HOUSTON — Fort Worth-based investment firm Silver Creek Realty Advisors has acquired a 110,452-square-foot office building located at 1717 St. James Place in Houston’s Galleria district. The six-story building is situated on a 2.3-acre site within St. James Place, a deed-restricted business park, and was 70.5 percent leased at the time of sale. Marty Hogan and Kevin McConn of JLL represented the seller, Florida-based Accesso Partners, in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.
By Brad Frisby, director of land acquisitions, Rhodes Enterprises Demand for housing of all types continues to outpace supply in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), and developers’ best efforts to add much-needed product throughout the region appear to be reaching a crescendo. Like the rest of the country, residential development in the RGV has been stymied and exacerbated by global supply chain disruption over the last year. Nor have developers in the region been spared from the pricing volatility of key construction materials, from basic building blocks like lumber and steel to more precise pieces such as air conditioning units and kitchen appliances. These factors, along with rising labor costs generated by the reheating of the regional economy, have negatively impacted conventional multifamily construction timelines and budgets over the past 12 to 18 months. While traditional single-family projects have not been hit nearly as hard as their multifamily counterparts, the net result of all this activity has been a widening of the gap between housing supply and demand. Though the regional vacancy rate for multifamily product is up on a year-over-year basis — about 4.5 percent today versus 3.5 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2021 — …
GEORGETOWN, TEXAS — Stonelake Capital Partners, a private equity firm with offices located in Texas and Atlanta, has broken ground on Georgetown Logistics Park, a 619,740-square-foot speculative industrial project that will be located on the northern outskirts of Austin. The development will consist of three buildings on a 48-acre site that is situated along the Interstate 35 corridor. The 426,240-square-foot cross-dock building will feature 40-foot clear heights and 82 trailer parking stalls. The 123,200-square-foot rear-load building will house 36-foot clear heights, and the 70,300 square-foot rear-load building will have 32-foot clear heights. Powers Brown Architecture is designing the project, and Zapalac Reed is serving as the general contractor. Pape Dawson is the civil engineer, and JLL is the leasing agent. Completion is slated for March 2023.
HOUSTON — A partnership between locally based developer Sueba USA and McCormack Commercial has broken ground on Kingfield Lofts, a 370-unit multifamily project that will be situated on a 14.5-acre site in West Houston. Kingfield Lofts will feature studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units that will range in size from 480 to 2,196 square feet. Residences will be furnished with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and tile backsplashes. Amenities will include a pool, fitness center, clubroom, conference center and a catering kitchen. Preleasing will begin in fall 2023, with full completion slated for March 2024.
HOUSTON — Axiom Space, a developer of infrastructure for space exploration, will open a new, 106,000-square-foot headquarters facility at the Houston Spaceport, a center for aerospace research and development that is located on the city’s southwest side. Developer Griffin Partners recently broke ground on the campus, which will house offices, astronaut training areas, engineering development/testing labs and a high bay production facility to house Axiom’s space station modules. Project partners include Jacobs Engineering and general contractor Turner Construction Co. Axiom Space currently employs more than 400 people, the majority of which work at its current Houston facilities. The company has plans to grow the number to 600 by the end of the year and 1,000 by 2025.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Global Real Estate Advisors (GREA) has arranged the portfolio sale of three multifamily properties totaling 217 units in Arlington that were all built in the 1960s. The properties include Avalon (75 units), Tuscany Square (70 units) and Regency (72 units). Mark Allen of GREA represented the buyer and seller, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction. The new ownership plans to implement a value-add program.
IRVING, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of The Vanderbilt, a 152-unit multifamily complex in Irving. The property offers studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans and amenities such as a pool, dog park, outdoor grilling and dining areas and onsite laundry facilities. David Fersing, Nick Fluellen, Bard Hoover and Wesley Racht of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer, private investor Tony Lin, in the transaction.
Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020, commercial real estate buyers and sellers moved off the sidelines and began fueling an impressive investment sales rebound as many pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions eased or ended. The rush to purchase hard assets hit its apex a year later when commercial property sales surged to a record $362 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, according to Real Capital Analytics, a part of MSCI Real Assets that tracks property transactions of $2.5 million or more. The strong market is continuing this year: Deals of $170.8 billion closed in the first quarter, a year-over-year increase of 56 percent, Real Capital reports. Buyers in the first quarter also pushed up prices 17.4 percent over the prior year, according to Real Capital’s Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI). But given rising interest rates and other recent headwinds, will investors continue to drive robust investment activity and bid up prices? The 10-Year Treasury yield has spiked some 150 basis points to around 3 percent since the beginning of 2022, and fixed 10-year mortgage rates of between 3 percent and 4 percent are up about 100 basis points. For short-term variable loans, the benchmark secured overnight financing rate …
HOUSTON — New York City-based investment firm Gaia Real Estate has sold The Copperfield Portfolio, a collection of five multifamily properties in northwest Houston totaling 1,376 units. Gaia acquired the properties in 2015 and implemented a value-add program. Renovations included upgrades of amenity spaces such as pools, clubhouses, fitness centers, children’s play areas and laundry centers, as well as new flooring, cabinets, appliances and countertops to the interiors of select units. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed. Gaia has now sold 50 multifamily properties in Sun Belt markets for more than $1.5 billion.
HOUSTON — North Texas-based Jackson-Shaw will develop Post Oak Logistics Park, a 536,992-square-foot industrial project that will be located in southwest Houston. Post Oak Logistics Park will comprise a 168,893-square-foot front-load building and a 368,099-square-foot cross-dock building. The typical bay is 56 feet by 50 feet, with 130- to 185-foot truck courts and ample trailer storage. An affiliate of Greystar is Jackson-Shaw’s equity partner on the project. Rosenberger Construction is the general contractor, with Powers Brown serving as the architect and WGA as the civil engineering firm. BancFirst provided construction financing. Cushman & Wakefield is the leasing agent. Completion is slated for the second quarter of 2023.
