HILL COUNTRY VILLAGE, TEXAS — San Antonio Commercial Advisors (SACA) has brokered the sale of The Alley on Bitters, a 30,000-square-foot shopping center located at 555 W. Bitters Road in the San Antonio metro of Hill Country Village. Bradley Suttle of SACA marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Artisans’ Alley Inc. and procured the buyer, a private trust.
HOUSTON — CBRE has arranged the sale of a 120-room Staybridge Suites hotel located at 9000 S. Main Street in Houston. Michael Yu, Rahul Bijlani, Eric Guerrero and Agrama Mannapperuma of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. St. Louis-based Midas Hospitality purchased the asset, its first Texas-based acquisition, for an undisclosed price.
It’s no secret retail vacancies in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area are at all-time lows. Vacancy rates at the end of first quarter 2017 were 4.6 percent, down from 5.5 percent a year ago, according to CoStar. More tenants are actively looking for the right spaces for their businesses so the retail sector is not overbuilt. Junior anchor tenants have “right-sized” requirements, thus decreasing their space needs. For example, Office Depot is downsizing its typical footprint from 24,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet. Grocery stores that have gone dark have been backfilled with fitness gyms, other grocers or entertainment-type tenants. In addition, market rents jumped markedly from $30 per square foot plus NNNs to $35 to $40 per square foot plus NNNs in the high demand spaces. In Class A retail environments such as the Frisco Mile, rates are $50 to $65 per square foot plus NNNs. Even in the new 99 Ranch Market space in Frisco, rents are $50 per square foot plus NNNs and the tenants are not blinking. Requests for higher finish-outs are continuing, but tenants are willing to pay these higher rents in order to use the landlords’ money for their improvements. Job and Housing …
DALLAS — A subsidiary of Michigan-based energy solutions firm Paradise Ridge Hydrocarbons Inc., which has provided equipment and services for cannabis growers in Washington, Oregon and Colorado, has purchased a 31,800-square-foot facility in Dallas. Branded the Agri-Campus Headquarters, the property offers a mix of office and warehouse space. The company plans to acquire and develop similar real estate projects in Texas in anticipation of the state legalizing cannabis.
DALLAS — The Siegel Group Nevada Inc. has purchased the former Regency Hotel, a four-building, 153,000-square-foot hospitality property located on the LBJ Freeway in northeast Dallas, for approximately $5 million. Originally constructed as a Holiday Inn in 1977, the property features a bar and restaurant, theater, fitness center, pool and banquet areas. As part of the property’s repurposing, the company plans to demolish the building that houses the bar, restaurant and banquet areas and construct a stand-alone retail property in its place.
LEON VALLEY, TEXAS — Love Funding has secured $18.5 million in construction and permanent financing for Valencia Lofts, a 192-unit apartment community in the San Antonio metro of Leon Valley. The garden-style community will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units across 14 buildings. Love Funding secured the 40-year HUD loan on behalf of a joint venture between Davila Construction and Loft Concepts.
DRIPPING SPRINGS, TEXAS — JLL has negotiated the sale-leaseback of an 18,313-square-foot post-acute rehabilitation facility situated on 10.6 acres at 3035 W. Highway 290 in the Austin suburb of Dripping Springs. Arizona-based STORE Capital purchased the five-building property from Mentis Neuro Health, which will leaseback 100 percent of the space for 15 years. Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Rick Goings led the JLL team in the transaction.
AMARILLO, TEXAS — Shinall Group will develop a 14,000-square-foot retail center at the former Hastings Entertainment location along Gem Lake Road in Amarillo. Branded The Forum at Gem Lake, the property is surrounded by multiple grocery stores and a Walmart store. The center will lease up to seven tenants, with the earliest move-ins scheduled for late July.
HOUSTON — JLL has arranged a $163.5 million loan for the refinancing of 717 Texas Avenue, a 696,000-square-foot, 33-story office tower in downtown Houston. Developed in 2003, the property was fully leased until recently, when a major tenant vacated, bringing the occupancy rate down to 50 percent. Tom Melody and John Ream of JLL arranged the financing through Goldman Sachs on behalf of a partnership between Hines and California-based Prime Asset Management.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — General Motors (GM) and NorthPoint Development have broken ground on Arlington Automotive Logistics Center, a two-building, 1.2 million-square-foot industrial property in Arlington that will support GM’s nearby manufacturing plant. The project is expected to be complete in 2018 and create an additional 850 jobs. Bob Moore Construction has been named general contractor for the center, which will house about 1,250 employees and provide warehouse services.
