ALL ABOARD!
LEANDER (Austin Business Journal) – Residents who make the daily drive to Austin have a new, ecofriendly commuting option.
Capital Metro's commuter rail has officially opened its first Central Texas station. While the train is not yet running, the park-and-ride area can be used by bus riders. The commuter rail system will open in 2008 and run along a 32-mile route.
"Capital Metro's commuter trains will be vital to the development of a transportation-rich Leander over the next decade," said Mayor John Cowman.
Austin-based Jamail & Smith completed construction on the station and crossing.
Dallas-based WY Atlantis controls 342 acres within the 2,300 acres set aside for the city's transit-oriented development. The firm plans to develop homes, shops and offices on the site near US 183 and the US 183A toll road.
SHOPPING CENTER PAIR SOLD
FORT WORTH, HALTOM CITY (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) – Pacific Bay Investments of San Francisco will spend about $1 million in cosmetic upgrades on two recently purchased area shopping centers.
The investment firm now owns the Diamond Oaks Shopping Center at the northwest corner of US 377 and Stanley-Keller Road In Haltom City. Surplus Warehouse, a hardware store, is the anchor tenant.
The firm’s other new purchase is McCart Plaza at 5210 McCart Ave. in Fort Worth.
BROADSTONE BUYS WALKER COMMONS ACREAGE
LEAGUE CITY (Cushman & Wakefield) – Broadstone Walker Commons LP has purchased almost 19 acres in Walker Commons from LC Partners LP.
The land, at SH 96 and Walker Road, has been earmarked for a multifamily development.
Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.’s Houston office represented the seller, while McDade, Smith, Gould, Johnston, Mason + Company represented the buyer.
BOOST FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – St. David's HealthCare System will invest more than $100 million in women’s health services for the city’s north side.
The system’s investment includes a new $82.7 million hospital off MoPac Boulevard south of Parmer Lane that will more than double the capacity for women’s surgeries, baby deliveries and newborn intensive care.
The new hospital will begin with three stories totaling 177,000 square feet, including about 6,000 square feet of retail, 37 labor, delivery and recovery rooms, 61 postpartum rooms, six operating rooms for cesarean sections and 36 neonatal intensive care bassinets.
The design allows for expansion to a total of 377,000 square feet in eight stories.
About 100 jobs will be created in the center's first year. Groundbreaking is slated for late this summer, with completion by spring 2009.
St. David's also is spending $9.5 million to renovate its obstetrics facilities and add 17 bassinets for newborn intensive care at its main hospital on 32nd Street near I-35.
In Round Rock, St. David's will spend $1.4 million to expand intensive care facilities for newborns.
A RIVER RUNS ALONGSIDE IT
GEORGETOWN (Austin Business Journal) – The LedgeStone Group Inc. of Austin is planning a mixed-use development along the North San Gabriel River called The Summit at Rivery Park.
The 28-acre project, which will be built inside the 280-acre Rivery development west of I-35, will total close to 650,000 square feet and include a hotel, conference center and over 250,000 square feet of office space.
Austin-based Alderman/Paccone is the project's architect. Construction will start next spring.
PERMITS TOP $12 MILLION
BRENHAM (Brenham Banner-Press) – Almost $3 million in building permits last month brought the city’s yearly total to date to more than $12 million.
The city issued 36 permits in May. Three were for new multifamily projects, including two nearly $280,000 units at Kruse Memorial Lutheran Village and a new $900,000 project called Heritage Hills on Stone Hill Drive.
DAYS OF WINE AND STORAGE
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Local joint venturers Joe Simmons and Heiser Development Corp’s new 57,000-square-foot, 400-unit self-storage facility is set to open next month.
The $5 million-plus, climate-controlled South Lamar Storage and Wine Cellar at South Lamar and Kinney Avenue is the first storage sector development for the joint venture.
GLEN ABBEY WORK BEGINNING
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – Hawkins-Welwood Homes and Folsom Properties Developers start work this week on the Lawn at Glen Abbey.
The least expensive units in the six-building, 140-unit condominium development on Keller Springs Road will be about 2,200 square feet with price tags starting at around $700,000.
A complex of 27 patio homes starting at $1.2 million is also planned in the development.
WICKERSHAM GREENS SOLD
AUSTIN (Houston Income Properties) – A California investor has purchased the recently renovated, 190-unit Wickersham Greens from Mayo Group.
The 35-year-old complex at 2310 Wickersham Ln. includes a mix of one- and two-bedroom units averaging 780 square feet. It was 94 percent occupied at time of sale.
Houston Income Properties' Austin office represented the seller, and Tarantino Properties of Houston represented the buyer. The mortgage broker was The Houston Group.
HOUSING STARTS HIT TEN-YEAR HIGH
WACO (Waco Tribune-Herald) – The housing market may be in a slump on the national level, but housing starts in McLennan County hit a ten-year high last year.
New figures from the McLennan County Appraisal District show 1,254 housing starts in 2006, including 137 in the Waco Independent School District, where growth had been stagnant until a few years ago.
New single-family homes accounted for 53 percent of growth in appraised market value in the county. Countywide, preliminary taxable values totaled $9.63 billion, up almost 8 percent over last year’s certified tax rolls.
KC VENTURE TAKES CHAMPIONS
HOUSTON (globest.com) – KC Venture Group has purchased two Class-A multifamily properties totaling 438 units from Atlanta-based Shoptaw Group.
The 192-unit Champions Centre Apartments sits on almost eight acres at 13222 Champions Centre Dr. Developed by Flagship Co. in 1994, the nine-building complex features one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 603 to 1,147 square feet. The average monthly rent is $1.03 per square foot.
The 246-unit Champion Parks Apartments at 13050 Champions Park Dr. was built in 1992 by the Finger Cos. The nine-acre development has 11 buildings with one- and two-bedroom units measuring 653 to 1,140 square feet. The average monthly rent is 94 cents per square foot.
CB Richard Ellis represented Shoptaw in the sale of the 95 percent leased properties.
GOOD CARMA
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – An almost 2,500-acre mixed-use development the size of a small town is planned near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Carma Texas, under the umbrella of Canada-based Carma Developers LP, plans to break ground in 2009 on the $500 million master-planned community, which is bordered by US 183 to the east and McKinney Falls Parkway to the west.
The unnamed development’s value at buildout, which should take more than 20 years, could total more than $3 billion.
In addition to more than one million square feet of retail and office space, Carma plans to include approximately 3,500 multifamily units, from apartments to for-sale townhomes; 2,000 small-lot urban-style houses; and about 5,500 single-family homes. More than 140 acres will be set aside for parks and a trail system.
Carter & Burgess Inc. is providing urban and transportation planning and civil engineering services, Brown McCarroll LLP is overseeing land use entitlement, and Dubois Bryant & Campbell LLP is handling the real estate transactions. Carma Developers LP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Properties Corp.
The development would be Carma's second in Central Texas, following the recent opening of its 575-acre Blanco Vista project in San Marcos.
THE TRUCK STOPS HERE
EL PASO (El Paso Inc.) – After more than three decades building Petro into a roadside icon for truck drivers, Jack Cardwell has sold his line of truck stops for $725 million.
Hospitality Properties Trust of Massachusetts purchased the property of 40 of the 44 company-operated Petro Stopping Centers for $630 million and $25 million in closing and ancillary costs. The purchased land totals more than 1,000 acres in 25 states.
TravelCenters of America purchased the operations at all 44 company-owned Petros for approximately $70 million. TravelCenters also bought Petro’s franchise business and undeveloped property sites to be used for future truck-stop construction.
In conjunction with the sale, Hospitality Properties Trust announced it will lease its 40 new Petro properties to TravelCenters of America through June 2024.
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