THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS — Warren Hitchcock of NorthMarq Capital’s Houston office has arranged the refinancing of a construction loan for a retail property containing two tenants in The Woodlands. The property, located on Kuykendahl Road, contains 11,000 square feet. The loan was structured with a 15-year term and 25-year amortization schedule. NorthMarq arranged financing for the borrower through its correspondent relationship with an unnamed life insurance company.
EL PASO, TEXAS — A business unit of Stockholm, Sweden-based Electrolux Group has leased 409,180 square feet of industrial space in El Paso. BH Properties bought the 655,000-square-foot building from Electrolux in 2009 and leased it back to the company until February of 2014. The property is located at 9600 Pan American Drive. Terms of the five-year lease were not disclosed. Cushman & Wakefield | PIRES International’s Brett Preston and David Hingst were the brokers for the transaction. Champlain Cable Corp. occupies 117,000 square feet in the building, and 128,000 square feet is unoccupied. Electrolux also operates a manufacturing facility across the border from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez.
WEATHERFORD, TEXAS — Imperium Holdings will develop units totaling 18,000 square feet overlooking the Parker County Courthouse in downtown Weatherford. The company is leasing and targeting several regional restaurants and entertainers for the town square redevelopment project. An average of 33,000 cars pass through the square, located at the intersection of US 51 and US 80, each day. Government, office, education and healthcare services are located on and around the square. Imperium expects to complete planning and leasing of the town square project in the coming months.
TULSA, OKLA. — Skanska has signed a contract with Saint Francis Health System for additions and renovations to Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa. The $62 million project will be managed by Skanska’s Texas operations. It consists of 130,000 square feet of major renovation to the hospital’s existing surgery department, including 28 operating rooms and support spaces, and about 15,000 square feet of horizontal expansion including seven new operating rooms. Additionally, a new 27,000-square-foot mechanical penthouse will be built on the roof of the existing surgery department. Construction is expected to begin in April 2016 and end in March 2020.
HOUSTON — GSL Capital Management LLC has signed a new lease at 2200 Lauder Road in Houston. The 100,000-square-foot lease is for a crane-served manufacturing facility on 14.7 acres. Clay Pritchett of NAI Partners represented the landlord, GSL Capital Management LLC. Carlton Anderson of CBRE represented the tenant.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Dougherty Mortgage has secured a $9.5 million loan for the acquisition and rehabilitation of The Timbers, a 104-unit multifamily affordable housing property located in Austin. Property amenities include a pool, playground, laundry care center, picnic areas and business center. The 35-year loan was arranged for the borrower, Timbers Clayton 104 Apartments LP, through Dougherty’s Austin office.
Mexico is what drives El Paso. Mexico is the dog and El Paso is the tail. When the dog is happy the tail gets to wag, and we’re wagging pretty hard right now. The El Paso industrial market hasn’t been this strong since at least 1990. Juarez, Chihuahua, El Paso’s Mexican counterpart directly across the border, posted a third consecutive year of positive industrial absorption in 2015. Build-to-suit development activity is at a level not seen in five years. As a direct result, El Paso’s industrial vacancy rate dipped below 9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, the strongest tenancy performance in nearly a decade, according to Cushman & Wakefield | PIRES International. All the leasing activity we’ve been seeing has been chewing into the city’s vacancy rate. El Paso’s Class A vacancy rate is now below 2 percent. For example, in February, Los Angeles-based BH Properties leased a 409,000-square-foot industrial space located at 9600 Pan American Drive between Interstate 10 and the Rio Grande to a subsidiary of Sweden-based Electrolux Group. Electrolux Group chose the location because it is near the Zaragoza Bridge, El Paso’s far-east port of entry, providing convenient access to the company’s plant across the …
LEWISVILLE, TEXAS — Huffines Communities has begun construction on Phase IV of Hebron 121 Station in Lewisville. The transit-oriented community’s existing 678 units are near 100 percent occupancy. Once Phase IV is complete, Hebron 121 Station will total 1,148 units. The property is near I-35, State Highway 121, the President George Bush Turnpike and the Denton County Transit Authority Rail Station. The city of Lewisville owns and maintains 150 adjacent acres devoted to trails, lakes and green space. Phase IV will consist of four buildings and is being built near the main entrance to 121 Hebron Station on Penn Station Road. Amenities include a pool with swim up bar, a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, fire pits, sand volleyball courts, fitness center, outdoor grills and Wi-Fi.
FRISCO, TEXAS — A six-floor, 132-suite Hyatt House extended stay hotel has opened in Frisco. The new Hyatt House features one- and two-bedroom suites, all with full kitchens. Other amenities include an indoor pool, business center, fitness center and two meeting rooms. With the hotel’s opening, Dallas-based NewcrestImage now owns and operates 19 properties with another 11 under construction or in development.
HOUSTON — McCarthy Building Cos. has been awarded the contract to build The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) located at 790 Austin St. in downtown Houston. The school is designed to house 750 students and focus in several arts disciplines, including acting, writing, music, fine arts and dance. The five-story, 200,000-square-foot high school will include an 800-seat theater, 300-seat black box theater, rehearsal rooms, cafeteria and two floors of underground parking. Located in the middle of downtown Houston, the project will cover an entire city block. The seven-story building, which includes two floors of parking, is scheduled for completion in September 2018.
