GEORGETOWN — SHW Group, an educational architecture and engineering firm, has been selected by the Georgetown Independent School District (ISD) to design two elementary schools — McCoy Elementary School to the southwest of Georgetown and a second, unnamed elementary school to the southeast — for a total project cost of $31.2 million. The existing McCoy Elementary School will be repurposed into an administration support facility. Plans for the new two-story, 88,000-square-foot McCoy Elementary School include sustainable features such as rainwater collection, a green roof, local construction materials and day lighting. It will serve 800 kindergarten through fifth grade students. Construction on the new McCoy will begin this spring and is scheduled for completion in fall 2012. The second, unnamed elementary school designed by SHW Group will open no later than 2014. Together, the two new elementary schools will serve 1,600 students.
DEL RIO AND PLANO — A 59-room Comfort Inn & Suites, located at 3636 Veterans Blvd. in Del Rio, has sold. Allan Miller of Marcus & Millichap's Austin office represented both parties, both limited liability companies, in the transaction. In addition, Patrick Giles and Craig Lewin of Marcus & Millichap's Dallas office represented the seller, a Plano-based private investor, in the sale of Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Center of Texas, an 11,000-square-foot, single-tenant net-leased property in Plano. New York-based Broadstone Net Lease purchased the medical office property, located at 5316 W. Plano Pkwy. The single-story building includes two state-licensed, Medicare-approved operating rooms.
AUSTIN — A joint venture between Investcorp, a global investment manager, and Global Fund Investments has acquired The Shops at Tech Ridge, a 332,845-square-foot shopping center in Austin. Located at the northeast corner of Interstate 35 and Parmer Lane, the retail property was built in 2003 and is shadow-anchored by SuperTarget. Tenants include Best Buy, Toys “R” Us, Ross Dress For Less, PetSmart, Hobby Lobby, Party City and Pier 1 Imports. Global Fund Investments will manage the property, while Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group will lease it.
NORTHLAKE — Lester Day and Walter Floyd of Transwestern's Fort Worth office have represented Texas Speedway Return, LLC in its sale of approximately 160 acres of land known as Texas Speedway Center to a buyer, HW Indian Springs, LP, that intends to hold the site for future high-density development. Located at the northeast corner of Interstate 35 West and Highway 1171 in Northlake, the property is entitled for high-density residential and commercial uses. The property was a bank REO.
TEXARKANA — Texarkana Medical Portfolio, a multi-property medical complex with more than 500,000 square feet of space Texarkana's downtown district, has changed hands between two limited liability companies. Jacob Steele and Andy Glinski of Marcus & Millichap's Denver office and Brad Bailey of the firm's Austin office represented both parties. Marcus & Millichap's Tim Speck assisted in closing the transaction. Terms were undisclosed.
DALLAS — A joint venture between Prescott Realty Group, Northwestern Mutual and AREA Property has broken ground on a $45 million mixed-use development on the old Shamburger Lumberyard site near Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas. Within walking distance of the DART Mockingbird rail station and a quarter mile from SMU, the development consists of 417 apartments and 9,100 square feet of retail space and is the final phase in the revitalization of the University Crossing neighborhood. Humphreys & Partners designed the mixed-use development, consisting of two levels of podium parking, street-facing retail space and three four-story buildings.
HOUSTON — Brandi McDonald has joined Newmark Knight Frank in Houston as a managing principal. During the past 15 years, she has completed more than 8 million square feet of office leasing transactions, with a total value exceeding $1.8 billion. She is currently a member of the board of directors of the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce, president of the Houston Office Leasing Brokers Association, on the Houstonian Advisory Board and chairs the 2011 World Trade Soiree of the Greater Houston Partnership. McDonald joins Newmark Knight Frank from Transwestern, where she was managing director and senior vice president of tenant advisory services and served on the firm's board of directors.
HOUSTON — Brandon Brown of LMI Capital has arranged $8 million in debt for the refinancing of Palms at Kirkwood, a 256-unit multifamily community located at 11710 Briar Forest Dr. in Houston. On behalf of the borrower, Brown secured a 7-year, non-recourse loan through one of LMI Capital's Fannie Mae lending sources. Additionally, Brown arranged $2.85 million in debt for the acquisition of Fairfield Cove, a 135-unit multifamily community located at 15615 Blue Ash Dr. in Houston. Brown secured a 3-year, bridge loan with a 1-year option for the borrower. The floating rate loan features a 12-month, interest-only period and a floor rate of 4 percent.
SUGAR LAND — Cabot Properties is welcoming two new tenants to its Sugar Land Business Center. Solarcraft, represented by Bo Petit and David Munson of Boyd Commercial, signed a 36,537-square-foot lease and Amran, represented by Steve King of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), signed a 14,951-square-foot lease at the 171,240-square-foot Class A office/flex property within Sugar Land Business Park. Brian Gammill, Darryl Noon and Jacob Carr of Transwestern's Houston headquarters represented Cabot Properties in the two leasing transactions. Solarcraft designs and constructs solar and backup power systems, patented enclosures, mobile power systems, and custom design and power integration services. Meanwhile, Amran designs, engineers and manufactures low and medium voltage instrument transformer products. Sugar Land Business Park is a 902-acre, deed-restricted business park located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Highway 90-A in Sugar Land.
DALLAS — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has appointed Michael Caffey as senior managing director and Dallas-Fort Worth market leader. In that role, he will be responsible for overseeing all business lines for CBRE in the North Texas market area as well as the company's Oklahoma affiliate operations. Caffey was previously a managing director in CBRE's Dallas office and was responsible for creating and implementing the business strategies for CBRE's occupier services enterprises for all major asset classes throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth market.