COTTON TRAIN'S A-COMIN'
RICHLAND HILLS (globest.com) – Paxton Warehouse Services of North Carolina has signed a short-term lease with Richland Warehouse Specialist for as-is warehouse space, which the company will use as a storage and regional distribution center.
The almost 100,000-square-foot, 30-dock-door warehouse at 7205 Burns St. will store raw, baled cotton from railcars coming into Alliance Airport. The cotton will later be transported to U.S. production sites.
MOODY PLANS MIXED-USE
HOUSTON (globest.com) – Moody National Cos. has purchased 12 acres at I-10 and Texas 6 in the Energy Corridor from Dallas-based Granite Properties Inc. for a mixed-use development.
Moody Park 10 will begin development with a 127-room Hyatt Place and 101-room Marriott hotel. Also planned are a 7,000-square-foot restaurant and 175,000 square feet of Class-A office space.
CONFERENCE RATES INCREASE MARCH 16
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The registration fee and hotel rate for the 17th Annual Outlook for Texas Land Markets conference will increase March 16.
Registration for the conference, which will be held April 11–13 at the Hyatt Regency on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, will increase from $200 to $220 per person after March 15. The Hyatt Regency's $189 room rate will also increase at that time.
To take advantage of the reduced rates, register for the conference at http://recenter.tamu.edu/register/ and reserve a room at http://www.sanantonioregency.hyatt.com/groupbooking/tamu2007.
The land conference will provide information on a variety of legal, economic, social and natural resource issues influencing current land market dynamics. For more information, go to http://recenter.tamu.edu/events/.
QUARRY BREAKS GROUND
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – Embrey Partners Ltd. has begun construction on the last tract in the old quarry almost 100 years after Alamo Cement Co. workers first took up residence in the company town, "Cementville."
Quarry Village, Embrey's Tuscany-inspired, mixed-use development on almost 13 acres near East Basse Road and Jones Maltsberger will be built in two phases. The first phase will open next summer and is slated to include a multistory complex with 70,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 280 luxury apartments.
Phase two, which begins in 2008, will include office space and 30,000 square feet of retail.
The Artessa at Quarry Village apartments will range from 600 square feet to 2,934 square feet. Monthly rents will range between $930 and $4,547.
The primary Quarry Village architect is Beeler Guest Owens Architects of Dallas. RVK Architects, a San Antonio–based firm, is the architect of two of the project’s freestanding retail buildings. Development companies Bitterblue Inc. and Alamo Gardens Inc. are partners in the project. Alamo Gardens sold Embrey the acreage for the Quarry Village last December.
The master-planned community begun in the mid-80s includes the 50-acre Alamo Quarry Market, built by Trammell Crow Company, and the Quarry Golf Club.
TECHNOLOGY CENTER SOLD
HOUSTON (costar.com) – Brookfield Asset Management is selling the fully leased North American Technology Center to Crystal River Capital.
The 412,500-square-foot center at 1111 Fannin St. is anchored by JPMorgan Chase under a 15-year, triple-net lease.
ST. THOMAS' LANDMARK PURCHASE
HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – The University of St. Thomas has purchased two Montrose-area office buildings and a retail center, marking the largest such acquisition in the university's 60-year history, and the first time St. Thomas has purchased commercial property.
The five-story, 75,000-square-foot and four-story, 32,000-square-foot buildings — both 95 percent occupied — will serve as faculty offices, administrative offices or classrooms.
The properties were sold by a partnership led by John Hansen Investment Builder, a local developer who constructed the office buildings and renovated the 62-year-old retail site, which has been home to the Black Labrador Pub for the past 21 years.
Hansen-owned Tenax Group Inc. will manage the properties.
JCPENNEY'S OPENING ON PRAIRIE
FLOWER MOUND (Dallas Business Journal) – Six JCPenney stores will open across the country next month, including one at 5751 Long Prairie Rd.
The Plano-based retailer’s new store will have more than 100,000 square feet and include a Paul Mitchell Signature Salon and a Sephora store, which will offer cosmetics and fragrances.
The new store will bring about 200 jobs to Flower Mound, a spokesperson said.
J.C. Penney Co.'s long-range plan is to open 50 new stores between 2007 and 2009. The company opened 28 stores in 2006. The other stores opening are in Eden Prairie, Minn.; Brighton, Mich.; Papillion, Neb.; Natick, Mass.; and Washington, Pa.
CREEKSTONE BUYS VENTURE IV, XI
THE WOODLANDS (Creekstone Partners) – Creekstone Partners has purchased two Class-A, multitenant, office-flex buildings from the Woodlands Development Corporation. Both buildings are in the Research Forest area.
The more than 63,600-square-foot Venture Technology Center IV at 8665 New Trails Dr. is 100 percent leased to Chart Industries, McLeod USA and Fusion Petroleum. It was built in 1992 on more than seven acres.
The more than 72,500-square-foot Venture Technology Center XI at 2700 Research Forest Dr. is almost 96 percent leased to Newpark Resources, Rockwell Automation, Applied Veterinary Systems, Mineral Resource Technologies and Option One Mortgage. Built in 1999, the building sits on more than eight acres.
Harbor Capital Group of Houston arranged the cross-collateralized loan from KeyBank National Association. Creekstone Management will manage the properties.
PALLADIUM HIGH-RISE COMING TO 'BURBS
MCKINNEY (Dallas Business Journal) – Palladium USA International Inc. will build Craig Ranch’s first high-rise residential building near the development’s new Cooper Aerobics Center.
Palladium at Craig Ranch will include two seven- to nine-story condominium towers plus 80,000 square feet of retail space. The average unit will be 1,470 square feet and cost $375,000, or about $265 per square foot.
The $125 million project will be developed in two phases. Phase one will break ground in early fall.
Other projects underway in the 2,500-acre development include a $100 million-plus, eight-story Golden Tulip hotel; the Michael Johnson Performance Center, an athletic training facility and stadium; and Times Square at Craig Ranch.
AUSSIE BUYER SAYS G'DAY, CONROE!
CONROE (svn.com) – Huntsville Investments LLC has sold a two-building, more than 81,000-square-foot office property to Australia-based 100 North Freeway Investments LLC.
Built in 1978 and renovated in 2005, the property at 100 I-45 North is 95 percent occupied by tenants including Louisiana Pacific and Odyssey Healthcare.
Sperry Van Ness in Houston represented the buyer. Homestead Land Company represented the seller.
EL MERCADO LANDS JCPENNEY ANCHOR
EL PASO (El Paso Times) – A JCPenney store will anchor a 23-acre shopping center being built by River Oaks Properties, a local shopping center development and management company.
Part of the $30 million El Mercado Plaza, this JCPenney will be one of the retail company's new “off-mall” stores. It will be a single-floor facility of about 100,000 square feet. It is slated to open in October along with a handful of smaller stores. The rest of the complex will open in 2008.
The shopping center at Joe Battle and Zaragoza will also include a 30,000-square-foot junior anchor store and several restaurants.
FOSSIL CREEK APARTMENTS PURCHASED
FORT WORTH (globest.com) – Abacus Capital Group LLC of New York and Colonial Properties Trust of Alabama have purchased the 240-unit Fairmont at Fossil Creek Apartments for $21.3 million.
The two-year-old Fairmont, on about 13 acres beside the Fossil Creek Golf Club, is 93 percent leased. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units average 930 square feet with an average monthly rent of $932.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP arranged a Freddie Mac loan.
