SAN ANTONIO AND GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — SWBC Real Estate has broken ground on two new developments, both Class A Apartment projects. The first project, Twin Creeks at Alamo Ranch, broke ground earlier this year on the west side of San Antonio. Upon completion, the project will include 300 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The proposed construction time for Twin Creeks at Alamo Ranch from start to finish is 18 months. In the second project, SWBC Real Estate broke ground on its second project, known as Timberview Ranch, which is located in Grand Prairie. Upon completion, the project will include 304, Class A garden-style one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Timberview Ranch is schedule for completion at the end of 2016. Galaxy Builders serves as the general contractor for both projects. Cross Architects is the architect.
MAGNOLIA, TEXAS — Colliers International has arranged the sale of 11 acres on Egypt Lane at Research Forest in Magnolia. Todd Edmonds and Michelle Soderberg of Colliers International represented the seller, I.A.B. Investments Inc., in the transaction. Egypt Land Developments LP was the buyer.
DALLAS — A new, 14-story office building is planned for Uptown Dallas’ financial district. The all-glass, 125,000-square-foot building will be adjacent to Crescent at Maple Avenue and Mahon on a one-acre site that includes the Old Warsaw restaurant. Investors Mike Terry and Holt Lunsford plan to break ground on the project during the first quarter of 2016. The partners will move their companies, M. Terry Enterprises and Holt Lunsford Holdings, into the building upon completion. Gensler designed the building. Lunsford and Terry purchased the property from former owner Al Heidari. The three-building site includes two vacant buildings and the Old Warsaw restaurant, which will continue operating for the duration of its current lease through 2015. Holt Lunsford Commercial will handle the development, leasing and on-site property management. Newt Walker served as the broker for the land transaction. When completed, 2620 Maple Ave. will offer access to retailers and restaurants, the McKinney Avenue Trolley line and Dallas’ Katy Trail.
CEDAR HILL, TEXAS — H&M, a fashion retailer, will open a new location in Cedar Hill. Spanning 21,000 square feet, the new location at Uptown Village at Cedar Hill is set to open in the fall of 2015. The store will be the company’s 15th location in Texas. The store is expected to employ 25 people.
DENTON, TEXAS — Lumber Liquidators, a retailer of hardwood flooring, has leased 7,168 square feet of retail space in Colorado Square, a shopping center in Denton. The property is located at 2305-2311 Colorado Blvd., just north of its intersection with Loop 288. Blake Shipp of The Weitzman Group arranged the lease and is the leasing agent for Colorado Square in cooperation with Metro Commercial Real Estate Services, which represented the retailer. Lumber Liquidators joins tenants including Dollar Tree and Movie Trading Co. The flooring retailer will open in May.
DALLAS — Cinépolis USA will open an eight-screen, 700-seat theater in Victory Park, a 75-acre mixed-use development in downtown Dallas. Located at the northwest corner of Victory Park Lane and High Market Street, the theater will be part of a mixed-use building, which will also include residential and retail components. Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas-Victory Park is the company’s first location in Texas. The 44,000-square-foot cinema is projected to open in 2017 and will include reclining leather seats. The Cinépolis building will also include a 640-space structured parking garage located above the ground floor retail to accommodate residents, retail customers and moviegoers. In addition, construction of a new 250-space parking facility at the south end of the district at Victory Avenue and Lamar Street is slated to begin in the next month.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Kennedy Wilson represented the seller in the sale of 18.3 acres located at the corner of Old Farm to Market 2243 W. and North Bagdad Road in Leander. Ernest Brown of Kennedy Wilson represented the seller, Firstmark Credit Union. Bruce Nakfoor, a local real estate developer, was the buyer. The buyer plans to develop a mixed-use complex comprised primarily of retail and multifamily developments. A residential community surrounds the property.
San Antonio remains a strong growth market. While not receiving as much national attention as its sister metro areas of Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Houston, the San Antonio area gained over 25,000 new jobs last year. The growth is concentrated in tourism, conferences, military and business support services. San Antonio’s growth is expected to remain strong over the next two years and should continue to drive demand for housing throughout the metro area. Local unemployment remains low at 3.8 percent, almost two points below the national average of 5.6 percent. Unemployment is forecasted to remain well below 5 percent over the next five years, according to Moody’s Analytics. However, with per-capita income at $42,000, about 10 percent below the national average, and with lower paying service jobs, San Antonio remains an affordable market for most real estate — particularly residential, which consumes the most land. At Stratford Land we invest in and lend on land for development across the faster growing metropolitan areas in the Sunbelt from the Carolinas to Southern California. Therefore, we either have the opportunity, or burden, of staying abreast of the fundamentals driving demand in all product types — residential and commercial. In looking to invest, …
BAYTOWN, Texas — Dallas-based lender HFF has closed the sale of Remington Park at Baytown, a 129-unit independent and assisted living community. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the unnamed seller. Capital Senior Living purchased the asset for an undisclosed amount. Remington Park at Baytown is located at 901 West Baker Road in Baytown, a suburb approximately 25 miles east of downtown Houston. Expanded in 2008, the 95-percent-occupied property has a mix of nine independent living cottages and 120 assisted living units. The HFF team representing the seller was led by managing director Ryan Maconachy and director Chad Lavender.
DALLAS — Lincoln Harris CSG has brokered the sale of a portfolio of medical office buildings in Dallas-Fort Worth. Webber Beall, Brian Bacharach and Rhodes Baker of Lincoln Harris CSG represented the buyer, Health Care REIT, in the purchase of five on-campus medical office buildings, surgery centers and the sale-leaseback of additional on-campus development sites in the DFW Metroplex. The seller was Rainier Medical Investments, a healthcare and hospitality developer focused on physician co-invested real estate with healthcare systems. The stabilized Class A portfolio contained approximately 196,000 square feet and approximately seven acres of land that was leased back by Rainier for future on-campus medical and hospitality developments.