HOUSTON — California-based Francis Property Management has acquired Gables Augusta, a 312-unit multifamily property located in Houston. The property is situated at 2660 Augusta Dr. within the city’s Galleria submarket. Constructed in 2004, it features loft-style residences in a four-story complex. Craig LaFollette, Todd Stewart, Todd Marix, Tre Banks and Chris Curry, all of CB Richard Ellis, represented the seller, Gables Residential, in the transaction. International Realty Concepts represented Francis Property Management. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
SAN ANTONIO — Concorde Career Colleges will soon open its second Texas campus in San Antonio. The new school will total 39,855 square feet and will be located within Corporate Square Garden at 4803 NW Loop 410. Concorde will occupy the facility beginning in November for a 15-year term. Future plans also call for the campus to expand by 4,000 to 8,000 square feet within its first year of operation. J.J. Williams, Jason Brumm and Maggie Nigro of Grubb & Ellis, along with Jeff Woolf of Cushman & Wakefield, represented Concorde in lease negotiations. The landlord, KBS Realty Advisors, was represented by Lindsey Tucker and Kelly Ralston of Transwestern. Concorde Career Colleges owns and operates 12 proprietary, postsecondary schools nationwide that specialize in healthcare vocational training. Its other Texas location is in Arlington.
HOUSTON — NAI Houston has arranged the sale of a 4,000-square-foot commercial building, located at 3990 Barker Cypress Rd. in Houston. NAI’s Travis Land and Stephen Tou represented the seller, BLC Real Estate. The property was acquired for an undisclosed amount from Hankhuu Inc.
HOUSTON — NRG Texas, along with its retail division Reliant Energy, has leased approximately 240,000 square feet of office space at Pavilions Tower, the office component of the Houston Pavilions mixed-use development, located in downtown Houston. With this most recent lease, the nine-story, Class A office tower component of the project is completely leased. NRG will take occupancy in March 2011. Eric Anderson and Greg Tilton of Transwestern represented the landlord, Houston Pavilions LP, in lease negotiations. George Strake III and Christopher Oliver of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas represented the tenant. Houston Pavilions also contains 320,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space on three lower levels, as well as a 1,600-space parking garage. The second and third levels of the retail component are connected by “Sky Rings”, pedestrian bridges that span Fannin and San Jacinto streets.
COPPELL AND CARROLLTON, TEXAS — Duke Realty Corp. has completed three leases totaling 506,035 square feet at three of its Dallas-area industrial properties. In the first transaction, imported furniture and accessories wholesaler Southern Enterprises has leased 154,744 square feet at Freeport IX, located at 600 Freeport Pkwy. in Coppell. This brings occupancy at the building to 50 percent. Mark Miller of NAI Robert Lynn represented Southern Enterprises in lease negotiations. Also in Coppell, Round 2, a computer and computer parts recycler, signed a lease for 115,989 square feet at Freeport III, a 297,903-square-foot building located at 445 S. Royal Lane. Seth Weinstein of Newmark Knight Frank represented Round 2 in lease negotiations. Finally, technology distributor Ingram Micro renewed its lease for 235,302 square feet at Frankford Interchange, a 380,002-square-foot building located at 1809 W. Frankford Rd. within Carrollton’s Trinity Mills industrial park. The property remains fully occupied. Tom Lynn of NAI Robert Lynn, along with Brian Netsky and Mike Morgan of Interstate Tenant Advisors, represented the tenant in lease negotiations. In all three transactions, Duke was represented in-house by Randy Wood of the firm’s Dallas office.
BEDFORD, TEXAS — Henry S. Miller Brokerage (HSMB) has completed two retail leases. In Bedford, Tuesday Morning signed a lease for 16,166 square feet at Harwood Shopping Center, an 85,931-square-foot neighborhood shopping center located in Bedford. The discount retailer will lease the space formerly occupied by BHC Fitness and plans to open the new location in January 2010. Daniel Harris and Byron Seamands of HSMB’s Dallas/Fort Worth office represented the landlord, Harwood S/C Partners Ltd.; the tenant was represented by Greg Bracchi of Staubach Retail Services.
GREENVILLE, TEXAS — Construction is complete for the first building at Paris Junior College’s new Greenville campus. The $13 million project included the construction of a two-story, 42,000-square-foot multi-purpose building. It features technology-enabled classrooms, a science lab, a computer lab, a library, administrative offices and a large meeting room that can also be used as a classroom. The building is situated at 6500 Monty Stratton Blvd. within a 172-acre tract of land that will be used as the college’s new Greenville campus. The multi-phase master plan, as well as the design of the new building, was completed by Dallas-based SHW Group. Once additional buildings are complete, support functions currently housed in the first building will be relocated and it will be converted into a classroom building. The general contractor for the project was Dallas-based Charter Builders. Upon full built-out, Paris Junior College’s Greenville campus will ultimately house up to 7,500 students; the new building can house up to 2,500 students.
KATY, TEXAS — Stan Johnson Co. (SJC) has completed the sale of the ground lease to a 5,000-square-foot, freestanding bank branch building located in Katy. The building, which is situated at 8027 W. Grand Parkway South within a newly developed, Kroger-anchored shopping center, is currently leased to JPMorgan Chase. Hunter Jaggard and Daniel Herrold of SJC’s Houston office represented the seller, Houston-based Read King Commercial Real Estate. The buyer, a Washington-based individual investor, was represented by Chad Carper of Spokane, Wash.-based Kiemle & Hagood Co. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
PLANO, TEXAS — UGL Equis has arranged a 30,985-square-foot lease at 801 Klein Rd. in Plano. The tenant, Underwriters Laboratories, is relocating its HVAC product testing facility to the new space from its previous location at 2805 Plano Pkwy., also in Plano. The warehouse and office facility will be fully operational within a year. Stuart Smith of UGL Equis’ Dallas office represented the tenant. The landlord, Weingarten Realty Investors, was represented in-house by Matt Smith.
HOUSTON — A joint venture involving Dallas-based Behringer Harvard has purchased The Verandah at Meyerland, a 301-unit luxury multifamily community located in Houston. The property comprises two buildings situated on 5.3 acres at 4620 N. Braeswood Blvd. The first building is a four-story, mid-rise tower that contains 238 units, and the second is a nine-story tower previously used as office space that was converted into 63 units. Community amenities include a 12,500-square-foot social center, an outdoor entertainment area, a resort-style swimming pool and a heated lap pool, a fitness center, a business center with a conference room, a movie theater and covered access to the property’s five-story parking garage. The property was purchased by a joint venture between Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, one of the company’s non-traded REITs, and PGGM, a Dutch pension fund. The acquisition price was not disclosed.