of ownership, a set of commercial buildings near the busy intersection of SW Maynard and Kildaire Farm Roads in Cary NC was sold to Cary Ventures, LLC a subsidiary of Blue Sky Services Development. The purchase included a long-established landmark, Caribou Coffee, along with three other retail buildings and an office building. Immediate plans include renovations of building’s façade, parking lot, and landscaping, as well as taking care of some other deferred maintenance.

Nikita Zhitov, the developer, said: “This section of Cary has been neglected over the past few decades, however, we believe it will be coming back around in the near future as more infill development takes place. We are happy here at Blue Sky to be on ground zero of such upcoming resurrection of this part of Cary close to downtown.”

Blue Sky Services Closes Deal With The Town of Belville In Southeastern NC

Blue Sky Services has closed the purchase of another tract of land in Belville, NC. This prime location, adjacent to the Brunswick and Cape Fear Rivers stands at the Gateway to Wilmington, its deep water, container seaport and numerous destination beach communities. Development plans are underway for the construction of a new Belville Town Hall, adjacent to a new super pumper Circle K location, sold by Blue Sky Services last year. Nikita Zhitov and Steve Niemeyer of Blue Sky Services represented the seller and the developer of this property Belville Funding, LLC, an affiliate of Preston Development Company.

The Town of Belville chose this site as their new Town Hall location as a well-placed headquarter on NC-133/River Road across from the planned Riverfront Village detailed in their Vision 2020 plan. A spokesperson for Blue Sky Services commented on the transaction: “This is a great opportunity for the Town of Belville to locate their new Town Hall in a growing, gateway location.”

Student housing building boom on Hillsborough not slowing

The News & Observer covered the continued student-housing redevelopment wave along Raleigh's Hillsborough Street corridor — the neighborhood where our Friendly Drive mixed-use project was completed the same year.

Originally reported by the News & Observer, December 2015

Raleigh NC Community Leaders Celebrate Ground Breaking Of New Mixed Use Apartment Community

Raleigh, NC, United States of America - July 31, 2015 /MarketersMedia/ — Investment and development partners celebrated the ground breaking of their newest mixed-use luxury student apartment community in Raleigh, North Carolina. Blue Sky Services has partnered with several of the biggest designers, builders and investment firms to secure finance from HomeTrust Bank for the project, which broke ground recently to celebrations from the local community. Founded in 1926, the bank has grown from a single location into a modern regional community bank backed by more than $2.6 billion in assets as of March 31st, 2015.

Located at the corner of Friendly Drive and Hillsborough Street, the Community will consist of 16 luxury student apartments with 49 total residences. A combination of 1, 2 and 4 bedroom apartments will be offered, including four penthouse units on the fifth floor. Three thousand, eight hundred square feet of Class A Retail Space is available for lease on the Ground Floor.

Developer Nikita Zhitov said, “Hillsborough Street is one of the main thoroughfares into Downtown Raleigh, and want to introduce our city to visitors with new, Class-A spaces like our development. The City of Raleigh and NC State University have put significant efforts into redeveloping the Hillsborough streetscape, and we are happy to contribute to these efforts.”

He also mentioned that Ted Van Dyk of New City Design Group was instrumental in coordinating the successful rezoning of the property, working with City Council Members and the Planning Commission. Partners Bobbitt Design Build is the Carolinas’ largest design build contractor for commercial construction, while New City specializes in urban infill, mixed use projects, as well as unique restaurant, retail and office design.

Blue Sky Services Commercial Construction Principal Dave Medvetz said, “This new development was made possible with extraordinary team work, especially the efforts of Ted Van Dyk of New City Design Group, City of Raleigh Officials and Jim Bell of Bobbitt Design Build, Inc. The level of cooperation with these tremendous business professionals encourages me to look to the future. As we continue acquiring land in the City of Raleigh, we will deliver more mixed use developments to the local community.”

Jim Bell, President of Bobbitt Design Build explained, “We’re excited to be on this team of local developers and help make this project a reality. Each team member’s perspective has been a valued component of a large coordinated effort to deliver a great locally-owned, mixed-use product that will benefit Hillsborough Street and the surrounding community for many years to come.”

5-story apartment building coming to Hillsborough Street

Regional business press covered the groundbreaking of our five-story, 16-unit mixed-use student apartment project at Hillsborough Street and Friendly Drive, near NC State — 49 residences plus 3,800 sq ft of ground-floor retail, with Blue Sky Services Commercial Construction as a construction partner alongside Bobbitt Design Build.

Regional business press, July 2015

Blue Sky Services Signs Lease for New 5,700 Square Foot Creedmoor Strip Center Space

Raleigh, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/19/2014 -- Real Estate is often the first marker of economic changes. When the economy crashed, real estate shut down instantly. As a result, people have eagerly awaited the upswing in real estate development, which is now proceeding apace. Blue Sky Services is at the forefront of the recovery, making bold investments on new developments. Their successes have gone from strength to strength, and their latest marketing efforts of this Creedmoor Strip Center have yielded an exciting new tenant for the client’s property.

Nikita Zhitov of Blue Sky Services Real Estate facilitated the leasing transaction, and Blue Sky Services Commercial Construction will complete the conversion and up-fit the space. The former daycare space will be subdivided and converted into the newest location of Snap Fitness, a modern fitness and exercise facility.

Headquartered in Chanhassen, Minnesota, Snap Fitness is a privately owned and operated health and fitness club, founded in 2003 with over 1,500 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. This expansion of their services into Creedmoor marks an exciting development not just for Blue Sky but for the local area.

A spokesperson for Blue Sky Services explained, “We are uniquely positioned to handle not only acquisitions and leasing, but development and refurbishment. As such, our clients can expect a comprehensive service. We can manage everything from finance to buildings, with no part in between left out. The Snap Fitness franchise is an immensely popular one, because they provide outstanding services to their customers- a value we both share. By committing our values to helping promote theirs, both our businesses can find new levels of success, and that’s an exciting prospect indeed, not least for the people of North Carolina, who will benefit from this new opportunity to get fit as never before.”