FAVORABLE WINDS BRING TESTING FACILITY
INGLESIDE (Corpus Christi Caller-Times) – The 23-acre ARCO property, unused for about ten years, is one of two sites the U.S. Department of Energy has chosen to develop the next generation of wind turbines. The facilities are estimated to cost about $20 million.
The 150,000-square-foot facility will have the capacity to test blades as long as 330 feet. Blade testing is required to meet wind turbine design standards. This facility and the second site at the Boston Autoport in Boston Harbor will be the first to test blades for the government. The Department of Energy will provide $2 million to each facility.
Donated by British Petroleum, the property includes docks and access to the La Quinta and Corpus Christi Ship Channels. BP also donated $250,000 for facility operation costs.
The Texas bid was led by the Lone Star Wind Alliance, a coalition of Texas universities, corporate partners and government agencies, including the General Land Office. The alliance pledged $18 million in state and private funding.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, Texas is a leader in wind power development, with more than 2,700 megawatts installed at the end of 2006 and about 1,000 megawatts under construction.
CENTRE ONE SOLD
HOUSTON (transwestern.net) – Phoenix Life Insurance Company has sold the Centre One office building to Pacifica Companies LLC.
Developed by the late Harold Farb, Centre One is a more than 217,000-square-foot, Class-A, multitenant building in the Southwest Beltway 8 area. It has access to Sam Houston Parkway, Westpark Tollway and Southwest Freeway.
Transwestern Houston represented Phoenix.
POWERING UP IN TELECOM CORRIDOR
RICHARDSON (The Dallas Morning News) – Telecommunications provider MetroPCS Communications Inc. will relocate from its north Dallas headquarters to the six-story Lakeside Centre II building just east of North Central Expressway.
This fall, the wireless phone company, which went public in April and has more than three million cellular phone customers, will relocate 400 workers to the more than 115,000-square-foot building at 2250 Lakeside Blvd.
CommonWealth Partners LLC owns the building. Capstar Commercial Real Estate and the Staubach Co. negotiated the new lease.
Office vacancy rates in Richardson's Telecom Corridor have fallen from almost 40 percent during the tech sector downsizing to about 20 percent at the end of the first quarter.
DCL PICKS UP ATRIUM PAIR
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – DCL Investment Corp. has purchased the almost 169,000-square-foot Northborough Atrium I and II buildings.
The office buildings are at 12600 Northborough Dr. and 350 Glenborough Dr. in the Greenspoint area.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler represented the seller, Goddard Investment Group.
NORTHWEST PLACE SOLD TO DCT
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – DCT Industrial has purchased the Northwest Place Distribution Center II from RREEF.
The almost 210,500-square-foot multitenant warehouse at 7170 West 43rd St. is 100 percent leased. Tenants include IKON, Master Tile, Laramie Tire and ABATIX.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler represented RREEF. Trammell Crow Co. also assisted with the sale.
ENERGY CORRIDOR HILTON CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – A new Hilton is going up in the city’s Energy Corridor.
American Liberty Hospitality of Houston has broken ground on the Hilton Garden Inn Houston Energy Corridor at I-10 and Dairy Ashford. The hotel will have 190 rooms and six meeting rooms containing 5,000 square feet. It will open in August 2008.
The development team includes Amegy Bank, Mitchell Carlson Stone Architects and the Mathis Group, all locally based.
DALLAS DUO TEAMS FOR PURCHASE
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – Pegasus Ablon Properties and Westmount Realty Capital have teamed up to purchase two office properties in the Metroplex area.
The two-building Courtyard at Arapaho is the largest purchase for the local investment group. Located at 250 E. Arapaho Rd. in Richardson, the one- and two-story buildings contain more than 200,000 square feet. They will be renamed Richardson Commons.
The partners also purchased the Atrium at Bent Tree, located at 16775 Addison Rd. in Addison. The six-story building has about 112,700 square feet of space.
Both complexes were built in the mid-1980s and will undergo renovations.
Capstar Commercial Real Estate will handle leasing and management of both properties.
TEXAS EMPLOYMENT STILL STRONG
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas nonfarm employment rose 2.3 percent from May 2006 to May 2007, compared with 1.4 percent for the U.S.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5 percent in May 2006 to 4.1 percent in May 2007.
Higher oil prices continue to drive the creation of jobs in Texas’ oil and natural gas extraction industry, particularly in the petroplexes of Odessa and Midland. The state’s mining industry, which consists mainly of oil and gas extraction, ranked first in job creation, followed by professional and business services, construction, and the leisure and hospitality industry.
Midland ranked first in job creation, followed by Odessa, Austin–Round Rock, Laredo and Lubbock. Three large metro areas — Austin–Round Rock, Dallas-Plano-Irving and Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown — posted employment growth rates of more than 3 percent.
Midland had the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Amarillo, Odessa and College Station.
For more information, see the full report.
CENTRAL TEXAS POWER SURGE
FRANKLIN (Business Wire, globest.com) – Fluor Corporation has been given permission to build its 1,600-megawatt Oak Grove power plant, a facility that is expected to generate enough power to serve about one million homes.
At an estimated cost of $1.8 billion, the two-unit plant off FM 979 will be 75 percent cleaner than the average U.S. coal plant. Because it will be built on the 350-acre site of a previously planned power plant, much of the infrastructure is already in place.
Units one and two should be operating in late 2009 and mid-2010, respectively. Fluor estimates that the Oak Grove project will create approximately 2,400 construction jobs.
LAKESIDE TOWER SOLD, RENOVATIONS PLANNED
RICHARDSON (globest.com) – Locally-based Stream Realty Partners LP has sold the empty, 22-year-old midrise Lakeside Tower at 2350 Lakeside Blvd.
Lakeside Tower, on more than six acres, is the largest block of Class-A space in the Galatyn Park area. It is near a town center with performing arts, corporate tenants such as Countrywide Financial Corp., and an under-construction mixed-use development anchored by a DART light-rail station.
Chicago-based Transwestern is the fourth owner since Nortel Networks vacated the eight-story, more than 200,000-square-foot, Class-A office building in 2001.
Interprise Design of Dallas is handling the building’s redesign. Renovations should start next month and take several months to complete.
Stream and Transwestern were self-represented, although CB Richard Ellis assisted in completing the negotiations. Transwestern Dallas will oversee the leasing, management and the multimillion-dollar renovation.
SAVOY SOLD
HOUSTON (Amies Communications) – Younan Properties Inc. has purchased 6464 Savoy, an eight-story, multitenant office building in the deed-restricted Regency Square Office Park.
The almost 173,000-square-foot Savoy is currently 30 percent occupied. Tenants include AIG International and Neon Systems Inc.
6464 Savoy is one of the largest contiguous blocks of floor space in the city’s southwest, with access to the Southwest Freeway, Loop 610, Katy Freeway, Sam Houston Tollway and the Westpark Tollway.
The firm plans a $5 million extensive interior and exterior renovation to the 27-year-old midrise.
Younan represented itself in the transaction, while Grubb & Ellis represented the seller.
SANTA BARBARA VILLAS TAKING SHAPE
DALLAS (globest.com) – A development trio from California will break ground in October on the 30-unit first phase of a $42 million townhouse project at 4908 Chambers St.
Santa Barbara Villas will consist of 130 three-story townhouses. The two- and three-bedroom homes will range from 1,700 to 2,100 square feet and cost just under $400,000 to $450,000. Units will include two-car garages and rooftop balconies.
Performance Properties LLC sold a 37,500-square-foot tract to the developers to jump-start the project. To date, the developers have purchased 51,000 square feet, and they are about to close on adjoining land that will bring the development site to nearly two acres.
Local firm Beeler Guest Owens Architects Inc. designed the project. The first phase should be completed in second quarter 2008.
BASES LOADED AT EPCAD
El Paso (El Paso Times) – The preliminary value of taxable property is up by $4 billion, almost 17 percent over last year to $27.5 billion. This continues a double-digit march begun in 2004, according to the latest figures from the El Paso Central Appraisal District (EPCAD).
The $4 billion increase in the city's tax base is nearly ten times that of 2003, a hike of more than 50 percent.
According to EPCAD, the market value of the average home at the start of this year was $131,792, up $22,960 or 21 percent from the same time last year.
The net taxable value of the average El Paso home was $111,554 compared with $102,220 last year and $90,536 the year before.
The CAD's chief appraiser, Jerry Griffin, said the total preliminary market value of single-family homes in El Paso this year is $19.2 billion, which is 24.2 percent higher than last year. Of that increase, 2.5 percent is from newly built homes.
Griffin also said the preliminary market value of commercial property in El Paso is $5.7 billion, a 23 percent increase over last year. Apartment owners are seeing similar increases.
Jeff Siegal, an area professional tax agent, notes that the Office of Federal Housing Oversight has reported that El Paso had the sixth highest market value increase in the nation for 2006 at 16.5 percent.
APRIL APARTMENT DATA RELEASED
CARROLLTON (ALNsystems.com) – ALN has released apartment market data for large Texas metro areas. From April 2006 to April 2007:
- Occupancy in Austin increased from 93 percent to 93.7 percent, a 0.8 percent increase. Average monthly rent increased from $743 to $793, a 6.7 percent increase.
- Occupancy in Dallas held steady at 90.3 percent. Average monthly rent increased 4.3 percent, going from $739 to $771.
- Occupancy in Fort Worth dipped 0.6 percent to 89 percent. Average monthly rent increased from $653 to $681, a 4.3 percent jump.
- Occupancy in Houston decreased from 91.3 percent to 89.1 percent, a 2.4 percent drop. Rent increased by 2.1 percent, going from $704 to $719.
- Occupancy in San Antonio decreased 0.4 percent, going from 91.1 percent to 90.7 percent. Rent increased 3.3 percent, going from $666 to $688.
For more information, visit ALN online.
EXISTING-HOME SALES MARKET UNDERPERFORMING
WASHINGTON (National Association of Realtors) – Existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in May, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Total existing-home sales — including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — eased by 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of six million units in May, which is 10.3 percent below the 6.7 million-unit level for the same time last year.
“The market is underperforming when you consider positive fundamentals such as the strength in job creation, economic growth, favorable mortgage interest rates and flat home prices," said NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. "It appears some buyers are simply waiting for more signs of stability before they get serious about getting into the market.
“Household formation has slowed dramatically since late 2006, implying that many people are doubling up — they’re adding roommates or moving in with parents,” he said.
Last month's national median existing-home price for all housing types ($223,700) is 2.1 percent below last year’s median ($228,500).
According to Freddie Mac, May’s national average commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 6.3 percent, up from 6.2 percent in April, but down from 6.6 percent in May 2006.
Total housing inventory rose 5 percent to 4.4 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.9-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.4-month supply in April.
To read NAR's sector-by-sector housing sales report, click here.
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