AUSTIN, TEXAS — Floor & Decor will open a 77,958-square-foot store and design center within Shops at Tech Ridge, a 504,153-square-foot retail center located at the intersection of Interstate 35 South and Parmer Lane in Austin. About 40 employees will work in the store, the grand opening of which is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 9. Floor & Decor is an Atlanta-based provider of hard-surface flooring supplies.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Storage Depot, a 242-unit self-storage facility situated on 4.6 acres at 11990 Old Wellborn Road in College Station, about four miles south of Texas A&M University’s campus. Built in 1993, the property features 37,260 square feet of net rentable storage space. Nicholas Ling of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a limited liability company, in the transaction. Dave Knobler of Marcus & Millichap procured the buyer, also a limited liability company. Both parties requested anonymity.
MONTGOMERY, TEXAS — Retail brokerage firm Baker Katz has secured a 7,300-square-foot retail lease at the corner of State Highway 105 and Lone Star Parkway in Montgomery on behalf of Pet Supplies Plus. Lunden McGill of Baker Katz represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Scott Gardner of Streetwise Retail Advisors represented the landlord, Gulf Coast Commercial LLC. The store is scheduled to open in early 2018.
HOUSTON — As the growth of e-commerce continues, its impacts on logistics and operations within the industrial real estate sector become more significant. Recent data from supply chain consulting firm Tompkins projects that by 2020, the value of America’s cross-border e-commerce sales will be approximately $486 billion. In addition, the value of cross-border purchases via e-commerce will total about $140 billion. To meet the e-commerce demand, industrial developers will have to supply about 160 new logistics facilities spanning 800,000 square feet in top urban markets, according to Tompkins. Another 100 or so facilities in the 75,000- to 100,000-square-foot range will need to be repurposed to support delivery to secondary and tertiary markets. Distributors in the e-commerce era have long since learned to compress their supply chains and look for logistical opportunities to save on “last-mile” expenses. To that end, industrial operators are increasingly looking to air and rail transit as distribution channels. Steve Schellenberg, vice president of business development for IMS Worldwide Inc., a logistics consulting firm for the industrial real estate sector, discussed the rise of intermodal transit during the InterFace Houston Industrial conference on Oct. 31. Approximately 115 industrial real estate professionals attended the event, which was held …
MCKINNEY, TEXAS — Developer Shane Jordan will build Hub 121, a 22-acre mixed-use property that will be located within the Craig Ranch development in McKinney. The first phase of the project will deliver a 40,000-square-foot restaurant park with pedestrian walkways that connect to Independent Bank’s 400,000-square-foot headquarters and the development’s 2,500-unit residential community. Phase I will also deliver a 6,500-square-foot entertainment pavilion, 20,000 square feet of retail space and 287 residential units. Construction of Phase I will begin in January 2018, with the first restaurants scheduled to open in January 2019. Phase II will deliver a 200,000-square-foot office building, additional retail space and a hotel.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Hillwood has broken ground on Parkside at Alliance Town Center, a 3.5-acre dining and entertainment destination that will be located within the 900-acre AllianceTexas development in Fort Worth. Upon completion, the property will feature a live music stage and space for outdoor games. Two restaurants, Grub Burger Park and Shell Shack, have already committed to operating within the site, with more to come. Construction for the Grub Burger Park and Shell Shack locations is expected to be complete by summer 2018.
MANSFIELD, TEXAS — SteelTex, a division of Houston-based rubber and plastics producer Utex Industries, will relocate its manufacturing operations from the southern Fort Worth metro of Venus to Mansfield, due south of Arlington. The company will occupy a 135,000-square-foot industrial facility located at 102 Sentry Drive within Mansfield Industrial Park. Following the relocation, the company expects to expand its operation from 75 to 130 employees over the next five years.
PLANO, TEXAS — Hospitality REIT Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc. has sold Marriott Plano Legacy Town Center, a 404-room hotel located at 7121 Bishop Road in Plano, for $104 million. Built in 2001, the property features amenities such as a pool, fitness center, multiple dining options and 36,223 square feet of meeting space, and was sold at a cap rate of 7.7 percent. The buyer was not disclosed.
NORMAN AND TULSA, OKLA. — Harborview Capital Partners has closed a total of $16.1 million in acquisition financing for a 399-unit multifamily property in Norman and a 100-unit multifamily property in Tulsa. Jeffrey Fuchs of Harborview closed both deals. Fuchs also recently closed $1.7 million in refinancing for two retail properties in Lorenzo and Paducah, Texas, both of which are leased to Family Dollar. The names of the Oklahoma multifamily properties and the borrowers were not disclosed.
With occupancies, rental rates and volumes of new construction on the rise, the Fort Worth retail market continues to draw a great number of investors and available debt lenders to the area in search of deals. Stabilized strip centers in high-traffic areas are in high demand, often trading at first-year returns in the high-6 percent to low-7 percent range. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex’s thriving economy and growing population has prompted greater retail spending, which, in combination with the shifting retail landscape, is generating strong demand for space. During the first quarter, area employers added 24,300 positions. Many of these jobs were created at businesses that are situated within master-planned, mixed-use developments that combine office, retail and rental units, which has helped foster greater retail spending. As of the first quarter, average retail spending per household in Fort Worth reached $4,439 per month — 17.3 percent higher than the U.S. average. Looking forward, it seems likely that these trends will continue as the DFW population is projected to expand by 728,000 people over the next five years. This should help sustain healthy demand and positive momentum for retail real estate. Along with the positive economic outlook, the reconfiguration and diversification …
