TEMPLE – RioCan REIT, Canada’s largest real estate investment trust, has purchased a 125,000-square-foot shopping center in Temple for approximately $21.2 million. Bird Creek Crossing is anchored by Target and The Home Depot and includes tenants Best Buy, Michael’s, PetSmart and OfficeMax. The property is owned on an 80/20 basis with Inland Western Retail REIT. Inland Western will manage the property on behalf of the co-ownership.
Texas
LEWISVILLE – DOcean Investments LLC has purchased 2.47 acres of land at the corner of Riverview Drive and Jubilee Lane in the Riverview Industrial Development in Lewisville. West Dixon Holdings LLC sold the property that is zoned for heavy industrial and surrounded by existing industrial developments. DOcean Investments plans to development an industrial facility that will be completed in 2012. Dan Spika of Henry S. Miller Brokerage represented the buyer.
WILMER — CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust has acquired the 1 million-square-foot Whirlpool regional warehouse located in the First Park DalPort Business Park in Wilmer. Gary Jaye of CBRE Investors represented CBRE Realty Trust in the transaction. “We were able to meet a major prospective tenant's needs by pairing them with one of four preferred development partners,” said Jack Cuneo, president and chief executive officer of CBRE Realty Trust, in a statement. “At the same time, we were exposed to no development risk, being obligated to purchase the property only upon completion of construction.”
KERRVILLE — The Cirrus Group, a healthcare development company, and its development partner McFarlin Group have begun construction on River Point of Kerrville Assisted Living and Memory Care, a senior living community located on Bandera Highway in Kerrville. Upon completion in spring 2012, the property will offer 33 assisted living units and 20 memory care units built on a site with views of the Guadalupe River. The Cirrus Group has developed multiple healthcare properties across the nation with McFarlin Group, including Orchard Park of McKinney in McKinney, Texas.
DALLAS — CB Richard Ellis Capital Markets has arranged acquisition financing in the amount of $4.5 million for Sycamore Tree Apartments, a multifamily community totaling 96 units at 5051 Lahoma St. in Dallas. The financing was arranged through C-III Commercial Mortgage and terms of the floating rate include a 2-year term, interest only and 85 percent loan to cost. Charles Foschini, Christopher Apone and Christian Lee of CBRE's Debt & Equity Finance and Institutional Group in Miami arranged the financing on behalf of Advenir Inc., a South Florida-based provider of multifamily real estate investment and management services.
SAN ANTONIO — Honolulu-based A&B Properties, the real estate subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., has sold Arbor Park Shopping Center, a 139,500-square-foot retail center in San Antonio for $22.5 million to an undisclosed buyer. Arbor Park Shopping Center is located at the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 281 North and Henderson Pass, and includes tenants Ross Dress For Less, Office Max, Sun Harvest Farms and Michaels. A&B Properties purchased the retail property in 1998 for $16 million upon completion of its construction.
DALLAS — McCallum Crossing, a 322-unit multifamily complex located at 7720 McCallum Blvd. in Dallas, has been sold by Newport News, Va.-based Texas McCallum Crossing Partners, Ltd., to Saratoga, Calif.-based MMeadows Crossing LLC for an undisclosed price. The garden-style property features 306 one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom units and was built in 1985. Peter Hartnett of Hendricks & Partners' Dallas office and George Deuillet III of its Austin office represented the seller.
HOUSTON — Grapevine-based SQN Realty Finance, LLC, a real estate investment firm formed this past March, has completed its first equity investment in a lender-owned multifamily property called Applewood Village in Houston. The property includes 92 units and is located at 15455 Ella Blvd., less than one-half mile from Interstate 45. It was foreclosed on in 2010 and was being operated by a management company hired by the special servicer. SQN Realty Finance has plans for minor renovations to the property during the next 6 months. Houston-based Mosaic Residential has taken over the management of the property, while AHC Construction, a Houston-based contractor, is performing the renovations. SQN Realty Finance is a subsidiary of New York-based SQN Capital Partners, an alternative investment management firm specializing in direct investments in hard assets. It invests in various property types with a concentration in the major Texas markets and a secondary focus on major markets in the Southwest.
HOUSTON — Turner Construction has broken ground on two new Houston Independent School District (ISD) campuses. Construction of Carnegie Vanguard High School began in May, while construction got underway for Lockhart Turner Elementary School this month. The 98,000-square-foot Carnegie Vanguard High School will serve 600 gifted students in grades 9 through 12. Carnegie is the only high school in the Houston ISD Vanguard program exclusively dedicated to students gifted in academics. Located at 1051 Taft, the new high school sits on the site of the former Carnegie Elementary School that was built in 1963. RdlR Architects provided design services for the project. Meanwhile, Lockhart Turner Elementary School is an 84,500-square-foot replacement school serving 750 early childhood through grade 5 students. The project consolidates students from both Lockhart and Turner elementary schools. HarrisonKornberg Architects provided design services for this project, which is scheduled for completion in April 2012. Both projects are seeking LEED certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.
TEXAS — Charlotte, N.C.-based Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has been given approval by Freddie Mac to originate loans in Texas under its Multifamily Program Plus Seller/Servicer network. Approved for specific geographic areas, Freddie Mac's Program Plus Seller/Servicer network is a highly selective group of 25 experienced multifamily lenders across the nation that meet Freddie Mac's standards for both the origination and servicing of multifamily loans. Grandbridge is a subsidiary of Winston Salem, N.C.-based Branch Banking and Trust Co. (BB&T) and has an investor base that includes insurance companies, CMBS investors, pension fund advisors, commercial banks and capital markets investors, as well as its proprietary lending platform, BB&T Real Estate Funding.