FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The grand opening will be held this weekend for Alliance Town Center, a 1.5 million-square-foot power center located at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Heritage Trace Parkway in Fort Worth. Opening this weekend is the approximately 500,000-square-foot, first phase of the project. Approximately 20 tenants are already open for business including retailers Belk, JC Penney, Best Buy, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Ulta; as well as restaurants Cheddar’s, Which Wich, Jason’s Deli and Smoothie King. A 256,865-square-foot Sam Moon is currently under construction and scheduled to open in March 2009. Future phases will add a large grocer, a movie theater, a national bookstore and a large sporting goods store to the tenant roster. Alliance Town Center is a joint venture development between locally based developers Hillwood and Trademark Property Co. It is part of AllianceTexas, a 19,000-acre master-planned community that also comprises an airport, more than 7,000 acres of industrial space, 800 acres of office space, 2,700 single-family homes and 5,000 multifamily residential units.
RICHMOND, VA. — In conjunctions with its plans to close 155 underperforming retail locations nationwide, Richmond-based Circuit City has announced the closing of nine Texas locations. The stores are located in Burleson, Cedar Park, Dallas, Houston, League City, Mansfield, McKinney, Sherman and Temple. Each market will see one Circuit City location close, and Sherman will see Circuit City exit the market with the closing of the city’s only location.Circuit City is closing stores in 55 U.S. markets and will be exiting 12 of those markets entirely. In addition, the retailer is reducing future store openings and aggressively renegotiating select leases.
NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS — Dallas-based BMC Capital has arranged $2.1 million in acquisition financing for Laurel Heights Apartments, a 72-unit multifamily community located at 483 Laurel Lane in New Braunfels. Terms of the loan include an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio, a 10-year term with a 30-year amortization schedule, and a fixed interest rate. The borrower was an out-of-state, 1031 exchange investor. The lender was not disclosed.
BEDFORD, TEXAS — Primary Realty Assets LP, an affiliate of Fort Worth, Texas-based Mallick Group, has acquired a five-story, 87,000-square-foot office building located at 2701 Brown Trail in Bedford. The property had been vacant for more than 1 year. The seller, Boise, Idaho-based Pleasant Valley LP, was represented by Steve Shrum of Dallas-based Glacier Commercial Realty. Primary Realty Assets acquired the property on behalf of the company’s Private Wealth Fund for an undisclosed amount.
WACO, LONGVIEW AND WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS — Cleveland-based KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $19.6 million in Freddie Mac financing for three Texas assisted living facilities. Meadowlands Terrace, located in Waco, received a $7.9 million loan; Eastman Estates, located in Longview, received a $6.4 million loan; and Wichita Falls, located in a city of the same name, received a $5.3 million loan. The fixed-rate credit facility has a weighted average interest rate of 6.65 percent and a term of 10 years. The borrower was not disclosed.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors has leased 39,100 square feet within Midpoint I-20 Distribution Center, located just north of Interstate 20 on New York Avenue in Arlington, to Greenwood Village, Colo.-based American Medical Response. The company expects to open the facility in the second quarter of 2009. George Curry of the Dallas office of Jones Lang LaSalle represented American Medical Response in lease negotiations. Michael Stanzl and Robert Reese of Dallas-based NAI Robert Lynn represented Weingarten. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Built in 2001, Midpoint I-20 Distribution Center is a two-building complex that is designed tenants with office/showroom and warehouse/distribution needs. The facility offers spaces from 16,000 to 68,000 square feet with dock-high rear loading capability.
HOUSTON — The Houston office of Alliance Communities has held the groundbreaking for the development of Broadstone Voss, a 307-unit rental apartment community located in the Galleria corridor of Houston. Designed by locally based Meeks + Partners, the project will consist of nine buildings arranged in clusters that will wrap the apartment units around three courtyards and a six-story parking garage. The architecture of the building includes rectangular volumes, flat roofs, and a façade composed of brick, stone, exposed steel and glazed glass. The exterior of the unit balconies will also have movable sunscreens that residents can use to adjust the amount of light coming into individual units. Units will range from one to three bedrooms with sizes ranging from 632 to 1,445 square feet. Community amenities will include a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse with a lounge and entertainment kitchen, a fitness center, a business center, and a conference room. Broadstone Voss also features a resort-style pool and fountain with a sundeck and a fireplace. The project consists of the redevelopment of a former apartment complex that was built in the 1970s on the 4.89-acre site.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Sperry Van Ness has brokered the sale of Arlington Towers, an 82,000-square-foot, Class B office property located at 1600 E. Pioneer Pkwy. in Arlington. Originally built in 1979, the five-story tower is currently 77 percent occupied by a tenant roster that includes JPMorgan Chase Bank, Iverson Business School, Jordan Health Services, Road Manager Financial Services and Southside Financial Group. Bruce Marshall of Dallas-based Sperry Van Ness | DataVest and Bob Johnson of Atlanta-based Sperry Van Ness | AREP represented the seller, Atlanta-based Mithani Properties. Johnny Lawrence of Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolina Capital represented the Florida-based buyer. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
HOUSTON — The New York City office of iCap Realty Advisors has arranged $30 million in acquisition financing for a 17-story, Class A office building located in Houston. The tower is located just west of Interstate 610 in the city’s Galleria/West Loop submarket, within a 30-acre master planned development that also features several other Class A office towers, a luxury high-rise residential building, and a luxury hotel. The tower secured by the financing comprises 370,000 rentable square feet and includes an approximately 1,000-space parking garage. Terms of the non-recourse, first-mortgage financing include a 5-year term with interest-only payments for the first 2 years. The lender was a major insurance company.
WACO, TEXAS — White Plains, N.Y.-based Seavest has broken ground for the construction of two medical office buildings on the campus of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco. The first building, Hillcrest Community Medical Office Building, is a three-story, 107,000-square-foot facility that will serve the adjacent Hillcrest Community Hospital. The medical office building will connect to the hospital by way of a skybridge on the second floor. The second building, Hillcrest Women’s & Children’s Medical Office building, is a two-story, 59,000-square-foot medical office building that will serve the adjacent Hillcrest Women’s & Children’s Hospital. Seavest is partnering with Lillibridge Health Care Services for the project, and will develop and own both properties. Completion is scheduled for summer 2009.