Archive for ‘Texas’

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 14, 2012

Texas Apartment Roundup

 HOUSTON – Crossbeam Capital bought the 348-unit Enclave at Woodbridge Apartments, 15015 W. Airport Blvd. in the Sugar Land area on Houston’s southwest side.  Crossbeam, formed as a result of the meger of Maryland-based Crossbeam Capital and Houston-based Concierge Asset Management, has been active in Texas multifamily recently.

SAN ANTONIO – Hendricks & Partners  announced the sale of Reserve in Alamo Heights (200 units), located at 8446 Country Village Street in San Antonio. The property is located near the junction of the Loop 410 and McAllister freeways. The Seller was JPMCC 2006-LDP9 Alamo Heights, LLC of Miami Beach, FL. The transaction was negotiated by Mike Miller, Chris Ross, and Will Caruth of the San Antonio office of Hendricks & Partners on behalf of the Seller.

AUSTIN, Texas – HFF has arranged $25 million in financing for University Towers, a 184-unit, 641-bed, off-campus, dormitory-style student housing project serving the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. Working on behalf of Cardinal Group Investments, LLC, HFF placed the adjustable-rate loan with a national debt fund.  Loan proceeds were used to acquire the property. University Towers consists of three residential towers, a six-story, 575-space parking garage and 35,840 square feet of ground floor retail space.  The property  has a full-service cafeteria that serves meals to students every day.  Located at 801 West 24th Street, University Towers is in the West Campus area within walking distance to the University of Texas campus, which has more than 51,000 students. The HFF team representing the borrower was led by Pat Burger, Tim Wright and Doug Opalka. Cardinal Group Investments is the investment sponsor arm of Cardinal Group of Denver.

 

December 26, 2011

Boxer Buys Building in NW Houston

HOUSTON -  Houston-based Boxer Property  has purchased the eight-story Wells Fargo Building at 13201 Northwest Freeway in Houston. The 134,766 square foot  office building has a current occupancy of 64 percent and boasts full service Class A amenities. 13201 Northwest Fwy is located near the Northwest side of Houston, at the corner of Hwy 290 and Hollister, midway between Loop 610 and Beltway 8. Boxer Property represented itself in the purchase.

  “Leasing has been very positive at our other property in this area, so we saw the acquisition of the Wells Fargo building as a natural fit. This addition of 13201 gives us more inventory to keep up with the leasing momentum we currently have in this submarket.”, commented David Kayle, Boxer’s lead Acquisitions manager.

 Boxer purchased two other office buildings in Dallas earlier in December.

 
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