HOUSTON — The Deal Co., a Houston-based development firm, will open Sabine Street Studios, a 48,000-square-foot creative office building in Houston. The building, which has 67 studio spaces available for lease to local artists and creative businesses, is situated within Sawyer Yards, a 55-acre mixed-use development in Houston’s historic First Ward. The grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, April 28.
HOUSTON — NAI Partners has arranged a 6,011-square-foot industrial lease at 495 W. 38th St. in Houston on behalf of Eagle Controls Inc., a Houston-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Jake Wilkinson of NAI Partners represented Eagle Controls in the lease negotiations. The name and representative of the landlord were not disclosed.
IRVING, TEXAS — Liberty Property Trust will develop a 172,210-square-foot industrial facility within GSW North, an industrial park in Irving. The facility will be located near Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport and offer convenient access to State Highways 161, 360 and 183. Construction of the facility, which is slated to begin this month and wrap in December, marks Phase III of development. Cushman & Wakefield will handle leasing of the building, completion of which will bring the total size of the park to 709,000 square feet.
HOUSTON — Clay Development & Construction will build Offices @ North Post Oak, a seven-building, 150,000-square-foot office campus in Houston. The property will be situated on a 7.5-acre site between the Galleria/Post Oak area and the planned high-speed rail terminal at Northwest Mall. Building features will include 12,000-square-foot floor plates and 14-foot ceiling heights. Clay will break ground on the first two buildings during the third quarter, with a target completion date of first-quarter 2019. Frost Bank is providing construction financing for the project, which is being designed by Cisneros Design Studio.
LEANDER, TEXAS — Bellomy & Co. has arranged the sale of Big & Safe Self Storage, a 482-unit facility in Leander, a northwestern suburb of Austin. Built in 2004 and expanded in 2014, the property features climate- and non-climate-controlled units totaling 60,475 net rentable square feet. Bill Bellomy, Michael Johnson and John Arnold of Bellomy & Co. represented the Vermont-based seller in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, Montfort Capital Partners, a Dallas-based self-storage investment firm.
DENTON, TEXAS — CBRE has negotiated the sale of Shops at Colorado, a 74,310-square-foot retail center in the North Texas city of Denton. The property was 100 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Party City and Sherwin-Williams. Chris Gerard, Chris Cozby and Blaine Dozier of CBRE represented the seller, RCG-Denton LLC, in the transaction. Lincoln Retail Income & Growth Fund purchased the asset for an undisclosed price.
MESQUITE, TEXAS — Vista Property Co. has completed Frontera Plaza, a 44,000-square-foot retail center located at the southeast quadrant of Buckner Boulevard and Interstate 30 in Mesquite, an eastern suburb of Dallas. The property was fully leased upon completion to tenants such as Planet Fitness, Foot Locker and western apparel store Rancho Semental. The property is shadow-anchored by a Walmart and a Sam’s Club. An H-E-B grocery store is also being developed at the intersection.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that about 20.4 million students attended American colleges and universities in 2017. That figure represents an increase of 5.1 million students from 2000 and is expected to exceed 22 million by 2023. As this enrollment growth carries forward, developers of student housing properties have been holding steady volumes of new product on their books. According to CoStar Group, developers have added about 22,000 new units each year since 2010. During that stretch, vacancy for all unit types has not risen above 10 percent and rents have maintained positive growth rates, save for the 12-month period from mid-2013 to mid-2014. Asking rents for studio and one-bedroom units have appreciated the most during this cycle. This suggests that more graduate students, who are more likely to live alone, are clamoring for student housing residences. Larger schools often have limited enrollment, forcing graduate students to consider smaller institutions. As such, secondary markets are gradually beginning to see heavier waves of student housing development. In Texas, this trend appears to still be in its infancy. As for the state’s biggest markets, the University of Texas at Austin is located within a very tight development grid. Lubbock …
PEARLAND, TEXAS — Zeller Realty Group, a Chicago-based development and investment firm, has acquired a 276,770-square-foot biotechnology facility in Pearland, a southern suburb of Houston. Completed in 2017, the facility is located approximately eight miles south of The Texas Medical Center. The property was fully leased at the time of sale to Lonza America Inc., a Houston-based subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza Group AG. Jeff Hollinden and Cameron Cureton of HFF represented the buyer and the seller, Pinchal & Co., in the sale and arranged acquisition financing through Bank of Texas.
PLANO, TEXAS — Cawley Partners, a Dallas-based office development and management firm, will develop HQ53, a 200,000-square-foot office building located at the corner of Headquarters Drive and Dominion Parkway in Plano. The five-story building will feature a fitness center, café, conference center and ground-floor patio lounge. Preleasing is currently underway for HQ53, which has a target delivery date of first-quarter 2020.
