AUSTIN, TEXAS — Electric Power Engineers has signed a 17,132-square-foot office lease in southwest Austin. The engineering consulting firm is taking space at the 167,369-square-foot Uplands 1, which was renovated in 2019. Matt Frizzell and Kevin Granger of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, San Francisco-based Drawbridge Realty, in the lease negotiations. Andy Carlson and Bob Wynn of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant.
CEDAR PARK, TEXAS — Scheels, an employee-owned sporting goods retailer based in Fargo, N.D., plans to open a 240,000-square-foot store in Cedar Park, a northern suburb of Austin. The store will be the retailer’s second “All Sports” location to open in Texas, joining a store at Grandscape in The Colony that opened in 2020. Scheels plans to employ more than 500 associates at the store, most of whom will be local to Cedar Park. The Cedar Park Scheels is the second anchor tenant announced for CedarView, a mixed-use development that will also feature a 1.2 million-square-foot Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM), a convention center and a hotel with at least 250 rooms. CedarView will be situated on a 118-acre site near the H-E-B Center. NFM is the master developer of both CedarView and Grandscape. The new Scheels store will stock more than 1 million pieces of inventory throughout 75 specialty departments and boutiques. The property will also host entertainment attractions, including a 65-foot Ferris Wheel, 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, a wildlife mountain and Fuzzyiwig’s Candy Shop. Other attractions at the store will include interactive arcade games, sports simulators and Ginna’s Café, a restaurant that will serve gourmet soups and sandwiches, homemade fudge …
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How to Maximize Agency Financing for Affordable Housing
There are a variety of ways to build affordable housing, but implementing these strategies has become an increasingly difficult proposition in 2023. Affordable housing projects seem to face challenges on every front. Generally affordable housing developers will: Despite intensifying renter demand for new units, developers are struggling to make their projects financially feasible, says John Ducey, chief production officer in the affordable lending group at Walker & Dunlop. “Affordable housing developers are facing some of the toughest headwinds I’ve seen in more than 20 years in the industry,” Ducey says. “That means developers are forced to work harder than ever to structure deals that stretch scarce housing subsidies and maximize agency financing.” Challenging Conditions One impediment to affordable housing efforts is reduced future rent levels, related to area median income (AMI) caps the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) imposed recently on LIHTC properties in many markets in the United States. The unexpectedly restrictive caps forced developers to slash revenue projections, scuttling some transactions and forcing many loan applicants to renegotiate or seek alternative financing to salvage deals. On the expense side, inflation and the labor crunch continue to drive up costs for new construction, renovation of older affordable …
DALLAS — AMLI Residential has sold AMLI Design District, a 314-unit apartment community in Dallas. The property was built in 2013 and includes 26,830 square feet of retail space and 664 parking spaces. Units come in studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans and are furnished with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, walk-in closets and individual washers and dryers. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, coffee bar, outdoor grilling and dining stations, multiple pet play areas, conference room and a skyline lounge. Roberto Casas of JLL represented AMLI Residential in the transaction. Melissa Quinn, Lee Weaver, Rob Rothaug, Cristian Sieman, Lauren Dow and Chris Grievous, also with JLL, provided an undisclosed amount of Freddie Mac acquisition financing to the buyer, international investment firm HASTA Capital. The sales price and financing amount were not disclosed.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — An affiliate of California-based Stratus Development Partners has opened the 212-room Cambria Hotel Austin Downtown at 68 East Ave., adjacent to the historic Rainey Street District. The 16-story, 223,975-square-foot hotel offers a pool, fitness center, 24-hour market and 8,300 square feet of meeting and event space, as well as a fifth-floor restaurant and bar and a rooftop bar and lounge. San Diego-based Azul Hospitality Group will manage the hotel.
DALLAS — Locally based brokerage firm STRIVE has negotiated the sale of Gallery on the Parkway, a 146,612-square-foot shopping center in North Dallas. Bed, Bath & Beyond and Buy, Buy Baby most recently anchored the property, which was built on 12 acres in 1995. Other tenants include Nordstrom Rack and Cost Plus World Market. Chicago-based REIT Blue Owl Real Estate sold Gallery on the Parkway to Dallas-based investment firm Four Rivers Capital for an undisclosed price. Adam Gottschalk of STRIVE brokered the deal.
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Dallas-based brokerage firm Vanguard Real Estate Advisors has arranged the sale of a multifamily development site in the Central Texas city of San Marcos. The site spans 22.8 acres at the southwest corner of Staples Road and Old Bastrop Highway. Jordan Cortez, Mason John and Haley Birmingham of Vanguard represented the buyer, South Carolina-based Woodfield Development, which plans to develop a 360-unit project at the site that will be known as Addie’s Point.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — North Texas Amusement, a provider of coin-operated jukeboxes, has signed a 16,000-square-foot industrial lease renewal at Riverbend Business Park in Fort Worth. The 32-building, 1.4 million-square-foot development is located on the city’s northeast side. William Wilson and George Jennings of Holt Lunsford Commercial represented the landlord, Riverbend Properties, in the lease negotiations. The tenant was self-represented.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Tower Capital, an Arizona-based boutique advisory firm, has arranged $72.9 million in construction financing for Village at Golden Triangle, a 317-unit build-to-rent residential project in Fort Worth. The borrower and developer, Arizona-based Empire Group, acquired the 48-acre site in August 2022 with plans to develop 30 acres and sell the remaining 18, which are zoned for retail and office usage. Homes will come in one-, two- and three-bedroom formats and have private yards. Residents will have access to amenities such as a pool, outdoor grilling and dining areas, fitness center and a community clubhouse. Construction is set to begin by the end of the month. An expected completion date was not disclosed.
CARROLLTON, TEXAS — A partnership between Cleveland-based developer The NRP Group and H.I.G. Realty Partners has broken ground on Diamond Flats, a 331-unit apartment community in the northern Dallas metro of Carrollton. The site spans six acres, and the building will rise four stories. Diamond Flats will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units with an average size of 950 square feet. Amenities will include a pool, fitness center, game room and outdoor courtyards. Santander Bank provided construction financing for the project, the first units of which are expected to be available for occupancy in 2025.