Operating as our state’s political core and as the “live music capital of the world”, Austin’s real estate market is as distinctive as the people that make this city great. Austin is a one-of-a-kind place that’s unique to Texas and the entire country. It defies stereotypes with its progressive and fiercely entrepreneurial spirit, and continually gets top marks for its quality of life, pro-business culture and pro-environment views. WalletHub recently ranked Austin as the 2015 best large city to live in and the data matches up — the city ranks second among 2015’s fastest-growing cities in the U.S., according to Forbes, behind Houston and ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth. In the era of ‘Walker, Texas Ranger,’ Emmitt Smith and ‘the Dream Team,’ and the release of ‘Dazed and Confused,’ the tech boom of the 1990s drove the Austin office market. During that same time, Austin’s total population increased 35 percent and close to 1,750 companies employed over 110,000 people in technology-related jobs in Austin. By the end of the 90s, Texas’ capital city was widely known as Silicon Hills, home to a critical mass of institutional technology knowledge and major tenants like Dell, IBM, Motorola and other software and gaming companies. …
Industrial
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIF. — Custom Goods has leased 441,970 square feet of industrial space at Prologis Rancho Cucamonga Distribution Center. The center is located at 8369 Milliken Ave. The new lease will allow the third-party logistics firm to double its warehouse and distribution capacity for its clients in the region. It also operates eight other distribution facilities in Southern California. JLL’s Louis Tomaselli and Jordan Quinn represented the company. Travis Durfee and Tyson Chave were in-house representatives for the landlord, Prologis.
HOUSTON — MiTek is expanding its Houston warehouse to 50,000 square feet to offer more product variety, inventory and fastest order fulfillment rates. MiTek expanded the Houston warehouse to address the needs of local contractors and do-it-yourself customers, where the company has seen increased demand. The warehouse is open and will reach its new full capacity in January of 2016. The expansion is aimed at reducing ship times and heightening customer responsiveness.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — MYCON General Contractors has broken ground on First Arlington Commerce Center II, a 234,100-square-foot warehouse facility located at 4551 New York Road in Arlington. First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. is the owner/developer of the project, and Pross Design Group is the architect. First Arlington Commerce Center II is slated for completion in mid-year 2016.
JEFFERSONVILLE, IND. — NorthMarq Capital has secured an $11.5 million refinancing loan for a 500,000-square-foot distribution warehouse in Jeffersonville, a suburb of Louisville, Ky. River Ridge IV is located at 600 Patrol Road. The loan features a 10-year term and 15-year amortization schedule. NorthMarq arranged the financing for the industrial developer through its correspondent relationship with a national life insurance company. Randall Waddell of NorthMarq secured the loan.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ziff Properties Inc. has sold Maplecrest Industrial Park, a 63,200-square-foot flex industrial facility located in Charlotte. The buyer, an undisclosed private buyer based in the Western U.S., purchased the asset for $4.7 million. The transaction marks Ziff Properties’ fifth North Carolina disposition this year. Jared Londry, Robert Cochran and Ashton Nolan of Cushman & Wakefield represented Ziff in the transaction.
CHICAGO — Transwestern has arranged the sale of a six-building industrial portfolio in metro Chicago. Chicago Properties LLC sold the portfolio to Clear Height Properties for an undisclosed amount. Transwestern represented Chicago Properties in the transaction. The portfolio includes 21 tenants across the six properties. Tenants include Pace Suburban Bus Service, Stanley Black & Decker, Veltri Inc., Claridge Products, Red Barcode Planet Inc. and ECL Products LLC. Properties in the portfolio include: A 31,726-square-foot, multi-tenant property at 600 Northgate Parkway in Wheeling, Ill. A 30,000-square-foot, single-tenant property at 3847 Exchange Ave. in Aurora, Ill. A 27,600-square-foot, multi-tenant property at 921-927 State St. in Elgin, Ill. A 22,644-square-foot, single-tenant property at 3121 Tollview Drive in Rolling Meadows, Ill. A 20,000-square-foot, multi-tenant property at 72-92 N. Lively Blvd. in Elk Grove Village, Ill. A 14,372-square-foot, multi-tenant property at 2130 Oxford Road in Des Plaines, Ill.
RACINE, WIS. — The Dickman Company Inc./CORFAC International has arranged a 2,400-square-foot industrial lease for Elwood Corp. in Racine, approximately 25 miles south of Milwaukee. Vail Rentals owns the 14,400-square-foot, multi-tenant building, located at 2723 Carlisle Ave. Cale Berg and Anthony Huenerbien of The Dickman Co. were the sole brokers in the transaction.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Commercial brokers Steve Fithian and James Blake have merged their Fort Worth Sperry Van Ness offices together into Sperry Van Ness / Trinity Advisors. The merger brings together Fithian’s Sperry Van Ness / Visions Commercial office and Blake’s Sperry Van Ness / Summit Commercial office. The newly merged office, located at 5601 Bridge St., Ste. 504 in Fort Worth, provides commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, consulting and property management on all commercial property types. Fithian has more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience. His specialty primarily has been in multifamily, but has lately also focused on retail and office properties. Fithian also organizes, manages and acts as the general partner in real estate syndications. Blake has more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience. His primary focus is retail and industrial income-producing properties. He also specializes in single-tenant net lease retail and is working to put together a single-tenant net lease team at Sperry Van Ness / Trinity Advisors to represent clients in the purchase and sale of these properties. The company has a total of six advisors and eight employees.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Cushman & Wakefield arranges 800,000-square-foot industrial lease at Memphis Oaks 3 located at 3860 E. Holmes Road in Memphis. The new lease brings the property to 100 percent occupancy. Patrick Walton and Kemp Conrad of Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors represented the landlord, Panattoni Development Co., in the lease transaction. Michael Reid and Tim O’Callaghan of Binswanger represented the tenant, an unnamed Fortune 500 retail company. The new tenant will occupy 500,000 square feet that Sharp Electronics will vacate at the end of the year. The remaining 300,000 square feet is currently vacant. In addition to the new tenant, General Electric leases 225,000 square feet at Memphis Oaks 3.