BELLAIRE, TEXAS — Local Office, a Houston-based coworking concept, has opened an 11,000-square-foot space at 4909 Bissonnet St. in the Houston suburb of Bellaire. The pet-friendly space is the third for Local Office and features kitchen facilities, conference rooms and private furnished offices. A private partnership owns the building.
SAN ANTONIO — Worth & Associates has landed the first tenant at Walker Ranch Business Park, the locally based developer’s 135,000-square-foot office and flex project on the city’s north-central side. Computer Solutions, a San Antonio-based technology and IT consulting firm, will occupy 20,540 square feet at Building II, where about 90 employees will work. The 78,000-square-foot Building II is under construction, and the tenant expects to take occupancy of its new space in April 2021. Russell Noll of Transwestern represented Computer Solutions in the lease negotiations.
DALLAS — CBRE has negotiated a 69,130-square-foot office lease renewal at Plaza of the Americas, an office complex located at 700 N. Pearl St. in downtown Dallas that consists of two 25-story buildings. Harlan Davis, Phil Puckett and Jeff Ellerman of CBRE represented the tenant, law firm Thompson Coe, in the lease negotiations. Transwestern’s Kim Brooks, Justin Miller, Paul Wittorf, Laney Underwood and Ford Childress represented the landlord, a partnership between M-M Properties and Invesco Real Estate.
By Kirk Garza, Valarie Bradley and Caleb Snow of Popp Hutcheson PLLC With property taxes comprising a significant portion of the real estate operating budget at most companies, both tenants and landlords need to understand how trends sparked by COVID-19 can impact their property tax valuations. The pandemic has spurred governments to impose unprecedented restrictions on office capacity and fueled widespread uncertainty among companies that own or lease office space. Organizations are asking if, when and how they will use their offices in the months ahead and are scrutinizing expenses to reduce costs. Many businesses are reevaluating their space requirements after adopting work-from-home initiatives, while greater familiarity with Zoom and other applications that support remote training and online collaboration has firms reconsidering their ongoing need for conference or meeting space. It is essential for real estate decision makers to monitor the effects of such trends on taxable property values. Office Demand Evolves In the early 1990s, it was common for companies to occupy 350 square feet of office space per person. This requirement changed as some businesses sought to maximize density and encourage collaboration. In a COVID-19 world where social distancing precludes density, many companies are limiting the number of …
DALLAS — Locally based developer Hunt Realty Investments has unveiled plans for a 3.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Uptown Dallas, according to reports from multiple news outlets including the Dallas Business Journal and constructionreviewonline.com. According to the latter outlet, the project will be developed on an 11-acre tract between North Field and North Houston streets that currently houses Hunt Realty’s Northend Apartments. The project will include commercial and residential uses, as well as a 1.5-acre park and an urban arboretum. A construction timeline is still being finalized, according to the media outlets.
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — California-based investment firm Buchanan Street Partners has acquired Waters Edge at Mansfield, a 351-unit apartment community located in the central metroplex city of Grand Prairie. Formerly known as Aura 3Fifty-One, the community was built on 13 acres in 2019 and was 93 percent occupied at the time of sale. Units feature one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and amenities include a pool, business center and a resident clubhouse. Drew Kile and Joey Tumminello of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, Trinsic Residential, in the transaction. Buchanan Street was self-represented.
HOUSTON — Houston-based developer Radom Capital has topped out Montrose Collective, a 197,000-square-foot retail and office development in Houston’s Montrose District. According to the Houston Business Journal, the four-story project is valued at $105 million. JP Morgan Asset Management is serving as a joint venture equity partner on the project, which also includes 40,000 square feet of green space and 600 parking spaces. Construction began in early 2020.
HOUSTON — JLL has negotiated a 34,510-square-foot office lease for shipping firm Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. in West Houston. The company is relocating its regional headquarters to a building at 3250 Briarpark Drive, which was built in 1998 and rises four stories, according to LoopNet Inc. Don Foster of JLL represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Kristen Baker, Jack Scharnberg and David Baker of Transwestern represented the undisclosed landlord.
DALLAS — Locally based architecture and design firm Huitt-Zollars Inc. has leased 32,519 square feet of office space at Three Lincoln Centre, a 1.6 million-square-foot campus located at 5420 LBJ Freeway in the Galleria area of Dallas. Landlord Nuveen Real Estate is currently renovating the property, a project that is expected to be complete in early 2021. Matthew Schendle and Clint Madison of Cushman & Wakefield represented Nuveen in the lease negotiations. J.R. Tomlinson of Newmark represented the tenant.
GARLAND, TEXAS — A partnership between Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital LLC and a fund managed by New York-based DRA Advisors has sold Dallas Food Center. The 1.1 million-square-foot cold storage facility is located in the northeastern Dallas metro of Garland. The property was originally built as a distribution center for grocer Safeway and has been renovated a number of times in subsequent decades. Westmount implemented a capital improvement program that raised the ceiling heights by 15 feet and added 90,000 square feet of freezer space. The property was 92 percent leased at the time of sale to a mix of tenants that includes Kraft Heinz. The tenants carry a weighted average of 8.75 years remaining on their leases. Jonathan Bryan and Randy Baird of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.