MINNETONKA, MINN. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged a $28 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of The Cliffs at Minnetonka in suburban Minneapolis. The 456-unit, garden-style multifamily property is located at 12300 Marion Lane in Minnetonka. Completed in 1988, the development includes six buildings on a 27.5-acre site. Brock Yaffe of JLL led the team representing the borrower, The Cliffs LP. The 10-year loan features a fixed rate.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Barbat Holdings has completed Montgomery Houze, a multi-million-dollar renovation and conversion of the five-story Montgomery Ward building in Ann Arbor. The historic building, located at 212 S. 4th St., is now home to 41 apartment units with a new three-story addition. Amenities include rooftop terraces and the basement of the building now houses Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. The building formerly served as the Montgomery Ward & Co. department store.
EDINA, MINN. — Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate (CounterpointeSRE) has provided a $5.5 million Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) loan to support the development of a 227-unit apartment project in Edina within metro Minneapolis. Dakota Pacific and Luxe Residential are developing the project. Located at 3250 W. 66th St., the six-story development will be named Millennium Sixty Six. Sustainability features to reduce electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions qualify the project for PACE financing. The loan will be used for energy-efficient infrastructure investments, including building envelope, interior lighting, HVAC and low-flow fixtures. Completion of the project is slated for July 2021.
WEST ST. PAUL, MINN. — Upland Real Estate Group Inc. has brokered the sale of a retail property occupied by Big O Tires in West St. Paul for $2.7 million. Constructed in 2001, the 7,554-square-foot building is located at 1973 S. Robert St. Buyer and seller information was not disclosed. West St. Paul is a first-ring suburb of St. Paul. There are more than 450 independently owned and operated Big O Tires locations in 23 states.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — JLL has arranged debt and equity financing for Stillwater Crystal Springs, a 387-unit apartment project in Fort Worth. The community will be situated on roughly seven acres along the Trinity River roughly three miles from the downtown area. Floor plans will consist of studio, one- and two-bedrooms units, and amenities will include a pool, fitness center, outdoor lounge, coworking space and a dog park. De’On Collins led a JLL team that placed a 40-year, floating-rate construction loan through Texas Capital Bank on behalf of the developer, Dallas-based Stillwater Capital. The team also delivered CrossHarbor Capital Partners as the equity investor. Construction is underway and expected to be complete in 2022.
HOUSTON — Multifamily developer Alliance Residential Co. has acquired 13 acres at 12115 Main St. in Houston for the construction of a 336-unit apartment community. The property will be located near the Texas Medical Center and will feature one- and two-bedroom units. Chris Bergmann Jr. of JLL represented the seller, Taeken Ltd., in the land sale. Groundbreaking activities are scheduled to begin next week.
DALLAS — Knighthead Funding, a direct lender with offices in Connecticut and Florida, has provided a $26.9 million acquisition loan for a portfolio of industrial flex buildings in Dallas. The portfolio spans approximately 152,000 square feet across 12 obsolete buildings, all of which are located in the Dallas Design District. The borrower, locally based investment firm Quadrant Investment Properties, plans to convert the properties into single- and multi-tenant office buildings. A portion of the proceeds will be used to fund tenant improvements and leasing costs.
LAGO VISTA, TEXAS — Bellomy & Co. has brokered the sale of Texas Hills Storage, a 192-unit self-storage facility in Lago Vista, located about 35 miles northwest of downtown Austin. The property spans 28,500 net rentable square feet and includes climate- and non-climate-controlled space. Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson of Bellomy represented the locally based seller and procured the Arlington, Texas-based buyer in the deal.
HOUSTON — Law firm Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber PC has signed a 16,768-square-foot office lease at Weslayan Tower, a 20-story building located at 24 Greenway Plaza in West Houston. Granite Properties owns the 509,077-square-foot, Class A building, which features a recently upgraded lobby, fitness center and outdoor workspace. Kevin Kushner of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Jon Dutton and Steve West represented Granite Properties internally.
Houston is less reliant on the oil and gas industry than it once was, and considerable strides have been made to diversify the economy away from the oil patch. Still, the hard reality remains: Houston’s prosperity and hydrocarbons are intrinsically linked. Decoupling one from the other will be devilishly difficult. The world will derive the preponderance of its energy from oil and gas for decades to come, but market share will continue to diminish, and oil and gas revenue inevitably will stagnate and decline. Developing alternative economic drivers will be challenging, but Houston has the benefit of time on its side. However, the current coronavirus crisis is negatively impacting oil prices and therefore the Houston economy in the near term. Following the shutdown of the global economy to fight COVID-19, the price of a barrel of crude plunged from over $60 — well above the marginal replacement cost from East Texas fields — to less than $20. Although prices recovered to the mid-$30 range recently, they remain below the marginal cost of discovering and extracting a replacement barrel, annulling the incentive to prospect for new reserves or build additional refining and transportation capacity. Indeed, the Houston economy was impacted more …
