SEGUIN, TEXAS — Koehler Construction has broken ground on the 9,400-square-foot Lundquist Athletics Center at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, located northeast of San Antonio. Designed by Pfluger Architects and named after sportscaster and alumnus Verne Lundquist, the facility will feature a weight room and flexible spaces that serve as locker rooms, players’ lounges and team meeting spaces. Completion is slated for the fall.
NEW CANEY, TEXAS — The Signorelli Co. will undertake an 850,000-square-foot retail expansion project at Valley Ranch, the local developer’s 1,400-acre master-planned community in the northeastern Houston suburb of New Caney, according to reports from Community Impact Newspaper and Kingwood.com. According to the former publication, the new retail development will be known as Marketplace and will house a mix of grocery, soft goods and service retailers, as well as food-and-beverage concepts. The latter publication reports that Marketplace will feature a central green area and that Signorelli has tapped Palo Duro Commercial Partners as the leasing agent. Construction is set to begin in early 2026, according to both news outlets.
MESQUITE, TEXAS — A partnership between local developer Cavalry Real Estate Partners and a fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital has broken ground on a 203,488-square-foot warehouse in the eastern Dallas suburb of Mesquite. Known as Mesquite 80 Logistics Center, the building will feature 32-foot clear heights, 130-foot truck court depths and parking for 173 cars and 86 trailers. Dallas-based MYCON General Contractors is leading construction of the project, which is expected to be complete by December.
RALEIGH, N.C. AND KNOXVILLE, TENN. — A joint venture between The Preiss Co. and FD Stonewater has acquired sites for two student housing developments in North Carolina and Tennessee. Projects will includes Signature on Grand, located near the University of Tennessee in Knoxville; and Signature on Varsity, which will serve students attending North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The communities will offer over 1,200 beds in studio through five-bedroom configurations. Shared amenities will include resort-style pools, state-of-the-art fitness centers, study lounges and social spaces. The communities will be developed in partnership with Monarch Alternative Capital and are scheduled for completion in fall 2027. Ian Walker and Ben Roelke of Newmark secured debt and construction financing for the communities. Teddy Leatherman and Jayme Nelson of JLL secured additional equity for the projects.
PONTOON BEACH, ILL. — Contegra Construction Co. is underway on a 933,656-square-foot distribution center at Gateway Tradeport in Pontoon Beach, a northeast suburb of St. Louis. Completion is slated for spring 2026. Developed by NorthPoint Development, the project marks the fifth distribution center built by Contegra at the 600-acre master-planned Gateway Tradeport. The industrial development debuted in 2019 and will host more than 3.6 million square feet of space once Contegra’s latest project is completed. The newest addition is a build-to-suit called Gateway Tradeport VI. Located on a 104-acre site, Gateway Tradeport VI will feature a clear height of 36 feet, 175 dock doors, 830 trailer parking spaces and 985 car parking spaces. There will also be a 19,928-square-foot mezzanine and nearly 54,000 square feet of finished space with offices, breakrooms and restrooms.
CHICAGO — Sterling Bay and Affinius Capital have completed Pulaski 55 Logistics Center, an industrial facility located at 4510 W. Ann Lurie Place in Chicago’s Archer Heights neighborhood. The 147,500-square-foot property is situated within Crawford Industrial Park with convenient access to I-55, I-94 and downtown Chicago. The project is located in an Enterprise Zone with an approved 6B real estate tax incentive, providing financial relief for future tenants. Pulaski 55 Logistics Center features 10 loading docks, 102 car parking spaces and adjacent retail options. The project is certified LEED Silver. Colliers is handling leasing efforts for the property.
INDIANAPOLIS — Skender has completed interior construction on a new 15,370-square-foot office for advisory, tax and assurance firm Baker Tilly in Indianapolis. Located at 9229 Delegates Row within the 19-story Keystone Office Park, the workspace features a mix of private offices, open workstations, collaboration areas, conference rooms and a lounge/café. Notable elements include water vapor fireplaces accented by swinging lights, cutting-edge audio/visual technology and integrated security systems. Skender completed the build-out in 21 weeks. Partners by Design served as architect, a d a Design Associates provided design services, COFCO provided furniture, Automation Arts completed audio/visual technology and Southern Lighting designed the lighting.
WAYNE, NEB. — Darland Construction Co. has completed a renovation and addition for Providence Medical Center (PMC), a critical access hospital in Wayne. The first phase of the project included a 20,000-square-foot addition on the hospital’s south side, designed to accommodate the rapidly expanding imaging and specialty outpatient services. The second phase included a new campus main entry and central registration, consolidating radiology services into a unified location. A new concourse connects this area to the remodeled spaces. A dedicated outpatient clinic houses infusion rooms, stress testing, psychiatry, counseling and staff support areas. Following the completion of the addition, Darland transitioned to a 20,000-square-foot remodel, transforming the surgical suite with two new operating rooms, converting an existing OR into an endoscopy suite and adding private pre-op and recovery spaces. Areas for materials management, wound care, cardiac rehab and administrative offices were also updated. A third phase included the installation of a supplemental air handling unit and a renovation of the hospital’s pharmacy.
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JLL: U.S. Retail Sector Remains Optimistic as Market Conditions Shift
CHICAGO — Retail closures are at a cyclical high, totaling a whopping 9,900 business shutdowns in 2024, according to JLL’s fourth-quarter 2024 retail report entitled “United States Retail Market Dynamics.” For the first time in several years, store closures outpaced store openings in a calendar year. Fabric and crafts retailer JOANN, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection twice within a year, is shuttering all 800 stores, while major department store chain Macy’s will close 150 stores over the next three years, with 66 closures anticipated in 2025 alone. The highest number of store closures resulted from discount and dollar stores like Family Dollar, CVS Health and Big Lots, as well as specialty retailers like Party City. Retail closures are represented across different size brackets, with more than 55 percent of announced closures identifying with footprints ranging from 5,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. Expanding retailers such as Dollar General, O’Reilly Automotive and Five Below align with these vacant boxes, while larger, major closures like Bed Bath & Beyond and Toys “R” Us occupy more “desirable” locations. On the flip side, between 2024 and 2025, there were roughly 7,700 new retail store openings announced. Nearly 3,000 of these openings …
BASTROP, TEXAS — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) plans to invest $280 million for the expansion of its semiconductor research-and-development (R&D) and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, about 33 miles southeast of Austin. The company received its fifth Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant, totaling $17.3 million, from the State of Texas to help fund the expansion. Over the next three years, SpaceX plans to expand the square footage of its Bastrop facility by 1 million square feet to produce Starlink kits and their adjacent parts, as well as advanced silicon products. The facility expansion will focus on developing printed circuit boards (PCBs), a semiconductor failure analysis lab and advanced packaging for panel level packaging (PLP). Starlink is an international satellite internet provider owned and operated by SpaceX. Upon completion of the project, the Bastrop facility will be the largest PCB and PLP facility in North America. “This grant will help continue to expand Bastrop’s manufacturing for Starlink to help connect even more people across the state and around the world with high-speed, low-latency internet,” says Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX. Texas’ Semiconductor Innovation Fund was assembled in 2023 through the Texas CHIPS Act, which developed a …