FREEBIRDS SALE WRAPPED
COLLEGE STATION (Austin Business Journal, Orlando Business Journal) – Tavistock Restaurants of California has wrapped up its purchase of Freebirds World Burrito.
The chain, known for its oversized "Monster" burritos, is based in College Station and has 19 locations throughout Texas, including four in Austin.
According to Tavistock, Freebirds will continue to operate as an independent brand but be taken nationwide.
Tavistock Restaurants LLC owns restaurants in ten states under a number of brands, including Blackhawk Grille, California Cafe, Napa Valley Grille and Alcatraz Brewing Co.
LEGAL SEMINAR REGISTRATION TO INCREASE
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Registration for the 21st Annual Legal Seminar on Ad Valorem Taxation will increase from $365 to $385 per person Aug. 8.
The seminar will cover a variety of legal, economic and other issues influencing ad valorem taxation. It will be held Aug. 29–31 at the Hyatt Regency in San Antonio.
Information about the seminar and online registration is available at the Center's website. To reserve a hotel room at the special seminar rate, click here.
SUMMIT EARLY REGISTRATION FEE EXTENDED
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Early registration for the 2007 Real Estate Summit has been extended to this Thursday. Beginning Friday, the fee will increase from $20 to $30.
The half-day program, made possible by a grant to Angelina College from the Bert Gann Memorial Trust, will be held Aug. 2 at Angelina College in Lufkin. It will feature a luncheon followed by a three-hour MCE course (elective credit only). Real Estate Center researchers will provide information on housing, residential lending and land markets. An economic analysis and forecast for Texas real estate will also be included.
Information about the conference, including a downloadable brochure, is available at the Center's website.
AFFORDING THE CANAL
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Locally based Property Group has opened the six-story, 200-unit Canal Place Apartments complex at Canal and Navigation.
In return for offering discounts on 75 percent of the units to qualified, low-income renters, the $23 million complex received incremental federal income tax credits for the next ten years from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
The new complex is currently 12 percent occupied and consists of granite counters and cherrywood cabinetry in the one- to three-bedroom units, as well as a swimming pool, fitness center, media and gameroom, and children's playground. The affordable units range from $625 to $863 per month, with the remaining units leasing from $895 to $1,790.
CENTRAL TEXAS HOME RESALES DROP
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Sales of existing homes in Central Texas last month fell 6 percent from a year ago, marking the first drop in June in five years, according to the Austin Board of Realtors.
The drops were concentrated in homes costing $130,000 and less, reflecting tighter credit standards lenders have imposed in the wake of the subprime mortgage market collapse.
More than 9,000 homes were on the market last month, 8 percent more than last year and the biggest number in several years.
Meanwhile, the median price for homes continued to rise. It was at $191,050 in June, a 7 percent increase. A 5 percent increase this month would put the median at more than $200,000.
STAYIN' AWHILE
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – Marriott International Inc. recently opened the city's first TownePlace Suites. The studio suites, designed for travelers staying a week or longer, are fully furnished with separate kitchens.
The 106-suite extended-stay hotel at 214 N.E. Loop 410 near San Antonio International Airport is owned by Apple REIT and managed by Texas Western Hospitality Management of Dallas.
Washington, D.C.–based Marriott’s TownePlace Suites, which first opened in 1997, are now in more than 120 locations across the United States.
CROWLEY MIXED-USE SPACE PLANNED
CROWLEY (globest.com) – Domus Fund III has purchased 27 acres within the city limits, where the Dallas-based firm plans to develop about 250,000 square feet of retail and office space.
The property, located on SH 1187, is already entitled and served by city utilities.
Domus was represented by Jay Holman, while Colleyville-based seller Crowley Partners Ltd. was represented by NAI Huff Partners LP of Fort Worth.
AIR SUPPLY
TEXAS CITY (The Galveston County Daily News) – Praxair, a producer and distributor of atmospheric, process and specialty gases for industry, is set to begin building a $60 million air-separation plant at its facility at 703 Sixth St. S.
The new plant, on the west side of Praxair’s property near SH 146, is expected to add about ten jobs with yearly salaries exceeding $50,000, said Mayor Matt Doyle.
CENTREPORT OFFICE COMPLEX SOLD
FORT WORTH (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP) – Behringer Harvard Real Estate Investments has purchased the CentrePort Office Center from Invesco Real Estate.
The two-building, more than 134,000-square-foot development is on 15-plus acres at 14670 and 14770 Trinity Blvd., within the master-planned CentrePort community. Completed in 1999, the property is 100 percent leased to Dean Foods and Radiant Systems.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP’s Dallas office represented the seller.
TUSCAN TASTE, GREEN SPACE
BEE CAVE (Austin American-Statesman) – Tennessee-based Southern Land Co. will break ground next month on a $160 million, Tuscany-style residential development that will include green space.
Cielo, near RM 620 and SH 71, will have 400 luxury flats, condominiums and townhomes. The development will include more than 20 floor plans for the one- and two-bedroom homes, which will start in the upper $300,000s.
The 78-acre development will be surrounded by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, and about 28 acres will be reserved for green space.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2013.
REDEVELOPING BAKERY, DOZEN ACRES
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – An investment partnership has purchased more than 12 acres between Bryan Street and Ross Avenue, including the historic Mrs Baird’s building.
Burlew Street Partners plans to use most of the property for townhouses. It has already lined up a sale of two of its tracts to townhome builders.
In addition, the developer will remodel the two-story, 44,000-square-foot former bakery into residential units.
Local architects Merriman Associates will design the projects.
PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ
DALLAS (The Dallas Morning News) – The 218-room Ritz-Carlton Dallas at 2121 McKinney Ave. opens Aug. 15, marking not only the luxury hotel chain's first presence in Texas, but its first U.S. hotel opening in nearly four years.
J.C. PENNEY'S SIMULTANEOUS OPENINGS
PLANO (Business Wire, San Antonio Business Journal) – On Aug. 3, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. will host simultaneous grand openings of 14 JCPenney stores nationwide.
A 180,000-square-foot department store, which is expected to create 250 jobs, will open at North Star Mall on 7400 San Pedro in San Antonio.
In Cypress, a 100,000-square-foot JCPenney store will open in the Cy-Fair Town Center at 25646 Northwest Frwy. and create about 200 jobs.
The company currently has 1,040 stores and plans to open 250 more through 2011.
COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER BREAKS GROUND
LUBBOCK (The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal) – Covenant Health System broke ground today on a new three-story primary care center that will anchor a larger mixed-use complex.
As many as seven buildings will be constructed at the 30-acre Covenant Health System Southwest Medical Park at 98th Street and Slide Road.
The 65,000-square-foot medical building will be occupied by Covenant as part of a lease-back arranged by the Paul Kite Co. of Indianapolis and the Dallas office of Hammes Corp.
Covenant officials said 18 pediatric, internal medicine and other specialty physicians have committed to the project. Other specialty practices are expected to have an office presence to offer care to patients once the new building is opened.
Construction on the $7.5 million facility should be completed by August or September of next year.
FINDING AVALON
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Palms of Avalon Apartments Texas LLC, based in Los Angeles, has purchased the 352-unit Avalon Palms apartment complex just off US 183.
The roughly 13-acre property at 9001 and 9003 Northgate Blvd. has a combined property value of $10 million on the Travis County tax rolls. It was built in the early 1970s.
Hendricks & Partners' Austin office represented the seller, an El Paso–based limited partnership. Greg Salyers in Los Angeles represented the buyer.
CHILD-FRIENDLY RENOVATIONS UNDERWAY
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) is receiving almost $110 million in state funds for major renovations to the 150-year-old campus.
"We are going to be giving our children a much more child-friendly environment," said Phil Hatlen, retiring superintendent of TSBVI, considered one of the country's leading schools for blind and visually impaired students.
Over the next four to eight years, the campus will be modernized through renovations and new construction and by demolishing some buildings and upgrading security and landscaping.
Halff Associates, a Dallas-based architectural and engineering firm with Austin offices, is designing student housing.
Among the upcoming projects are eight student dormitories, a student activity center, an elementary physical education and therapy building, a vocational building, independent-living apartments, a track-and-field facility and indoor pool.
VISTA GOES CASUAL
LEWISVILLE (globest.com) – Jackson-Shaw Co. of Dallas breaks ground late this fall on Vista Oaks, a "casual Class-A office" complex to be built on the last 20 acres in its 50.5-acre Vista Point development.
Vista Oaks will cost more than $40 million and add 250,000 to 300,000 square feet of office space to the Vista Point development, which sits at SH 121 and MacArthur Boulevard.
The four-building complex will be adjacent to the Lewisville convention center on the Lewisville-Coppell border. It is being designed by Good Fulton & Farrell Inc. of Dallas and is expected to open in fall 2008.
BALL CONTROL
SCHERTZ (KENS-5 TV, worldwidesoccersa.com) – A group of investors from Mexico, including spokesman Roberto Camargo, has purchased close to 100 acres on FM 1518 and Maske Road and have plans to develop a world-class soccer arena.
Jay Sparrow, a former semipro soccer player and director of San Antonio–based World Wide Soccer, said the land is being developed in partnership with their organization.
Plans include an air-conditioned facility for fans to watch the game, 25 soccer fields, onsite dormitories and training camps, concession areas, retail shops and restaurants, and a few Mexican coffee shops.
The soccer campus is scheduled for completion within a year.
1 comment:
I'm pretty sure that the sales of real estate in Austin will increase again soon. I mean there are a lot of people taking texas real estate mce lately meaning that there are tons of people seeing a lot of opportunities in the real estate in this area. I think they do too and I think this is one of the things people need after the big economic issue - a good community to live in.
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