TEXAS BUYERS MARKETS SCORE BIG
DESTIN, Fla. (webwire.com, Housing Predictor) – Five Texas real estate markets made the annual Housing Predictor Hottest 10 Buyers Markets forecast, with McAllen nabbing the second spot.
Other Texas markets to make the list were Austin (fifth), Houston (sixth), El Paso (eighth) and Dallas (tenth). Albuquerque, N.M., was named number one.
Housing Predictor’s selections are based on surveys of 75 out of more than 250 housing markets forecast on its website. The highest amount of forecast appreciation during the remainder of 2007 was given the heaviest weight in the survey. Market conditions, sales velocity, pricing and more than 20 other factors were also considered.
To view the entire list, visit Housing Predictor online.
GETTING MOTORS RUNNING
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – St. Philip's College has broken ground on a new one-story Diesel Lab Building at the school's southwest campus.
The lab will be equipped with ten instructional diesel-technology bays for training students to become diesel and heavy machinery maintenance technicians.
Part of the Alamo Community College District, the campus at 800 Quintana Rd. is next to Port San Antonio, which is the industrial park developing on the former Kelly Air Force Base.
I-30 INDUSTRIAL PARK DEVELOPING
DALLAS (globest.com) – Site preparations have begun for the I-30 Business Center on 65 acres along I-30. When developed, the speculative industrial center will total one million square feet.
Trammell Crow Co. (TCC), operating as an independent entity within CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) for development and investment, will break ground next month. Completion is expected by year’s end.
Construction of the $50 million I-30 Business Center will begin with two 362,000-square-foot buildings. After leasing these buildings, TCC will construct another 250,000-square-foot building designed for a build-to-suit or speculation. Construction includes cross-docks with 32-foot clear heights.
Bob Moore Construction Inc. of Arlington will oversee building according to locally based Alliance Architects' design. The project is part of the TCC-ING Clarion industrial development joint venture. CBRE’s Dallas office is handling preleasing.
BELMONT CONSTRUCTION BOOM
DENTON (The Dallas Morning News) – Realty Capital Corp. of Colleyville and Dallas-based Hanover Property Co. will build 3,800 homes in the 982-acre Belmont development at the northwest corner of I-35 W and FM 407.
Belmont, located in the Argyle Independent School District, will also have about one million square feet of retail and commercial construction.
Dick LeBlanc of Hanover Property Co. said construction on the residential project, targeted at the "middle-market, second-time homebuyer," will start in the third or fourth quarter of this year. The first lots would be available in late 2008, he said.
NEW CENTER VIDEO SPOTLIGHTS BUILDERS SHOW
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – If you were unable to attend the 2007 International Builders Show earlier this year, check out the Center's newest video. The video gives a quick look at a few of the latest home products to hit the market, and includes a tour of the 2007 New American Home.
CROWN CASTLE CAPTURE
HOUSTON (Colliers International) – Crown Castle International Corporation has purchased the 112,000-square-foot 1220 Augusta office building from 1220 Augusta Partners LP.
Crown Castle will expand its corporate headquarters into the currently 65 percent leased, Galleria-area property by third quarter 2007.
Colliers International, which represented both the buyer and the seller, will handle leasing.
CITYPLACE REDEVELOPMENT
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – Ashkenazy & Agus Ventures, based in Florida and Manhattan, and Barrow Street Capital, a real estate investment fund manager, have paid $125 million for the 42-story Cityplace Tower.
The tower opened in 1988 as the headquarters of retailer 7-Eleven Inc., which occupied less than half of the building. 7-Eleven is moving its offices to the new One Arts Plaza building downtown.
Redevelopment plans for the 1.3 million-square-foot, granite-and-glass office tower plus nine acres on North Central Expressway include restaurants, a fitness center, a spa and retail store.
Ashkenazy & Agus is an affiliate of New York–based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. (AAC), which recently purchased the historic Union Station complex in Washington, D.C. AAC also owns retail buildings in Arlington and Plano and the River Center Mall in San Antonio.
Connecticut-based Barrow has invested $1 billion in real estate projects.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP represented the seller, Pennsylvania real estate investment firm Brandywine Realty Trust.
DESIGNATED TREE BUILDING GREEN
ROUND ROCK (Austin American-Statesman) – Designated Tree LP partners Kang Lee and Don Dungan will break ground next month on the Green Square office campus on Greenhill Drive, just south of FM 3406.
The developers will seek accreditation of the $30 million, 135,000-square-foot campus through the U.S. Green Building LEED process, which is the international standard of green building.
Carson Design Associates Inc. is the architect of record. Stewardship Inc. will consult on sustainability. Eclipse Environmental & Engineering Inc. is the project’s civil engineer, with MJ Structures handling structural engineering. Rogers O'Brien Construction Co. Ltd. will be the general contractor, and Bay & Associates Inc. will install plumbing.
Landscape architect Carolyn Kelley and Big Red Sun, the Austin firm responsible for landscape design at the Hotel San José, will design native-landscaped courtyards, gardens and public spaces.
ONE DALLAS CENTRE SOLD
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – One Dallas Centre tower on Bryan Street is under contract by Los Angeles–based Younan Properties Inc.
"We are closing the One Dallas Centre purchase in three weeks," said investor Zaya Younan, who plans to change the name to Patriot Tower, and build a war memorial museum on the ground floor.
One Dallas Centre was designed by I.M. Pei & Associates and was the first of three high-rise buildings planned on the downtown block. However, construction of a second, taller office building and a luxury hotel were canceled.
Built in 1979, the 30-story, 615,000-square-foot office building, for sale since last year, is about 40 percent leased. Phase one renovations of the tower will cost about $10 million.
In February, Younan paid about $107 million for the 50-story Thanksgiving Tower. The company also owns the 34-story KPMG Center. With this purchase, Younan would become one of the biggest office landlords downtown.
KATRINA'S, RITA'S OCCUPANCY EFFECT
HOUSTON (ALNsystems.com) – Apartment units in the area were 88 percent occupied in this year’s first quarter, which was down 3.6 percent from the same time last year when occupancy was 91.3 percent, according to ALN Apartment Data research.
In 2006, over 7,500 new units were introduced. In addition, the city had a negative net absorption of approximately 7,700 units during the last twelve months.
Apartment rental rates increased despite the negative absorption. ALN's research compares today’s apartment market conditions to the same quarter of 2005, prior to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which have wreaked havoc on apartment statistics, particularly in Houston and Dallas–Fort Worth.
By August of 2005, area apartment occupancy had edged upward to 87.9 percent. Thirty days later, occupancy soared to 96 percent as local apartment communities faced unprecedented demand for emergency, short-term housing.
At the high point during September, more than 45,000 units had been leased by Katrina and Rita evacuees in Houston alone. By the end of December, occupancy had fallen from September’s high of 96 percent to 92 percent. At the close of 2005, annual net absorption for Houston was a record-setting high of almost 50,000 units in just one year.
The impact of these hurricanes was felt long after the fourth quarter of 2005, and the market’s realignment period has extended through 2006. By the close of this year’s first quarter, the average quoted rental rate increased two cents to 84 cents per square foot per month, a 1.9 percent increase.
Looking back over a two-year period, thus comparing today to a normalized first quarter prior to the Katrina/Rita landfall, the average quoted rental rate has risen 6 percentage points.
SUMMIT FUND BUYS BAYSTONE
WEBSTER (Summit America) – The Multifamily Capital Appreciation Fund–2007, a private equity fund sponsored by Summit America Capital, has purchased the 289-unit Baystone Apartments from Caltex Equity of San Francisco.
The property at 800 W. NASA Rd. 1 contains a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. It will be managed by Summit Asset Management.
Summit Asset Management and Summit America Capital are both subsidiaries of Alabama-based private equity firm Summit America.
COVINGTON TAKES CAMERON CROSSING
McKINNEY (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP) – Covington Realty Partners has purchased Cameron Crossing, an almost 367,000-square-foot regional shopping center.
Completed in 1999, Cameron Crossing is 94 percent occupied. Tenants include Home Depot, Best Buy, Ross Dress for Less and PetSmart. The 35-acre site is at the southwest corner of US 75 and US 380.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP’s Dallas office represented Hunt Properties Inc., the Dallas-based seller.
WILDWOOD GROUNDBREAKING
GEORGETOWN (Epcon Communities) – Epcon Communities will break ground next week on the Oaks at Wildwood, the city’s first ranch-style condominium community.
The 86-unit development on 16 acres just off Williams Drive will have a mix of two- and three-bedroom units ranging from about 1,300 to 1,900 square feet.
Construction is expected to wrap by December 2008.
PARK VILLAGE SOLD
DALLAS (globest.com) – A 1031 exchange investor has purchased the 350-unit Park Village Apartments from the Strand Co.
Westmoreland Road Apartments LP bought the 96 percent leased complex at 7575 S. Westmoreland Rd. at a 7.4 percent cap rate using exchange funds and a ten-year, interest-only loan from Credit Suisse First Boston.
The 24-building Park Village is on almost 14 acres near I-20 and US 67. It has one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 582 to 1,185 square feet. Rents are currently $510 to $875 per month. The Los Angeles–based buyer plans to run the 23-year-old Park Village as is, then raise rents after making moderate improvements to interiors.
Hendricks & Partners in Dallas represented the Vancouver-based seller. Mayan Management Co. of Dallas will manage the complex.
SPECTRUM BUYS ON BELTWAY
HOUSTON (globest.com) – American Spectrum Realty Inc. has purchased Beltway Industrial Park.
The 30-acre park is one mile west of Beltway 8 and Hwy. 290 and has 23 buildings totaling 400,000 square feet. Twelve buildings are at 11875 Little York Rd., six are at 6525 Cunningham Rd. and the rest are at 6529 Cunningham Rd.
Tenants of the 73 percent leased park include Commercial Interior Products, Electro-Tech Industries Inc., South Coast Technology Inc. and GLZ Distributors LLC.
American Spectrum will oversee management and leasing.
With this purchase, American Spectrum's portfolio now totals about two million square feet of office and industrial space in Texas, Arizona, South Carolina and the Midwest.
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