NEW BRAUNFELS — Dallas-based Metropolitan Capital Advisors (MCA) has arranged permanent financing for a 217,500-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility for Ashley Furniture in New Braunfels. A $6.53 million permanent fixed-rate mortgage was arranged on behalf of a partnership controlled by the principals of Hill County Furniture Partners, an Ashley Furniture franchisee. Hill County Furniture Partners occupies 100 percent of the facility, which supports retail stores throughout central and south Texas. MCA's Scott Lynn and Sunny Sajnani placed the 20-year mortgage with an Oklahoma bank, where it is guaranteed under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Business and Industry Loan Program. Greg O'Donnell of Business Finance & Development worked with MCA to help secure the USDA loan guarantee.
Texas
SAN ANTONIO — Houston-based XE Hospitality, represented by JJ Williams and Jason Brumm of Grubb & Ellis, has purchased 3 acres of land in northwest San Antonio from Thomas Enterprises. The company intends to use the land to develop a Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel calls for 130 rooms and 3,000 square feet of meeting space and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2012. It is located in The Rim, a master-planned, 2 million-square-foot, mixed-use center developed by Thomas Enterprises at the intersection of Interstate 10 and La Cantera Parkway.
FARMERS BRANCH — Sport Supply Group has signed a long-term renewal for a 137,670-square-foot office/warehouse space in Valwood Industrial Park in Farmers Branch. Sport Supply Group was represented by David Wetherington and Bill De La Chapelle of Transwestern's Dallas office, while Brian Pafford of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services represented the Chicago-based asset manager for the property. Sport Supply Group was given a tenant allowance that will be applied to cosmetic upgrades to its 35,000-square-foot office space.
LUBBOCK — Cymbet Corp. and X-FAB Texas have reached an agreement to open the world's highest volume solid state battery (SSB) production facility in Lubbock. Cymbet provides solid-state energy storage solutions for microelectronic systems, and X-FAB provides expertise in advanced analog and mixed-signal process technologies. The new Cymbet facility will be integrated with X-FAB's Lubbock facility, and is projected to add 77 new jobs during the next 5 years. Production will begin in the second quarter of 2011.
HOUSTON — Cameron International Co., which provides flow equipment products, systems and services to the oil, gas and process industries, has signed a 75,467-square-foot office space lease renewal with an extended 10-year term at Park Towers South in Houston. Located at 1333 W. Loop South in Houston's Post Oak Park submarket, the office space serves as Cameron's headquarters. Charles Gordon and Michael Sieger of CB Richard Ellis represented Cameron, while Steven Seltzer of TPMC Realty Corp. represented the landlord, Post Oak Realty Investment Partners, LP.
HOUSTON — Houston Pavilions, a mixed-use development in downtown Houston, has announced that an entertainment venue with a Houston past will reopen its doors there. Scott Gertner's Skybar closed its doors this past July and will be reinvented as Scott Gertner's at Houston Pavilions, opening in March 2011. The venue will complement the existing tenants including the House of Blues, Lucky Strike Lanes & Lounge and Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. Scott Gertner's at Houston Pavilion will be designed as a bi-level venue with approximately 8,200 square feet of space in the main area and a 3,500-square-foot rooftop deck.
FRISCO — Cousins Properties Inc., on behalf of Dallas investor Tom Hicks, has sold 7.3 acres of land in Frisco to AMLI Residential, a Chicago-based multifamily firm. The parcel is part of Champions Park, a 75-acre mixed-use development located at the northeast corner of State Highway 121 and the Dallas North Tollway, home to Dr. Pepper Arena, which hosts the NHL's Dallas Stars, and Dr. Pepper Ballpark, which hosts the Frisco Roughriders. Cousins Properties will continue to manage and direct development for the remaining land at the site.
VICTORIA — Lack Properties and Lack's Stores, Inc., an independently owned retail home furnishings chain operating as Lack's and Lack's Home Furnishings, has hired DJM Realty to manage the disposition of all leased and owned retail and warehouse facilities located throughout Texas. DJM Realty will market 35 Texas retail locations that range in size from 16,000 to 70,000 square feet. In addition, four warehouse facilities will be marketed including a 380,000-square-foot distribution center in Schertz. Lack's Inc. recently filed for Chapter 11 and the retention of DJM is subject to the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court overseeing Lack's Chapter 11 proceedings in Victoria.
HOUSTON — In a deal first announced on RE Business Online on November 15, 2010, Atlanta-based Goddard Investment Group has finalized the sale of Heritage Plaza, a landmark office complex in downtown Houston, to New York-based Brookfield Properties Corp. for $325 million. Heritage Plaza, located at 1111 Bagby St., comprises an office tower, which is approximately 84 percent leased, constructed in 1986 and the Federal Land Bank building built in 1935. Tenants of the office tower include Deloitte, EOG Resources and Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. It is Houston's second highest price ever paid for an office building, behind only the Bank of America Center sale for $367 million in August 2007.
DALLAS — The Terrapark Group, based in Toronto, Canada, has purchased the Northern Trust Bank building in downtown Dallas from Crow/Williams L.P. to complete the entire acquisition of the 2.6-acre 2000 block of Ross Avenue bounded by Ross Avenue to the north, San Jacinto Street to the south, Olive Street to the east and North Harwood Street to the west. Terrapark's near-term plans are to improve the parking lot operations on the block to service parking shortages of neighboring office buildings, Trammell Crow Center and 2100 Ross. Long-term plans, however, include positioning the property for incremental stage development, including a hotel component. John Bradley and Jerry Bradley of Bradley & Bradley REALTORS represented Terrapark. Terrapark initially purchased the city block sans the Northern Trust Bank building in a transaction announced on RE Business Online on November 30, 2010.