This Week's Houston Deal Sheet
REV Renewables is having a first-generation space built out by Arch-Con Corp. within One Buffalo Heights, the dedicated office component of the Buffalo Heights mixed-use development.
REV will occupy the entire third floor of One Buffalo Heights at 3663 Washington Ave. Arch-Con built the award-winning development owned by BKR Memorial, a privately held company of the Russell and Glenda Gordy family. Google’s cloud computing arm, Google Cloud, also has its offices in One Buffalo Heights, having opened its first Houston office on the top floor in 2021.
Designed by Bennett Design Group in collaboration with StudioRED Architects, REV’s office will feature custom-formed felt baffles that line exposed 20-foot ceilings. This focal point mirrors the firm’s emphasis on clean energy flow and was fabricated by Arch-Con, Agile Interiors and the design team to bring REV’s clean energy mission to life. The office will also include 48 workstations, a 20-seat boardroom, private offices, conference rooms, a traders’ area and a wellness room.
Brett Blanchard with CBRE represented REV in the transaction.
PEOPLE
Partners Real Estate promoted top-performing industrial brokers Zane Carman and A.J. Williams to partner.
Carman joined Partners in 2018 and closed more than 1M SF of leasing transactions and 500K SF of sales in 2022. Williams also joined Partners in 2018. He closed out 2022 with more than 1M SF of sales and 800K SF of lease transactions.
Barrett Von Blon has joined CBRE’s land team in Houston as first vice president.
Von Blon brings more than six years of experience, with particular success in urban retail site acquisition and disposition. Prior to joining CBRE, Von Blon was senior vice president at JLL specializing in land acquisitions and dispositions for owners, developers and end users. He has worked with a variety of clients, including oil and gas, real estate development and construction companies.
LEASES
White Fleet Abandonment, an oil and gas services provider, leased an entire floor of 2107 Research Forest Drive in The Woodlands, The Howard Hughes Corp. announced. The lease covers 26K SF of the Class A office building Lake Front North.
The lease is a significant expansion from White Fleet’s previous one. The company provides operational expertise and access to assets on the Gulf of Mexico shelf for drilling, completion and abandonment jobs. Within its Lake Front North office, partners of White Fleet Abandonment include GOM Shelf and newcomer Commodore Offshore Operating, which will bring about 50 jobs to The Woodlands.
Josh Cheatham with Newcor Commercial Real Estate represented White Fleet Abandonment. Howard Hughes was represented by Bob Parsley, Norm Munoz and Jillian Fredericks with Colliers.
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H-E-B expanded its space by 333K SF at Empire West Business Park at 112 Empire Blvd. Jeremy Lumbreras, Matteson Hamilton, Justin Robinson and William Carpenter of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, Stream Realty Partners.
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Quality Spices leased 15K SF at Commerce Park Westchase at 3662 Westchase Drive. Boone Smith and William Carpenter of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, Link Logistics.
Transwestern Real Estate Services and Griffin Partners announced Loop Central, a three-building office campus, is outpacing West Loop Class A average occupancy by 9.8%.
Several transactions, totaling 110K SF, boosted tenancy at the 575K SF Class A asset by 16.1%. Loop Central is leased exclusively by Transwestern’s Doug Little, Kelli Gault and Jack Scharnberg on behalf of the landlord, Griffin Partners.
Community Health Choice Texas Inc., a nonprofit managed care organization, signed a new 83K SF lease for four full floors at Loop Central I, driving the boost. Community was represented by David Boyd of Boyd Commercial and Lucian Bukowski of CBRE.
Loop Central underwent extensive renovations in 2020, which included an upgraded fitness center, a full-service café/deli, a tenant lounge, a full-service conference facility with kitchen, and multiple indoor and outdoor seating options offering coworking options and entertainment.
SALES
A Southern California-based hospitality company sold a nearly vacant 60K SF office building in Houston’s Greenspoint submarket to the operator of a bilingual school. The six-story building is at 11947 North Freeway, at the intersection of Interstate 45 and North Sam Houston Tollway.
The buyer, Fidencio Macias, has made the close with 24-month seller financing. Albi Neziri of Texas Advantage Realty represented the buyer.
John Nguyen, vice president of NewQuest Properties, represented the seller, Contender Two LLC, which backpedaled on plans to relocate its headquarters to Houston. The asset was 29.5% occupied at sale time.
Fidencio Macias is planning to occupy the lion's share of the office space and offer the balance for multitenant use. The new owner also is eyeing a major renovation of the property.
Avison Young completed the off-market acquisition of a 165-acre land parcel on the northwest corner of Telge Road and Grand Parkway at 19835 Telge Road in Cypress. The site will be the future home of the Harris County Fair & Rodeo and Fair BBQ Cook-off, as well as a number of other family-oriented community events year-round.
Avison Young’s Tommy LeBlanc and John-Michael Kamel represented the buyer, Stockton Foundation Inc. The seller, Williams Family Tomball Land, was represented by Wyatt Williams.
The land will be transferred by the Stockton Foundation for use as the new home of the Harris County Fair & Rodeo, which has been taking place every October at East Montgomery Fair Grounds at Sallas Park in New Caney.
The site will likely have its first fair and rodeo event in late 2024. Several historic buildings will be relocated to the site, including the 1.5K SF former Tin Hall caretaker house, which was later converted to a chapel and will soon be renovated for use as an event facility. A large, covered rodeo structure will also be constructed on the grounds.
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Étoile Academy, a tuition-free public charter school, expanded its lease at its original location and acquired a 45K SF property at 9754 Bissonnet St., which will become its second campus, Savills announced.
The lease at its original location, 6648 Hornwood Drive, expanded to 54K SF.
The new property is on 5 acres located in the Gulftown and Sharpstown communities that Étoile serves. The property features existing infrastructure that Étoile can leverage, including classrooms, a gymnasium, and an auditorium. Construction is to be completed in July, with an opening date in August. The campus should eventually serve 800 to 900 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Savills Senior Managing Director Lesa Nickelson French represented Étoile in its real estate plan.
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AQ Investments purchased a 1.6K SF building on a 25K SF lot at 925 East Tidwell Road. The property was previously owned by Madaka, an investment group, and was occupied by Church’s Chicken for many years. The seller was represented by Cotton Munson of Davis Commercial.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Greystar Real Estate Partners has completed its development of The Mill, a 166K SF shallow-bay distribution facility in Northwest Houston.
The Mill is Greystar’s first logistics project in Houston. Greystar has historically been known for its rental housing and multifamily ventures, but is expanding and tapping into sectors like life sciences and logistics.
The Mill is set along Highway 249 with “excellent access and visibility,” Greystar said. Some of the facility’s features include a 220-foot building depth, 185-foot truck court, 32-foot clear height and 12 trailer stalls.
Greystar also started construction on Beltway 35 Business Park, a 91-acre logistics development along the South Belt of Houston, comprising five modern logistics facilities totaling approximately 1.3M SF. Phase 1 is underway with three buildings totaling 590K SF and is expected to be completed by September of 2023.
THIS & THAT
Republic Ranches announced the launch of Republic Commercial Land & Brokerage, a commercial and transitional land brokerage enterprise. The real estate brokerage company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, under managing directors and partners Margaret Riggins, formerly of Riley McLean Land, and Jordan Johnson, formerly of McAllister & Associates.
Republic Commercial Land & Brokerage was formed to provide a commercial arm to Republic Ranches assisting clients with the acquisition, disposition and valuation of commercial and transitional land assets. The newly formed company partners are Jeff Boswell (Houston); Charles Davidson (San Antonio); John Wallace (Corpus Christi); Bryan Pickens (Dallas); and Mark Matthews (Hondo) of Republic Ranches; as well as Riggins and Johnson.
Republic Commercial Land & Brokerage, along with Republic Ranches, will have exclusive licensing to a proprietary GIS mapping system created by Tim Riley and Carlotta McLean, founders of Riley McLean.
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Vitrain and The Howard Hughes Corp. formed a joint venture to develop life sciences facilities in Howard Hughes’ master-planned community The Woodlands.
Vitrian is a national platform providing end-to-end solutions for biomanufacturing facilities. The joint venture will build upon the growing cluster of life sciences research and development facilities and biomanufacturing labs in The Woodlands, anchored by Cellipont Bioservices, MilliporeSigma, VGXI and KBI Biopharma. Vitrian has already partnered with Cellipont Bioservices on their new headquarters and manufacturing site in The Woodlands’ Research Forest.
The venture hopes to meet the needs of companies focused on in-house manufacturing and contract development manufacturing organizations.
Healthcare is the largest employment sector in The Woodlands, according to a news release, which said The Woodlands is “emerging as an attractive location for advanced biomanufacturing given its strength of the healthcare industry within the community with Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center.”
