Texas

HOUSTON — Construction has begun the second phase of BLVD Place, a mixed-use development located in Houston's Uptown District. This phase of BLVD Place will contain approximately 211,000 square feet of retail and office space. The development is 60 percent pre-leased and will include a 48,500-square-foot Whole Foods and Frost Bank will occupy 53,000 square feet. W.S. Bellows Construction Corp. is the general contractor for Phase II and Comerica Bank, Wells Fargo, Whitney Bank and Cadence Bank are providing construction financing. San Francisco-based Stockbridge Capital Group served as the equity investment advisor, AECOM's Los Angeles office designed the project and Walter P. Moore served as the civil engineer. The transaction was closed at Stewart Title Co. Bill Boyer and Charles Gordon of CBRE Group, along with Scott Gardner of SRS Realty, represented Frost Bank in its lease transaction. Chip Colvill of Colvill Office Properties and Elise Weatherall of Wulfe & Co. represented the owner.

HOUSTON — Transwestern, through a joint venture with Denver-based Miller Global Properties, has purchased a 20.8-acre tract of land to develop Westgate, a 660,000-square-foot, Class A office project to be located in the Energy Corridor of Houston. The site has extensive frontage on the north side of Interstate 10. Westgate will consist of a four-story, 248,500-square-foot building; a four-story, 186,000-square-foot building; and a five-story, 225,500-square-foot building, each of which will have its own parking structure. The development is 67 percent pre-leased. EE Reed will be the project's general contractor, and Powers Brown Architecture will design the project to achieve LEED Silver certification. Carleton Riser, Sean Suffel and Mark Miller of Transwestern are spearheading the design and development of the project. Jeff Peden and David Cook of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Hearst Corp., in the land transaction. Transwestern was self-represented.