IRVING, TEXAS — Weitzman will renovate Irving Towne Center, a 240,000-square-foot retail center located at the intersection of State Highway 183 and North Belt Line Road in Irving. Originally built in 1986 and anchored by Target, the center houses tenants such as Tuesday Morning, On The Border and Anytime Fitness. Hodges & Associates is the architect for the renovation project, which is expected to begin in late 2019 or early 2020 and to be complete by the end of 2020.
FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS — NAI Robert Lynn has arranged the sale of Midway Crowne Center, a 47,280-square-foot office building located at 14240 Midway Road in Farmers Branch, a northern suburb of Dallas. A California-based partnership sold the asset to Twinrose Investments for an undisclosed price. Jim Hancock and Chad Albert with NAI Robert Lynn handled the sale with Cullen Dickey of Dickey Property Co.
DALLAS — When developing multifamily product in a market that has added more than 20,000 new units in each of the past three years, distinguishing a community from its peers isn’t just important — it’s essential. According to data from CoStar Group, the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex added approximately 70,000 multifamily units between 2016 and 2018. The market has also absorbed more than 25,000 units over the last 12 months, a period in which only about 23,000 apartments were delivered. Vacancy currently sits at 7.5 percent. A panel of developers at the eighth annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference discussed best practices for differentiating a property in a market that is not only teeming with new supply, but also home to segments of sophisticated renters. Held on Sept. 5 at the Westin Galleria hotel in Dallas, the event drew more than 225 attendees. Drew Kile, senior vice president at Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, moderated the panel. Cultivating A Story Whether by the inclusion of an unusual amenity, the delivery of distinct unit mix that is perfectly targeted to the surrounding demographic or the ascription of a unique story behind the project, multifamily developers in DFW simply …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — New York-based investment firm Castle Lanterra Properties (CLP) has sold Array, a 370-unit apartment community located in the East Riverside area of Austin. The 14-acre property was originally constructed in 1973 and then completely renovated in 2013. Floor plans include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in 40 two-story residential buildings. Array features amenities such as two pools, two dog parks, a fully equipped fitness center with an elevated spinning room and yoga room, an outdoor sports court and a resident lounge. CLP acquired the asset in 2016 for $38.5 million before executing a value-add program.
HOUSTON — JLL has negotiated the sale of Westchase Place, a 150,000-square-foot office building located at 11200 Richmond Ave. in Houston. The property, which includes a three-level parking garage, was built in 1999 and renovated in 2009 and 2013. Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Rick Goings of JLL represented the seller, CAPSTAR Real Estate Advisors, in the transaction. Fuller Westchase Place Ltd., an entity affiliated with locally based Fuller Realty Partners, purchased the property for an undisclosed price.
DALLAS AND FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Colliers International has added a new team of seven investment sales professionals focusing on single- and multi-tenant retail, office, industrial and healthcare properties. Geoff Ficke, who most recently served as senior vice president of Marcus & Millichap, will lead the new team, which has closed transactions with a collectively value of more than $1 billion over the last 10 years.
HALTOM CITY, TEXAS — Greystone has provided $19.5 million in Fannie Mae acquisition financing for a 216-unit apartment community in Haltom City, a suburb of Fort Worth. The financing consisted of an $18.2 million Fannie Mae Green Rewards loan and a $1.3 million mezzanine loan to supplement the first mortgage. Both loans are nonrecourse and carry 12-year terms and fixed interest rates. The borrower was not disclosed.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Berkadia has arranged a $3.5 million loan for the refinancing of Duck Creek Community Shopping Center, a retail center located at the intersection of North Jupiter Road and East Arapaho Drive in Garland, a northeastern suburb of Dallas. Wells Fargo provided the 10-year loan for the borrower, an affiliate of Dallas-based Retail Plazas Inc. The deal closed on Aug. 20.
DALLAS — The 2020 presidential election as well as tariffs, the primary economic weapon of the incumbent candidate, are weighing heavily on the decisions of industrial users and investors in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), according to a panel of experienced leasing and capital markets professionals at the InterFace DFW Industrial conference. Moderated by Coni Hennersdorf, principal of CODA Consulting Group, the event was held Sept. 4 at the Westin Galleria Hotel and attended by more than 200 people in its first year of existence. The panelists agreed that President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which at this point primarily target goods imported from China, have prompted some industrial users to stockpile inventories in advance of the tariffs going into effect. According to the Wall Street Journal, since July 2018, the administration has imposed tariffs on more than $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, not including the additional $150 billion in tariffs set to take effect in mid-December. Other tenants have opted to wait out the election and see if the tariffs will be repealed, effectively delaying key decisions on capital expenditures like labor and materials. The former scenario creates more demand for industrial space, while the latter puts potential expansion deals on hold. …
A persistent need for a tenant mix that is resistant to e-commerce and which facilitates a unique, authentic experience is prompting owners of older retail centers and malls to assume high levels of risk and redevelop their properties. While there can be a plethora of non-tenant-related factors that spur redevelopment projects — the basic need to charge higher rents, the structural and aesthetic deterioration over time, a desire to restore a public perception of vibrancy — the ultimate success of almost every retail redevelopment project hinges on the tenancy. For shopping centers, this typically entails adding more restaurant users and other retail categories that offer a critical service or a unique shopping experience, as well as integrating open recreational spaces. For malls, adding entertainment uses is becoming increasingly important, particularly when an anchor space has been vacated or sold back to the owner. When paired with a telltale sign like sluggish sales and/or negative rent growth, any of the aforementioned factors can be the catalyst for pulling the trigger on a redevelopment project. But whatever the impetus for the project, without marketing to and leasing tenants that can afford market-rate rents, align with the surrounding demographics and drive foot traffic throughout …
