FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Q-Edge, an electronics assembly and distribution company, has signed a lease for 365,440 square feet of space within Alliance Global Logistics Hub in Fort Worth. The company will lease space within Alliance Gateway 2, a 423,992-square-foot industrial facility located at 5650 Alliance Gateway Freeway. The company will use the space as an assembly and distribution center. Trace Elrod and Reggie Beavan of Jackson Cooksey represented Q-Edge in lease negotiations. The owner, Hillwood Properties, was represented in-house by Bill Burton and Tony Crème. Alliance Global Logistics Hub is an industrial component of AllianceTexas, a 17,000-acre master-planned development located in Fort Worth.
SAN ANTONIO — Fast food chain Whataburger has acquired an approximately 140,000-square-foot office building, located at 300 Concord Plaza Dr. in San Antonio, for its new home office. The company will be relocating all of its business functions to the new office from its previous headquarters in Corpus Christi, Texas. The company’s Learning Center facilities will remain in Corpus Christi. The San Antonio property was acquired from HDG Mansur for an undisclosed amount. Move-in is expected to begin in June and be complete by late summer. Whataburger currently operates more than 700 restaurants in 10 states. San Antonio already houses one of the company’s divisional headquarters, as well as approximately 60 restaurants located in the city and surrounding area.
AUSTIN, TEXAS —An agreement has been reach between Thomas Properties Group, Lehman Brothers and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) for the refinancing of the Austin Portfolio, a 10-property, 3.5 million-square-foot office portfolio located in Austin. The portfolio’s $292.5 million credit facility was replaced by an unfunded $100 million commitment from Lehman Brothers, with $60 million of new senior secured priority financing contributed by the partners. Proceeds from the recapitalization are being used to acquire and retire $80 million in third-party term loan debt. As part of the transaction, all pending motions brought on behalf of the ownership group in Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy case were resolved. Lehman Brothers will retain a 50 percent interest in the portfolio, while Thomas Properties Group holds a 6.25 percent interest indirectly through its joint venture with CalSTRS. Douglas Snyder of California-based Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP assisted in the debt restructuring.
PLANO, TEXAS — Stan Johnson Co. has brokered the sale of a 14,820-square-foot, freestanding Walgreens pharmacy in Plano for $5.8 million. The building is situated on 3.2 acres at 2300 E. Park Blvd. Ryan Butler and Brad Moulder of Stan Johnson Co. represented the seller, a retail developer. The buyer, an individual investor, was represented by Susan Clarkson of Litton-Fuller Group.
DALLAS — Dallas-based The Cirrus Group has secured $16.78 million in construction financing for Reliant Rehabilitation Hospital, a planned 65,000-square-foot medical facility that will be located at the intersection of North Central Expressway and Northaven Road in Dallas. The rehab center will include 40 beds devoted to inpatient rehabilitation and 20 beds devoted to skilled nursing. The facility will be operated by Reliant Healthcare. The project architect is Perkins + Will and the general contractor is Hill & Wilkinson. Construction is expected to take 11 months once groundbreaking occurs. Chris Godfrey of The Cirrus Group originated the financing on behalf of an affiliate of The Cirrus Group. The lender was the Dallas office of Colonial Bank. Terms of the financing were not disclosed.
HOUSTON — Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty Property Trust has received the Silver level of LEED-Core & Shell certification for Central Green Building #9, a 63,600-square-foot industrial facility located at 16680 Central Green Blvd. within the company’s Central Green Business Park in Houston. Constructed by Cadence McShane Construction Co., the project includes such sustainable elements as the use of recycled construction materials, a construction waste recycling program, the incorporation of green-certified wood, low-flow water fixtures, preferred parking for fuel-efficient vehicles and water-efficient landscaping. The building, which is occupied by locally based Crane Worldwide, includes a tilt-wall panel exterior, 24-foot clear ceiling heights, 22 exterior truck docks and 133 parking spaces. The project architect was Seeberger + Associates.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Hillwood Properties has leased 292,500 square feet of industrial space within Alliance Global Logistics Hub in Fort Worth. The space, which is located within the 562,500-square-foot Westport 20 building, will be occupied by Alliance Brokers Inc., an affiliate of Trans-Trade. The building is located in the newly created Alliance Heavy-Load Container Area, which provides heavy-load logistics support for the adjacent BNSF Intermodal Facility. The Westport 20 building is one of five speculative buildings totaling 1.8 million square feet that were completed between 2007 and 2008. Alliance Global Logistics Hub is part of the 17,000-acre, 29 million-square-foot AllianceTexas development.
DALLAS — The Woodall Rodgers Park Plaza Foundation is set to receive $16.7 million in federal stimulus funds toward the construction of a deck plaza over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in downtown Dallas. The Texas Department of Transportation Commission awarded the funds. The project will connect downtown, the Arts District, Uptown, and Victory Park, and a 5-acre urban park called The Woodall Rodgers Park will be built on top of the deck plaza structure. Plans for the $80 million deck park include jogging trails, a dog park, a children’s playground, a restaurant, a performance pavilion, a water sculpture, and an area for games. The Office of James Burnett, in conjunction with engineering firm Jacobs Carter Burgess, is designing the park. Bjerke Management Solutions is project manager. The Woodall Rodgers Freeway Deck Plaza is funded and developed through a public/private partnership including the Texas Department of Transportation, the City of Dallas, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and the private sector’s Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation. Utility construction began in February; deck construction is slated for late summer or early fall. The shovel-ready transportation enhancement project is estimated to create 1,000 immediate jobs and stimulate additional economic development and job growth …
GARLAND, TEXAS — Metro Wing LLC, a Denver-area investment group, has acquired a 59-unit multifamily community in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburb of Garland. The group purchased the foreclosed property, Kent Apartments, from the Wachovia Bank REO division for $900,000. Kent Apartments, which was put into foreclosure last fall, consists of one- and two-bedroom units throughout four buildings on 2.1 acres. Metro Wing has implemented a 60-day property stabilization plan and improvements are already under way.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — A 24,340-square-foot Goody Goody Liquor store recently opened at Ridglea Plaza, Centro Properties Group’s retail center located south of Interstate 30 on the southwest corner of Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth. Ron Patton of Dallas-based Patton Interests represented the tenant in the transaction. Mike Watson with New York-based Centro Properties Group represented the owner.