HANSON PIPE DREAM
LONGVIEW (Longview News-Journal) – After 63 years at 405 Cherokee St., Hanson Pipe and Precast is moving to a larger home.
Dallas-based Hanson, which makes concrete pipes and companion products used in construction, will leave its 28,000-square-foot plant on five acres to set up shop in a new 60,000-square-foot facility on about 30 acres at 40 FRJ Drive. Testing at the new plant is underway, with full production expected to begin next month.
The new facility represents a more than $14 million investment, including land, building and equipment. With tall pine trees surrounding the property to act as a sound buffer, the “zero-dust facility” is also part of the company’s effort to build green sites.
Hanson Pipe and Precast is a part of Hanson Building Products North America, a division of Hanson PLC. Germany-based HeidelbergCement has proposed to buy the company, which is based in the United Kingdom, but Hanson representatives said that will not affect the local plant.
SCORE FOR VICTORY PARK
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News, globest.com) – Accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) will move its North Texas headquarters into about 150,000 square feet in the Victory project, which is under construction just north of Woodall Rodgers Freeway.
After 20 years at 2100 Ross Ave., E&Y will relocate about 1,200 of its 1,500 local employees into the top four floors of the 450,000-square-foot, 20-story One Victory Park building beginning July 2009.
The 85 percent leased project’s other tenants include law firm Haynes & Boone LLP and PlainsCapital Bank. One Victory Park, with 20,000 square feet of street-level retail, is slated to open in July 2008.
CB Richard Ellis and Staubach Co. negotiated E&Y's new lease with the building's developers, Hillwood and Hines.
AIRPORT GATEWAY PLANNED
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – St. Croix Capital Corp. will begin work this fall on a $50 million mixed-use project on 58 acres near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Airport Gateway, which is St. Croix’s second local industrial project, will rise on the south side of SH 71 near the Met Center campus.
About 17 acres is set aside for a hotel and 30,000 square feet of speculative retail. Plans for the remaining 34 acres call for construction of a roughly 225,000-square-foot speculative industrial building and one-acre lots for accommodating buildings of up to 25,000 square feet for build-to-suits or user projects.
St. Croix CEO Ken Satterlee says Austin is one of the largest cities he's encountered with an underdeveloped airport submarket.
"This is great real estate close to a growing airport in a submarket that's going to flourish," said Satterlee.
PBS&J will oversee civil engineering and CB Richard Ellis Inc. will handle marketing. Austin-based Torreon Capital LP, which works in retail, industrial, office and multifamily, is St. Croix's equity partner for Airport Gateway.
EQUASTONE PURCHASE HAS MERIT
DALLAS (globest.com) – Equastone has purchased the three-building, more than 295,000-square-foot Merit Centre from Merit Texas LP.
The complex, which sits on more than 12 acres on the LBJ Freeway, consists of the six-story building at 5720 (more than 128,000 square feet), the four-story building at 5710 (more than 97,000 square feet), and the four-story building at 5728 (more than 70,000 square feet).
The buildings are 60 percent leased. The largest of the 51 tenants is LeTourneau University. Leases average about five years, with about 20 percent renewing annually. The San Diego–based buyer has reset the complex’s rates to $17.50–$18.50 per square foot plus electric.
Staffelbach Design Associates Inc. of Dallas is starting preliminary work on upgrades. Construction will begin within 60 days and be completed in four to five months.
Equastone purchased the property through the recently closed Equastone Value Fund II, a $172.5 million fully discretionary equity pool. Bradford Cos. will manage the properties.
MEDICAL SCHOOL EXPANSION IMMINENT
EL PASO (El Paso Times) – The Texas House and Senate this week approved $48 million to expand the Texas Tech Medical School from a two-year to a four-year medical school. It is now headed to Gov. Rick Perry for his approval.
If approved, the school would welcome its first class of four-year students in 2009.
For more than two years, the university has been fighting for dollars to hire the faculty and staff needed to expand the school. Legislators in 2005 did not approve the more than $60 million Texas Tech requested for the faculty needed for the school to become accredited.
The West Texas border has fewer than 26 doctors per 100,000 residents, compared with the national average of 69 doctors, according to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health Web site.
ALFORD DEMOLITION BEGINS
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – A partnership created by Matthews Southwest Corp. has begun demolishing the Alford Refrigerated Warehouse complex, which was once one of the largest refrigerated storage centers in the Southwest.
Built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s on more than 50 acres on Cadiz Street near Industrial Boulevard, the warehouses contain more than one million square feet. Some buildings are almost a half-mile long.
The site is expected to be cleared by summer’s end.
BRIGGS RANCH TOWNHOMES DEVELOPING
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – Briggs Ranch Ltd. has begun site work for The Villas at Briggs Ranch, which will consist of 61 townhomes in the 900-acre Briggs Ranch.
The townhomes will range from 2,300 to 3,500 square feet and be priced between $550,000 and $1.1 million.
Briggs Ranch, off US 90 and SH 211, is built around an 18-hole golf course created by course architect Tom Fazio. The Briggs Ranch course was ranked No. 7 on Golfweek's 2007 list of "Best Residential Golf Courses."
Surrounding the golf course is The Trails at Briggs Ranch, an estate-home residential community with lots ranging from just over one to about 4.5 acres. Homes cost between $650,000 and $6 million.
Since 1980, west San Antonio has been the number-one submarket for new housing development, according to Jack Inselmann, vice president of the U.S. Central Division of Metrostudy.
Infrastructure work on the development should be complete by late August with the first model homes to debut next January.
PREOWNED HOME SALES DECLINE
WASHINGTON (National Association of Realtors) – Total existing home sales — including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — declined nationwide in April, dropping 2.6 percent from March.
The existing home median price fell nearly 1 percent to $220,900 from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) April existing home sales report.
Total housing inventory rose 10.4 percent to 4.2 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a one month increase from March to an 8.4-month supply.
NAR’s report shows the annual sales rate for existing homes fell to just under six million, which was a 10.7 percent decline from the same time last year.
The Northeast saw the largest decline in sales at 8.8 percent. The nation’s western section saw a decline of 1.7 percent, the South declined 1.2 percent, and the Midwest slowed the least at a .7 percent decrease.
“We’ve been anticipating slower home sales because many subprime loan products are no longer available,” said NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. “Fortunately, a wide availability of conventional mortgage products and the 4.5 million jobs created over the past 24 months will help to stabilize the market going forward.”
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