BOON OVER PARMER
AUSTIN (globest.com) – DivcoWest Real Estate Investment & Asset Management has purchased the almost 257,000-square-foot Parmer Business Park from San Francisco–based Rreef for $49 million.
The 28-acre park in the 5300 block of Riata Park Court was developed in 2000–2001. It is 100 percent leased to Sun Microsystems Inc. until 2010.
CB Richard Ellis brokered the transaction for Rreef.
CENTEX COMMUNITY COMING
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Centex Homes' Central Texas division will develop a mixed-use community on 750 recently acquired acres on the north side of SH 45 near the intersection of West Parmer Lane.
Pearson Place will include 1,400 homes on 450 acres, with the remaining land earmarked for civic uses, retail and office space. The project’s residential portion is expected to cost nearly $275 million.
TBG Partners, the land-planning firm behind Teravista and Goodnight Ranch projects, is working with Centex on the development.
IMPLODING INTEL
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – A block of downtown Austin will be demolished Feb. 25 at the Intel site on Fifth and San Antonio streets, according to a statement from U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) regional administrator Scott Armey.
The GSA is imploding the famed Intel shell building to clear the way for the new $65 million, 211,690-square-foot federal courthouse. GSA purchased the property four years ago for the new courthouse, which has been on the drawing board for more than 10 years.
In October, GSA awarded Austin-based White Construction Co. the contract for the new courthouse. Austin architects Page Southerland Page, along with Atlanta-based firm Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, have been designing the modern courthouse. The $1.3 million demolition project for the Intel shell began late last fall.
TNRG'S ROYAL ACQUISITION
HOUSTON (CB Richard Ellis) – TNRG Acquisitions has purchased Royal Window Coverings’ 440,000-square-foot facility at 7611 Railhead Lane.
TNRG plans to subdivide the facility, which is on 56 acres, and remarket it to the northwest Houston industrial base.
CB Richard Ellis’ Houston and Toronto offices represented the seller, and Steve Adkisson represented TNRG.
UNO, DOS Y CINCO
KATY (globest.com, Houston Business Journal) – With the first phase of the $60 million LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch nearly wrapped, Vista Equities Group and its partner, Denver-based Amstar Group, will soon begin work on an $80 million second phase. Groundbreaking for phase two is slated for May, and construction will be completed in fall 2008.
Phase two will include 160,000 square feet of retail and 230 residential units. Phase one, which is set to open next month, has 170,000 square feet of retail and 90,000 square feet of office space. Work on the 34-acre, 700,000-square-foot development at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd. began in January 2006.
Hermes Architects Inc. is the architect of record, and Alabama-based Hoar Construction is the general contractor. Locally based Page Realty Partners Ltd. is handling leasing for the retail space, while CB Richard Ellis is overseeing office leasing.
CONCORDIA CAMPUS MOVING
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Concordia University will build its new campus on 389 acres in Northwest Travis County.
Concordia, a private Lutheran university, will be moving from its 23-acre site at I-35 and 32nd Street, to 8311 RM 620 North in the summer of 2008, said David Kluth, vice president for university services.
The 30-year master plan will organize the campus into three districts, centering each district around a plaza and connecting each with a pedestrian path. Athletic fields will be across the main road.
The first phase of construction, estimated to cost about $100 million, is scheduled to be completed by summer 2008, with classes to start that fall.
Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects is architect of record. The university is expected to finalize the land purchase next month.
MARKETPLACE'S NEW OWNERS
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – Bandera Road Marketplace has been purchased by Denver-based Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust.
Principal Life Insurance Co. sold the 17-year-old, 160,223-square-foot shopping center at Loop 410 and Bandera Road for $30 million.
Cencor Realty Services will manage the 97 percent leased center, which is anchored by an H.E.B. grocery store. Other tenants include Office Depot and Old Navy.
HICKORY DICKORY SHOP
DENTON (globest.com) – Regency Centers Corp. of Florida will break ground in April on Hickory Creek Plaza, an almost 110,000-square-foot shopping center.
Hickory Creek, which is being built on more than 20 acres at FM 2181 and Hickory Creek, will include almost 28,000 square feet of retail space and be anchored by a more than 81,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace. The food chain’s first large-format store in North Texas, Kroger Marketplace will offer a mix of standard grocery fare and high-end home furnishings and general merchandise.
If the project stays on track, Hickory Creek Plaza will be completed at the end of this year or the beginning of 2008.
O'Brien & Associates Inc. designed Hickory Creek Plaza, and Linda Tycher & Associates Inc. is the landscape architect. Both companies are based in Dallas.
SOLD ON SANTA FE
SAN ANTONIO (globest.com) – Santa Fe Place apartment complex has been sold by locally-based Chivas West Apartments LLC for just under the $5.9 million listed price, or about $18,000 per door.
The sale of the 1970s complex at a 10 percent cap rate required the assumption of a $4.86 million conduit loan serviced by Cleveland-based Keybank Real Estate Capital.
The 327-unit, 11-building complex is on almost seven acres at 4210 Fredericksburg Rd. Nearby is the Texas Medical Center and USAA campus. It has efficiencies and one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 350 to 1,025 square feet. Monthly rents range from $349 to $650.
Hendricks & Partners' San Antonio office represented the seller. Mohammed Ashif, a private broker, represented the buyer, a Southern California investment group that plans to renovate the 91 percent–leased complex.
GDA BUYS SHAFER PLAZA
FRISCO (globest.com) – GDA Real Estate Services LLC has purchased the almost 181,000-square-foot Shafer Plaza from Dallas-based Shafer Property Co. for $42 million.
The four-year-old retail property on 22 acres at 2943 Preston Rd. is a gateway location for the 1.2 million-square-foot Stonebriar Centere.
GDA's sister company, ACF Property Management, took over the 98 percent-leased property after the closing.
Colliers International Inc. of Dallas represented Shafer, while Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co., also of Dallas, represented GDA.
EIGHTH MONTH DOWN
NORTH TEXAS (Star-Telegram) – Home sales are down for the eighth month in a row, compared with the same month last year, according to figures released by the North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS).
There were 4,859 homes sold in NTREIS' 29-county area, which stretches from north of Waco to the Red River, down 4 percent from January 2006. Homes are sitting an average of 81 days on the market, 4 percent longer than they were at the same time last year.
The median home price in North Texas was down 1 percent from the prior year to $139,950. Overall, the drivers that stoke home sales, such as job growth and consumer confidence, are still strong in North Texas.
BATTLE OF THE BUYOUT
CHICAGO (Bloomberg.com, Austin Business Journal) – Equity Office Properties Trust approved a $39 billion buyout bid from private equity firm The Blackstone Group LP, putting an end to a weeks-long bidding war over the nation's largest office building owner.
Rival bidder Vornado Realty Trust helped clear the way for Blackstone’s buyout when it terminated its offer for Chicago-based Equity.
The sale, expected to close today, is believed to be the biggest real estate transaction in history. Blackstone's $55.50-a-share offer is 14 percent higher than its original bid of $48.50 before the bidding battle began in January.
Nationwide, Equity owns more than 580 buildings representing 105 million square feet.
In Austin, the company is the largest office landlord with a local portfolio of 3.4 million square feet.
Blackstone is likely to divest portions of the Equity portfolio soon as part of a strategy it has used in previous real estate transactions.
FIDELITY FINE WITH WESTLAKE
WESTLAKE (Star-Telegram) – Fidelity Investments confirms it will invest more than $200 million to double the size of its Westlake campus by 600,000 square feet and add 1,535 jobs at the six-year old facility.
Gov. Rick Perry announced that the company, one of the world's largest financial-services providers, will receive an $8.5 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund. That grant would be one of the 10 largest made by the fund, an economic-development incentive program that, as of Dec. 31, had allocated nearly $324 million to more than 30 employers. (To read about Westlake's tax incentives, see Jan. 30 RECON)
"The good thing is that these jobs pay $55,000 to $60,000 a year. So we have an opportunity to bring in some really good-paying jobs," said G.K. Maenius, Tarrant County administrator.
Westlake is one of nine regional operations Fidelity has in North America. The company said it is prepared to begin hiring immediately in several of its Westlake business divisions.
CLASS-A WOODWAY SOLD
HOUSTON (globest.com) – Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC has sold the 595-unit Woodway Square Apartments to a Scandinavian pension fund.
Built in 1992 on 20 acres at 1200 Winrock Blvd., Woodway Square has a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 736 to 1,612 square feet. Monthly rents range from $923 to $1,949.
Chicago-based Cornerstone owned the Class-A complex for ten years. The company paid $5,000 per unit to upgrade 70 units with new flooring, cabinets, fixtures and appliances. The upgrades resulted in monthly rent increases of $100 to $150 for tenants in the renovated units. The complex is 95 percent leased.
CB Richard Ellis in Houston brokered the sale. Lincoln Property Co. will continue as the property manager.
SENIORS FACILITY SOLD
FREDERICKSBURG (dagicomm.com) – Live Oak Inn, a 90-bed seniors housing facility, has been sold to a Texas-based private investor.
Built in the early 1960s at 615 W. Live Oak, the property was recently updated. The buyer will add Medicare beds and open a wing that has been closed for years.
Sperry Van Ness' Fort Worth office represented the seller, a San Antonio–based private investor, as well as the buyer.
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