EL PASO, TEXAS — Alden Capital Partners, in partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP), has closed on $6 million in low-income housing tax credit equity financing for the rehabilitation of George W. Baines and Charles R. Morehead Apartments. The financing will be used to renovate 58 units at Baines and 62 units at Morehead for families and seniors. Baines and Morehead were built in 1982 and 1984. Rehabilitation for the properties is underway and is scheduled for completion by August 2017. Upgrades will include Energy Star appliances, central heating and air conditioning and outdoor picnic areas. Community amenities will include central laundry facilities, on-site management and a clubhouse. Units at both locations will be restricted to households at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Alden Capital Partners facilitated the investment of federal tax credit equity through its multi-investor fund, Alden Capital Partners Tax Credit Fund 20. Alden Capital Partners also provided equity bridge financing via the purchase of unsecured, tax-exempt Series B bonds. This allowed the transaction to take advantage of a Freddie Mac tax-exempt loan bond structure, which lowered the long-term financing costs.
SAN ANTONIO — FourPoint Multifamily Investments has brokered the sale of Windsor House Apartments in San Antonio. Built in 1996, Windsor House consists of 322 units enclosed in a gated community. The property is located near the intersection of Huebner and Vance Jackson roads in northwest San Antonio. Kevin Dufour of FourPoint represented the seller, Ed White & Associates, and procured the buyer, a joint venture between Presidium Group and PRIME Multifamily Investors. The new ownership plans to renovate the property over the next several years. Presidium will self-manage the property, while PRIME Multifamily will complete the planned renovations.
When comparing hotels for valuation purposes, a common method of making adjustments for the difference between properties is to examine revenue per available room (RevPAR), a measurement of hotel performance. If executed poorly, these calculations can distort property value and lead to unfairly heavy tax burdens on hospitality owners. There are two different ways to calculate RevPAR. The first is to multiply the average rental income per room by the number of rooms occupied, then divide by the number of days in the period. The other method is to divide total guestroom revenue by the number of available rooms and divide that figure by the number of days in the period. In an article titled “Using RevPAR as a Basis for Adjusting Comparable Sales,” published in February 2002 by HospitalityNet.org, appraiser Erich Baum voiced a common argument shared by appraisers who advocate for RevPAR adjustments. Baum contends that the adjustments are appropriate because the revenue a hotel generates is tied to its location and the quality of its product. The question in valuation for property taxation is whether or not RevPAR incorporates additional, non-real estate values such as quality of brand, management, goodwill, etc., and whether or not the RevPAR …
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Corporate Properties Trust I LP, a partnership between Transwestern Investment Group and Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., has closed on the acquisition of a 2.2 million-square-foot mixed-use project in a sale-leaseback with State Farm Auto Insurance Co. According to the Dallas Business Journal, the purchase price was $825 million. The partnership acquired the four primary office/retail towers and the connected structured parking garages. The campus is located within the CityLine development, a 186-acre project developed by KDC. The buildings are designated LEED Gold and are located adjacent to a DART rail line. Corporate Properties Trust I LP will own the properties through a REIT. The entity was created to allow long-term stable ownership of institutional properties. A wholly owned subsidiary of Transwestern Investment Group will manage the property. Located at 1150, 1201 and 1251 State St. and 3661 N. Plano Road, the buildings will house 8,000 State Farm employees. CityLine, which is located at the southeast corner of Highway 75 and the President George Bush Turnpike, will also include 1,700 apartments, a 150-room hotel, an entertainment center, medical office facility, retail, restaurants and a 3.5-acre park.
HOUSTON — Brenda Pennington and Jaclynn Zimowski of B. Pennington Commercial Real Estate have represented Art and Wine Glass in leasing 3,500 square feet at 7620 Katy Freeway in Houston. Nina Kuhn internally represented the landlord, Levcor Inc., in the transaction. This will be Art Class and Wine Glass’s second location.
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — IKEA has officially broken ground on its second Dallas-area store, slated to open fall 2017 in Grand Prairie. The new location will be IKEA’s fourth in the state of Texas, complementing locations in Houston and Round Rock. The 290,000-square-foot IKEA Grand Prairie will include 1,100 parking spaces on 30 acres along the eastern side of State Highway 161 and Mayfield Road. An additional 15 acres next to the store could be developed for ancillary commercial or retail uses. IKEA has selected Mycon General Contractors to build the store, which will be home to 300 employees when complete.
DALLAS— The Weitzman Group has negotiated the sale of an 11,198-square-foot office building located at 2520 Fairmount St. in Dallas. The building is located near Whole Foods Market and Gold’s Gym in the Uptown district. Matthew Rosenfeld of The Weitzman Group handled negotiations for the seller, a Houston-based limited liability company. Daniel Miller and Alexis Martinez of Rubicon Representation represented the buyer, Henley & Henley P.C., a law firm that will locate its office within the property. The two-story office building recently underwent a renovation. Current tenants at 2520 Fairmount include the practice of Mint Dentistry and T-Off Your Men’s Health.
IRVING, TEXAS — A10 Capital LLC has signed a seven-year lease for half of the penthouse floor in Canal Centre, a Class A office property on the bank of Lake Carolyn in the Las Colinas Urban Center. The commercial real estate lender is more than doubling in size, leasing 8,160 square feet on the 10th floor of 400 E. Las Colinas Blvd. in Irving. A10 will relocate in early January to space previously occupied by ESPN in the 240,000-square-foot office building. The lease includes a right of first refusal on 4,003 square feet of vacant space on the penthouse level, monument signage and an amenity package with free access to an upgraded fitness center and conference room. Boise, Idaho-based A10 Capital, a commercial real estate lender to the U.S. middle market, first opened its Texas office four years ago, leasing 3,496 square feet at nearby Crestview Tower. The new office is being designed for 25 professionals in management, loan origination and credit and asset management. Canal Centre and its attached six-story parking garage were built in 1983 on a three-acre tract. Amenities include on-site property management, a Wi-Fi café and 24-hour security. Marc Grossfeld and Tabitha Layne of Sunwest Real …
DALLAS — Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, a Dallas-based law firm, has moved to the McKinney & Olive office building located in Uptown Dallas. The firm is the building’s largest tenant, occupying 115,000 square feet across four floors. The office houses Gardere’s 287 Dallas-based attorneys and legal professionals. Gensler handled the interior design, with work areas featuring a combination of pods, counter-height tables and dedicated and flex space, as well as individual offices with glass walls. Conference rooms can be adjusted for larger or smaller meetings with demountable walls. Archives are now stored electronically, allowing the firm to allocate more space for multi-purpose meeting rooms instead. The firm’s legal library is also now stored digitally.
PLANO, TEXAS — JLL has secured an office lease extension on behalf of NCR Corp. for the company’s 50,341-square-foot office at Tennyson Office Center – Building I. The property is located at 6100 Tennyson Parkway in Plano. JLL’s Steve Thelen and Doug Carignan negotiated the lease extension on behalf of the tenant, a computer hardware, software and electronics company. Marc Grossfeld of Sunwest Real Estate Group represented the landlord, Tennyson Office Center LLC.