RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. — Grand Restaurant Group has signed a seven-year lease for 5,808 square feet of restaurant space at 6106 Paseo Delicias within Rancho Santa Fe Village in Rancho Santa Fe. The company plans to open Ponsaty’s, a restaurant led by Chef Patrick Ponsaty, in June at the space, which was the former Delicias site. Bill Shrader and David Maxwell of Colliers International represented the landlord, Millar Properties, while Michelle Bothof of Brush Real Estate and Financial Services represented the tenant in the transaction.
HOUSTON — Ten-X, formerly known as Auction.com, has brokered the sale of Lighthouse Plaza, a 10,600-square-foot retail strip center in Houston that sold on the Auction.com platform for $2.2 million. A local individual investor purchased the 2013-built, 100-percent occupied center. A local LLC was the seller. Saqib Ali of Champions Real Estate, who worked with Alexander Lavell of Ten-X, brokered the transaction. Located at 8245 Mills Road, Lighthouse Plaza is a single-building structure.
HOUSTON — CBRE has arranged a 25,000-square-foot office relocation lease for Hughes Watters Askanase (HWA). HWA, a full-service commercial law firm, has moved from Three Allen Center, located at 333 Clay St., to Total Plaza, located at 1201 Louisiana St. in downtown Houston. Kevin Kushner and Lucian Bukowski of CBRE’s Houston office represented the law firm in the lease transaction. The landlord, Brookfield Office Properties, was self-represented by Clint Bawcom, Jon Dutton and Margaret Sigur. Although the new space is smaller than their previous space, HWA will be able to accommodate more lawyers and staff than it did in its old space by taking advantage of a modern layout designed by Kirksey Architecture. Moderate changes, such as shrinking the size of individual offices, providing more access to natural light, creating spaces that encourage collaboration and interaction and reducing storage and library space will give HWA the ability to grow into their space as needed. CBRE also provided project management services, led by Erin Schultz and Ashley Ramos, which included vendor selection, budget management and timeline oversight to ensure the space was delivered on time and on budget. Total Plaza is a Class A, 843,533-square-foot office building located in downtown Houston. …
HOUSTON — Gill Dolan and Blake Willeford of Grandbridge Real Estate Capital have secured bridge financing for the acquisition and renovation of Monterra Park Apartments, a 392-unit apartment community in Houston. The financing was made on behalf of Tradewind Properties. The asset is located next to the White Oak Bayou Trail in northwest Houston, and planned improvements include a beautification initiative as well as amenity enhancements, rebranding and interior upgrades. The three-year loan includes two years of interest-only payments.
ADDISON, TEXAS — E Smith Realty Partners has secured a lease for Maxim Integrated at Tollway Center, a 200,000-square-foot, six-story office building located on six acres along the Dallas North Tollway in Addison. Jim Hazard, Sharon Morrison, Brad Struck and Saadia Sheikh with E Smith Realty Partners represented Maxim Integrated, while Jeremy Duggins and Addie Ludwig of Cawley Partners represented the landlord. Maxim Integrated will lease space on the first floor and the company will occupy the entire third and fourth floors. With the addition of Maxim’s lease, Tollway Center’s occupancy is 80 percent.
ATLANTA — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $6.5 million sale of Tilly Mill Plaza, a 113,000-square-foot shopping center located at the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Tilly Mill Road in Atlanta. The property is situated one mile north of I-285 and across from a Home Depot. Kaufman Realty Group purchased the asset from a Tennessee-based developer. Kaufman plans to remerchandise the center. Zach Taylor and Don McMinn of Marcus & Millichap’s Taylor McMinn Group in Atlanta represented the seller in the transaction.
WACO, TEXAS — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has closed a $12.5 million acquisition/renovation loan on a 200-unit, 430-bed student apartment project just north of Baylor University in Waco. Baylor is a private university with an enrollment of just under 17,000 students. The property is known as The Hype, but will be re-branded for the 2016/2017 school year. Originally constructed as a non-student property in 1970, the property was renovated in 2013 and 2014 and transformed into a dedicated student housing community. The borrower will continue to upgrade the property through interior and exterior renovations, including relocating the main entry point to the south side of the property, near Baylor’s new McLane Stadium. Tom Walsh of Grandbridge originated the loan through BB&T Real Estate Funding, Grandbridge’s exclusive proprietary lending platform. The non-recourse loan features a two-year interest-only period, an initial adjustable interest rate below 3.9 percent and future funding of all renovation costs. In addition to the relocation of the property entrance, the borrower’s renovation plan includes amenity upgrades, parking area upgrades, adding additional bathrooms to certain units, washers and dryers and furnishing for all units.
FORNEY, TEXAS — ARA Newmark has arranged the sale of Gateway Cedars, a 334-unit, Class A property in the Dallas suburb of Forney. Built in 2015, Gateway Cedars is located on U.S. Highway 80, 30 minutes east of downtown Dallas. Amenities include a swimming pool, two outdoor fireplaces, lighted pergolas, a putting green and a bocce ball court. The 14-acre property is the first phase of apartments to be built in the 2,000-acre master-planned Gateway development. Other plans for the development include 120 acres of retail, 540 acres of single-family residential housing and additional multifamily space, as well as several hundred acres of multi-use space. ARA Newmark’s Brian O’Boyle Sr., Brian Murphy, Brian O’Boyle Jr., Richard Furr and Bart Wickard led the marketing efforts for the property on behalf of Dallas-based developer Gateway Holdings. An undisclosed buyer acquired the property for an undisclosed price. Gateway Cedars was 99.4 percent occupied at the time of sale.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Citrix, a software company that specializes in mobile workspace technologies for on-demand access, has expanded its footprint at its corporate headquarters in Raleigh by 14,000 square feet. The company now fully occupies its 186,000-square-foot headquarters at 120 S. West St. in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District. Charlie Coyne and Christina Coffey of CBRE | Raleigh’s retail services team represented the landlord, JMC Holdings, in the lease transaction. Austin Koon and Gardner Gibson of Davis Moore represented Citrix.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — San Diego-based Moonshine Flats has entered the final stages of lease negotiations for a new 38,000-square-foot “honky tonk” music venue and bar in downtown Nashville. The venue will be a country rock-themed establishment with four levels of bars, live music and DJs, barbecue, amusement rides, an open-air rooftop and floor-to-ceiling LED screens. Owner Ty Hauter expects to open the new Moonshine Flats in 2016.