DALLAS — Larkspur Capital Partners has broken ground on The Block on Bennett, a townhouse community in the Knox-Henderson area of Dallas. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2017 and will consist of 22 units.
HOUSTON — NAI Partners has represented Peter Paul Petroleum Co. in relocating and subleasing 11,596 square feet of Class A office space in the Murphy Oil Building located at 9805 Katy Freeway in Houston’s Katy Freeway office submarket. Prior to the relocation, Peter Paul Petroleum had leased space in Houston’s central business district. The company specializes in acquiring and managing oil and gas properties. Jon Silberman, Jason Whittington and Kelly Torian of NAI Partners represented Peter Paul Petroleum during negotiations, while Chad Baker and Matt Sanderson of JLL represented the sublessor, OOGC America.
In spite of the “noise” created by headlines about low oil prices and energy industry layoffs, west Houston, home to several of the world’s largest energy companies, continues to have strong fundamentals based on decades of phenomenal growth and high-quality development. At Wolff Companies, we have been investing in West Houston for over 45 years. From this long-term perspective, we remain bullish on Houston and, in particular, West Houston, where continuing favorable demographic and economic trends tell a different story than the current headlines. West Houston is a city unto itself. With a population of 1.7 million, it would rank as the fifth largest city in the United States — ahead of Philadelphia, Phoenix or Dallas. It has its own downtown, or central business district (CBD), comprised of four major activity centers: CityCentre/Memorial City, Westchase, The Energy Corridor and Westway Park. All of these are within a few minutes of the intersection of Interstate 10 and the Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8. This intersection is also the current statistical center of Houston’s population distribution, a focal point which is expected to continue to move westward to the intersection of I-10 and Barker Cypress Road by 2025. High-Quality Growth Despite the cyclical …
ENID, OKLA. — Three new tenants have signed on at GBT Realty Corp.’s shopping center in Enid. Famous Footwear, Buckle and Sprint are joining the tenant lineup at the $17 million Land Run Town Center, occupying a combined 13,100 square feet of retail space. The shopping center is now 93 percent leased. Academy Sports + Outdoor and Famous Footwear are now open. Maurices, Ulta Beauty and Buckle will open by the end of the year. Acquired in March by GBT Realty, the 15-acre site, situated across from Oakwood Mall, is formerly home to Walmart and was most recently a distribution center for regional home and garden retailer Atwoods Ranch and Home. Enid is located 90 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Oldham Goodwin Capital has closed on the acquisition of The Science Park at Research Valley, an 180,000-square-foot office, business and technology park located at 2501 Earl Rudder Freeway S. in College Station. Oldham Goodwin Capital, the sponsor and a subsidiary of Oldham Goodwin Group LLC, will be renaming the development Providence Park at Research Valley. The property spans 54 acres near State Highway 6.
DALLAS — Greysteel has arranged the sale and acquisition financing for Casas de Brookbend, a multifamily property located at 8360 Spring Valley Road in Dallas. Casas de Brookbend LLC was the seller, and Casa de Arroyo LLC was the buyer. Greysteel’s Boyan Radic, Doug Banerjee, Andrew Mueller, Ryan Hill and Andrew Hanson represented the seller and procured the buyer. The seven-year loan, provided by an agency lender using the Freddie Mac small balance loan program, features a fixed interest rate of 4.5 percent and two years of interest-only payments. Greysteel’s Anton Mattli and John Marshall Doss arranged the financing. Casas de Brookbend was built in 1968 and includes six two-story buildings totaling 50 units. Property amenities include an on-site laundry facility, on-site management office, pergola and picnic area.
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.