HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – SkyWalker Property Partners, a North Texas real estate investor, has acquired its first building in Houston – and it’s looking for more deals.
SkyWalker purchased the 141,480-SF One Northwind Plaza office building in northwest Houston for one of its managed funds, When Opportunity Knocks LLC.
“We have been looking for 18 months in earnest to find something in Houston that we like,” says Clint Holland, acquisitions director for Arlington-based SkyWalker Property Partners. “Houston is an opportunity for us to get into a major market. Being a Texas-based investment firm, we know Houston is a market where we want to be an active player.”
SkyWalker is not alone. Investors from other Texas markets – and from other parts of the nation – have Houston properties on their shopping lists.
“We are seeing significant interest in Houston from a broad range of investors, many of whom are seeking attractive fundamentals and solid value-add opportunities in well-located submarkets,” says Rick Goings of JLL.
JLL’s Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Goings represented Aegon Asset Management, the seller of the eight-story building, located at 7600 W. Tidwell Road, near Highway 290, which is also known as the Northwest Freeway.
One Northwind Plaza, completed in 1980, is almost equidistant to Loop 610 and Beltway 8.
SkyWalker says One Northwind Plaza, a class B mid-rise, is a “leasing victim” – as are its neighbors – to a lengthy road construction project along US Hwy. 290. Currently, the building’s occupancy is 66 percent.
“When the freeway construction wraps up this year, we believe One Northwind Plaza will be well-positioned for any uptick in submarket activity,” says Holland.
Despite recording negative net absorption of 90,000 SF in 2017, leasing activity has been stronger in the area. The northwest office submarket registered a total of 723,000 SF of leasing activity in 2017. This represents the submarket’s highest leasing activity since 2014, according to JLL research.
Skywalker reports $1 million of capital improvements are planned for One Northwind Plaza, which sits on a three-acre site. Monte Calvert and Michelle Wogan of Transwestern Houston will continue to lease and manage One Northwind Plaza.
SkyWalker’s acquisition of the building was financed with a loan arranged by Pinnacle Bank’s Karen Kuczek.
SkyWalker Property Partners is actively pursuing acquisitions for the portfolios of its When Opportunity Knocks, a value-add investment fund, and Cash Flow Fever, which focuses on income-producing assets. The investment manager is seeking office, industrial, flex and retail properties from $1 million to $15 million in Texas and surrounding states.
March 8, 2018 Realty News Report Copyright 2018