DALLAS — SRS Real Estate Partners, a full-service commercial real estate services firm based in Dallas, has launched an industrial division. Brant Landry, formerly of Landry Commercial Real Estate Services, will lead the Dallas-based SRS Industrial team comprising Joseph Cooper, Shannon Johnston, Dennis Sims, Lance Woodward and Stephanie Martin. Cooper, Johnston and Martin also join SRS from Landry Commercial. Sims was most recently with Mohr Partners Inc., while Woodward comes from Henry S. Miller Brokerage. SRS Industrial is also in the process of building teams in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and New York.
Property owners should receive a Notice of Appraised Value from their appraisal district by mid-April. This year, it is imperative that retail property owners submit an assessment protest prior to the deadline and help to establish fair taxable valuations in the post-pandemic marketplace. Since March 2020, COVID-19 has brought uncertainty and ongoing challenges to real estate owners. People often discuss the commercial real estate “winners and losers” of COVID-19, and of the four commercial real estate food groups, retail certainly suffered one of the heaviest initial blows. But how has the property type recovered as the pandemic has evolved? This article explores where exactly retail falls, and then offers strategies to argue more effectively for reduced assessments. Evolving trends To develop a full picture of the current state of shopping centers, one must look back to 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic. In 2018, approximately 5,800 retail stores closed nationwide and only 3,200 opened, for an overall deficit of 2,600 locations. In 2019, the size of the annual store deficit nearly doubled with 5,000 more closures than openings. E-commerce sales volume rose steadily from 2010 through 2019, which, coupled with accelerating physical store closures, clearly indicate a slowdown in …
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS — Tampa-based multifamily investment firm American Landmark has purchased Cavalli at Iron Horse Station, a 328-unit apartment community in North Richland Hills, a northern suburb of Fort Worth. Built in 2021, the property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units that range in size from 605 to 1,298 square feet and are furnished with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and private balconies/patios. Amenities include a pool, media/game room, fitness center, resident lounge, outdoor grilling and dining areas and a pet park. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
PLANO, TEXAS — Locally based investment firm S2 Capital has acquired Residences at Preston Park, a 266-unit apartment community in the northern Dallas suburb of Plano. Built on 15 acres in 1995, the garden-style property features one- and two-bedroom units with an average size of 1,114 square feet. Brian O’Boyle of Newmark represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Henry Stimler, Bill Weber and Ari Schwartzbard, also with Newmark, arranged acquisition financing on behalf of S2 Capital, which plans to implement a value-add program.
CARROLLTON, TEXAS — Lee & Associates has negotiated a 125,000-square-foot, full-building industrial lease at 2020 McDaniel Drive in the northern Dallas suburb of Carrollton. According to commercialcafé.com, the property was built on seven acres in 1981. Nathan Denton of Lee & Associates represented the tenant, BuzzBallz, a locally based provider of premixed alcoholic beverages, in the lease negotiations. Jeff Thornton of Duke Realty represented the landlord, Texas Dugan LP.
GRAPEVINE, TEXAS — Colliers has negotiated the sale of a 21,258-square-foot office building located at 4550 State Highway 360 in Grapevine, located on the northern central side of the metroplex. The property was built on 2.2 acres in 2008. Cody Payne, Austin Edelmon and Nick Miller of Colliers represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which were private investors that requested anonymity, in the all-cash transaction.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — BentallGreenOak (BGO), an institutional investment and property management firm with offices in Toronto, New York City, London and Tokyo, has opened a new office in Austin. Industry professionals in the new office will focus on deepening BGO’s investor relations activities in the region and developing new operating and development partnerships. The company has hired Mike Leifeste, formerly of the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co., to lead the new office as managing director and head of Texas coverage.
With each year that passes in the current cycle, industrial real estate, along with multifamily, becomes more deeply ingrained as a darling asset class among commercial developers, lenders and investors. For all the talk about Americans being social creatures, there remains a massive contingent of the population that, when it comes to shopping, overwhelmingly prefers the convenience and relative anonymity of e-commerce. What started out as pandemic-related justifications for buying goods online as opposed to in-person has given way to a full-fledged, tacit acknowledgement of a trend that was already in place prior to February 2020. As such, demand for facilities — not just traditional, pure-play industrial spaces — that can function as e-commerce fulfillment and distribution centers continues to skyrocket. This trend is even more pronounced in markets with surging populations like those of major Texas cities. Industrial brokers are the ones who see it all. These professionals talk to tenants about acute real estate needs that are critical to serving customers without accruing exorbitant transit costs. Brokers work with developers who must build and price their spaces in accordance with their own escalating cost structures for land and construction. The deals that industrial brokers execute form the backbone …
HALTOM CITY, TEXAS — Indianapolis-based developer Scannell Properties has broken ground on 820 Crossing, a 335,000-square-foot industrial project in Haltom City, a northern suburb of Fort Worth. The rear-load building will feature 36-foot clear heights, 62 dock doors, 185-foot truck court depths, 201 car parking spaces and 95 trailer stalls with the capacity to add 40 more. Stream Realty Partners has been tapped to lease the development. Completion is slated for the first quarter of 2023.
CYPRESS, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged a $56 million bridge loan for the acquisition of Legacy at Cypress, a 422-unit multifamily property located just outside Houston on the northwest side. Built in 1999, the property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool, fitness center, business center, clubhouse, volleyball court and onsite laundry facilities. Jamie Mullin and Brandon Brown of MMCC arranged the loan. The borrower was not disclosed.