Archive for January, 2012

January 31, 2012

Hines/J.P. Morgan Joint Venture Buys Plano Office Building and Development Site

DALLAS — Hines –  in a new joint venture with institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets, the acquisition of The Plaza at Legacy.  Formerly known as Computer Associates, the seven-story, 215,499-square-foot office building is located in the LegacyBusinessPark, in the Far North Dallas submarket of Plano, Texas. 

A future development site,   an adjacent 12-acre corner land parcel along Legacy Drive was part of the purchase. Hines Dallas Vice President Ran Holman said the parcel can accommodate a 300,000 sf office development.

Computer Associates (aka “CA Technologies”) recently reconfigured their space and renewed for an additional 10-year term to now occupy approximately 43 percent of the leased space (77,000 square feet, with an expansion right for approximately 16,000 square feet), leaving  approximately 120,000 square feet available for  immediate multi-tenant use.

As a result of CA Technologies’ reconfiguration, the venture plans to reposition the building from single-tenant to multi-tenant office use.  Plans include:  reconfiguring and upgrading the lobby; adding a new deli/sundry shop; adding a fitness and conference center; and upgrading common areas finishes on each floor.  U.S. Bank is providing the financing for the retrofit.

“U.S. Bank is proud to support Hines & J.P. Morgan by providing a creative financing solution that allows the partnership to take advantage of the growing opportunity in theDallasmarket,” said U.S. Bank Dallas Senior Vice President Greg Kaye. “This kind of transaction is right in our sweet spot and is representative of U.S. Bank’s continued commitment to commercial real estate businesses throughout the Texas market and across the nation.” 

Renovations will be complete by year end, and Hines is actively co-marketing the remaining space exclusively with Cassidy Turley.  

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Houston Real Estate Investment Banking team acted as Hines exclusive advisor in arranging both the joint venture equity and the debt.   

The office building was developed in 2001 by Hines as a build-to-suit for Computer Associates.  In 2004, Hines sold the asset to ING-Clarion, and continued to manage the property until 2006.

January 27, 2012

Grubb & Ellis: Dallas Office Market Showing Improvement

DALLAS – The Dallas-Fort Worth office market vacancy rate decreased to 21.7 percent during 2011, a decline of 110 basis points from the prior year, according to Grubb & Ellis. The Grubb & Ellis report said:

  • The vacancy rate for Class A office space decreased 60 basis points to 20.2 percent in the last 12 months, marking the sector’s lowest level since early 2009. The vacancy rate for Class B properties dropped to 23.7 percent in the last year, a 110-basis-point reduction and the sector’s best performance since the end of 2008.
  • The region’s office market posted 887,832 square feet of positive net absorption in the fourth quarter of 2011, bringing the year-to-date positive absorption total to more than 2.1 million square feet.
    • The bulk of the net absorption gains in 2011 occurred in the Class B sector, which experienced 867,313 square feet of positive net absorption as tenants leased good quality space at competitive rental rates.
    • Year-over-year, average asking rental rates for the region’s Class A office market decreased $0.38 to $22.92 per square foot. Average asking rental rates for Class B office space dropped to $17.73 per square foot at year-end, a $0.07 decrease from the prior year.
    • More than 4.4 million square feet of sublease space was available at the end of 2011, a drop of 28.5 percent from the peak in early 2010.
    • The Dallas-Fort Worth region closed the year with 615,600 square feet of space under construction in the form of three speculative and one build-to-suit projects. Developers broke ground on a 164,000-square-foot, six-story office building during the fourth quarter in the West Plano/Frisco submarket that will be completed in early 2013.
January 23, 2012

Miami Group Buys 800,000-sf Brookhollow Office Complex in Houston

HOUSTON -  Parmenter Realty Partners has acquired Brookhollow Central, a three-building office complex totaling 800,000 square feet, on the northwest part of Loop 610 in Houston, according to a report by Katherine Feser of the Houston Chronicle.

The seller was  TPG CalSTRS, a joint venture of Thomas Properties Group and the California State Teachers Retirement System.

Miami-based Parmenter also owns the Woodland Park Plaza building in the Westchase area of Houston.

Brookhollow is a value-add acquisition. The 11-story Brookhollow Central I building, formerly home to the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD), is 100 percent vacant.

January 17, 2012

Houston Home Sales Rebounded in 2011

By Ralph Bivins

HOUSTON — Houston’s home sales were up 4 percent in 2011, over the prior year, the Houston Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

The city’s strong job growth, boosted by the energy industry, provided the basis for the rebound. With another increase in December, Houston ended 2011 with seven consecutive months of sales increases.

“2011 ended on a very promising note,” said Wayne Stroman, HAR chairman and President/CEO of Stroman Realty.  The key to sustaining that positive momentum in 2012 will be continued improvement in Houston’s employment numbers.”

The Houston housing market concluded calendar year 2011 with noteworthy gains in sales volume along with strong pricing. Single-family home sales rose 4.0 percent for the year while sales of all property types increased 4.3 percent. On a year-to-date basis, the average price rose 0.9 percent to $213,723 while the median price ticked up 0.7 percent to $155,000. Total dollar volume for full-year 2011 climbed 5.2 percent to $13 billion compared to full-year 2010.

Month-end pending sales for December totaled 2,907, up 3.0 percent from last year and a signal that a further increase in demand is likely when the January figures are tallied. The number of available properties, or active listings, at the end of December fell 14.1 percent compared to December 2010. This absorption of housing inventory accounted for a 20.2 percent decline in months inventory to the lowest level since December 2009—5.8 months versus 7.2 months in December 2010. That means it would take 5.8 months to sell all the single-family homes on the market based on sales activity over the past year. The figure is significantly better than the national inventory of single-family homes of 7.0 months reported by the National Association of Realtors.

For more: http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/01-17-12-10-53-houstons-real-estate-rebound-home-sales-finish-up-in-2011-with-seven-straight-months-of-gains/

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