Regus Buys Nine; The Deal Sheet
| Regus acquired nine business centers in DFW from ABT Executive Suites for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition grows the company’s portfolio by a third, now at 27 buildings. | ||
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| The properties: the Dallas Communications Complex, Las Colinas Center, Lee Park, Legacy Town Center, the Madison Business Center, Millennium Business Center, Preston Commons Center(pictured), LBJ Business Center, and Preston Hollow Center. Regus regional VP Jeff Doughman tells us the portfolio was attractive because ABT had such a strong brand presence in the Metroplex and the locations complemented the Regus locations. “The acquisition allowed us to rapidly expand our portfolio and offer our clients even more prestigious workplace options such as the Legacy Town Center,” he adds. The properties fit Regus’ aggressive growth strategy, Jeff adds, and it provided the firm with an instant presence in a number of high-profile locations. “Our global growth strategy is to respond to increased client demand for flexible workplace options through strategic acquisitions such as this and organic growth in both urban and suburban markets,” Jeff says. | ||
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| New Business Westmount Realty Capital, Richard Myers, Steve Saxon and Peter Aberg (who served as principals of Realty Capital Partners) formed a new investment company called Westmount Realty Finance. The new firm creates a national platform with resources to bring expanded capital offerings to market for investors as a variety of real estate opportunities are ID's, acquired, and operated across the US. Westmount Realty Finance will be HQ'd in Dallas with offices in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and London. Founder and president of Westmount, Cliff Booth, will serve as CEO and president and chairman of the board. Management will be handled by the principals of Westmount, and several former employees and principals of RCP. In addition to Cliff, RCP founder and chief exec Richard Myers will serve on the board of directors and Westmount EVP and partner Steve Kanoff will be as chief investment officer and a board member. *** Bobby Jefferson recently formed Menyon Capital Partners with the intent to buy value-add office buildings first on a one-off basis with the end goal of raising a fund for future investments. He's also developing a business line offering third-party advisory services to clients, including asset management, receivership, and acquisition and/or disposition analysis. Bobby previously worked for Parmenter Realty Partners. Finance Ashford Hospitality Trust commenced an underwritten public offering of 7.5M shares of its common stock priced of $9.65 per share. Ashford granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.125M shares to cover over-allotments, if any. Settlement of the offering is expected to occur Friday. Ashford intends to use the net proceeds to repay a portion of its outstanding borrowings under its senior credit facility, although it may also use a portion of the net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Deutsche Bank Securities is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. | ||
| New Construction | ||
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Hill & Wilkinson will serve as GC and break ground Dec. 20 on a new 100k SF, design-build manufacturing facility in Wylie. The design-build project team includes Alliance Architects, Structural Studio for structural engineering, and Helmberger Associates for civil engineering. Completion is slated for June. New Assignments John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts was awarded the management contract for the Mesquite Exhibit Hall. The 35k SF exposition event space is connected to the 160-room/54-suite Hampton Inn & Suites and Convention Center complex at 1700 Rodeo Dr, which is also operated by John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts. *** Grubb & Ellis’ Dallas agency leasing team was selected to market 1825 Market Center Blvd, a 115k SF Class A office building in the Design District submarket, on behalf of 1825 Market Center LP. SVP Trae Anderson and associate Noreen Mehdi will serve as the leasing agents. The six-story building has space available from 1k SF to 20k SF with the option of large offices, conference rooms, and a reception area. | ||
| Leases Sport Supply Group renewed a more than 137k SF office/warehouse at 1901 Diplomat Dr in Farmers Branch. Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services VP Brian Pafford repped the Chicago-based asset manager. Transwestern’s David Wetherington and Bill De La Chapelle repped the tenant. Brian also repped the landlord, Regal Business Center, in a 10k SF lease renewal for Ramos Produce in Regal Business Center Building 5 at 4656 Leston Ave in Dallas. Again repping the landlord, Brian also worked a deal with market director Jason Miller for Bob's Distributing, which leased 10k SF in a renewal and expansion of warehouse space at 3430 and 3432 Dalworth St in Arlington from Tarrant County Partnership. *** Bright Realty inked four new leases at Castle Hills Village Shops and Plaza for Chyten Learning Center, Mi Casa restaurant, Donald C. Walker & Associates and Reachnett Consulting. Bright Realty also signed Tic Toc to a 9k SF lease at State Bank & Trust Building at Central Expressway and Henderson in Uptown. Elizabeth Villalba-Ocando repped the landlord. *** Superior Pool Products renewed 25k SF of distribution space in Heritage Building Park Building 6 at 800 Industrial Blvd in Grapevine from A&B Properties. Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services VP Michael Spain and SVP Todd Lambeth repped the landlord. Pool Development represented the tenant. Michael also repped landlord Englander Container & Display Co in a 19k SF sublease at 14805 Trinity Blvd in Fort Worth for TFG Founders Group. *** Regency Centers inked seven new leases totaling nearly 18k SF across three retail centers: Prestonwood Park and Signature Plaza, both in Plano; and Legacy Center in Frisco. SRS Real Estate Partners VP Lee Lofts repped landlord Regency Centers. *** Abeo Management Corp signed a 17k SF office lease at Overton Centre II at 4100 International Plaza in Fort Worth. Grubb & Ellis associate VP Will Sale repped the tenant. Holt Lunsford Commercial’s Matt Carthey repped the owner FW Overton Office. *** The John Bowles Co’s Taylor LeMaster repped the landlords in two deals: an almost 7k SF lease for Resourcing Edge at Rockwall Commons; and a 7k SF deal for Spartan Sports at 280 Sports Complex in Southlake. *** Regus Group renewed its 19k SF lease at MacArthur Center II at 5605 N. MacArthur Plaza in Irving. Transwestern’s Reid Caldwell and Jeff Anderson represented the landlord and CBRE’s Baron Aldrine represented the tenant. *** Vitro Packaging renewed its almost 16k SF lease at Tollway North Office Park at 5200 Tennyson in Plano. Transwestern’s Justin Miller and Kim Brooks repped the landlord and Macy Newman Co.’s Mark Macy represented the tenant. *** iCall leased 11k SF of office space at 1505 Federal in Dallas. J. Elmer Turner Realtors’ Marc Mattox repped the landlord. Marc also repped the landlord in a 6k SF lease for Medisource at 400 N. Akard in Dallas. *** | ||
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| California-based Printograph leased 110k SF in Heritage Business Park Building III to open its third GotPrint.com production facility in the US. The company moves in Feb. 1. The site was a former CompUSA call center. Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services VP Michael Spain and SVP Todd Lambeth repped the owner, A&B Properties. The property is now 96% leased. CBRE’s Steve Koldyke represented the tenant. *** Paragon Global Resources leased 22k at Vista Point South in Lewisville. Stream Realty’s Blake Kendrick and Tim Terrell represented Jackson Shaw and Transwestern’s Brant Landry and Brett Owens represented Paragon Global. *** DDI Storage and Warehouse leased an almost 11k SF space at Skyway Business Center on Skyway Circle in Irving. Mercer Co’s Ryan Boozer repped the tenant with James Robinson representing the landlord, Hartman Income REIT. | ||
| People in the News Lambert Landscape Co promoted Lara Moffat to director of marketing and recruitment. She's worked as a garden designer and marketing and recruitment manager. She's also partnering with the Business Council for the Arts and the Public Arts Manager of Dallas on a series of public lectures and publishing a guidebook on art and the built landscape in the CBD. *** Matt Tracy and Peter de Wetter joined Grubb & Ellis as senior associate in the office group and associate in the industrial group, respectively. Matt joins from CresaPartners. Specializing in office tenant rep, he was involved in lease transactions valued in excess of $10M over the past four years. Peter joins the company from Stream Realty Partners. *** Rory Villanueva joins KAI Texas as a project architect. Accolades include Dallas Observer’s “Best of Dallas” award for Best Public Sculpture comprised of multiple installations around the CBD. Kudos SRS Real Estate Partners celebrated the company's top producing brokers with its FY 2010 Top Producer Awards. The brokers were honored in a variety of categories. The top achiever award— presented to account director Kim Jordan-Miller— recognizes the company's second 5% of producers based on FY volume. Associate Justin Schoellkopf won the rising star award (three years or less). EVP Mark Reeder received the most assists award as the broker who dealt out the most referrals in the company. *** Datum Engineers won the National Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for Seton Women’s Center addition in Austin. The entry was judged on the quality of the structural design portion of the project. Datum Engineers won in the New Buildings $10M to $30M category. The five-story, 120k SF horizontal and vertical expansion of the main Seton Medical Center campus in Austin provided much needed space squeezed into a tight site. |
