ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of Aspen Woods, a 228-unit apartment community in Arlington. Built in 1976, the property, which has since been rebranded as The District on Collins, primarily offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans with units averaging about 850 square feet. Amenities include a pool, outdoor grilling area, a clubhouse and onsite laundry facilities. Al Silva of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a Dallas-based partnership, in the transaction. Silva also procured the buyer, a Texas-based investment firm that will implement a multimillion-dollar renovation program.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Mason Joseph Co. Inc., a San Antonio-based multifamily lender, has closed $34.1 million in construction and permanent financing for Nexus at Goodnight Ranch, a 294-unit apartment project in Austin. Mason Joseph secured the nonrecourse loan through HUD’s 221(d)(4) program, the multifamily industry’s highest-leverage, lowest-cost FHA financing option. The loan, which was arranged on behalf of the developer, privately held multifamily firm Artisan American Corp., also carries an interest rate that is fixed for the initial 21-month construction period and the subsequent 40-year term. Hudson Construction Co. is serving as general contractor for the garden-style project, which will feature Class A furnishings and amenities.
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — JLL has brokered the sale of 1271 San Marcos, a 240-unit apartment community located approximately 32 miles south of downtown Austin. The recently built, 11-acre property consists of eight three-story apartment buildings, a resort-style pool, two outdoor grilling stations, a fitness center, outdoor entertainment pavilion and a dog park. Greg Austin and Scott LaMontagne of JLL represented the sellers, Covenant Development and Parkcrest Builders LLC, in the transaction. The buyer was Oregon-based Hayden Properties LLC.
HOUSTON — Madison Marquette has negotiated 95,883 square feet of lease transactions at Bank of America Center, located at 700 Louisiana St. in downtown Houston. Deal highlights include international law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP leasing 17,519 square feet; asset management firm Carlson Capital LP renewing its 8,774-square-foot lease; and financial services provider BMO Capital Markets Corp. renewing its 30,275-square-foot lease and taking an additional 7,065 square feet of space. John Spafford and Madeline Gregory represented the landlord, Houston-based M-M Properties, in the lease negotiations.
PLANO, TEXAS — Los Angeles-based investment firm RPD Catalyst has acquired Preston Creek Shopping Center, a 79,730-square-foot retail property in the northeastern Dallas suburb of Plano. The developer of the center, ASG Realty, sold the center for an undisclosed amount. Chris Harden, Kris Von Hohn and Ryan Duffie of Cushman & Wakefield, along with Samer Keilani and James Hankins of ACR Realty, represented the seller in the transaction. RPD Catalyst was self-represented. Several restaurants, including Pei Wei Asian Diner, Modern Market and Cowboy Chicken, anchor the property, which was completed in 2006.
TEXARKANA, TEXAS — CBRE has arranged the sale of Waterton Plaza at Cowhorn Creek, a 76-bed skilled nursing facility in Texarkana, located along the Texas-Arkansas border. Daniel Morris of CBRE represented the seller, The Waterton at Cowhorn Creek LLC, in the transaction. The buyer was a partnership between Trinity Healthcare and Live Oak Healthcare, both of which are based in the DFW metroplex.
The combined forces of population growth, increased online shopping and demand for last-mile fulfillment centers are driving development of and investment in industrial assets in major markets. Natural population growth translates to more aggregate demand and consumption of goods and services. The rise of e-commerce has guaranteed that a growing percentage of those products will be ordered online and delivered to end users within a few days, hence the need for more fulfillment and distribution facilities near major population centers. The metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) of Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston are home to a combined 13 million or so people and counting. Both MSAs have seen major upticks in industrial development over the last several years while also posting record absorption numbers. And despite some vast differences between the industries and users driving demand in DFW and Houston, both markets reflect how sweeping changes in consumer behavior have elevated the fundamentals of their industrial real estate inventories. Regardless how different their economies are, demand for space in both markets should remain robust in 2019. By The Numbers According to CoStar Group, DFW posted positive net absorption of approximately 20 million square feet in 2018, a year in which inventory …
IRVING, TEXAS — Following a merger with the parent company of the Chuck E. Cheese brand, London-based Leo Holdings Corp. plans to rebrand itself and take the new company public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “CEC.” The enterprise value of the combined company, which will be known as Chuck E. Cheese Brands Inc., is estimated at $1.4 billion. Leo Holdings, which is self-described as a special purpose acquisition firm, has entered into a “definitive business combination agreement” with Queso Holdings Corp., which is the parent company of CEC Entertainment Inc., the owner, operator and leading franchisor of the family dining and entertainment brand Chuck E. Cheese. The other principal in the merger agreement is Queso’s controlling stockholder, an entity owned by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO), a publicly traded equity firm based in New York. CEC Entertainment is based in the Dallas suburb of Irving and also owns, operates and franchises Peter Piper Pizza, a family dining concept. As of year-end 2018, CEC Entertainment and its franchisees operated a system of 606 Chuck E. Cheese venues and 144 Peter Piper Pizza restaurants, with locations in 47 states and …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Job aggregator Indeed Inc., which has headquarters in Austin and Stamford, Conn., has signed a 183,911-square-foot office lease at Domain Gateway in Austin. The company will occupy the entirety of the Class A building, which was built in 2009 and is owned by a fund of California-based KBS, following the expiration of the current tenant’s lease. Troy Holme and Katie Ekstrom of CBRE represented KBS in the lease negotiations. CBRE also worked with Todd Chessher Commercial Leasing & Brokerage on behalf of Indeed. The space will ultimately be able to accommodate the 3,000 employees that the company plans to hire in the coming years. A timeline for assuming occupancy was not disclosed. According to local news station KXAN, with this lease, Indeed’s office footprint in Austin is now approaching 1 million square feet.
HOUSTON — HFF has negotiated the sale of a three-property, 544,291-square-foot office portfolio located in the Tanglewood and Memorial Village areas of Houston. The portfolio comprises 1616 Voss, 7500 San Felipe and 6363 Woodway, all of which will be renovated and repositioned as part of a $15 million capital improvement program. Dan Miller, Marty Hogan and Johnny Kight of HFF represented the seller, a partnership led by Unilev Capital Corp., and procured the buyer, CapRidge Partners LLC. Jim Curtin and Andy Scott of HFF arranged floating-rate acquisition financing for the deal through New York Life Insurance Co.