RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Colliers International Inc. has arranged the sale of University Centre, a two-building, 59,792-square-foot office complex located at 1701 and 1801 Gateway Blvd. in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro of Richardson. John Bowles, Bruce Butler and Susan Gwin Burks of Colliers represented the buyers, Symphony Gateway LLC and CIG Retail Properties Inc., in the transaction. Dallas UNC LLC sold the property, which was 90 percent leased at the time of sale.
TYLER, TEXAS — KP Engineering, a Texas-based firm specializing in chemical and energy solutions, has released details of its newest project, a 25,000-square-foot office building. The property will be located at 5555 Old Jacksonville Highway in Tyler, a city approximately 100 miles east of Dallas. Construction is expected to begin this month.
FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Midway Business Park, a 235,042-square-foot, mixed-use development in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro of Farmers Branch. Located at 13604-13740 Midway Road near the LBJ Freeway, the property, which was 80 percent occupied at the time of sale, offers retail, office and flex space. Ron Hebert and Michael Lawrence of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a California-based investment firm, and procured the buyer, a Texas-based investment firm.
ST. JOSEPH, MO. — Time Equities Inc. (TEI) has acquired two multifamily properties in St. Joseph for $26 million. Both properties were formerly industrial facilities converted into residential buildings. Foutch Brothers LLC was the seller. St. Joseph is approximately 55 miles north of Kansas City. Mitchell Park Plaza, located at 1300 S. 11th St., consists of 301 units spanning 271,584 square feet. Located in the former Mead Paper Products Factory, the property offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Amenities include an indoor pool, jogging track, outdoor movie theater, atrium and laundry facilities. Lofts at 415, located at 415 N. 3rd St., consists of 48 loft units spanning 52,612 square feet. Once home to a Pony Express warehouse, the property offers two- and three-bedroom units up to 1,300 square feet. Clifton Martin of TEI managed the transaction on behalf of TEI. Matt Ledom and Aaron Mesmer of Block Real Estate Services LLC brokered the transaction on behalf of Foutch.
CHICAGO — New York Life Real Estate Investors has originated a $59.4 million mortgage loan for a cold storage industrial portfolio scattered across metro Chicago. The portfolio consists of four buildings spanning 710,000 square feet. The buildings are located in Chicago, Bartlett and Lyons, Ill. The floating-rate loan has a five-year term. The borrower was an institutional investor.
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO. — Homewood Suites by Hilton St. Louis Westport has opened in Maryland Heights, a suburb of St. Louis. Developed and owned by Lodging Hospitality Management, the hotel consists of 121 suites. Amenities include complimentary breakfast, Wi-Fi, a grocery shopping service, outdoor patio, fitness center, indoor pool and putting green. The hotel is located at 2434 Old Dorsett Road and offers convenient access to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
CHICAGO — Essex Realty Group Inc. has brokered the sale of a two-building multifamily property in Chicago’s Roscoe Village for $1.7 million. The buildings are located at 2101 W. Fletcher St. The first building consists of three units, including one- and two-bedroom units. The second building includes two four-bedroom units. Both buildings were renovated in 2015. Doug Fisher and Matt Welke of Essex represented the undisclosed seller, while Doug Imber, Kate Varde and Clay Maxfield represented the undisclosed buyer.
WEST ALLIS, WIS. — Five Below has signed a 9,586-square-foot retail lease at West Allis Towne Centre in West Allis, six miles west of Milwaukee. The shopping center is located at 6768 W. Greenfield Ave. Tony Colvin and Dan Cohen of Mid-America Real Estate-Wisconsin LLC represented the tenant in the lease transaction.
BOSTON — After more than three years of ownership, Shorenstein Properties has sold Center Plaza, a 741,200-square-foot mixed-use asset in downtown Boston. Synergy Investments, a Boston-based real estate owner and investor, and GreenOak, an international real estate investment and lending firm, have jointly purchased Center Plaza for $365 million. Developed by Beacon Capital in phases in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Center Plaza consists of three interconnected, nine-story buildings comprising more than 600,000 square feet of office space, 77,000 square feet of street-level retail and a below-grade parking garage with 575 spaces. Situated at 1-3 Center Plaza, the retail and office development features nearly 875 feet of frontage along Cambridge Street. Center Plaza, which is currently 60 percent leased to 31 tenants, sits at the entrance to Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The project is situated across the street from Boston’s City Hall. Shorenstein Properties purchased Center Plaza in January 2014 for $307 million, according to the Boston Business Journal. The media outlet also reported that Shorenstein’s planned $25 million overhaul of Center Plaza never took shape. The NGKF Capital Markets Boston team led by Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen and James Tribble represented Shorenstein Properties, which sold the …
HOUSTON — While it’s not an ideal time to be a multifamily property owner in Houston, it is a good time to be working on behalf of one. With their clients sitting on excess supply, apartment locators — middlemen who match tenant preferences to properties — are being increasingly called upon to deliver tenants. Locators work on commission, typically earning about 20 percent of the first month’s rent for their services. But in Houston’s soft market, that figure is rapidly rising. Ricardo Rivas, chief investment officer at Allied Orion Group and one of several panelists who spoke at the InterFace Houston Multifamily conference on March 28, noted that while locators are costly, the services they provide in a down market are crucial. “They [locators] are our best friends right now,” Rivas said to 175 industry professionals who gathered at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. “We reach out to them, we throw them parties and we give them big incentives to bring tenants over.” Todd Marix, a senior managing partner in HFF’s Houston office who spoke on an earlier panel, addressed the rising operating costs that landlords are facing. In his view, fees paid to apartment locators are quietly doing major damage …
