AUSTIN, TEXAS — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that the state would be pausing any further phases of reopening businesses following a recent increase in COVID-19 cases. Businesses that had been permitted to reopen under previous phases may continue to operate under previously established occupancy restrictions and social distancing guidelines. As part of this initiative, Gov. Abbott is also temporarily banning elective and nonessential surgeries to allow medical facilities the bandwidth to adjust to the rise in cases. The strongest uptick in new cases of late has been concentrated in Harris County, which has seen more than 1,300 new cases per day over the last three days. In addition, over the past weekend, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission suspended the alcohol licenses of more than a dozen bars in Texas, including some in the Houston area, that were noncompliant with occupancy and social distancing mandates. As of Thursday, June 25, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services had identified approximately 132,000 cases of COVID-19 and 2,300 fatalities across the state.
DALLAS — Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), a global provider of data colocation services, has completed a $142 million expansion project at its Dallas Infomart Data Center campus. The California-based company’s Dallas campus is located at 1950 N. Stemmons Freeways, spans roughly 1.6 million square feet and offers a power capacity of 60 megawatts. The project represents that first phase of a larger development and provides 72,000 square feet of colocation space for data storage. Future expansion phases may provide as much as 144,000 square feet of colocation space. Equinix purchased the property in 2018 from ASB Real Estate Investments for roughly $800 million.
CORSICANA, TEXAS — Advantage Construction and Forge Building Co. have broken ground on a 278-unit expansion project at Mini-West Storage, a self-storage facility located in Corsicana, about 50 miles south of Dallas. The project will add 39,500 net rentable square feet of climate- and non-climate-controlled space to the facility, which originally opened in 1987 and now features approximately 700 units. Texas Community National Bank provided construction financing for the project, which is expected to be complete in December.
SAN ANTONIO — General contractor Adolfson & Peterson Construction has been awarded the contract to build the Northside Independent School District’s Marshall Law and Medical Services Magnet High School in San Antonio, a project valued at $22.1 million. The project includes an 80,000-square-foot addition to the main high school, adding a new magnet school for law and medical services, new soccer and softball fields and a parking lot. In addition, the project will include renovations to the career and technology building and administration area. Completion is scheduled for November 2021. Pfluger Architects is designing the project.
TYLER, TEXAS — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has provided a $9.3 million Freddie Mac loan for the refinancing of The Ashton, a 160-unit apartment community in Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas. The property was built in 1979 and offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Paul Harbor of Grandbridge originated the loan, which was structured with a fixed interest rate, 10-year term and 10 years of interest-only payments.
MESQUITE, TEXAS — The City Council of Mesquite, located east of Dallas, has approved a proposal for a 280-acre industrial park, a project that is expected to generate about $200 million in capital investment in land, infrastructure and construction. Dallas-based Wynne/Jackson has been tapped to lead development of the project, preliminary plans for which call for six industrial buildings ranging in size from 120,000 to 1 million square feet. The site is located along the Interstate 20 corridor in an area of town known as Trinity Pointe Mesquite and will ultimately be able to accommodate as much as 3 million square feet of industrial space. The development team expects to break ground by early 2021, but notes that strong demand could necessitate an earlier start date.
DALLAS — A partnership between Orlando-based ZOM Living and investment management firm Civitas Capital Group will develop Mezzo, a 378-unit multifamily project that will be located along the U.S. Highway 380 corridor in North Dallas. Designed by JHP Architecture, the garden-style property will consist of 13 three-story buildings with surface parking and attached garages, as well as Class A amenities. The first units are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2021, with preleasing beginning in summer 2021. Stanford Construction is the general contractor for the project. Synovus Bank provided construction financing.
MISSION, TEXAS — Bellomy & Co. has brokered the sale of A+ Storage, a 169-unit self-storage facility located in the Rio Grande Valley city of Mission. The property spans 24,100 net rentable square feet. Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson of Bellomy & Co. represented the Harlingen, Texas-based seller and procured the Nebraska-based buyer in the transaction.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group has completed a 44,000-square-foot creative office building located at 3601 S. Congress Ave. in Austin. The building is situated within Penn Field a 16-acre campus that was originally developed in 1918 as a U.S. Army air base and now houses tenants such as Deep Eddy Vodka, High Brew Coffee and Pandora. The new building can accommodate single or multiple users and features floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor patios and terraces. AQUILA Commercial is handling leasing of the property.
LEWISVILLE, TEXAS — The Mansour Group, a division of Marcus & Millichap, has arranged the sale of an 80,038-square-foot office building in the northern Dallas suburb of Lewisville that serves as the headquarters of auto repair firm Caliber Collision. The property was built on 5.8 acres in 2006 and renovated in 2018. Alvin Mansour and Kevin Mansour of The Mansour Group represented the seller and buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.