Wise Guys

We stopped by Holt Lunsford Commercial on Monday and caught up with managing principal Kevin Brands and the company's top dog himself, Holt. Kevin tells us he came out of retirement last summer to help the firm expand its office division. He worked for 20 years with CMD Realty Investors (the firm acquired about 110 office buildings in 14 markets across the US during his tenure). In 2007, CMD sold its entire portfolio individually, bringing in a whopping $1.2B of office deals. With about 40M SF of office and industrial properties leased, managed or operated by HLC (25M industrial in DFW, 5M SF of office in DFW, and 10M SF of industrial in Houston), Kevin says one of his goals is to grow the office division into all Texas markets and beyond. And he's moving fast in other areas of his life, too. He partnered with Duke Realty's Jeff Turner to buy a racing go-kart with plans to race (he says they can go up to 130 mph) at a new track in Roanoke. But, shhh, Kevin?s wife doesn't know about the latest obsession with speed.

Capital's flowing back into our industry at all levels, Transwestern head Jack Eimer tells us. While the funds moved into the core assets this past year, Jack says he's now seeing the same capital(equity and debt) readily available for the value-add assets: ?And that's a big shift that's going to be felt through the DFW marketplace.? Because of that, he anticipates a very noticeable ramp up in investment sales activities. ?We're seeing it already. Over the last 60 days, we've been reading routinely about new assets coming to market,? he says. Jack will share even more insights at Bisnow's Second Annual Real Estate Summit May 16 at the Westin Galleria. Don't get left behind, sign up here!

Texas, and the Metroplex in particular, rise to the top of the desirable places to be for out-of-state and foreign investors and the competition is fierce among the top-notch leasing and management groups in DFW, which is good for these investors, says JLL regional director Steve Everbach. ?You have to be on your game, out-hustling and out-thinking the competition,? he tells us. Toward that, JLL?s growing its leasing and management team of 65. Steve foresees a squeeze on the regional firms that will lead talent to the JLL team. The national players like JLL or CBRE will put competitive pressure on the regional firms and some of those professionals may want that national platform, he says. He anticipates some new local shops opening out of these, as well, but it will be tough sledding for the regionals going forward.

Steve says DFW CRE folks make up a ?chatty market? where there aren't many secrets when it comes to deals (makes our job easier). He anticipates translating those deals into trends for you guys at our Capital Markets event on Monday. While he says it's early in the recovery to make many predictions, he's willing to tease you today with some tidbits: the Preston Center submarket is pushing up rents to $30/SF; the same thing is true in Uptown with buildings drafting off The Crescent and rents pushing the upper $30s to $40/SF; and the Legacy submarket (pictured is Parkwood Place, which JLL leases) is on fire compared to last year.

Really, he says, anything  north of SH 190  or the Tollway north to Frisco is hot right now. Steve says CRE types should be focusing on more transit-oriented developments (like the Cedars Station development of The Beat condos) as gas prices escalate. The DART lines will continue to benefit downtown Dallas, too. To take his mind off the increasing cost of fuel, Steve?s looking forward to an upcoming trip to Colorado with plans to hike and find a golf course nestled in the mountains for 18, 36, heck, maybe 72 holes. But, his clients shouldn?t fret, he'll have his trusty Blackberry with him. Did we mention all of these CRE experts will be speaking at Bisnow'sSecond Annual Real Estate Summit on May 16 at the Westin Galleria? We did? Well, good. We wouldn?t want you to miss it. Sign up here!

Multifamily?s the name of the game in DFW, says Holmes Firm namesake Ron Holmes (he's moderating of our Second Annual Real Estate Summit, here). It looks like some of the first dollars that lenders are parting with are flowing toward multifamily, which Ron says make good sense considering apartment vacancies are low, concessions are drying up, and rents are moving north. But, that leaves the question of what's driving people to apartments. ?There are many foreclosed houses that aren't leasing. It's an anomaly to me that people are renting apartments when there's an oversupply of houses,? he says. And he wonders if we're seeing a fundamental shift in peoples? attitudes toward housing. One of the trends for multifamily is for investors to take great locations with older properties at low rents and tear them down to redevelop with a more upscale complex appropriate to the neighborhood. ?There are some pockets of Dallas primed for this.?