HOUSTON — A 7,000-square-foot office building, located at the northwest corner of Mount Vernon and Marshall avenues in Houston, has been sold. Mark Davis of Davis Commercial represented the seller, Annunciation Orthodox School, in the transaction. Senterra and Belvoir Real Estate Group represented the seller, JoSuMar LLC. The office building will be used as a language center.
DALLAS — Mark One Capital, a subsidiary of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp., has arranged $16.5 million in acquisition financing for an 81,585-square-foot medical office building, located in Dallas. Farhan Kabani of Mark One Capital's Dallas office arranged the loan with 3 years of interest only fixed at 3.42 percent.
ARLINGTON — American Fidelity Assurance Co. has purchased the 267,780-square-foot JPMorgan Chase Bank Tower, located at 500 E. Border St. in Arlington. The 12-story, Class A tower is 95 percent leased to tenants including JPMorgan Chase, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Texas Health Resources and Trend Micro. CBRE represented the seller, Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Group, in the transaction.
FLOWER MOUND — Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy plans to open a 59,000-square-foot Tom Thumb store in the 140,000-square-foot Cross Timbers Village, a mixed-use shopping center located at the southwest corner of Bruton Orand Boulevard and FM 1171 in Flower Mound. The new location will be Tom Thumb's fourth location in Flower Mound. The property will feature a drive thru pharmacy, fuel station and a Starbucks. Cross Timbers Village is owned by Direct Development.
SULPHUR SPRINGS — Binswanger has arranged the sale of a 152,200-square-foot manufacturing/warehouse facility, located at 906 Hillcrest Drive in Sulphur Springs. The buyer, Pinnacle Cos., plans to invest more than $4 million into the property. Kipp Collins of Binswanger's Dallas office represented the seller, Greenball Corp., in the transaction.
WYLIE — Ross Stores will open a new, 22,000-square-foot facility, located at Woodbridge Crossing Shopping Center in Wylie. The shopping center is anchored by Super Target and Kohl's and includes retailers such as Rue 21 and Rack Room Shoes. Direct Development is handling the property's development.
DALLAS — Stream Realty Partners is planning to lease 40,000 square feet of office space at Trammell Crow Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot office tower located in Dallas' Art District. The 50-story tower's tenants include Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Stream Realty will move into the tower in fall 2012. The firm is expanding its Dallas office to the tower due its 30 percent growth since January 2011. Stream Realty was recently awarded the tower's leasing and management duties.
Like other markets in the country, the Fort Worth office market began its decline in 2007, got worse in 2008 and 2009 and then visibly rebounded by the end of 2010. The ‘bottom’ of the market, by general consensus of local brokers, was in mid-2010. Without the booming energy business, conditions would have been much worse. Additional market drivers that helped support the local economy and office market during the recession were healthcare and government. The Central Business District Class A sector is comprised of 13 projects with 5.39 million square feet, while the Class B inventory includes 31 buildings with 3,726,829 square feet. Including Class C buildings, total office inventory is a little more than 10 million square feet and the current overall vacancy rate is 12.1 percent. The reported Class A rent averages $26.87 per square foot, plus electricity. The Class B reported average rent is $18.38 per square foot, plus electricity, according to the most recent CoStar Market Report. Other Fort Worth submarkets include Northside, Southside, Alliance, Wise County and Hood County. The downturn and recovery has looked like the classic hockey stick pattern — slow downturn and sharp upturn toward the previous high when things started …
HOUSTON — GE Energy will invest $10 million into the development of a 50,000-square-foot oil and gas training facility, located at GE's Drilling System Technology Center in Houston. The facility is slated to open in the fourth quarter of 2012, and will create approximately 100 new technical jobs.
LEAGUE CITY — Satterfield & Pontikes Construction has finished the construction of a $4 million Park and Ride facility for Gulf Coast Center MHMR Connect Transit, located at the University of Texas Medical Branch Victory Lakes campus in League City. The project includes a 1,872-square-foot terminal building and parking for more than 400 cars. PGAL provided architectural and design services, and The Goodman Corporation and the Office of Facilities Planning & Construction for UTMB-Galveston provided management services.