HELP FOR HISPANIC HOMEOWNERS
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has opened its San Antonio Home Center to help Hispanic consumers understand the mortgage process.
LULAC officials say millions of families nationwide will lose their homes through foreclosure this year, with about 40 percent expected to be Hispanic homeowners. With proper financial management, officials say Hispanic consumers can qualify for prime interest loans rather than subprime loans.
Area residents completing a LULAC Home Buyer Seminar, offered in English and Spanish, will receive Home Buyer Education Certificates, which could qualify prospective buyers for down payment and closing-cost assistance.
The new office also will offer budget analysis, prequalification, foreclosure resolution services, and referrals to lenders, real estate agents and other professionals. All services are free.
The LULAC National Housing Commission is a Dallas-based independent subsidiary of LULAC, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy organization.
MURPHY'S SECOND SHOPPING VENUE
MURPHY (The Dallas Morning News, globest.com) – Across the street from the under-construction, 48-acre Murphy Marketplace shopping center, developers are planning an August groundbreaking for the area’s second big-city shopping center.
Murphy Plaza, a retail complex on 24 acres at the northwest corner of FM 544 and Murphy Road, will be developed by Murphy Plaza LLC, a division of Southfork Properties.
The first phase consists of 150,000 square feet, platted for three junior anchor boxes, two multitenant buildings and four pad sites, all marketed as ground leases. Phase one will be anchored by a 45,000-square-foot LA Fitness outlet.
Heights Venture Architects of Houston designed the center. Weitzman Group is overseeing the center's leasing. Dallas-based Venture Commercial Real Estate Services represented LA Fitness, which plans to open early next year.
ZION HOMES COMING
TOMBALL (svn.com) – A single-family residential subdivision is planned for 128 heavily wooded acres near Schiel Nursery Rd. on Zion Road.
Just purchased by Houston-based LS Development LLC, the acreage has natural drainage to Boggs Creek.
LS was represented by Century 21 Hardee-Team. Sperry Van Ness / Meek and Associates in Houston represented the seller, a local private owner who had owned the land for 30 years.
MORE DONUTS FOR DUNKIN'
DALLAS–FORT WORTH (The Dallas Morning News) – Dunkin' Donuts plans to open as many as 125 new coffee and donut shops here. Three stores are already in the area.
The new Dunkin' Donuts stores, which are expected to open within the next seven to ten years, will include a variety of designs and venues, including free-standing stores and sites within shopping and other retail centers. Each store will employ 20 to 30 full- and part-time workers.
The expansion will be one of the largest in the Massachusetts-based company's growth campaign. The company hopes to triple the number of franchised Dunkin' Donuts stores in the U.S. to 15,000 by 2020.
Founded in 1950 as a doughnut shop that also sold coffee, today the company receives 64 percent of its revenue from beverages, including coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association estimates that the total specialty market (including specialty beans sold at grocery stores and other outlets) is up nearly 50 percent from the 2001 tally of about $8 billion.
CITY'S FIRST GREEN SUBDIVISION SHOWCASED
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Business Journal) – The San Antonio Alternative Housing Corp. will showcase the first affordable energy-efficient subdivision here.
Tours began today for viewing homes in the JT Brackenridge Affordable Subdivision, off South Brazos and Vera Cruz on the city's west side. The homes were built according to Build San Antonio Green standards.
Currently, eight of the 59 homes scheduled for the subdivision are ready. All of the homes in the subdivision will have the right criteria for energy, water, outdoor plants and health.
NACOGDOCHES ENJOYS SECOND-BEST QUARTER
NACOGDOCHES (The Daily Sentinel) – The local real estate industry had one of its best quarters on record, with $11.2 million in property sold from January to April.
This marks the second best first quarter since record keeping began in 1986. The best first quarter was last year, when $13.7 million in real estate was sold.
Realtors sold $1.1 million in land and $1.5 million in commercial real estate. The median sale price for residential property was $117,900, and homes sold for 95.8 percent of the listed price. Gay Roach, statistician for the Nacogdoches County Board of Realtors, said this indicated a strong seller's market.
The average home sold within 105 days in the first quarter, but Roach said that included homes that were listed in the fall and were not sold during the holiday season.
Last year, Nacogdoches County Realtors sold $69.6 million, up 23 percent from 2005. In 2006, commercial sales also doubled.
MARQUIS SOLD
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – U.S. Advisors, a San Francisco company, has purchased the 300-unit Marquis at Iron Rock Ranch.
CWS Capital Partners of Newport Beach sold the Class-A apartment community at 1215 West Slaughter Lane. Built in 2002, the complex is currently appraised at $27.5 million.
The Austin office of Apartment Realty Advisors brokered the transaction. CWS also recently sold the Marquis at Quarry in San Antonio.
RENOVATION AT RANDOLPH AFB
SAN ANTONIO (Randolph Air Force Base) – After offering the top bid for the base’s Group II housing privatization project, Pinnacle-Hunt Communities LLC will negotiate with Air Force officials for the renovation and management of about 317 military family housing units and related infrastructure.
Eighty townhouse units will be retained as rental properties during the development period before being demolished.
In addition to Randolph, Pinnacle-Hunt will oversee military family housing at five other air force bases in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma. The project covers 2,257 housing units, of which 420 will be new units, 1,359 will be renovated units and 478 will require no work.
The initial five-year development period of the project is valued up to about $300 million and is part of an overall 50-year project term for housing construction, renovation and management functions at the designated bases.
Pinnacle-Hunt is a joint venture between Hunt ELP Ltd. and Pinnacle AMS Development Company LLC.
MOUNTAIN WEST BUYS PORTFOLIO
HOUSTON (costar.com) – Colorado-based Mountain West Industrial Properties has purchased eight industrial buildings from First Industrial Realty Trust of Chicago. The properties sold for $17.9 million or about $53 per square foot.
The buildings, which were almost 93 percent leased at time of sale, encompass more than 337,000 square feet. They are at 10610-10628 Rockley Rd., 8100-8150 West Park Dr., 10325-10415 Landsbury Dr., 11000 Stancliff Dr., 10925 Kinghurst St., and 3727 Greenbrier (in Stafford).
Mountain West was self-represented, while First Industrial Realty Trust was represented by CB Richard Ellis Inc. Transwestern will handle leasing and management.
CLASS-C BUDGET LODGE SOLD
CHANNELVIEW (costar.com) – After being on the market for about six months, the Budget Lodge at 17011 East Freeway was sold to VeenaLaxmi for $2.6 million.
The two-story, 100-room, more than 56,000-square-foot, Class-C hotel was built in 1985.
The seller was Maaks Hospitality. Arun Parikh represented both parties.
HANK HANEY GOLF RANCH SOLD AGAIN
MCKINNEY (The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal) – Behringer Harvard, in partnership with David L. Gray Investments, has purchased the 56-acre former Hank Haney Golf Ranch.
The new owners, both locally based, plan to "down-zone the property to allow for a lower-density single-family development," said Robert M. Behringer, chairman and CEO of Behringer Harvard.
The land at 4101 Custer Rd. near SH 121 is adjacent to the 2,000-acre Craig Ranch mixed development. At one time, the land belonged to the late World War II hero and movie actor Audie Murphy.
After operating the golf ranch for 15 years, golf pro Hank Haney closed the center last fall and contracted to sell the land to homebuilder D.R. Horton for $5.6 million. The Fort Worth–based company backed out at the last minute due to financial setbacks with the slowing housing market.
Behringer Harvard bought the property from a partnership that includes Haney.
BLOCK 21 GETTING 'MAGIC' TOUCH
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Earvin "Magic" Johnson — yes, that “Magic" Johnson — and his private equity fund, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, are investing $50 million in a $260 million project that could transform a vacant downtown block.
Plans for Block 21, which is being developed by Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc., include an upscale 250-room W hotel and 200 luxury condominiums in a 35-story tower, plus new homes for the Austin Children's Museum and KLRU's acclaimed "Austin City Limits" music program.
Prices for the condos will range from about $400,000 to more than $3 million.
Johnson and K. Robert Turner, Canyon-Johnson's managing partner, said Austin fits the profile of cities where the fund likes to invest. The fund has also invested in projects in Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Brooklyn.
The Block 21 project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds more jobs when the project opens.
Stratus plans to start building in September on a lot north of city hall.
APRIL HOME SALES UP
HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Area home sales were back up in April after dipping in March (8.4 percent) for the first time in three years.
Sales of mostly existing single-family homes increased 3.6 percent last month, compared with the same time a year ago, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.
The median price for a single-family home reached a monthly record for April of $150,000, up 2 percent from the same time last year. Houston's median is 30.3 percent less than the nation's, which reached $215,300 in March, the latest number available.
Total property sales for the month, which include townhomes and condominiums, were at 7,275, up 2.7 percent over last April.
KESSLER WOODS ENTERING PHASE THREE
OAK CLIFF (The Dallas Morning News) – With construction still underway on the first two phases of his Kessler Woods development, Matt Holley is already working on an expansion.
Phase three will bring almost 100 houses, townhouses and condominiums to Kessler Woods, making it one of the biggest urban redevelopment projects south of the Trinity.
Houses in Kessler Woods range from $500,000 to more than $2 million, but Holley is planning higher-density housing that he hopes will appeal to middle-income buyers.
He has partnered with INCAP Fund, a Dallas-based real estate developer that's buying up hundreds of old apartments in the area. Among those is a complex that faces West Davis Street and is adjacent to Kessler Woods. Late this summer, the complex will be knocked down to expand Kessler Woods.
THREE PROJECTS IN THE WOODLANDS WIN AWARDS FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS - Three projects in The Woodlands were selected for Honor Awards by the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) at the 2007 Texas ASLA Awards Banquet held April 20, 2007. Clark Condon Associates, Inc. won an Honor Award for the landscape design of East Shore, the "Garden District" of The Woodlands Town Center. East Shore, located on the eastern edge of 200-acre Lake Woodlands , features a pedestrian-friendly residential urban environment enhanced by garden parks, street trees, ponds, and ornamental stone work and street lamps. The landscape design complements the American Classical architectural styles of the homes in this urban enclave. 
TWDC SPONSORING 'STAR-SPANGLED SALUTE' FOR 18 TH YEAR - Alex Sutton and Tim Welbes , co-presidents of The Woodlands Development Company (TWDC), recently presented a $60,000 check on behalf of the company to Jerry MacDonald, president and CEO of The Center for the Performing Arts at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for sponsorship of the "Star-Spangled Salute" concert. TWDC has sponsored this traditional concert since its inception 18 years ago. The free concert will be held on Independence Day Eve, Tuesday, July 3, 2007 beginning at 8 pm at The Pavilion. 
TEXAS MARINES TO HONOR THEIR OWN WITH MONUMENT IN TOWN GREEN PARK - A group of Woodlands area former Marines is spearheading an effort to erect a permanent monument for Marine Medal of Honor recipients who were born or enlisted in Texas. With their service in the Marine Corps as a common bond, Tom Early, Burt Cabanas, Jim O'Connor and Bill Leigh established the Texas Marines Medal of Honor Fund, a 501 (c) 3 organization, to assist in fundraising efforts for the project. A site in Town Green Park in The Woodlands Town Center was selected, and sculptor J. David Nunneley was commissioned to create the 10-foot high monument (pictured).
3RD ANNUAL WINE & FOOD WEEK SET FOR JUNE 18-24 IN TOWN CENTER -- An exciting week-long series of events is planned for the 3 rd Annual Wine & Food Week 2007 in The Woodlands Town Center, set for Monday, June 18 through Sunday, June 24. "This year's events, each offering a distinctive food and wine experience, are expected to draw an estimated 8,000 attendees. Among the more than 40 events, favorites such as the relaxed wine walk, an elegant grand tasting, a ladies wine luncheon, and a happy hour-style tasting offering value wines, will please guests once again", according to event producers Clifton and Constance McDerby of Food & Vine Time Productions. "New features, such as a men's wine event and kids' cooking classes, ensure that there is truly something for everyone." 
MUSICAL SCORES REWARDS STUDENTS WITH EXCLUSIVE PAVILION PERFORMANCE - Approximately 4,300 students are expected to attend the annual Musical Scores education outreach program at The Center for the Performing Arts, home of The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The event takes place Tuesday, May 8 from 10 am- 12:45 pm. Twenty-seven schools from nine school districts plan to attend this 13 th annual event. The program primarily serves "at-risk", low income, middle school students who earn the privilege to attend a special event and concert at The Pavilion by displaying model behavior and achieving specific scholastic goals. When the students reach their goal, thus achieving their "musical score", they are designated as VIPs and Super Achievers. As a reward, they are treated to a free performance, Musical Scores t-shirt and lunch at The Pavilion. For more information about Musical Scores, visit 
You can finally tell the kids it's time to go swimming! Get a head start on summer with a visit to select pools in The Woodlands that are now open on weekends from noon - 6 pm on Saturdays, and 1-6 pm on Sundays. The pools that are open on weekends now include Windvale, Bear Branch, Harper's Landing, Sawmill, Falconwing, Creekwood and Cranebrook. Bear Branch is also open every day from 12-6 pm, except Wednesdays. For all the information you need about pools, swim lessons and swim passes, visit 
BUCK DRIGGERS JOINS TWDC AS VP OF RESIDENTIAL SALES & DEVELOPMENT - R. E. "Buck" Driggers has joined The Woodlands Development Company (TWDC) as vice president of residential sales and development. Driggers has extensive experience in the sale and acquisition of residential and commercial real estate in large master-planned communities. He was most recently associated with Newland Communities as vice president of sales at Stonebridge Ranch in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. When he took over the sales efforts in Stonebridge Ranch in 1999, the 5,000-acre community rose to the #1 selling community in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for six straight years, and was consistently among the top three in the state. 
THE WOODLANDS RESORT NAMED "BEST WEEKEND HOTEL GETAWAY" - The editors of City Search Houston have named The Woodlands Resort the "Best Weekend Hotel Getaway 2007". City Search Houston is a leading on-line search service that provides the most up-to-date information on businesses, from restaurants to retail, to travel and professional services. The Resort is known for its unique water experience, the Forest Oasis Waterscape(TM), complete with waterfalls, synchronized water spouts, waterslides and seasonal activities such as dive-in movies. Other resort amenities include a full-service spa and fitness facility, 155 miles of hike and bike trails, and indoor and outdoor tennis courts. 
CB&I TRI SET FOR THIS SATURDAY, MAY 5 - One of the premier multi-sport events in the region - CB&I Tri -The Woodlands - is set for this Saturday, May 5 beginning at 7 am. Now in its fourth year, the event offers high-caliber competition, first-rate race management and a scenic course. This year, CB&I Tri-The Woodlands has been named the USAT SMW State Championship Race. The 2007 race will feature a field of 850 participants, which is an increase from last year's 650. Last year's participants ranged from beginners to nationally ranked tri-athletes. The 2006 event sold out a month before the race with over 100 hopefuls trying to get in after registration closed. This year's event sold out on April 2. 
ROAD CLOSINGS DURING CB&I TRI - On Saturday, May 5 from 5:30 am - 10 am, the following roads will have the outside lane closed to auto traffic: 
KAREN HOYLMAN TO SERVE ON BOARD OF TEXAS' LEADING EMPLOYER ORGANIZATION - Karen Hoylman, president and CEO of the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce, was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the Texas Association of Business (TAB) , the state's leading organization for employers. Hoylman fills a two-year leadership position that began in January. Founded in 1922, the TAB is a broad-based, bipartisan organization representing more than 140,000 small and large Texas employers and 200 local chambers of commerce. 
THE WOODLANDS MALL PARTNERS WITH THE CHAMBER TO PROVIDE LOCAL INFORMATION - In an ongoing effort to make local area information more accessible to visitors to The Woodlands Town Center , the Customer Service Center at The Woodlands Mall will be staffed by a representative from The South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce beginning Tuesday, May 1. The program, which is being offered with support from Town Center Improvement District (TCID) , is the second Chamber Information Center in Town Center, according to Connie DeGuerre, information center manager for The Chamber. The other Information Center is located at Market Street . The main office of The Chamber is located on Woodloch Forest Drive and Woodlands Parkway 
THE WOODLANDS HIGHLANDERS WRAP UP FIFTH DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP - The Woodlands High School Highlanders Baseball team has wrapped up their fifth consecutive district championship, and the 10 th in 12 years. They also completed a second-straight undefeated season last Friday night by defeating Magnolia 6-2 at Scotland Yard. The win was the 29 th consecutive district win for the Highlanders. The Woodlands will now face Spring in the first round of the playoffs this week. The best-of-three series begins Thursday night and will continue Friday night, with the third game (if necessary) being Saturday. All games will be played at Tomball. The games will also be broadcast on BOB FM, 105.3 and on the web at 
104.1 KRBE RADIO TO PROMOTE PROJECT YOUTH - Several students from The Woodlands High School and The Woodlands College Park High School will be representing Project Youth on Thursday, May 3 on 104.1 KRBE radio . The live on air promotions will take place between 8 and 8:30 pm on the Top 5 at 8 program on KRBE. The students will be letting listeners know that applications for Project Youth are free and you can download them online at 
DR. MARRA FRANCIS TO PRESENT FREE ABSTINENCE SEMINAR ON MAY 2 - The popular seminar by Dr. Marra Francis ( pictured) entitled, "Worth the Wait - What Every Teen and Parent Must Know" will once again be presented at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands, conference rooms A & B, located at 9250 Pinecroft on Wednesday, May 2 at 6 pm. The seminar will focus on abstinence and the possible health risks and challenges that sexually active teens could face. Dr. Francis practices with Obstetrics & Gynecology of The Woodlands and has a special interest in pediatric and adolescent gynecology and healthcare. The abstinence-based education program illustrates the alarming facts about sexually transmitted disease among youth today. While it is geared towards individuals from age 12 and up, Dr. Francis encourages all age groups, parents and families to attend this free seminar. To R.S.V.P., call 281-364-5959.