HOUSTON — Locally based investment and development firm MetroNational has broken ground on a 190,000-square-foot office project within a four-acre mixed-use development in Uptown Houston. Designed by Kirksey Architects, the Class A building will offer 21,000 square feet of leasable space per floor and will include 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space. An expected completion date has not yet been determined.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Locally based investment firm 180 Multifamily Properties has purchased Rio on the Parkway, a 305-unit community in Arlington. According to Apartments.com, the property was built on 9.5 acres in 1972 and features studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Amenities include a pool, playground and onsite laundry facilities. The buyer, which acquired the asset from an entity doing business as Rio on the Parkway 2017 LLC, will renovate and rebrand the property as The Mirage.
DALLAS — Global architecture firm PDR is expanding its presence in Texas with the opening of a regional office at 2001 Ross Ave. in downtown Dallas. Since its founding in 1977, the Houston-based firm has worked on projects in Dallas for major companies like ExxonMobil, Texas Instruments and USAA. Partner and principal Marc Bellamy will lead the Dallas office along with senior associates Justin Dezendorf and Jenny Segsworth.
SAN ANTONIO — JLL has negotiated the sale of South Park Mall, a 663,978-square-foot enclosed regional mall in south San Antonio. Built on 48.5 acres in 1968, the property has been renovated several times, most recently in 2018. South Park Mall was 95 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including anchors JC Penney, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Beall’s, as well as Old Navy, Ulta Beauty and The Vitamin Shoppe. Dave Monahan, Cameron Pittman, Akhil Patel, Claudia Steeb and Barry Brown of JLL represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. A partnership between Mason Asset Management, Namdar Realty Group and CH Capital Group purchased the asset.
HOUSTON — Boston-based TA Realty has acquired East Belt Business Park, a 350,000-square-foot industrial development situated on 23.7 acres in southeast Houston. The property consists of two rear-load and two cross-dock buildings that include 20- to 24-foot clear heights, 114 dock-high doors, 120- to 180-foot truck court depths and 510 parking spaces. Trent Agnew, Rusty Tamlyn, Charlie Strauss and Tom Weber of JLL represented the seller, a fund advised by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, in the transaction.
HOUSTON — NorthMarq has arranged a $28.5 million loan for the refinancing of Champions Forest Plaza, an 187,000-square-foot retail center in Houston. Originally built in the 1960s, the property was 92 percent leased at the time of the loan closing to tenants such as The Container Store, Gap, Ann Taylor, Starbucks and Jos. A. Bank. Matthew Franke, Ray Driver and Michael Borden of NorthMarq arranged the 15-year, fixed-rate loan with a 25-year amortization schedule through OneAmerica, an Indianapolis-based life insurance company. The borrower was Smithco, a locally based developer.
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Locally based developer Jackson-Shaw has signed two new tenants at Parc NorthEast, a 434,640-square-foot industrial development in the northeastern Dallas suburb of Richardson. Mygrant Glass, a family-owned auto glass wholesaler, has leased 93,079 square feet at Building 4, and garage door provider Section Stack has leased 31,458 square feet at Building 2. Josh Barnes of Holt Lunsford Commercial represented Jackson-Shaw in the lease negotiations.
HOUSTON — TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co., a Norwegian provider of surveying services for the energy industry, has signed a 97,295-square-foot office lease renewal at 10451 Clay Road in Houston. Doug Little and Louann Pereira of Transwestern represented the landlord, Office Properties Income Trust, in the lease negotiations. Jon Silberman of NAI Partners represented the tenant.
David Leopold, Senior Vice President and Head of Affordable Housing at Berkadia, speaks with reporter Nellie Day about the ever-growing need for affordable housing and the challenges of meeting increasing demand. As Leopold discusses the differences between subsidized affordable housing and “organic,” workforce housing that is not driven by subsidies, he looks at the short- and long-term impacts of each approach. “Like all real estate, affordable housing challenges are very local. And the solutions to affordable housing are also local,” Leopold says. Developers have different tools available to them depending on where they are doing deals. Watch the video to hear more from Leopold about the challenges of affordable housing and how Berkadia is helping to tackle the issue. This video is posted as part of REBusinessOnline’s Finance Insight series, covering MBA CREF 2020. Click here to subscribe to the Finance Insight newsletter, a four-week newsletter series, followed by video interviews from MBA CREF.
DALLAS — Locally based firm De La Vega Development has completed demolition of the former Affiliated Computer Services building at 2828 N. Haskell Ave. in Dallas. The property was temporarily known as The Leaning Tower of Dallas following a failed demolition attempt on Feb. 16 that left part of the building standing at a sharp angle. The site is the future home of The Central, a 27-acre mixed-use development that will feature about 5 million square feet of residential, hospitality, retail, restaurant and entertainment space, as well as a 3.5-acre park. Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition LLC is the contractor that handled the demolition work.
