HOLLYWOOD: TRAVIS COUNTY STYLE
AUSTIN (globest.com) – With the goal of making Central Texas the next Hollywood, phase one of the $1.5 billion, 681-acre, mixed-use Villa Muse will break ground by summer in the Texas 130 corridor of eastern Travis County.
The first phase will consist of the 200-acre, $125 million Villa Muse Studios, which will include a 50,000-square-foot soundstage, recording studios, a scoring stage and a 70,000-seat amphitheater. The studios are expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
Villa Muse Inc. is partnering with Carpenter & Associates Inc. of Austin, which sold the land and will oversee construction and site work. Project designers are locally based Land Design Studio, Steve Durr Designs in Nashville; Studio Bau:ton in California; and Sam Toyoshima, Acoustics Design Office, a division of JVC Audio Engineering Research Center.
RIATA VISTA PLANNED
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Riata Vista Business Park will be built on about 36 acres southwest of the intersection of West Parmer Lane and Riata Vista Circle.
The $121 million, 600,000-square-foot office-and-retail project is a joint venture between Chicago-based McShane Corp. and MetLife Real Estate Investments of New York, which had purchased the site from Sun Microsystems Inc. last year.
The development’s first phase will feature a 140,000-square-foot speculative office building. At buildout, the project will total about 560,000 square feet of office and roughly 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Austin-based Studio 8 Architects designed the park, and Cunningham/Allen Inc. is providing engineering services. Construction will be handled in-house by McShane. Aquila Commercial in Austin will handle leasing duties.
Phase one should break ground late this summer and take a year to complete.
MAKING WAY FOR MIXED-USE
NASSAU BAY (Houston Chronicle; bayareahouston.com) – Griffin Partners plans to demolish 12 low-rise office buildings on 27 acres near the Johnson Space Center to build a $150 million mixed-use project.
This will be the first development project of this scale for the Houston commercial real estate firm. Plans include a 200-room hotel, up to 100,000 square feet of retail space, at least 300,000 square feet of office space and some 300 apartments.
Demolition will begin at year’s end when all leases expire on the 50 percent occupied buildings, which total more than 437,000 square feet. Built approximately 40 years ago, five of the buildings were completely empty, with two of those vacant since 1985.
Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Nassau Development.
To read a Tierra Grande article about Bay Area Houston, one of the area's best-kept secrets, click here.
CAMDEN BUYS CLASS-A CONGRESS
AUSTIN (Toby Stark Public Relations LLC) – Houston-based Camden has purchased a Class-A multifamily complex in the downtown area from Creekstone Partners.
The 253-unit 1007 S. Congress property has one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 579 to 1,527 square feet. The units have ceramic tile entries, wood plank flooring, gourmet kitchens and walk-in closets. In addition, the complex has 7,433 square feet of street-level retail.
Creekstone Partners, which purchased the property in 2005, is a division of Creekstone Companies. Both are based in Houston.
TANGLEWOOD WEST SOLD
AUSTIN (Houston Income Properties Inc.) – A private investor and condo converter has purchased Tanglewood West in the city’s Tarrytown area.
Built in 1966, the 62-unit complex off Norwalk Lane has units averaging 704 square feet. The average rent is 94 cents per square foot.
The Austin-based buyer paid more than $80,000 per unit at just over a 5 percent cap rate.
Houston Income Properties Inc.'s Austin office represented the seller, also an Austin-based private investor.
FROM BRIDGES TO MARQUIS
HOUSTON (globest.com) – CWS Apartment Homes LLC of Austin has purchased the 270-unit Bridges of Eldridge.
The Class-A property sits on more than eight acres at 2250 Eldridge Rd. The new owner will rename the 92 percent occupied, three-year-old complex Marquis at Eldridge Parkway.
Bridges of Eldridge was developed by Houston-based Dinerstein Cos. and is mostly one- and two-bedroom units with a few three-bedroom apartments averaging 1,059 square feet. Rent averages slightly more than $1 per square foot.
Apartment Realty Advisors' Houston office represented the seller, Los Angeles–based MBS, in the off-market transaction, which tax rolls assess at $20.3 million.
CWS' first local purchase was Pin Oak Green at 5454 Newcastle Dr., which the company bought last summer and renamed Marquis at Bellaire. That complex is about 12 miles from Eldridge Road.
PAST PRESIDENTS MOVING INTO MIXED-USE
PEARLAND (Goswick.com) – Historic Land Development LLC is developing the 50-acre WaterLights District, featuring the Presidential Park at WaterLights.
The mixed-use development on Hwy. 288 at the future South Spectrum Boulevard is slated to open in summer or fall 2008. It will contain department stores, restaurants, hotels, office space and condominiums.
The Presidential Park will be the home of 18-foot statues of all the past U.S. presidents. The statues are the work of Houston-based artist David Adickes, known for his 67-foot statue of Texan legend Sam Houston on I-45 near Huntsville.
REDEVELOPMENT AT LOVERS LANE
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – The apartments at 6044 E. Lovers Lane will soon be torn down to make way for a gated luxury rental community.
The Plaza on Lovers Lane is being developed by real estate investor Behringer Harvard of Addison and Greystar Development and Construction. The complex will contain 155 townhome-like units averaging about 1,350 square feet. Construction on the almost $50 million redevelopment will begin early next year.
The 184 apartments currently on the $5.4 million property were built in 1972.
Behringer Harvard is financing the project and will purchase the complex once it is completed.
UNIVERSITY ICON GETTING MAKEOVER
GEORGETOWN (Austin Business Journal) – A $6 million pledge will be used to pay for an extensive restoration of the Roy and Lillie Cullen Building, one of Southwestern University’s iconic structures.
This is the first major renovation in 30 years for the Cullen building, which was built between 1898 and 1900 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building houses classrooms and administrative offices.
As part of the renovation, the building’s many windows will be replaced with energy-efficient versions, fixtures and finishes will be restored, and electrical and mechanical systems will be upgraded. The building will also be updated to meet handicapped-accessibility standards. In addition, a 1,300-square-foot “heritage gallery” will be built on the first floor.
Before the renovation project begins, the school must finish a planned admission building. The admission office is currently on the first floor of the Cullen building.
Group Two Architecture of Austin will spearhead the Cullen project.
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