HOUSTON — Excelsa Properties, the real estate investment arm of global asset management firm Excelsa Holding, has sold Bend at Oak Forest, a 392-unit apartment community in Houston. The property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool, business center, fitness center and a coffee bar. Excelsa originally acquired the garden-style property in summer 2019 in partnership with GoldCor Capital Partners and implemented a value-add program. Specifically, the partnership upgraded roofing, landscaping and parking areas and refurbished 57 units with new floors, cabinets and countertops. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
Texas
AUSTIN, TEXAS — AHV Communities will develop a 244-unit single-family rental community on a 48-acre site in North Austin. Homes will come in three- and four-bedroom floor plans and range in size from 1,500 to 1,900 square feet. Residences will also feature two-car garages and private fenced backyards. Amenities will include a pool, fitness center, dog park, conference room, outdoor grilling and dining areas, clubhouse lounge and a bocce ball and outdoor game court. Preliminary sitework will begin in October, and vertical construction is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of next year. Full completion is slated late 2025.
HOUSTON — Colliers has arranged the sale of Vineyard Trace Apartments, a 238-unit multifamily complex in Houston’s Willowbrook submarket. The garden-style property sits on 8.4 acres and features one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Amenities include two pools, a playground, clubhouse, sports court, outdoor grilling stations and onsite laundry facilities. Bob Heard, Chip Nash and Jaleel Adatia of Colliers represented the seller, Windmill Investments LLC, in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
WEATHERFORD, TEXAS — Houston-based biotechnology firm Inmatics U.S. has signed a 100,053-square-foot industrial lease at Weatherford Farms Business Park, a 34-acre development located on the western outskirts of Fort Worth. The three-building complex, which was completed last September, is now fully leased. Scott Visin of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Barkley Peschel, Walter Menuet and Jason Scholtz of Colliers represented the landlord, Crow Holdings Industrial, in conjunction with internal agents Cory Driskill and Emily Walker.
By Taylor Williams First things first: By most objective metrics and standards, multifamily assets in major Texas markets still represent strong investment propositions relative to certain other commercial sectors, as well as to the stock market, the other long-term vehicle to which real estate investments are most commonly compared. But as we cross the midpoint of 2022, the U.S. economy finds itself awash in a unique combination of challenging and extreme circumstances. Mainstream news coverage increasingly includes the word “record” in reports on inflation, one-off interest rate hikes and movement in the 10-Year Treasury yield. The yield on two-year Treasury notes recently eclipsed that of the 10-year, creating the “inverted curve” that has historically been an indicator of an upcoming downturn. Rumblings of an imminent recession grow louder by the day. Fear is contagious, and some markets are already showing signs of hunkering down in anticipation of a downturn. The expectation of recession, let alone the materialization of it, impacts even the strongest of markets, including multifamily assets in Texas. Investors and brokers who specialize in the property type recognize that certain factors — net in-migration of hundreds of thousands of people per year, exceptional corporate relocation activity, and supply …
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Hillwood has broken ground on Westport 25 and Alliance Center North 4, two speculative industrial buildings totaling approximately 1.7 million square feet at AllianceTexas on the north side of Fort Worth. Alliance Westport 25 will be a cross-dock building with 40-foot clear heights, two 190-foot truck courts with land to expand to a third, 504 car parking spaces (expandable to 584) and 233 trailer parking spaces (expandable to 471). Alliance Center North 4 will also feature a cross-dock configuration and 40-foot clear heights, as well as 185-foot truck court depths, 180 car parks (expandable to 487) and 132 trailer parking spaces (expandable to 243). GSR Andrade Architects is designing the projects, and Peloton Land Solutions is serving as the civil engineer. Hillwood Construction Services will be the general contractor. Citizens Bank provided construction financing for Westport 25, and Comerica Bank is the construction lender for Alliance Center North 4. Construction on both buildings will begin within the next 30 days, with completion slated for the second and third quarters of 2023, respectively.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — San Antonio-based Koontz Corp. has sold Encino Trace Apartments, a 340-unit community in College Station. Koontz completed Encino Trace, which offers one- and two-bedroom floor plans, in January 2022. Units feature stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, brushed nickel hardware, simulated wood and ceramic tile flooring, full-size washers and dryers, walk-in closets, private patios and balconies and detached garages. Communal amenities include a pool with a tanning ledge and outdoor kitchen, poolside lounge and fire pit, a dog park, fitness center and a clubhouse. Will Balthrope, Drew Garza and Jennifer Campbell of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, brokered the deal on behalf of Koontz Corp. The buyer was California-based SB Pacific Group LLC.
DALLAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Hampton Greens, a 309-unit multifamily property in northeast Dallas. Built in 1985 on nine acres, the 16-building community offers one- and two-bedroom floor plans featuring patios or balconies, walk-in closets and exterior storage space. Amenities include a pool, business center, fitness center, clubhouse, children’s play area and onsite laundry facilities. David Fersing, Nick Fluellen and Bard Hoover of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, Los Angeles-based Oro Capital Advisors LLC, in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, a partnership between two locally based firms, Capital Boutiq and Trinity Investors.
HOUSTON — JLL has negotiated the sale of 10497 Town & Country Way, a 150,000-square-foot office building in West Houston. Kevin McConn and Rick Goings of JLL represented the seller, an affiliate of metro Philadelphia-based Equus Capital Partners, in the transaction. Kelly Layne and John Ream, also with JLL, arranged an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing on behalf of the buyer, a joint venture between 35 South Capital and Lee & Associates. Independent Bank provided the loan.
AUSTIN AND SCHERTZ, TEXAS — Northmarq has arranged three loans totaling $15.3 million for the refinancing of three industrial flex properties totaling 100,388 square feet in Central Texas. The properties comprise a 38,800-square-foot facility in Austin that was built in 1999 and was fully leased at the time of sale, as well as two properties in the northeastern San Antonio suburb of Schertz spanning a combined 61,588 square feet. The Schertz properties were constructed in 2018 and 2020 and were close to and fully leased at the time of the loan closing. Bryan Leonard of Northmarq arranged the debt through an undisclosed credit union. The borrowers were also not disclosed.