Texas Market Reports

By Jeffrey Brown, FAIA, founding principal and CEO, Powers Brown Architecture San Antonio, with its 1.5 million residents, occupies an enigmatic identity, flying under the radar as the second-largest city in Texas and the seventh-largest city in the nation. Located between the south and central regions of the Lone Star State, San Antonio’s economy is fueled by tourism, military, financial services, energy and healthcare providers. Its lower-than-average cost of living and high quality of life make the “Alamo City” attractive for development. There is no mystery about San Antonio’s steady growth among locals, including developers, several of whom have created exciting new hyper-urban mega-developments in Central Business District (CBD)-adjacent locations. The recent announcement of Riverplace by Universal Services Group, part of the development team behind the recently completed Thompson Hotel and Arts Residences, reached an agreement last December with the City of San Antonio that paves the way for a $400 million development in the center city. Anchored by the Dream Hotel, Riverplace is the newest bookend to the various new projects and developments in the CBD, with the oldest bookend being the Pearl District, one of the original CBD-adjacent efforts. Riverplace and the Pearl District make up either end …

By Greg Langston, principal, managing director, Avison Young The Dallas North Tollway (DNT) is a staple thoroughfare for Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW), connecting the metroplex’s urban core in Dallas to the thriving northern suburbs.  Over the past 12 years, since the recovery from the Great Recession began, much of the market’s activity and energy has occurred along this tollway. Weighing the performance of assets in submarkets that connect to the DNT versus those that don’t, those in DNT-connected submarkets have outperformed in total and in annualized averages. Centers of Action Three core submarkets — Uptown/Turtle Creek in the urban core, Upper Tollway/West Plano and Frisco/The Colony in the far north region — have driven much of this growth. The northern suburbs have done a great job attracting massive corporate headquarters and relocations deals, while Uptown/Turtle Creek has created a unique identity as a thriving urban hub full of walkable amenities, mixed-use developments and more.  Beyond the DNT, major developments like Cypress Waters have helped drive strong interest and activity to the center of the region. To the west, Tarrant and Denton counties have seen robust growth along State Highway 114, with several major institutional employers like Deloitte, Charles Schwab and Fidelity …

By Taylor Williams There is a pronounced imbalance between the amount of capital looking for placement in commercial real estate in Texas and the number of available deals on the market, making it a good time to be a borrower or seller.  In addition to the time-tested fundamentals that have fueled growth in Texas over the last decade — exceptional job and population growth, corporate relocations, a low-regulation business environment — the state has seen elevated capital flows over the last nine months as a leader in reopening and supporting its economy in response to COVID-19.  The fact that the state’s economy never really had a prolonged, major shutdown during the pandemic means that investors have had more reliable data about cash flows and other key metrics for Texas real estate assets than in many other markets. Access to that data has reduced some of the uncertainty that investors despise but which has been rampant over the last 17 months. As a result of these factors, more capital sources are targeting deals in Texas.  “The inflow of capital to Texas from all parts of the country has been tremendous, dating back to the late third and early fourth quarters of …