This Week’s Houston Deal Sheet

Houston-based American Liberty Hospitality will open the company’s second dual-branded hotel in February.

The combined Holiday Inn Express Houston – Galleria Area and Staybridge Suites Houston – Galleria Area will offer a total of 319 rooms and will be the first new hospitality offering in Houston’s Galleria area in several years. Both brands are franchises of InterContinental Hotels Group. The 14-story property is located at 2351 West Loop South. Staybridge Suites will provide 150 units, while Holiday Inn Express will provide 169 rooms.

Arch-Con Corp. served as the general contractor, and the architectural and interior design was performed by MCS Architects. Construction financing was provided by Plains Capital Bank and Artemis Real Estate Partners.

PEOPLE

NewQuest Properties is launching an international division in the Asia-Pacific region. Development partner Heather Nguyen will lead NewQuest Asia-Pacific Retail, a team of brokers and affiliates in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. NewQuest Managing Partner Jay Sears will spearhead capital investments. 

The expanded team includes Development Director Jason Wang, Development Senior Consultant Yoshihide Murata and Kaishu Okada, a business development consultant who is based in Tokyo. NewQuest’s new division will also include Naoyuki Kondo, a retail leasing specialist who joined the brokerage firm earlier this year. Rounding out the Asia-Pacific group are NewQuest’s Rebecca Le, John Nguyen and Grace La.

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Wolff Cos. Executive Vice President Carolyn Dorros was named a Houston winner of the Connect CRE 2020 Women in Real Estate Award in the Texas category. The award recognizes women in respected positions of leadership who are role models for others in commercial real estate. Dorros joined Wolff Cos. in 2006 and focuses on oversight and management of the company’s financial assets portfolio as well as strategic planning, acquisitions, sales, marketing and communications. 

SALES

A private investor purchased a 15K SF industrial property at 5671 Campbell Road in northwest Houston. The property is on 1.02 acres and was built in 2009. The buyer was procured by Marcus & Millichap’s Adam Abushagur and Cary Latham.

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A private investor purchased Northwood Village, a 31.3K SF retail property at 8100-8140 Antoine Drive. The property is 71% occupied and is on a 2.5-acre lot. Marcus & Millichap’s Philip Levy marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor. The buyer was also secured and represented by Levy.

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Trammell Crow Residential purchased 16.8 acres at 5550 Bingle Road in northwest Houston and has begun construction on the site. Allora Northwest Crossing, a 378-unit, three-story rental housing community, is slated to open in Q4 2021. The buyer, Maple Bingle Apartments LP, an affiliate of Trammell Crow Residential, was represented by NAI Partners’ Chris Caudill. The seller’s group, led by Claude Anello, was represented by NAI Partners’ Clay Pritchett and Zane Carman.

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NND Real Estate LLC purchased a 20K SF industrial property at 6003 North Shepherd. Lee & Associates’ Patrick Wolford and Stephen Kuper represented the seller, Shepherd Real Estate LLC.

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Kingdom Management LLC purchased 65.53 acres on Highway 90A in Rosenberg. NAI Partners’ Travis Land and A.J. Williams represented the buyer, while Lee & Associates’ Taylor Schmidt, Reed Vestal and John Erck represented the undisclosed seller.

LEASES

Gulf Atlantic Packaging Corp. leased 43.5K SF of industrial space in Building B of Parc 59, a Class-A urban industrial development in Humble. The building will house the company’s Texas distribution center. Construction of Parc 59 has also been completed. Newmark’s Joshua Brown and Griffin Rich represented the tenant, while CBRE’s Jason Dillee and Nathan Wayne represented the landlord, Jackson-Shaw.

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R. Stahl renewed 70.3K SF at Freeport Business Center, located at 13259-13279 North Promenade Blvd. Savills’ Bob Berry represented the tenant, while Stream Realty Partners’ Jeremy Lumbreras and Boone Smith represented the landlord, DRA Advisors.

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Path to Prosperity leased 10.8K SF at Long Point Business Center, located at 6600 Long Point Road. First Houston Properties’ Patrick McKiernan represented the tenant, while Stream Realty Partners’ Boone Smith and Garret Geaccone represented the landlord, Agellan Commercial REIT.

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Atlantic Clothing leased 19.2K SF at Turning Basin Industrial Park, located at 2025 Turning Basin Drive. Stream Realty Partners’ Matteson Hamilton and Jeremy Lumbreras represented the landlord, CenterPoint Properties Trust.

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An unnamed tenant leased 59.6K SF at 11300 Windfern Road in northwest Houston. Finial Group’s Jason Gibbons represented the landlord, FPIP TX1 LP.

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Sourcepoint Inc. leased 34.9K SF at 8101 West Sam Houston Parkway South, bringing the two-story, 136.8K SF property to 100% occupied. Colliers International’s Mia Jarrell, Bob Parsley and Darren Gowell represented the tenant, while JLL’s John Pruitt, Jessica Ochoa and Jack Russo represented the landlord, EverWest Real Estate Investors.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

NewQuest Properties will break ground on additional multi-tenant space in the Grand at Aliana after securing First Watch as its newest tenant in the 56-acre regional development in Fort Bend County. The eatery has leased 4.1K SF in a soon-to-start 10.9K SF building. A second multi-tenant project totaling 9.5K SF will begin to rise in early Q1. NewQuest will deliver the first building in May. Otwell Construction Inc. is the general contractor. At full build-out, the Grand at Aliana will add nearly 400K SF of Class-A retail and restaurant space to the Grand Parkway/West Airport Boulevard intersection.

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The Dinerstein Cos has topped out Aspire Post Oak. The 40-story, mixed-use building is situated on 1.59 acres at the corner of Post Oak Boulevard and San Felipe Road in Uptown. The building is part of the firm’s Aspire Living Collection, a portfolio of high-end rental properties. The 383-unit high-rise will include seven floors of residential/commercial parking below 33 residential floors. Additionally, the project will have 15.5K SF of retail space, which Dinerstein plans to lease to a nationally renowned restaurant concept. Leasing will begin in the latter part of 2021.

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Venterra Realty is nearing the completion of the two-building, 48-unit expansion project within its Class-A, garden-style Silverbrooke apartment community in Stafford. The company broke ground on the project in January, using the 4-acre space between Silverbrooke and its sister property, Shadowbrooke. The on-site management team is pre-leasing the apartments, which are scheduled for completion in January.

FINANCING

Electra Capital has originated a $43M bridge loan for sponsor Three Pillars Capital Group’s acquisition of two apartment communities in Houston. Gryphon Real Estate Capital Partners provided the senior mortgage of $35M, and Electra Capital retained an $8M mezzanine loan. This is the third loan that Gryphon and Electra have recently closed together. CBRE’s Derek Fasulo arranged the financing. Gryphon Real Estate Capital Partners LLC will be the asset manager for the senior loan portion of the bridge loan.

Three Pillars Capital Group acquired the 256-unit Westridge Gardens and 364-unit Mainridge, two late-1970s vintage properties located a half-mile apart in the Medical Center South submarket. The bridge loan from Electra will allow Three Pillars to significantly upgrade the exteriors and interiors of the properties, improve common areas and recast the properties through management.

THIS AND THAT

Rice Management Co., the developer of The Ion and surrounding district, has partnered with coworking firm Common Desk and Transwestern. Common Desk will operate more than 58K SF of flexible office space on The Ion’s second floor. The firm will also manage a coffee bar for workers on the second floor of the building. In addition, Transwestern has been tapped to provide property management support for the entirety of The Ion, which is scheduled to open in early 2021.

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Houston City Council has approved More Space: Main Street, an economic revitalization initiative in Downtown Houston. The program will temporarily close select blocks on the north and southbound lanes of Main Street between Commerce and Rusk to vehicular traffic and allow restaurants and bars to create expanded patios in the roadway. The program is expected to launch this year and continue through March 2022. The program is a partnership between the city of Houston, the Houston Downtown Management District and the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority. Earlier this summer, the city of Houston introduced the More Space program to ease parking regulations and allow restaurants to use 50% of their private parking spaces for expanded outdoor dining.