HOUSTON — Hunt Real Estate Capital has provided a $28.3 million Freddie Mac loan for the refinancing of Heights at Post Oak, a 940-unit affordable housing community in Houston. Built in 1972 on 39.4 acres, the property offers units that are all available to residents earning less than 60 percent of the area median income. The loan carries a sever-year term, floating interest rate and three years of interest-only payments. The borrower, Iliad Realty Group, will implement a value-add program over the next year, which will deliver upgrades to the interiors of vacant units, as well as new amenities such as a leasing office and fitness center. Sal Torre of Estreich & Co. arranged the funds with Hunt.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Complexity Gaming, an esports organization, has opened its 11,000-square-foot office headquarters at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys 91-acre mixed-use campus in Frisco. Designed by ICRAVE, the space features a public area and retail space, as well as training rooms and innovation labs for esports players, which compete professionally in video games. A GameStop Performance Center will also open this summer and will carry merchandise from Complexity Gaming.
MCALLEN, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of McAllen Commerce Center, a 32,864-square-foot office building located in the Rio Grande Valley region. Gustavo Torres of Marcus & Millichap’s San Antonio office represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction. Joshua Murphy of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer, also a private investor. Additional terms of sale were not disclosed.
HOUSTON — GID Development Group, which has nine regional offices across the country, will develop a 600-unit multifamily project within Regent Square, a 24-acre mixed-use development in Houston. The project, which will include 50,000 square feet of street-level retail space, marks the second multifamily phase of Regent Square, and follows the delivery of the 21-story Sovereign at Regent Square building in 2015. Floor plans will include studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The groundbreaking for the project, which is being designed by Boston-based CBT, is slated for this fall. JLL will handle leasing of the retail space.
HOUSTON — HFF has placed a loan for the refinancing of Aspen Houston, a 717-bed student housing property located at 4971 Martin Luther King Blvd in Houston. The amount of the loan was not disclosed, but the financing was arranged as part of a $92 million package to refinance a student housing portfolio totaling 1,653 beds in Iowa, Texas and South Carolina. Doug Opalka, Casey Wenzel and Michael Johnson of HFF arranged the funds on behalf of the ownership, which is partnership between Austin-based developer Aspen Heights and global investment firm Safanad.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Locally based brokerage firm Muskin Commercial LLC has brokered the sale of Retama Trace Apartments, a 42-unit asset located in north-central Austin. Muskin Commercial represented the seller, 3405 Dimond LLC, in the transaction. Ray Quezada of Q Realty Austin represented the buyer, California-based Retama Trace Apartments LLC.
JONESTOWN, TEXAS — Dallas-based investment brokerage firm STRIVE has arranged the sale of Jonestown Center, a 6,500-square-foot retail property located on the outskirts of Austin. James Anderson of STRIVE represented the seller and worked with an outside broker to procure the buyer. Both parties were locally based investors. The population within a 10-mile radius of Jonestown Center has grown by 25 percent since 2010. The area also has an average household income of nearly $120,000.
HOUSTON — NAI Partners has negotiated a 3,342-square-foot office lease at 3 Riverway in Houston. According to LoopNet Inc., the property spans approximately 159,000 square feet and was built in 1982. Alex Taghi of NAI Partners represented the tenant, law firm Sico Hoelscher Harris LLP. CBRE handles leasing at Riverway on behalf of the landlord.
Despite the fact that demand for retail space in McAllen is at an all-time high, average asking rents are not rising at rates that preclude new users from entering and expanding within the market. According to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, the retail occupancy rate currently stands at just under 95 percent. The user base is balanced between big box home furnishing and service tenants, neighborhood retailers providing essential services, entertainment concepts and both national and regional food and beverage users. As one might imagine in a market with 95 percent occupancy, there is considerable new development underway. And while rents, which currently max out at about $24 per square foot for new Class A product, have displayed a steady ascent, they also stand at levels that allow for both users and landlords to comfortably turn profits. Most retail real estate professionals in McAllen live in fear of being overbuilt. And indeed, there is new product of all varieties — freestanding, strip centers, power centers — coming out of the ground. A prominent example of new retail development lies in Shops at 29, a power center anchored by Dave & Buster’s and leased to other large-format users like Burlington and …
HOUSTON — Fort Worth-based Olympus Property Group has sold The Tradewinds at Willowbrook, a 374-unit multifamily community in northwest Houston. The property was built in 2007 and consists of 14 three-story buildings. Floor plans comprise one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 920 square feet, with select units offering wood floors, patios and fireplaces. Amenities include a resort-style pool, jogging trails, a business center, fitness center and outdoor picnic area with gas grills and lake views. Ryan Epstein and Jennifer Ray of Berkadia handled the sale on behalf of Olympus. The buyer was Cortland, an Atlanta-based multifamily owner-operator, which purchased the community for an undisclosed price.