A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES
ALLEN (The Dallas Morning News) – As it prepares to break ground on a regional shopping center, MGHerring Group has announced that it is teaming up with Koll Development Co. to build the Village at Allen, a 181-acre mixed-use complex.
The Allen complex will be built at the southeast corner of North Central Expressway and Stacy Road, across the street from where Dallas-based MGHerring is about to begin work on the Village at Fairview. Together, the projects will have more than 3 million square feet of construction.
Koll Development, also of Dallas, will develop the 500,000-square-foot office portion of the Village at Allen, which will include 900,000 square feet of retail space and a 250-room hotel.
The Village at Fairview will contain about 500,000 square feet of specialty shops and restaurants, a movie theater, hotel and conference center, and more than 1,000 residential units. Tenants will include Dillard's, Macy's, Barnes & Noble and the Container Store.
Both Villages will open late next year.
MGHerring is partnering with a unit of Prudential Insurance. Dallas-based Princeton Partners has been hired as the leasing agent for the Village at Allen.
BAYLOR GETTING RESEARCH CENTER
WACO (Waco Tribune-Herald, Austin America-Statesman) – Keller-Williams cofounder and Baylor University alumnus Gary Keller has donated $5 million to his alma mater to establish a real estate research center.
Under the direction of marketing professor Chris Pullig, the Keller Center will study the buyer-seller relationship in real estate deals.
“Why do people really buy? How do they consider the role of the agent? What influence does the Internet have on information search processes and purchase decisions? These are the kinds of questions we will be answering in great depth,” said Kirk Wakefield, who chairs Baylor’s marketing department, where the research center will be housed.
That decision will set Baylor’s center apart from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, which focuses on economic issues to better inform buyers, sellers, government agencies, lenders, appraisers and the public.
“There is room for more real estate research across the board, and we are confident that the academic work at Baylor will add to the body of knowledge in the field,” said Gary Maler, director of the Center in College Station.
THE MCNEIL DEAL
AUSTIN (globest.com) – Williams Asset Management has purchased the 192-unit McNeil House from Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City. The Atlanta-based investment group will rename the Class-A property McNeil Ranch.
The 92 percent occupied complex, built in 1988 on almost 11 acres at 6280 McNeil Dr., includes a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units measuring 677 to 1,468 square feet. Monthly rents range from $896 to $1,565.
Williams Asset Management plans to upgrade the clubhouse and add a new fitness center.
HOW GREEN WAS MY PARK
AUSTIN (Cox Newspapers West Coast Bureau) – A local recycling company hopes to attract similarly green-minded businesses to its planned "clean-technology" business park.
Balcones Recycling, which makes industrial fuel from waste paper, expects to break ground in the fall on Environomics Park, a 125-acre development that will emphasize environmentally sustainable buildings that use renewable materials.
Located south of US 290 across from Applied Materials Inc., Environomics Park will house mostly companies in environmentally friendly businesses, such as recycling, alternative fuels or manufacturing of energy-saving products.
Balcones expects to spend $7 million on the land and for construction of its own 120,000-square-foot building.
Stream Realty Partners LP has been hired to help with development and marketing of Environomics Park. Balcones is also getting help from the city and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
GOING TO THE MARKET
MURPHY (The Dallas Morning News) – Langford Property Co. will break ground this month on Murphy Marketplace, a $60 million retail complex.
The 48-acre project east of North Central Expressway at Murphy Road and FM 544 will be anchored by a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store. The first shops are scheduled to open early next year.
Demand for retail space in the development is so strong that Langford is negotiating an additional 28 acres. The developer is also working on plans for townhomes on part of the property.
The 500,000-square-foot marketplace was designed by O'Brien & Associates. Staubach Co. is handling the leasing.
LAKESIDE CENTER LANDS FURNITURE RETAILER
FLOWER MOUND (Hillwood Communications) – Stacy Furniture has leased the almost 380,000-square-foot Lakeside Trade Center 2 building from Hillwood.
Located on the northeast corner of FM 2499 and Enterprise Drive, the building will be used primarily as a distribution center, with 30,000 square feet serving as a retail outlet store.
This will be the fourth North Texas location for the home furnishings retailer. Besides its headquarters and showroom in Grapevine, the company has a showroom in Allen, and it owns Dorian's Interior Designs in Fort Worth.
Hillwood was represented by itself and NAI Robert Lynn Company. Stacy Furniture was represented by Glacier Commercial Realty.
HISTORIC WAREHOUSE CONVERTING TO CONDOS
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – Bisno Development of Los Angeles plans to create more than 400 condominium units in the historic Butler Brothers building across the street from city hall.
The 510,000-square-foot, nine-story former warehouse on 500 South Ervay was the city’s biggest wholesale distribution center almost a century ago. When it opened, it took more than 800 train car loads of merchandise — the equivalent of a train ten miles long — to stock the building.
The city has committed $15 million in tax increment financing funds to support the redevelopment. Ebby Halliday Realtors will market the condos, with prices ranging from $180,000 to more than $600,000.
Bisno has already begun restoring the building's original facade, removing sections of concrete and stucco exterior panels put on the building almost 50 years ago.
"It was a Romanesque building with a heavy base, arches and a crenelated top like you see on a castle. It's typical of an early 20th century style of warehouse," said Jay Firsching of Dallas architecture firm Architexas, which has done consulting work for the developers. "For 1911, it was pretty incredible."
ANOTHER CALIFORNIA COMPANY LIKES AUSTIN
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – IndyMac Bancorp Inc., one of the nation's largest mortgage companies and thrifts, has leased slightly more than 100,000 square feet of Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s campus at 7700 West Parmer Lane.
Dale Lazerson, IndyMac's first vice president of corporate real estate, said the company plans to hire 300 in the next two to three years. Full-time positions will on average pay from the mid-$30,000 range to between $50,000 and $60,000.
IndyMac is the third large California company to announce a move to Austin in the last few months. Dimensional Fund Advisors, an institutional money management firm, is moving its headquarters from Santa Monica and expects to create up to 800 jobs. Education Finance Partners, a private student loan company, recently announced it will move most of its operations from San Francisco to Austin, creating about 200 jobs.
NORTH TEXAS HOME SALES CONTINUE DECLINE
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – February sales of North Texas pre-owned homes fell 8 percent from a year earlier — double the rate of decline in January — according to statistics released by the North Texas Real Estate Information System.
Increases in mortgage rates and tightened standards for mortgages due to rising defaults of home loans are credited with reducing the number of sales.
Simultaneously, the number of homes on the market has increased 7 percent. More than 44,000 area pre-owned single-family homes were listed for sale. A six-month supply of houses is considered a balanced market. North Texas’ supply is just over eight months.
Median home sales prices were unchanged from a year ago at $144,900. Most of the decline has been in houses priced under $200,000, statistics show.
Sales of homes priced at $1 million or more rose 27 percent in the first two months of this year.
COMERICA TO HEADQUARTER IN DALLAS
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman) – Banking firm Comerica Inc. will relocate its corporate headquarters to the area from its 158-year home base in Detroit.
Comerica's Texas operations are already based here in Thanksgiving Tower, but the firm has not said where in Dallas the new corporate headquarters will be.
The company would receive an economic incentive package from the city worth about $500,000 over ten years, if the City Council approves it, said Karl Zavitkovsky, city hall's economic development director.
Comerica now generates nearly half its business outside Michigan, up from about 25 percent in 1997. There are 71 banking centers in Texas.
The Texas Enterprise Fund will provide a $3.5 million grant for Comerica, and the company is expected to generate about $47 million in capital investments in the state, Gov. Rick Perry said.
In 2005, Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest independent home mortgage lender, also received $20 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund to establish offices in North Texas on the condition that it add 7,500 jobs in Texas by 2010. Comerica’s move will bring 200 area jobs.
FAIRGROUNDS SOLD
SAN ANTONIO (earthtimes.org) – EastGroup Properties Inc., an equity real estate investment trust based in Mississipi, has purchased Fairgrounds Business Park for $10.5 million.
The four 1980s-era business distribution buildings total 231,000 square feet, are currently 80 percent leased and are located in the Alamo Downs Business Park.
Eastgroup also owns the 100 percent leased, 253,000-square-foot Alamo Downs Distribution Center, which is in the same park.
This is EastGroup's fourth area investment. The trust’s San Antonio holdings now total more than 1.3 million square feet, including two properties under development.
SITTERLE'S GARDEN
WINDCREST (San Antonio Business Journal) – Sitterle Homes will develop The Gardens at Windcrest near the corner of Crestway and Midcrown.
The Gardens will feature 28 garden homes, ranging from roughly 1,650 to 2,200 square feet. Prices will start in the $210,000 range. Two mini-parks are also planned for the community.
Locally based Sitterle Homes has built more than 4,000 homes in the greater San Antonio area, including Rosehart, Emerald Forest, The Gardens on Point Bluff and River Crossing.
DEVELOPMENT AT RESLER RIDGE
EL PASO (El Paso Inc.) – Sixty new high-end homes will soon be built in the Resler Ridge Subdivision near I-10.
Hunt Communities LLC is finishing development and recently sold 12 acres to both Mountain Vista Builders and Zia Homes Inc.
Construction of the subdivision, including finished lots, roads, utilities, retaining walls and perimeter walls, will be completed by the end of the month, at which time Mountain Vista and Zia Homes can begin work on the homes.
According to Mountain Vista Builders sales manager Ismael Lozano, the new homes will likely range from about $280,000 to $500,000, and most will be two stories.
NEW LANDLORD FOR ACADEMY HQ
KATY (globest.com) – Cole Cos. of Phoenix has purchased Academy Sports & Outdoors Ltd.’s 93-acre corporate headquarters and national distribution center as part of a sale-leaseback arrangement.
Cole paid $102 million for the 1.4-million-square-foot property at 1800 N. Mason Rd. Academy Warehouse has a 20-year, triple-net lease, with numerous options allowing up to a 20-year extension following the base lease's expiration.
Currently, 93 percent of the property is used for warehouse and distribution, with the other 7 percent going to corporate office space. Chris Robertson, Cole's senior vice president of acquisitions, said Cole plans no upgrades to the buildings or land.
Stan Johnson Co. of Oklahoma represented Academy Sports in the transaction.
REDUX ATTRACTS FIRST BIG TENANT
IRVING (The Dallas Morning News) – Avelo Mortgage LLC, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, has leased almost 98,000 square feet of office space in the former Associates Corp. headquarters at 250 East John Carpenter Frwy.
The 539,000-square-foot building, which opened in 1976, was one of the first developed in the Las Colinas area. Behringer Harvard bought the buildings in April 2005.
When major tenant Citigroup moved out of the building last year, Behrenger began extensive renovations expected to total $11.2 million. Renovations include common areas, mechanical system upgrades, a new food service facility, an updated fitness center, a new entry, additional parking and landscaping.
CB Richard Ellis and the Staubach Co. were the brokers assisting in lease negotiations that secured Avelo, the first major tenant for the renovated building.
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