DALLAS — Younger Partners has arranged two office leases totaling 18,003 square feet at Republic Center, a 50-story tower in downtown Dallas. Lexitas, a court reporting and legal records firm, renewed and expanded its lease to 13,725 square feet, and Deans Stepp Law Firm leased 4,278 square feet. Trae Anderson and Kathy Parmenter of Younger Partners represented the unnamed landlord in the lease deals. Conor McCarthy and Maggie Birnbach of JLL represented Lexitas, and Sanders Thompson of Transwestern represented Deans Stepp. Republic Center spans more than 1 million square feet of office, retail and multifamily space near the DART St. Paul light rail station in Dallas’ central business district.
DALLAS — The Communication Workers of America (CWA) has announced that Dallas-based AT&T has informed the telecommunications and IT union its plans to permanently shutter 250 AT&T Mobility and Cricket Wireless stores. The move would impact 1,300 retail jobs. There are currently more than 16,000 AT&T retail locations in the United States, including authorized retailers and company-owned stores and kiosks. CWA also reports that A&T plans to cut 3,400 technician and clerical jobs across the country over the next few weeks. The Dallas Morning News reports that AT&T had to inform CWA, which represents 100,000 AT&T workers, of the planned job cuts due to a collective bargaining agreement covering the workers. The newspaper also reports the job cuts and store closures are part of AT&T’s $6 billion cost-cutting plan. According to CWA, AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson pledged in 2017 to create 7,000 new jobs if President Donald Trump’s corporate tax cuts passed. Instead, a CWA review of AT&T’s quarterly reports shows that the company has cut over 41,000 jobs, not including the planned cuts announced June 16.
HOUSTON — Banyan Residential and financial partner Marble Capital have purchased Lofts at the Ballpark, a 375-unit apartment community located one block from Minute Maid Park and BBVA Stadium in downtown Houston. Built in 2001 by Houston-based Hanover Co., the four-story building is located at 610 Saint Emanuel St. and features one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Community amenities include a 24-hour business center, grills, spin room, game room, internet café with a coffee bar, movie theater and two swimming pools and sundecks. Lofts at the Ballpark is the first acquisition in the Houston market for Los Angeles-based Banyan Residential. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
SAN ANTONIO — Worth & Associates has broken ground on Walker Ranch Business Park, a two-building, 135,000-square-foot office park in San Antonio. The site is located on 10.8 acres at the corner of Wurzbach Parkway and West Avenue in the city’s North Central submarket. Walker Ranch will comprise a 58,000-square-foot, two-story office building with 10-foot ceilings, two conference rooms, break rooms and a courtyard. The second building will span 78,000 square feet of flex office space with 26-foot clear heights, skylights and outdoor break areas and porches. Worth & Associates plans to deliver the flex building in first-quarter 2021 and the office building in second-quarter 2021. Shawn Gulley represented Worth & Associates in the land purchase internally, and Eldon Roalson of Roalson Interests Inc. represented the seller, Coker United Methodist Church. The project team includes Joeris General Contractors and architect Chesney Morales.
SAN ANTONIO — Brookwood Properties LLC plans to open a three-story self-storage facility located at 4618 San Pedro Ave. in San Antonio this month. The property will span 119,000 square feet and feature 900 controlled-climate units. New York-based self-storage REIT Life Storage will operate the facility. Baton Rouge, La.-based Brookwood Properties broke ground on the building in June 2019. The project team includes Baton Rouge-based general contractor Rosehill Construction and Wichita, Kan.-based architect Kaufman Design Group. The project is the 51st facility in the Brookwood Properties portfolio.
HOUSTON — Lee & Associates-Houston has arranged a 3,000-square-foot lease in Houston for Voodoo Doughnut, a boutique donut shop based in Portland, Ore. Voodoo will open the new store this fall at 1214 Westheimer Road in Houston’s Montrose district. Grant Walker and Brad Kilbride of Lee & Associates-Houston, along with Wade Green of Transwestern, represented Voodoo in the lease deal. The landlord was not disclosed. Walker also represented Voodoo last year in its lease negotiations for its first Houston eatery at 3715 Washington Ave. Voodoo also has a prominent location on Sixth Street in downtown Austin.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Marketplace Real Estate Group and joint venture partner Presidium Group have unveiled the full plans for Velocity, a 314-acre, 7 million-square-foot, mixed-use project in southeast Austin. The co-developers expect to break ground in early 2021. Velocity will be built in phases over 10 to 15 years. Ultimately it will feature an H-E-B grocery store; a total of 2,683 multifamily units; 2.9 million square feet of office space comprising two corporate campuses, along with traditional office properties; 585,000 square feet of flex industrial and creative office space; 310,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and a movie theater; and three hotels. The various assets will surround a seven-acre central park. Financing is in place to move forward with the project’s roads and the first apartment complex, Presidium Velocity, which will take approximately 18 months to build. Formerly branded Velocity Crossing, the property will be situated at the southwest corner of State Highways 71 and 130 within an opportunity zone. The site is also within the city of Austin’s Desired Development Zone and a Triple Freeport Zone, meaning businesses operating within the site can be exempt from paying taxes on inventory that leaves the state of Texas within 175 days. …
HOUSTON — Hines and 2ML Real Estate Interests plan to co-develop Levit Green, a mixed-use development in Houston that will span 52 acres. Situated adjacent to Texas Medical Center, the project will feature life science research facilities, office space, residences, retail space, restaurants, outdoor amenities and green space. Both Hines and 2ML are based in Houston. Hines is a private owner and developer, and 2ML was formerly known as The Grocers Supply Co. but sold off its grocery wholesale business and rebranded in 2014 to focus on its real estate assets. Joe Levit, founder of Grocers Supply, was an initial landowner for a portion of the Levit Green site. The co-developers hope that the project will prove to be a hub for the growing life sciences sector in Houston. Located three miles outside of the city’s central business district, the site has immediate access to State Highway 288, METRORail, METRO bus, bike trails and the planned TMC3 medical research campus. No construction timeline was given.
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — KeyBank Real Estate Capital’s Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) division has secured $50 million of private placement financing for Riverstone, a planned 336-unit affordable housing community in San Marcos. The borrower, Louisville, Ky.-based LDG Development, plans to deliver the property by June 2022. The 18-acre property will feature 12 apartment buildings, a one-story clubhouse, pool and equipment room and two clusters of detached garages. The apartments will comprise one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom layouts, and all apartments will be reserved for residents earning 60 percent or less of the area median income (AMI). Austin-based Capital Area Housing Finance Corp. issued $43.5 million of activity bonds for the project. The remaining $6.5 million portion of the financing is a balance sheet loan provided by KeyBank. David Lacki and Alton Tinker of the KeyBank CDLI team structured the financing.
BAYTOWN, TEXAS — A&R Logistics Inc., a supply chain services provider to the chemical industry, has leased 133,333 square feet at AmeriPort Industrial Park in Baytown. The property is located at 703 Logistics Drive S. near Trinity Bay in metro Houston. Charles Fertitta Jr. of Colliers International represented A&R Logistics in the lease transaction. Robert Alinger, also with Colliers, represented the landlord, National Property Holdings. AmeriPort Industrial Park comprises 4 million square feet and sits on more than 1,000 acres. In addition to the Baytown facility, A&R Logistics is opening a new facility in Charleston, S.C., in September and another in Savannah, Ga., in December.