CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Corpus Christi-based NAI Cravey Real Estate Services has brokered the sale of the former Furniture Row USA building, located at 5042 South Padre Island Dr. in Corpus Christi. The property consists of an approximately 20,000-square-foot building situated on 1.2 acres. The building was purchased by The Salvation Army, which plans to use it as a retail store. NAI’s Lynann Pinkham represented the seller, Furniture Row USA. The sale price was not disclosed.
LA PORTE, TEXAS — Moody Rambin Investment Services has completed the sale of the Total Safety industrial building, a 40,000-square-foot property located at 11111 Highway 225 in La Porte. Chris Dray and Derek Hargrove of Moody Rambin represented the seller, MRTS 225 Ltd. The buyer was CTS Venture Fund 09 Ltd., which was represented by Amy Silvey of Clay & Co. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS — Completion is nearing for the next phase of Watermere at Southlake, a 67-acre, master-planned retirement community located in Southlake. Projects currently under construction include a portion of the community’s 235 independent-living residential villas and condominiums as well as a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse. Amenities at the clubhouse include a business library, a beauty salon, a fitness center, dining venues, a card room, meeting rooms and an indoor swimming pool. Delivery of the clubhouse and the units is scheduled for August. Some parts of Watermere at Southlake are already open, including Isle at Watermere, the community’s assisted living component. The rental apartment building, which opened last year, consists of 66 assisted living units, 25 memory care units and a 24-hour nursing staff. Occupancy is currently at 75 percent. Watermere at Southlake is owned by Southlake Watermark Holdings LP and is located at 302 Watermere Dr. Isle at Watermere is owned by Southlake Care Group LP.
DALLAS — Henry S. Miller Brokerage (HSMB) has completed the sale of a 15,900-square-foot industrial building, located at 2303 Shorecrest Dr. in Dallas’ East Brookhollow submarket. The property was acquired by S.V. Hardy LP, which plans to use the building for office and warehouse uses. Chris Armstrong of HSMB represented the seller, Hartnack Investments. The buyer was represented by Jason Moser of Stream Realty.
HOUSTON — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 3,000-square-foot retail property located in Houston. The property, currently net leased to Green Planet Cleaners, is situated on 15,000 square feet of land at 16515 Longenbaugh Dr. It was constructed in 2003. Josh Lass-Sughrue of Marcus & Millichap’s Houston office represented the seller, a private investor. The buyer, a locally based private investor, was represented by Stephen Sauter of Marcus & Millichap’s Palo Alto, Calif., office. The acquisition price was not released but the property listed for $340,000.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Groundbreaking has occurred for the new Agriculture Headquarters Building for Texas A&M University. The $62.4 million project will consist of a five-story, 166,000-square-foot building situated at the corner of John Kimbrough Boulevard and Penberthy Road in College Station at the school’s west campus. The facility will house three academic departments: agricultural economics; agricultural leadership, education and communications; and recreation, park and tourism sciences. The building’s top floor will contain administrative offices for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as offices for the directors of two state agencies, Texas AgriLife Research and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. The building will also contain classrooms, laboratory facilities and faculty offices. A two-story, 13,000-square-foot visitors center will also be constructed beside the Agriculture Headquarters Building. Completion is scheduled for 2011. The two buildings are part of a four-building complex eventually planned for the site.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — McShane Development Co. has completed Tuscany Technology Center 4, a 54,865-square-foot industrial flex facility located in Austin. The speculative building is divisible from 5,500 square feet and can accommodate one or multiple tenants. It features 24-foot clear ceiling heights, 40-foot by 40-foot typical bay spacing, four exterior truck docks, two drive-in doors, expandable 1,000-AMP electrical service and ESFR sprinkler systems. It is situated at the intersection of U.S. Highway 290 and Tuscany Way within the Tuscany Center at Walnut Creek Business Park, an office/ industrial park developed by McShane. The project was completed by the design/build team of Cadence McShane Construction Co. and TAG International. Bart Matheney, Robert Shore and Chad Barrett of AQUILA Commercial will oversee leasing of the property. McShane also has another adjacent parcel, known as Tuscany Technology Center 3, which can accommodate a 65,184-square-foot property.
DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Duncanville-based Mote & Associates has brokered the acquisition of an 8,800-square-foot property, located at 614 West Wheatland in Duncanville. The building, formerly a location for Total Eye Care, was purchased by an undisclosed private school. Bill Mote of Mote & Associates arranged the transaction. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
The Dallas Fort Worth (D/FW) office market has gone through another successful quarter. First quarter 2009 ended with a positive net absorption of 1.2 million square feet and a vacancy rate of 16 percent. Fortunately, the first decline in D/FW job growth was not felt until January 2009. These two major trends have set D/FW up for the “last in first out” model of recovery. This is a much different trend than experienced during the last two major recessions, and this time D/FW is the right market to be in to ride out the recession. One of the major factors that has put D/FW in this positive light, as compared to the rest of the other major office markets across the country, is the preleasing of 241,500 square feet of the 965,387 square feet of new construction that came online in the first quarter. The D/FW office market as a whole has experienced positive net absorption for the last 6 years. The following are a few of the large deals that contributed to this. Torch Mark Corporation took 150,000 square feet at Stonebridge Ranch, AIG leased 138,010 square feet at South Tower, Texas Capital Bancshares. Inc signed on for 94,940 …
HOUSTON — NAI Houston has completed the sale of 17,037-square-foot building in Houston. Karsten Holdings, LLC purchased the facility from Jesse Chie for an undisclosed price. Travis Land and Michael Keegan NAI Houston represented the buyer, and Jeff Everist of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller. The property is located at 1711 Townhurst Dr.
