This Week’s Houston Deal Sheet
Amazon and Trammell Crow have begun the construction of an 850K SF e-commerce fulfillment center in Fort Bend County.
The building will be on 93.5 acres at 10507 Harlem Road in Richmond and is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the local community. The new facility will extensively use robotics alongside employees to pick, pack and ship small items. The center is set for launch in 2021.
Ware Malcomb is the architect of record, while Graycor Construction Co. is serving as the general contractor. Engineering partners on the project include HSA & Associates, Langan Engineering and Jordon & Skala Engineers. The Harrington Group is providing fire protection design.
The land purchaser was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Stephen Schneidau and KBC Advisors’ Matt O’Brien, while Read King’s Tony Patronella and Jeanie Gibbs represented the undisclosed seller.
PEOPLE
Vortex Cos. promoted Candace Strother to the newly created position of director of diversity and inclusion. She will lead Vortex’s efforts to promote diversity in the workplace through training and education. Strothers will lead a diversity committee, composed of a balanced cross-section of Vortex employees, to begin the foundation for a more open and inclusive environment. Prior to Vortex, Strother worked in the banking and financial services field for over a decade.
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Marc Peeler and Rick Ragan joined NewQuest Properties as vice president and associate, respectively. Prior to NewQuest, Peeler was associate director of investment sales at Stan Johnson Co. where his team transacted over $600M in acquisitions and dispositions of retail, medical, industrial and office assets. Ragan formerly served as an investment analyst at Stan Johnson Co. and an associate at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.
SALES
Protestant Episcopal Church Council of the Diocese of Texas purchased a 19.2K SF church facility on 10.5 acres at 3785 Barker Cypress Road in Houston. Emmanuel Episcopal Church’s former location, 15015 Memorial Drive in Houston, was flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and its building was rendered unusable. The buyer was represented by Avison Young’s Tommy LeBlanc and Charlie Neuhaus, while International Church Realty’s Carol Gray and Christina Hipps represented the seller, Covenant Lutheran Church.
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Banyan Residential purchased Lofts at the Ballpark, a 375-unit, Class-A apartment property in Downtown Houston. The four-story community is at 610 Saint Emanuel St., one block from Minute Maid Park and BBVA Stadium. The purchase represents Banyan's first acquisition in the Houston market. Banyan Residential closed the transaction in conjunction with Marble Capital as its financial partner.
LEASING
A&R Logistics leased 133.3K SF of tilt-wall distribution warehouse at AmeriPort Industrial Park at 703 Logistics Drive South in Baytown. The tenant was represented by Colliers International’s Charles Fertitta Jr., while the developer of the park, National Property Holdings, was represented by Colliers International’s Robert Alinger.
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Poynter Commercial Properties Corp. has again been appointed as the exclusive leasing agent for the Energy Tower building at 11700 Katy Freeway. Energy Tower is now under the ownership of Atlas Energy Tower LLC, an entity associated with Dallas-based ATCAP Partners LLC. Poynter Commercial Properties Corp. principal Kevin Poynter was part of the original ownership that developed Energy Tower and has been involved in every lease transaction in the project since its inception over 20 years ago, totaling nearly 1M SF.
THIS AND THAT
SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Texas City officially opened this month. The 103-suite hotel at 13202 Outlets Blvd. will operate as a Marriott franchise, owned by DS Management and managed by Lodgic Hospitality of Webster, Texas.
