TEXAS LANDOWNERS DOMINATE
TEXAS (San Antonio Express-News) – Twelve of the nation's 100 largest private landowners hail from South or Central Texas, according to the debut issue of The Land Report. Leading the state is the King Ranch.
The King Ranch landed at number five on the magazine's national list with more than 850,000 acres. Briscoe Ranch Inc., owned by two-time Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. of Uvalde, ranked 12th in the nation, while the heirs of Alice Kleberg East ranked 17th.
And there is more good news for Texas. The Dallas-based magazine reported that 40 of the 100 biggest ranch families have most or all their lands in the Lone Star State.
The common denominator among Texas' great spreads is beef, said Kaare Remme, manager of the 45th-ranked McCoy Remme Ranches of West Texas.
"A third of the beef in the nation comes out of Texas," Remme said. "Livestock production is a big deal."
Topping the national list was CNN founder and former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner, owner of two million acres dedicated mostly to bison.
The Land Report's complete list is available online.
2007 MARKET REPORTS AVAILABLE
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The Texas Real Estate Market Reports for 2007 are now available on the Center’s website.
This year’s reports contain information not provided in previous editions, including comparisons of Texas' and Metropolitan Statistical Areas' (MSAs) occupied housing characteristics, statewide annual wages and statewide nonfarm employment growth.
To view reports for any of Texas’ 25 MSAs, go to recenter.tamu.edu/mreports/.
SALES SLOWING, STILL GOOD
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Marking the third month in a row of stalled or declining sales, March preowned single-family homes sales totaled 2,343, a 1 percent increase over this time last year, according to the Austin Board of Realtors.
Central Texas is seeing the effects of the collapse of the subprime lending market, which typically involves lending to borrowers with dubious credit histories and not requiring down payments. The subprime shakeout is hitting first-time buyers harder and is contributing to slowing sales in lower price ranges — $180,000 and below.
"The lenders are becoming a little bit more leery about the loans they are making and underwriting," said Jim Gaines, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
Builders are also slowing production, said Eldon Rude, director of the Austin office of Metrostudy.
Agents are still seeing multiple offers in the area’s premium locations. Overall, homes sold in about 65 days, which is a 4 percent decrease from the same month a year ago. The median price rose to $177,080, up 6 percent from a year ago.
Condominium and townhome sales were also flat compared with a year ago. However, the median price increased 14 percent from last year to $170,000.
"Austin is still continuing to be a fairly strong market," Gaines said. "But nothing goes up forever. Eventually you will hit a year when it's not better than the year before."
CLASS-A WINDMILL SOLD
HOUSTON (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler) – Providence Management Company LLC has purchased the 259-unit, Class-A Windmill Landing Apartments.
Windmill Landing, which is on nearly ten acres at 10121 Windmill Lakes Blvd., consists of seven buildings with six one- and two-bedroom floor plans averaging 866 square feet. Renovated in 1995, the complex is currently just over 95 percent leased.
The Houston office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP secured permanent financing on Providence’s behalf, placing a five-year, fixed-rate, interest-only loan with Column Financial, a conduit lender. The loan had an interest rate of less than 6 percent and represented about 87 percent of the total cost of the purchase.
ALLIANCETEXAS'S BUILDING FRENZY
FORT WORTH (globest.com ) – Hillwood Properties will build two million square feet of industrial flex space on speculation at AllianceTexas this year.
"We have staggered it so that every two months we are breaking ground on a new building," said Tony Creme, marketing manager for Hillwood Properties. The six buildings planned are:
- Gateway 72 at 4798 Henrietta Creek Rd., which will have 32-foot clear height at the 472,500-square-foot cross-dock warehouse distribution center. Completion is slated for the end of August.
- Gateway 23 at 13301 Park Vista Blvd., which will have 142,500 square feet of flex industrial space. It is set to open June 30.
- The only office building planned for this year, the 120,000-square-foot Heritage Commons II at 13601 N. Freeway, which will also open June 30.
- Gateway 18, a 399,000-square-foot warehouse along Park Vista Boulevard, which will have its grand opening in October.
- Gateway 52, along Henrietta Creek Rd., which will have 262,000 square feet. It is scheduled for completion in December.
- The 562,500-square-foot Westport 20, which will be built along Intermodal Parkway near the BNSF intermodal yard. The targeted grand opening date is next February.
Hillwood is handling leasing duties in-house. Hillwood Construction Services is the general contractor. Gromatzky Dupree Associates Inc. of Dallas and RGA Architects of Roanoke, Texas, designed the industrial buildings. HKS Inc.'s Dallas team designed Heritage Commons II.
With the addition of these buildings, AllianceTexas will have over 26 million square feet in the 140-company park. Hillwood co-owns and manages 11.5 million square feet with Newark-based Prudential Real Estate Investors.
NORTHWEST VISTA COLLEGE EXPANDS
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – Northwest Vista College has broken ground on a construction project that will add six buildings — about 380,000 square feet of space — to the 137-acre campus.
Two of the new buildings — Live Oak Hall and Juniper Hall — will add 96 classrooms to the campus. The college currently has 80 classrooms, 24 of which are in portable buildings.
"Our first buildings were built in 98 to accommodate about 3,300 students,” said Dr. Debra Morgan, dean and construction liaison for the college. “Today we serve over 13,000 in the space. That's why we have 24 portable classrooms."
The other four buildings are the Palmetto Fine and Performing Arts Center, the Red Bud Library and Learning Resources building, the Cypress Campus Center and a physical plant. Lago Vista, a pond running down the center of the campus, will also be added.
Pending funding, Morgan says the college plans to develop two more academic buildings, a gymnasium facility and a child development center.
The construction is being funded as part of the Alamo Community College District's bond package, which was approved in 2005. The project contractor is Bartlett-Cocke General Contractors.
SKYLINE SELLS FOX HOLLOW
GRAND PRAIRIE (globest.com) – Skyline Properties of Dallas, the 36-year owner-developer of the Fox Hollow Apartments, has sold the complex to Los Angeles investment group Fox Hollow LLC at just over an 8 percent going-in cap rate.
The fully leased 86-unit complex on almost five acres at 1008 S. Belt Line Rd. sold for $33,700 per unit, besting the area’s previous per-unit record by roughly $2,000.
Renovations are planned for the interiors and the clubhouse in the 12-building complex, which has two- and three-bedroom apartments. The two-bedroom units are 856 square feet with monthly rent of $735; the three-bedrooms are 1,035 square feet, renting for $835 per month.
Hendricks & Partners in Dallas represented the seller. Devonshire Real Estate & Asset Management Group of Dallas will manage the complex.
BARCLAYS' GLOBAL PURCHASE
AMSTERDAM (globest.com) – London-based Barclays PLC has reached an agreement to buy ABN Amro Holding NV for just over $91 billion. Under the agreement, ABN Amro will sell its Chicago-based LaSalle Bank to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion in cash.
The merged company, to be called Barclays PLC, will be based in Amsterdam but remain a British “tax resident.” The sale of LaSalle to Bank of America requires U.S. regulators' approval and is a condition of the Barclays-ABN merger.
The merger, also subject to U.S. regulator approval, is expected to be completed by year’s end. When complete, Barclays PLC will be the largest institutional asset management firm and one of the world’s top five banks, with about 47 million customers.
NEW HUB FOR OLD DOMINION
DALLAS (Dallas Business Journal) – A North Carolina–based freight company is building a freight terminal that will dwarf its existing terminal.
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc.’s $20 million, 250-door terminal will sit on 60 acres at 3300 Duncanville Rd., a location that will give the nationwide carrier easy access to North Texas' major roadways, including I-35, I-20 and I-30.
Howard Cornelison, the company’s director of purchasing and real estate, said the new building will be much larger than Old Dominion's existing 146-door terminal at 4356 Singleton Blvd.
The 107,000-square-foot building will include a 12-bay, 46,000-square-foot maintenance shop and office, a 36,400-square-foot dock area and 25,500 square feet of office space. Once completed, it will be expandable by another 150 to 200 doors.
Old Dominion’s Dallas location is only one of the company’s four major hubs. It also has hubs in Atlanta, Pennsylvania and its home state. In addition, the company has six regional terminals.
The general contractor on the new terminal is Schwob Corp.
MARCH WINDS HIT HOME
WASHINGTON (National Association of Realtors) – After rising for three consecutive months, total existing-home sales — including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — fell from 6.68 million in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units in March, an 8.4 percent drop. This was 11.3 percent less than the 6.9 million-unit level for the same time last year, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Unusually bad February weather is blamed in part.
“We’ve been expecting a weather ‘hit’ on home sales finalized in March, but looking at overall activity in the first quarter we see that existing home sales averaged 6.41 million, a figure that is moderately higher than the sales pace during the second half of 2006,” said David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist. “We also may be seeing some losses as a result of the subprime fallout. However, this is masking improved fundamentals in the housing market, with lower mortgage interest rates and motivated sellers.”
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.16 percent in March, down from 6.29 percent in February. The rate was 6.32 percent in March 2006.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $217,000 in March, which is 0.3 percent below last year’s median of $217,600. Total housing inventory levels fell 1.6 percent to 3.75 million existing homes for sale, which represents a 7.3-month supply at the current sales pace, up from February’s 6.8-month supply.
Single-family home sales dropped 9.5 percent from February's 5.88 million to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.32 million in March. Sales are 11.9 percent lower than March 2006's more than 6 million-unit level. The median existing single-family home price was $215,300, down 0.9 percent from a year earlier.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the South declined 6.2 percent to an annual sales rate of 2.41 million, 9.7 percent below March 2006. The median price was $180,700, up 0.4 percent from a year ago.
For the complete report, click here.
To read the Real Estate Center’s article on Texas home price trends, click here.
SIMON MAKES OVER MALL
RICHARDSON (The Dallas Morning News) – Demolition of a major portion of Richardson Square Mall will begin early this summer.
Sears and SuperTarget are the only two stores which will remain in place during mall owner Simon Property Group’s redevelopment of the aging retail center at Plano and Belt Line Roads.
Ross Dress for Less, a current mall tenant, will be relocated adjacent to a new 130,000-square-foot Lowe's store, which will open in spring 2008.
ROSS AVENUE HIGH RISE SOLD
DALLAS (globest.com) – Moinian Group and SMA Equities have purchased the 33-story 2100 Ross Ave. from IPC US REIT and PNL Cos. for $73 million.
IPC and PNL bought the almost 844,000-square-foot high rise — previously known as San Jacinto Tower — in late 2004. They put the building under contract last December and waited out the prepayment lockout.
Dan Levitan, managing director of Dallas-based PNL Cos., said securities were bought April 16, one day before the interest rate dropped and four days after the conduit loan's lockout provision ended.
2100 Ross Ave. is 76 percent occupied. Among its tenants are Ernst & Young LLP, which has 244,000 square feet leased through June 2009, and CB Richard Ellis, which will continue to lease and manage the building. Jones Lang LaSalle represented the seller, while the buyer was self-represented.
DRAGONS' NEW NEIGHBORS
SOUTHLAKE (globest.com) – Champion Partners will break ground next month on Champion Crossing, a 114,500-square-foot spec office flex next door to Dragon Stadium.
The Class-A project will sit on more than ten acres at the corner of Kimball Avenue and Continental Boulevard. Its six single-story buildings will range from 13,000 to 29,000 square feet and be designed to finish out as 100 percent office space or with grade-level loading areas in the rear. Champion Crossing will be completed toward the end of the year.
Glacier Commercial Realty LP in Dallas represented Champion, while independent Dallas broker Bruce Hursh represented the sellers, two private investors.
Halbach-Dietz Architects Inc. of Dallas designed Champion Crossing. Glacier will handle preleasing.
DEMAND FOR OFFICE SPACE SLOWING
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – Demand for office space continued to grow in first quarter 2007, albeit at a slower pace than last year.
According to locally based NAI REOC Partners, which tracks the city's commercial real estate markets, the market absorbed almost 22,400 square feet of office space in the first quarter, compared with a quarterly average of 138,000 square feet for the past three years. The market had one of its best years on record last year, absorbing more than 800,000 square feet of office space.
More than 500,000 square feet of new office space is expected to come online this year. Last year, more than 730,000 square feet of new office space came into the market.
Several big office buildings are expected to open soon, including the 97,490-square-foot La Arcata, the 84,000-square-foot Heritage Oaks at Inwood I and 131,000-square-foot Union Square II.
The citywide vacancy rate of 14.4 percent in the first quarter was down from 15.8 percent in the first three months of 2006, and average rents increased 34 cents from the end of last year to $18.89 per square foot.
San Antonio has almost 24 million square feet of office space now, compared with 23.1 million at this time last year.
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