49 Texas Warehouses Sold in $1 Billion Deal

HOUSTON – DRA Advisors of New York has paid $1 billion to acquire 49 Texas warehouses and other industrial properties from Cabot Properties of Boston.

The 19.8 million SF portfolio includes 25 Houston buildings with a total of 1.7 million SF and 24 Dallas-area buildings with a total of 2.7 million SF.

Cushman & Wakefield and Eastdil Secured represented the seller. Spread over 21 markets, the portfolio has 184 properties, which are 94 percent leased to more than 500 tenants.

Of the 1.7 million SF in Houston, the two largest sites were industrial parks: Willowbend Business Park with 648,352 SF and Kempwood Business Center with 327,928 SF.

Jim Foreman led the Houston team for Cushman & Wakefield. Other C&W Houston brokers who participated in the deal: Louis Kalell IV, Allison Hall, and James Michael Foreman.

With 2.7 million SF, Dallas-Fort Worth represented the largest concentration of assets in the portfolio. Located in Dallas, Coppell, Lewisville, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Irving, and Grand Prairie, the DFW properties range in size from 20,000 SF to 550,000 SF and are 96 percent leased. The assets include 200 N. Northpointe Drive in Coppell (550,000 SF), 301 S. Northpointe Drive in Coppell (308,000 SF), and 1401 Lakeway Drive in Lewisville (125,000 SF). Dallas-Fort Worth brokers were Randy Baird, Executive Vice President; Jud Clements, Senior Director; and Robby Rieke, Director.

“We are enthusiastic about the investment potential of this portfolio and the ability to extend our national industrial footprint to over 45 million square feet,” said David Luski, president of DRA Advisors.

According to Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, Chief Executive Officer of Cabot Properties, this blockbuster deal concludes disposition activity for his firm’s Fund II assets. “We are pleased to have closed this large, complex transaction, which marks the successful and profitable close of an investment program we launched in late 2005,” Colloredo-Mansfeld said. “Continuing strong tenant demand and very favorable conditions in the industrial property markets should also make this a successful investment for DRA Advisors.”