LANCASTER, TEXAS — A partnership between Chicago-based investment firm Pearlmark and Buffalo, N.Y.-based Sinatra & Co. Real Estate has acquired Pleasant Creek, a 159-unit workforce housing community in Lancaster, a southern suburb of Dallas. The property was 98 percent occupied at the time of sale. Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, NAPA Ventures, in the transaction. Greystone provided acquisition financing for the deal through Fannie Mae.
SAN ANTONIO — Raleigh, N.C.-based The Preiss Co., in a joint venture with a fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital, has acquired Luxx, a 694-bed student housing community in San Antonio. The property serves the University of Texas at San Antonio and features a pool with a swim-up bar, outdoor cabanas, grilling areas, a cyber lounge and a two-story fitness center. Preiss will undertake a multimillion-dollar capital improvement plan to certain amenity spaces, including the clubhouse and the dog park. The seller was not disclosed.
AMARILLO AND GRAPEVINE, TEXAS — National investment firm Industrial Realty Group LLC (IRG) has purchased two facilities totaling 603,800 square feet in the West Texas city of Amarillo and the northern Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine. The Amarillo property is a light industrial facility spanning 412,000 square feet on 54.9 acres, and the Grapevine asset is a manufacturing plant totaling 191,800 square feet on 10.8 acres. The sellers were not disclosed. IRG’s portfolio now spans approximately 100 million square feet across 28 states.
WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS — Dallas-based Vanguard Real Estate Advisors has brokered the sale of Arbor Creek Apartments, a 360-unit multifamily property in Wichita Falls, about 140 miles northwest of Dallas. The Class B community, which was 94 percent occupied at the time of sale, was built in phases in 1977 and 1980. Floorplans feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units and amenities include a pool and a fitness center. Jordan Cortez of Vanguard marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Maven Management, and procured the undisclosed buyer.
HOUSTON — HFF has negotiated the sale of Vanderbilt Court, a 164-unit multifamily community in southwest Houston. Built in 1983, the property offers one- and two-bedroom units averaging 835 square feet. Amenities include two pools, a fitness center, clubhouse, business center and outdoor dining space. Joey Rippel and Chris Young of HFF represented the seller, Virginia-based 37th Parallel Properties, and procured the buyer, Indus Management Group.
MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS — NAI Partners has secured a 15,000-square-foot industrial lease for Gupta Management Co. at 1535 Industrial Drive in Missouri City, a southwestern suburb of Houston. The property is located within a four-building industrial park that is currently under construction. Jake Wilkinson and Darren O’Conor of NAI Partners represented the landlord in the transaction.
Developers of new retail product in the e-commerce era face an array of roadblocks, from rising land and construction costs to heightened scrutiny from lenders on cash flows. Besides a larger economic downturn, in today’s Darwinian retail environment, nothing makes a new project fizzle or a stabilized center depreciate faster than lost income and occupancy brought on by an un-engaging, uninspiring tenant mix. Consequently, developers are devoting more of their budgets than they have in years past to researching, meeting and analyzing users to ensure they nail their tenant rosters on their first try. This is particularly true for developers whose business models center on long-term holds of their properties. “If we put a problem tenant in a center on day one, we inherit that problem for the term of the lease,” says Anderson Smith, co-founder of Capital Retail Properties, a Houston-based retail firm that holds its developments for the long term. “So it’s very important that we do it right the first time.” Smith says that his firm’s first move when researching a potential tenant is to check out that company’s Instagram account, which provides insight on the retailer’s approach to store build-outs and quality of product or service. …
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — Airbus Helicopters Inc. and France-based Helisim have broken ground on a $40 million helicopter training facility in Grand Prairie, roughly midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. The facility will serve as the new training center for pilot personnel and flight simulations. Completion is slated for later this year. The venture is expected to bring several thousand pilots and maintenance personnel to Grand Prairie every year, sometimes for two weeks or more.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. and Dubai-based Invest Group Overseas will develop Auspire at The Gate, a 900,000-square-foot office campus that will be located in the northern Dallas metro of Frisco. The office space will be part of a mixed-use development that includes retail space, two multifamily buildings totaling 775 units and a hotel. Avison Young will handle leasing of the office space, which has a construction schedule of 18 to 20 months.
HOUSTON — Local investment firm Braun Enterprises has acquired a 195,853-square-foot office and retail property in Houston’s Galleria neighborhood from WEDGE Properties Management Corp. Davis Adams, Wally Reid and Kelly Layne of HFF represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction. The property, which comprises two six-story office buildings, a single-story retail building and a two-story parking garage, was 54 percent leased at the time of sale. Braun plans to extensively renovate the interior and exterior of the office buildings and redevelop the retail space.