AUSTIN – (Realty News Report) – B&Z Development have broken ground on a five-story, 120,000-SF spec office development, located a few blocks southwest of the Texas Capitol of the western edge of downtown Austin.
CBRE has secured $72 million in loan and equity capital for the development of the building, which is called 701 Rio.
Mike Landon and Griffin Papaila with CBRE’s Debt & Structured Finance team in Dallas originated the loan. It is funded by Bank of Texas and BancFirst, providing an interest-only construction period of 24 months, with available extension options. Barings, is B&Z Investments, LLC’s equity partner on behalf of institutional investors.
The site is at the northwest corner of West Seventh and Rio Grande streets, within walking distance of the flagship store of the Whole Foods chain.
The office building’s co-developer and general contractor is Hensel Phelps Development and Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The Austin-based design firm BGK Architects designed the building.
The property will contain five stories of subterranean parking, 12,000 SF of office and/or retail space on the ground level and four levels of office space above.
Jason Berkowitz and Diana Zuniga are developing the office building under the name B&Z Development, a company formed in 2007, with a focus on acquisitions and repositions of core commercial real estate properties in the Central Texas area. Although Berkowitz and Zuniga are long-time real estate investors and developers in Austin with over 40 years combined real estate investing experience, 701 Rio is their first ground-up office development.
Berkowitz is the founder and president of Roscoe Property Management, the third-largest multifamily management company in Texas, and Zuniga is the owner and president of Investors Alliance, a real estate firm she founded in 1996 that specializes in investment property sales and acquisitions. Zuniga was a development partner of the 400-foot, 42-story Spring condominium tower on Bowie Street in downtown Austin.
Feb. 10, 2020 Realty News Report Copyright 2020