By Taylor Williams Industry professionals who hail from and work in San Antonio often describe the city’s economy and real estate scene as steady and healthy in a sort of unspectacular way. Rarely does any commercial sector in San Antonio achieve the high highs and low lows of gateway coastal markets. Further, the market’s quiet consistency has come to stand out as its neighbor up the road, Austin, has exploded as a tech hub in the past decade, bringing with it fervent building booms that still can’t put a dent in the skyrocketing cost of living. Yet this same quality that in years past caused major retailers and restaurants — and investors — to pass on San Antonio is now a primary force that attracts them to the Alamo City, at least according to some local industry experts. Some of these individuals elaborated on the trend at the inaugural InterFace San Antonio retail conference, which took place on April 4 at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio hotel. Bethany Babcock, principal and co-owner of full-service firm Foresite Commercial Real Estate, was the first industry expert who addressed the market’s evolution in the post-COVID era. “We noticed at the last couple trade …
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CULVER CITY, CALIF. AND AUSTIN, TEXAS — Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema from Altamont Capital Partners, Fortress Investment Group and founder Tim League for an undisclosed price. Alamo Drafthouse was founded in 1997 in Austin, and has grown from a single mom-and-pop location to 35 cinemas across 25 metropolitan areas. The company is the seventh-largest theater chain in North America and was one of the pioneers of the in-theater elevated food and drink concept. Alamo Drafthouse will maintain its headquarters in Austin and will continue to operate all of its locations, as well as the company’s Fantastic Fest film festival, which was included in the acquisition. Sony will manage these entities under a newly established division, Sony Pictures Experiences, led by Alamo Drafthouse CEO Michael Kustermann. The acquisition is groundbreaking, as it was recently made possible through the Department of Justice’s decision in 2020 to rescind the Paramount Decrees. Put into place by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948, the Decrees mandated a separation between film distribution and exhibition, requiring major motion picture studios to divest of any theater holdings. “We are excited to make history with Sony Pictures Entertainment and have found the right home …
DALLAS — Newmark has arranged the sale of PROTO Park, a 257,192-square-foot industrial property located in Dallas. PROTO Park is a redevelopment of a 1960s-era brick warehouse that sits on a nine-acre site in the city’s Brookhollow area and features 24-foot clear heights. Dustin Volz, Stephen Bailey, Dom Espinosa and Zach Riebe of Newmark represented the seller, North Texas-based M2G Ventures, which developed the project in partnership with Pennybacker Capital, in the transaction. The buyer was California-based investment firm Bendetti. At the time of sale, PROTO Park was fully leased to tenants such as Dynasty Spirits, Taxila Stone, Preziosa Stone and an undisclosed aviation firm.
HOUSTON — Lone Star PACE has provided $15 million in C-PACE financing for a 53,000-square-foot retail property located within The Allen mixed-use development near downtown Houston. Lone Star PACE partnered with lender Nuveen Green Capital to administer the financing. Locally based developer DC Partners owns The Allen. C-PACE (commercial property-assessed clean energy) financing allows commercial borrowers to obtain favorable loan terms in exchange for implementing eco-friendly devices and initiatives at their properties.
DALLAS — Locally based development and investment firm Shoal Creek Capital is nearing completion of Trinity Industrial Park, an 80,000-square-foot industrial project in Dallas. The 5.3-acre site at 8733 N. Stemmons Freeway is located near Love Field Airport on the city’s northwest side, and the development consists of two buildings with 28-foot clear heights. Full completion is slated for July. NAI Robert Lynn is marketing the project for lease.
HOUSTON — Orion Group Holdings has signed a 63,519-square-foot office lease for its new headquarters space in Houston. The locally based marine and onshore specialty construction services provider is taking three full floors at East River, a 150-acre mixed-use development by Midway in the city’s Historic Fifth Ward. Collin Grimes and Bill Boyer of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Amanda Nebel of Parkway, which launched a new company with Midway in May 2023, internally represented ownership.
TOMBALL, TEXAS — Black Bear Diner will open a 5,250-square-foot restaurant at the intersection of State Highway 249 and the Grand Parkway in the northwestern Houston suburb of Tomball. Andrew Alvis represented the landlord, NewQuest Properties, in the lease negotiations on an internal basis. Matt Parsons of JLL represented the tenant. A tentative opening date was not disclosed.
PHILADELPHIA — The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has topped out the Morgan Center for Research & Innovation, a healthcare project valued at $480 million. The 17-story, 350,000-square-foot facility is located on CHOP’s campus in South Philadelphia and will include both wet and dry lab space. Construction began in October 2022, and the development team includes a trio of general contractors and construction managers: Gilbane Building Co., Pride Enterprises and McKissack & McKissack. Mitchell Morgan, founder and chairman of multifamily development firm Morgan Properties, and his family donated $50 million to the project. Full completion is slated for some time next year.
PEABODY, MASS. — New York City-based Tishman Speyer will undertake a 700,000-square-foot industrial redevelopment project in Peabody, a northern suburb of Boston. For the past 40 years, the 60-acre site at 8 Centennial Drive served as the headquarters of Analogic, a multinational corporation that specializes in healthcare technology and aviation security products and services. The project will convert the former 515,000-square-foot office and manufacturing campus into a warehouse and distribution center with four buildings that will range in size from 130,000 to 260,000 square feet. Tishman Speyer is redeveloping the property in partnership with Mitsui Fudosan America. A construction timeline has not yet been established. Analogic was also the seller of the property.
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — Reynolds Asset Management has received a $16 million loan for the refinancing of Princeton Pike Office Park, a six-building campus located just north of Trenton in Lawrenceville. Northwest Bank provided the loan, which carries a fixed interest rate of 6.6 percent. Reynolds acquired the property in April 2022 in partnership with Capital Solutions, at which time the campus was 50 percent leased, and implemented a capital improvement program. Today, Princeton Pike Office Park has an occupancy rate of 95 percent.