FORT WORTH, TEXAS — San Antonio-based developer Embrey has acquired a 22.9-acre site in Fort Worth for the development of a 276-unit single-family residential community. Collection Champions Circle will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, as well as a pool and a clubhouse. Construction is scheduled to begin in late July or early August and to be complete in 2024. Embrey is also the general contractor for the project and will provide onsite property management services upon completion.
HOUSTON — Cheniere Energy Inc. has signed a 151,490-square-foot office lease for its new global headquarters at Texas Tower, a 47-story building in downtown Houston. The space spans floors 12 through 16 and includes 16,000 square feet of private outdoor gardens and amenity areas. Chris Oliver, Trey Strake and David Guion of Cushman & Wakefield represented Cheniere in the lease negotiations. Michael Anderson, also with Cushman & Wakefield, represented the landlord, a joint venture between Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge. The 1.2 million-square-foot tower is now 70 percent leased following deals with laws firms Vinson & Elkins, McGuireWoods and DLA Piper.
CORPUS CHRISTI AND NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS — Capital advisory firm David B. Norton Inc. has arranged a $15.5 million preferred equity investment for a 722-unit multifamily portfolio in Texas. The properties in the portfolio, which were all constructed within the past decade and feature a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units, are located in Corpus Christi and New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio. The buyer was an undisclosed investment and management firm based in Austin. David B. Norton Inc. placed the preferred equity investment behind a $105 million senior loan, yielding an 81 percent loan-to-cost ratio within the capital stack.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Rio Vista, a 246-unit apartment complex in Fort Worth. Located on the city’s northeast side, Rio Vista offers one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as two pools, a playground, dog park and a soccer field. Al Silva and Ford Braly of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, Florida-based Greenwater Investments, in the transaction. The duo also procured the buyer, an undisclosed, California-based investor that plans to make capital improvements to the property.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Locally based general contractor KWA Construction has broken ground on Remy, a 357-unit multifamily project located within the 147-acre Frisco Square mixed-use development on the northern outskirts of Dallas. Designed by HEDK Architects and developed by Toll Brothers, Remy will offer units that are furnished with stainless steel appliances and stone countertops. Most residences will include washers and dryers and private balconies. The amenity package will comprise a pool, sky deck, speakeasy lounge, library, fitness center, coworking space, clubroom, media room and a package handling system. Completion is slated for early 2024.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Copper Creek, a 274-unit apartment community located on the east side of Fort Worth. The property was built in 1986 and comprises 17 buildings, as well as a pool, soccer field, playground and onsite laundry facilities. An undisclosed, California-based private investment firm sold Copper Creek to California-based Tides Equities. Al Silva and Ford Braly of Marcus & Millichap brokered the deal.
HOUSTON — Los Angeles-based Thorofare Capital has provided a $48 million acquisition loan for an undisclosed, 246-unit multifamily property in Houston. Built in 2017 in the city’s Tanglewood neighborhood, the property features an average unit size of 1,427 square feet and was 92 percent occupied at the time of sale. The loan was structured with a fixed interest rate, a seven-year initial term and four years of interest-only payments. The borrower was also not disclosed.
DALLAS — Merit Brass, a manufacturer of steel, brass and aluminum pipe nipples, has signed a 68,736-square-foot industrial lease at 10614-10676 King William Drive in northwest Dallas. According to LoopNet Inc., the property sits on 5.2 acres and spans 133,979 square feet. Reed Parker of Lee & Associates represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Ken Wesson and Adam Graham, also with Lee & Associates, represented the landlord, EastGroup Properties.
HOUSTON — NAI Partners has negotiated a 23,652-square-foot office lease at 945 Bunker Hill Road in West Houston. The property is located within the 300-acre Memorial City mixed-use development. Griff Bandy of NAI Partners represented the tenant, locally based oil and gas firm BW Energy USA Management, in the lease negotiations. Brad MacDougall and Warren Alexander of MetroNational represented the landlord on an internal basis.
After seeing its population grow by 97,000 between July 2020 and 2021, the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex is now home to nearly 8 million people, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And it’s getting increasingly harder to adequately and affordably house the growing population. The problem isn’t new, just exacerbated, and it’s hardly unique to DFW. But when a market experiences the rate of population growth that the metroplex has over the last decade, the question of how much housing inventory exists that’s financially feasible for the average resident to rent or own gets thrust under the microscope. Of course, there’s a major difference between housing that’s affordable and affordable housing. The former is something of an arbitrary concept, whereas the latter carries a precise legal and regulatory definition. But the socioeconomic issue embodied within the two is largely the same. General Barriers A recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition ranked Texas — once heralded as the land of infinite land — as the sixth-worst state in terms of availability of rental housing for low-income households. This finding runs counter to Texas’ longstanding reputation as a state with an affordable cost of living, but …
