SHENANDOAH, TEXAS — The University of St. Thomas, a private Catholic college in Houston, has signed a medical office lease in the northern Houston suburb of Shenandoah. The tenant will occupy 20,000 square feet at 121 Vision Park Boulevard, a 58,000-square-foot medical office building that was completed in mid-2019, to support its nursing program. Beth Young of Colliers International represented the university in the lease negotiations. Lisa Hughes and Pamela Sprouse of The J. Beard Real Estate Co. represented the landlord, a partnership between Everson Developments and VP2 Partners.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Global declines in demand brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak caused prices for U.S. crude oil to fall into negative territory on Monday for the first time since the commodity’s futures contracts began trading in 1983. The descent into negative prices essentially means that suppliers must pay to have product purchased from them. Despite recent agreements by major oil-producing nations to undertake supply cuts, evaporated demand for travel and transportation services has contributed to a supply glut that has producers scrambling to store excess inventory. The price decline came to a head on Monday as the May contract for oil futures approached its expiration date, prompting a major selloff that sent prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) downward by more than 100 percent to negative $37.63 per barrel. However, the June futures contract for WTI, which is considered the benchmark product by which American oil markets are measured, is currently trading above $20 per barrel, reflecting a stronger outlook for that month in terms of demand. Texas has been producing record amounts of oil in recent years, even as prices hovered between $40 and $70 per barrel in the years following the slump that began in late …
DALLAS — Conor Commercial Real Estate has broken ground on Skyline Commerce Center, a 198,000-square-foot industrial project located about seven miles from downtown Dallas. The property will feature frontage along Interstate 30 and will consist of a 135,000-square-foot building and a 62,000-square-foot building. Completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter. Stream Realty Partners is handling leasing of the project. Conor Commercial is the development and investment arm of The McShane Cos., headquarters in suburban Chicago.
DENTON, TEXAS — McCarthy Building Cos. has completed the renovation and expansion of the Student Union at Hubbard Hall at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in Denton. The project featured renovations of 100,754 square feet of meeting, event and dining space, as well as 23,920 square feet of structural additions to the building. Landscaping, irrigation and site utilities systems were also upgraded. McCarthy began the project in March 2018. The company previously completed construction of TWU’s Oakland Complex, a parking garage and an adjoining office building that houses campus police headquarters, human resources administrative spaces, a testing center, retail food service vendor and outdoor patio space. Texas Woman’s University is a public co-educational institution with about 13,000 students at its Denton campus.
PORTER, TEXAS — EDGE Realty Partners has negotiated the sale of Shops at Porter, a 30,338-square-foot retail center located at 23611 Highway 59 N. in Porter, a northeastern suburb of Houston. Micha van Marcke and Chace Henke of EDGE represented the seller, SDI 59 Porter LLC, in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
PLANO, TEXAS — Locally based design-build firm ARCO/Murray has delivered a 31,000-square-foot project at West Plano Village for Spaces, a Dutch provider of coworking facilities. The space includes more than 80 individual offices, common rooms, executive suites, phone booths and a café with an attached patio. The facility had just opened prior to shelter-in-place orders taking effect as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Regus, a multinational provider of serviced offices, coworking spaces and virtual offices, acquired Spaces in 2015.
It’s still too early to pinpoint how long and how severe the disruption caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will be to the major office markets of Texas. But brokers in Dallas, Houston and Austin are already seeing their markets display short-term adjustments with regard to deal velocity and structure. As commercial brokers know all too well, every deal is different. Companies are making decisions on whether to delay or pursue office lease consolidations, renewals or expansions based on their unique cash-flow situations, sales outlooks and current positions in their business cycles. In addition, because many office-using jobs don’t qualify as essential services, the uncertainty about how long employees will have to continue to shelter in place and work from home is leading many companies to reassess their short-term needs in terms of size, location and density. Lastly, there are the office users whose businesses have already been walloped by reduced consumer spending. For these companies, decisions about future leasing activity may very well be taking a backseat to a more pressing short-term need to escape an existing lease with minimal bloodshed. Office brokers have their hands full addressing the unexpected and unforeseen …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has established the Strike Force to Open Texas, a committee of medical experts and private and public leaders who will lead the process of reopening the state’s economy while revising hospital capacity and social distancing guidelines. In announcing the initiative on Friday, April 17, Abbott also introduced a “Retail to Go” model that will allow retailers in Texas that have been closed since mid-March to re-open on Friday, April 24 with curbside pickup and delivery services. The governor also issued an order that extends a requirement for all licensed healthcare professionals and facilities to postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not “medically necessary.” Lastly, Abbott has directed state parks to reopen on Monday, April 20, with requirements that visitors wear face coverings, maintain six-foot distances and gather in groups no larger than five.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Embrey Partners, a San Antonio-based multifamily developer, has received a loan for the refinancing of Domain at the Gate, a 350-unit apartment community in Frisco. Built in 2017, the property offers a 24-hour fitness center with yoga and spin studios, an indoor sports simulator, clubhouse and coffee bar, pool with outdoor kitchen and a private library. Pacific Life Insurance Co. provided the loan, and Trinity Real Estate Finance Inc. placed the debt. The amount of the loan was not disclosed.
HOUSTON — A fund sponsored by Los Angeles-based CBRE Global Investors has acquired Elan Med Center, a 281-unit apartment community located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Built in 2014, the property offers one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool, clubhouse, game room, fitness center, pet park, multiple study lounges and an outdoor terrace area with a kitchen and grills. The seller was not disclosed.