HOUSTON AND DALLAS — Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) has entered into separate purchase agreements to acquire BLVD Place in Houston and Eldorado Plaza in Dallas for a combined $204.6 million. The sellers were undisclosed.
The Houston-based REIT expects to close the acquisitions in May, subject to customary closing conditions. Upon closing, BLVD Place will be Whitestone’s 28th property in the Houston region and Eldorado Plaza will be the company’s seventh property in the Dallas area.
Situated at 1800 Post Oak Blvd. in Uptown Houston, the 216,944-square-foot BLVD Place was 99 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Whole Foods Market, Elaine Turner, North, Peska, Pinkberry, True Food Kitchen, New Balance and Verizon Wireless. The brewpub within Whole Foods was the first brewery located inside a grocery store in the United States.
BLVD Place also features office space, including the regional headquarters for Frost Bank. Houston-based Wulfe & Co. developed the first two phases of BLVD Place.
The acquisition of BLVD Place includes 1.4 acres of land that Whitestone REIT will use to develop a $45 million, six-story mixed-use building. The future project will feature 46,000 square feet of retail space on the first two floors and 91,000 square feet of office space on the top four floors.
Whitestone REIT expects to fund a portion of its purchase of BLVD Place with $80 million of debt financing, and the company is currently negotiating the terms with potential lenders. However, the REIT has not yet entered into a binding commitment letter or definitive loan documents.
Located in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, the 221,577-square-foot Eldorado Plaza was 97 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Trader Joe’s, Chico’s, LA Fitness, Bed Bath & Beyond, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Belk and Lane Bryant.
The acquisition includes the option to purchase an additional 1.9 acres of developable land that will give Whitestone the ability to build an estimated 24,000 square feet of additional leasable space, based on current plans.
Whitestone REIT expects to fund a portion of the purchase price of the acquisition of Eldorado Plaza with borrowings under its unsecured revolving credit facility.
Whitestone REIT was founded in 2006 and went public in August 2010. Whitestone’s properties span more than 4 million square feet and are primarily located in Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
Whitestone’s stock price closed on Wednesday, April 19 at $14.24 per share, up from $12.90 per share at this time last year.
— John Nelson