Archive for November, 2011

November 30, 2011

Canadian REIT Buying Hess Tower for a Record Price in Houston

HOUSTON — Hess Tower, a new 29-story building in downtown Houston, is reportedly being sold to H and R REIT, a Canadian-based real estate investor, for a record $445 million.

The deal, if completed as planned, would amount to a sales price of $527 per square foot for the 845,000 sf tower, according to Real Estate Alert newsletter, a respected industry publication.

CB Richard Ellis has been marketing the tower, 1501 McKinney across from the Discovery Green park.  Hess leases the entire building and moved into it in June.

The Hess sale would surpass the previous record high price of $367 per sf which was paid for Bank of America Center.

The Hess building was developed by Trammell Crow in conjunction with Principal Real Estate Investors.

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November 27, 2011

Houston Briefs

Houston – Colliers International notes Saroj Kirby, LLC has purchased a 20,750 sf medical office building at 1325 LaConcha Lane, near the Texas Medical Center. Jim Houmani of Xander Properties represented the buyer. Chris Winters of Colliers International represented the seller, Treeline Partners.

Houston — Cushman and Wakefield of Texas negotiated the lease renewal by Exel Inc. of 11,650 square feet of office space at 4101 Interwood N. Parkway. Coe Parker, B. Kelley Parker, III, SIOR; John F. Littman, SIOR, MAI and Tim M. Thomas of this office represented the tenant in the negotiations. David Husid of Grubb & Ellis represented the landlord.

PLANO, Texas – Houston-based Spec’s Wine, Spirits, & Finer Foods has leased a 9,956 square foot suite located in Gleneagles Plaza at 5930 Park Boulevard in Plano. This will be Spec’s first Plano location and is projected to open by the spring of 2012. Jeff Brand of Brand Capital Partners and Jody Detmore with SFP Brokerage represented Spec’s.Mark Johnston with First Allied represented the landlord, First Allied Corporation.

November 27, 2011

Apartment Update

HOUSTON — A significant number of new apartment projects are under construction in Houston’s Inner Loop area, which is the central city near downtown, the Galleria and the Texas Medical Center. The Houston Chronicle reports more than 3,500 units in a dozen complexes are under construction in the Inner Loop and 8,700 more are proposed, according to Houston-based Apartment Data Services. The Class A occupancy rate is 93.4 percent, and rents average of $1,237 per month, an 8 percent increase over last year. http://www.chron.com/business/article/Apartments-to-multiply-inside-the-loop-2277479.php

LOS ANGELES — Phoenix Realty Group has acquired the $29-million Portofino on the Park Apartments in Upland, Calif., a 235-unit apartment community spread across 32 buildings on 11 acres with easy freeway and commuter rail access to downtown Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire. PRG has purchased 10 apartment communities with 1,960 units in Southern California since late 2010 for a total investment of approximately $216 million in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties

HARRISBURG , PA. – Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has announced the sale of Presidential Halls, a 120 unit apartment property located in Harrisburg , PA, according to Spencer Yablon, Regional Manager of the firm’s Philadelphia office. The project sold for $3,475,000. Donald “Ridge” MacLaren, Vice President Investments along with associates Andrew Townsend and Clarke Talone in Marcus & Millichap’s Philadelphia office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Hendricks & Partners is pleased to announce the sale of 524 Venice Way, Inglewood, CA. The 36-unit apartment community was sold for $4,350,000. The sale price equates to a 6.50% cap rate, 9.13 GRM, $120,833 per unit and $116.78 per square foot. The seller carried the financing. The Seller was Shree Ram Ven, LP of Irvine, CA.The Buyer was Lazy J Bar Z, LLC of Palos Verdes, CA. The transaction was negotiated by Michael McKinney and Steffan Braunlich of the new Los Angeles South Bay office of Hendricks & Partners on behalf of the Buyer.

November 22, 2011

National Real Estate Recovery: A Gradual Reality

By Ralph Bivins

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The nation’s residential realty market is improving, but it may be two or three years or so until the market is completely healthy again, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors.

Existing-home sales are forecast to increase about 1 percent in 2011, and then rise another 4 to 5 percent in 2012, the NAR predicts. For the year, existing home sales will be just under 5 million homes, an improvement over last year, but a far cry from the mid-2000s when annual sales topped 7 million homes.

“The market has been tough,” Yun told reporters at the recent NAR convention in Southern California. “We anticipate recovery next year through 2013 and 2014.”

Home prices are projected to increase on a gradual  climb – a 2 percent increase in 2012; a 3 percent price gain in 2013 and a 4 percent increase in 2014. Of course, the price gains will vary from city to city.

The NAR economist is also projecting an increase in builder’s new home sales, from a record low of 320,000 in 2011 to 372,000 new homes in 2012. Yes, that means home building hit bottom this year.

Mortgage rates will continue to remain low, Yun said.  Rates for 30-year mortgages, currently around 4 percent, will rise to 4.5 percent in 2012, 4.8 percent in 2013 and up to 5.5 percent in 2014, Yun predicted.

For the full story, see Ralph Bivins’ column and photos on the CultureMap.com web site at: http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/11-21-11-its-no-fantasy-real-estate-is-slowly-recovering/

 

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