DALLAS — Newport Beach, Calif.-based KBS Realty Advisors signed Staffelbach Designs and Associate, an architectural firm, to a lease renewal of 19,855 square feet of office space at KBS' 2525 McKinnon office tower in Dallas. The 109,810-square-foot office tower is 90 percent leased. Staffelbach Designs was self-represented in the lease transaction. Kim Brooks of Transwestern's Dallas office represented the landlord.
Austin’s industrial market tends to be a bell-weather for the local economy, as the market is more focused on local consumption rather than logistics for the transport of goods to other markets. As a result, employment and the overall health of the local economy are reflected in the demand and supply of warehouse, flex and general industrial product. Austin’s go-go economy of 2005 until 2008 saw a rapid absorption of product, as well as more than 2 million square feet of new developments that hit the market during that period. As the economy turned south in 2008, employment numbers and consumer confidence followed. The result was that new product delivered in 2008 and early 2009 took longer to lease. There were also casualties over this time period as projects such as Centerpoint at Colorado Crossing and Plaza 35 went into foreclosure. We are now seeing a return to normalcy, as absorption improved markedly with 477,518 square feet of industrial product absorbed in the third quarter. This is broken down into 183,577 square feet of warehouse/distribution product, 150,121 square feet of general industrial product and 143,820 square feet of R&D/flex space. This market sector has witnessed significant fluctuations in absorption during …
SAN ANTONIO — Corporate Office Properties (COPT) has sold a 95,000-square-foot office building, located at Sentry Gateway 100 in the Sentry Gateway office campus in San Antonio, for $15.5 million. COPT built the property in 2010, and the building was vacant at the time of the sale. The sale represented an opportunistic asset for the end user.
ALLEN — Connecticut-based Frontier Communications Corp. has opened a 84,000-square-foot communications center, located at 805 S. Central Expy. in Allen. The center houses 500 employees and features a National Operations Center with specialized telecommunications equipment.
HOUSTON — Houston-based GSL Welcome Group has acquired a 48,710-square-foot office/warehouse property, located at 4300 Pasadena Freeway and Beltway Green Boulevard in Houston. The acquisition is GSL's 14th property in the Deer Park/Pasadena area. Hagemeyer North America is the property's sole tenant. Welcome Wilson and Danielle Gann represented the buyer in the transaction. Tyndall Yapp of Capital Commercial represented the seller, Capital Commercial Investments.
KANSAS, OKLA. — American Realty Capital Daily Net Asset Value Trust has acquired a 8,320-square-foot retail center fully leased to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Family Dollar Stores. The lease is on a 10-year term and expires in June 2021. The acquisition, and American Realty's purchase of a Family Dollar store in Gloster, Miss., total to $1.7 million.
THE WOODLANDS — BANDIER Investment Services has arranged the sale of two office buildings totaling 22,000 square feet in the Borough Office Complex in The Woodlands. Jody Czajkoski and Jason Tangen of BANDIER's Houston office represented the buyer, AVATAR Home Health Agency, in the transaction. The property will serve as AVATAR's new corporate headquarters.
HOUSTON — Hyatt North Houston, a 335-room hotel formerly known as the Crowne Plaza Houston North-Greenspoint and located at 425 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E., has opened following a multi-million dollar renovation. Memphis, Tenn.-based Davidson Hotels & Resorts operates the hotel under a franchise agreement with Hyatt Hotels Corp. The property features a fitness facility, outdoor swimming pool, spa, business center, gift shop and Grill 425, an American-style restaurant.
DALLAS AND HOUSTON — J.P. Morgan Asset Management, on behalf of institutional investor clients, has selected Cassidy Turley to manage and lease two office properties totaling 2.5 million square feet. The properties include the 1.2 million-square-foot Fountain Place, an office tower located in Dallas' Central Business District, and the 1.3 million-square-foot Post Oak Central, an office property comprised of three 24-story buildings located at 2000 Post Oak Blvd. in Houston. Fountain Place's tenants including Hunton & Williams, LLP; Wells Fargo Bank and Tenet Healthcare Corp. Post Oak Central features tenants such as Apache Corp., Suez Energy North America, Stewart Title and Cox Radio.
SAN ANTONIO — PCCP has closed a $22.55 million senior loan to refinance a 230,000-square-foot portion of Westover Marketplace, a retail center located at 8203 State Hwy. 151 in San Antonio. The refinanced portion of the center is 71 percent leased to tenants including Ross Dress for Less, PetSmart and Office Depot. The majority of the vacancy is a result from a 48,000-square-foot retail property that once was leased by Sportsman's Warehouse. PCCP provided the loan on behalf of the owner, Coventry Real Estate Advisors.
