THE DEAL SHEETApril 8, 2010Leases
CBRE represented IberiaBank in two lease transactions:
- Expanding its lease at 11 Greenway Plaza with an additional 4,760 SF. CB’s Collin Grimes and Sanford Criner represented IberiaBank and Stream Realty’s Ryan Bishop and Crescent’s Eric Siegrist represented the landlord, Crescent Crown Greenway Plaza SPV LLC.
- A 19k SF ground lease at 2555 W. Holcombe Boulevard in the Med Center. Pipeline Realty’s Scott Rubenstein repped the landlord and CB’s Matt Keener, Russell Janicek, and Mark Raines represented IberiaBank.
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Dr. Elissa Wedemeyer, Optometrist, closed a 3,182 SF office lease at 6026 Highway 6 in Missouri City. Indermuehle & Co.’s Larry Indermuehle represented the tenant and Gordon Group Missouri City’s Gene Welirn negotiated for landlord WPW Management.
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Martial Arts Academy leased 3k SF at Colony Lakes Shopping Center off Hwy 6 South in Missouri City. CBRE’s Russell Janicek, Alex Makris, and Jazz Hamilton repped landlord Colony Lakes Center, Ltd, and Stream Realty’s Chris Money repped the tenant.
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Michael J. Alvarez, d/b/a MJA Bearing Services, Inc. closed a fully executed five year industrial lease at 8810-A Scranton, a 9200 SF industrial building in the Hobby area. Alliance Commercial Investment’s Pete Zamora repped the tenant, and The National Realty Group’s Jay Jenckes represented the landlord.
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Mickey Winborne Refrigeration leased 19k SF of warehouse space at Southwest Techniplex in Stafford. Indermuehle & Co.’s Larry Indermuehle, Lang Motes, and Jane Holloway represented the tenant and CBRE’s Joseph Smith negotiated for the landlord.
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Fashion House leased 6k SF of retail space at 10204 Beechnut Street. Alpha Realtors’ Linh-Bach Nguyen represented the tenant, and CBRE’s Russell Janicek and Jazz Hamilton repped landlord Beechnut Wiesner, LLC.
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CBRE’s Matt Keener, Russell Janicek, and Mark Raines represented Chipotle in two leases:
- 2,200 SF of retail space at The Shops at Stone Park in Northeast Houston. Newquest Properties’ Robert Bailey and Ford Scott repped landlord Ley-Lane Partnership No. 9, LP
- 2,248 SF at Conroe Towne Center in Conroe. Will Randall represented Towne Center Venture, LLP.
Sales
Indermuehle & Co. closed the sale of a 5,172 SF single story professional office building at 816 Park Two Drive in Sugar Land. Indermuehle’s Larry Indermuehle and Christa Therkildsen repped seller Fort Bend Baptist Academy and S.E. Covington & Co.’s Scott Covington represented the buyer, Metro Bear Properties.
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Indermuehle & Co.’s Larry Indermuehle represented the buyer in two sales:
- Lakeview Glass & Mirror, Inc. purchased a new 38k SF office warehouse facility at8242 Warren Road. Colliers International’s Walker Barnett negotiated for seller Warren Avenue Holdings, Inc.
- Croft Enterprises, LLC bought a 6k SF office building at 54 Sugar Creek Center Boulevard in Sugar Land. Indermuehle’s Tawnya Dornak represented the seller, Simron Properties.
Development
Triad Retail Construction was awarded four contracts: Verizon Wireless in Pasadena, Traf-Tex office buildings, Tuesday Morning in Houston, and West Seal in Corpus Christi. Triad recently moved into new offices on O’Day Road in Pearland.
Business
Earlier this week, Forbes announced the top 10 fastest growing retail chains: Apple, Amazon.com, Buffalo Wild Wings, Texas Roadhouse, BJ’s Restaurants, PriceSmart, Urban Outfitters, The Buckle, Netflix, and Chipotle. Apple has the highest revenue per SF in the retail world, and sales have nearly doubled over the past three years to $9.6B. Recent government stats on retail sales indicate the sector is starting to thaw, and analysts generally agree the worst is probably over. The Forbes report says that overbuilding “left too many SF dedicated to selling stuff,” however, and consumers likely won’t return to the previous peak of spending for years.
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Hotel Alden was acquired by Northwood Investors, a privately-held investment advisor with $1.25B of equity to invest in real estate. Hotel Alden will be managed by a subsidiary of Northwood Investors. Hans Schmitt was named General Manager and Managing Partner. Hotel Alden is a 97-room luxury boutique property downtown.
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Portfolio.com ranked Houston fifth of 67 US metros for best opportunities for young workers. The study considered cities with more than 750k residents and compared qualities that would appeal to workers between ages 18 and 34. The study looked for strong growth rates, moderate cost of living, and high numbers of college-educated young professionals. Austin got top honors; we were also beat by Washington, DC, Raleigh, and Boston. In ’08, Houston had 5.7M people; 24% were in the correct age range. Our weak point: only 18.8% of those young adults had college degrees; Boston came in first with 37.6%.
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CIM Group acquired four Class A apartment communities in Texas, totaling 820 units, from Gables Residential Corporation. They’re CIM’s first properties in Dallas and Houston and were chosen because they are in areas positioned for economic expansion with solid infrastructure and transportation networks. In Houston, it acquired the recently completed 308-unit Memorial Hills community. Gables Residential will remain involved in management.
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Spring Branch Medical Center will stop admitting patients on May 1. The hospital was the first outside the Texas Medical Center to perform open-heart surgery. It will continue to offer limited outpatient programs in the areas of radiation oncology, imaging services and emergency care.
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The Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas grew faster than any region in the country last year, according to a new estimate from the US Census Bureau. The ’09 population estimate predicts 6.45M people lived in the DFW metroplex as of July 1, 2009, up almost 147k, or 2.3%, the largest influx in the US. The Houston metro area had the second-largest growth at 141k or 2.5%, pushing our total population to 5.86M.
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According to a report by TX Comptroller Susan Combs, the TX Gulf Coast area surpassed the rest of the state for quarterly sales this recession. It also states that if Houston were a nation, its economy would be the 25th largest in the world. Susan said that “the Gulf Coast region has an economic strength and diversity that continues to outpace the state as a whole.” Despite being known for energy, Houston’s largest employer is the Med Center, which has 73k employees.
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According to the US Census Bureau, Texas collected 8.7% less (down to nearly $41M) state government taxes in ’09 than ‘08. Corporate net income taxes were down 4.5% and taxes from sales decreased almost 5.5%. Other taxes dropped 43%.
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Five Guys Burgers and Fries was named the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the nation last year, according to restaurant consulting firm Technomic. Five Guys has seven Houston locations and is planning 50 more. It saw a 50% increase in sales last year. Tim Hortons was second with a 23% increase, and Buffalo Wild Wings was #3 at 22%.
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The EPA ranked Houston sixth on its list of metros with the highest number of energy efficient buildings with the Energy Star rating. At the end of ’09, we had 133 Energy Star Buildings totaling 64M SF. DFW and Austin both made the top 25; Los Angeles was first with 292 buildings totaling 76M SF.
Financing
Encore Equities is looking for investors for The Villages in Corpus Christi, a 200-unit multifamily complex under construction. Other than The Villages, there is only one new conventional, market-rate property under construction in the city. The previous developer of The Villages Apartments received formal approval from the HUD 221(d)(4) program because the area is considered undeserved for housing. The mortgage financing provides a 40 year loan at a fixed rate of 90% LTV, and the mortgage is fully assumable. HUD traditionally will not make additional loans in the market area until the project has been stabilized. The project has a 6.1% long term fixed interest rate.
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Q10 Kinghorn, Driver, Hough, & Co recently financed the 27k SF Cameron industrial building on Tanner Road at $2.1M. Its Don Smith handled the deal with correspondent lender Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Technology
Starting this week, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is equipping its Concierge teams with Apple iPads. The global pilot is in four InterContinental hotels in NY, Atlanta, London, and Hong Kong. InterContinental expects the Apple iPad to enhance its Concierge team's interaction with guests in various ways, including: enhanced maps and directions, video recommendations of local hotspots and fun activities, and instant booking confirmations for restaurants, performances and attractions. InterContinental was the world's first hotel brand to offer global destination specific concierge websites and videos.
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Weingarten Realty Investors released a new social media program called Virtual Partner Network (VPN) designed to reach the broadest possible audience for marketing. The VPN program will be used to push real-time information to brokers, retailers, analysts, investors and consumers via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Included: vacancy listings, company news and info, company networking events, leasing news, info on green initiatives, retailer news and events, and community involvement.
It’s all about the People
Ron Rodriguez joined Grubb & Ellis Securities as a regional VP; he's responsible for raising equity in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and TX for the various real estate investment programs sponsored or advised by the investment subsidiaries of Grubb & Ellis. Ron previously was an external wholesaler at Ohio National Financial Services and has 24 years of experience in the financial services industry.
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Christa Therkildsen joined Indermuehle & Co.’s Houston property management & brokerage team as an Assistant Property Manager & Sales Associate.
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Michael Broadhurst was named Hotel Derek’s new general manager by Crestline Hotels and Resorts.
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Larry Kellner, former CEO of Continental Airlines, is now president of newly formed private equity firm Emerald Creek Group LLC.
Moves
Herman Miller and Geiger International, high-end office furniture dealers, are moving showroom ops from Pennzoil Place to the BLVD Place development in the Galleria. Herman Miller’s new showroom will be 5200 SF and open this summer. BLVD Place is a Wulfe & Co development; prez Ed Wulfe said the center should by 98% leased in the next few months.