This Week's Houston Deal Sheet

The much-anticipated HEB on San Felipe opens tomorrow, and it’s got something you’ve never seen before in an HEB.

The 91k SF facility will include an in-store restaurant. Table 57 will have indoor and outdoor dining, a stage for live music and a kids’ play area. The HEB will also have one of the largest vertical gardens in the metro along its façade—a 250-foot living wall with 22,000 plants. (It was installed by McDugald-Steele.) The San Felipe HEB will also have a larger selection of Asian fare than most, and will have the largest bulk-food offerings and organic selections in the chain.

EXECS

The Houston Apartment Association installed its officers—above are VP Tarantino’s Sal Thomas, VP Gables’ Kelly Scott, secretary/treasurer Milestone Management’s Kyle Brown, president Greystar’s Jackie Rhone, VP Francis Property Management’s Debbie Sulzer, president-elect Camden’s Alison Hall, VP Greystar’s Michele Pawelek, and past president Guardian Equity’s Trey Stone at the org’s annual gala. The masquerade had a record-breaking 900 attendees.

SALES

JPR’s Jim Shaw handled three land transactions:
•    CarMax purchased 17 acres on 69 just east of Williams Way. Jim repped the seller, and CBRE’s Brendan Lynch repped the buyer.
•    GMS Land Co purchased 65 acres at Highways 59 and 36 in Rosenberg. It will build a mixed-use project with retail, multifamily, single-family and pad sites. Jim repped the buyer, and Fuller Realty’s William Smith repped the seller.
•    Riverpark at 99 LP purchased 13 acres on Grand Parkway north of US 59/I-69 for retail development. Jim repped the buyer. 

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Joe Fly Houston purchased a 16k SF industrial building at 6310 Yale St. NAI Partners’ Darren O’Conor repped the buyer.

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Stage Equity Partners purchased a 24k SF MOB anchored by Texas Children’s Hospital. The property is at 5650 East Sam Houston Pkwy and is 100% leased. It was sold off-market.

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KD Investments purchased an 18k SF facility on 15180 Grand Point Rd. TNRG’s Robert McGee and Chase Cribbs repped the buyer, and Colliers’ Walker Barnett repped seller Corporate Property Associates 9.

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Duke Realty stabilized Point North Cargo Park and expanded it. It signed long-term leases that brought two of the existing buildings to 100% occupancy. (It inked deals with Geodis Wilson USA and Amazon.com.) It also purchased a newly built 251k SF building that was 100% pre-leased to K&K Express, and bought 14 acres of adjacent land, where it plans to develop a 206k SF bulk industrial building. (It’s already 47% pre-leased to Roadrunner Transportation Systems.) The park, which is next to Bush Intercontinental, is now 850k SF and expandable to 1.2M SF. Lawson Group’s Caleb Lawson repped the seller in the building and land acquisitions. Gilbert Commercial’s John Gilbert repped Roadrunner, and CBRE’s Pat Rollins repped Geodis. Duke’s David Hudson and Cory Driskill repped Duke.

LEASES

Town Centre I signed two big tech leases—Microsoft inked 41k SF to consolidate its regional office and tech center, and Altus Group took down 27k SF to consolidate office for its Argus Software subsidiary. Town Centre I is being developed by Moody Rambin and will deliver this month. It's 254k SF and is 30% pre-leased. Cushman & Wakefield’s Joe Peddie and David Guion repped Microsoft, which will take occupancy in August. Cushman & Wakefield’s Chad Beck repped Altus, which will move in November. Moody Rambin’s Bob Cromwell and Kevin Nolan repped the landlord in both deals. The Town Centre complex will eventually total 404k SF of Class-A office, a 1,390-car garage and a 21k SF community theater/auditorium. Kirksey designed Town Centre I, and Gilbane is GC. Frost Bank provided construction financing.

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GB Nutrition leased 11k SF of industrial space at 5615-B Savoy. NAI Partners’ Chris Caudill repped the landlord, Sharalina, and New Regional Planning’s Adam Strauss repped the tenant.

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2020 Exhibits leased 23k SF of new industrial space at 12630 W. Airport Blvd in Sugar Land. NAI Partners’ Ed Bane, Jon Michael and Jake Wilkinson repped landlord ColFin, and NAI’s Chris Caudill repped the tenant.

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O Athletik leased 28k SF of flex space at 747 North Shepherd Dr for an athletic/fitness training facility. WA Development’s David R David repped the landlord in-house.

DEVELOPMENT

Demolition work has begun in GreenStreet to make way for Hotel Alessandra. The 225-room facility has gotten an updated design (rendered here). Besides a new exterior look, the hotel has lost a few floors (it’s now 21 stories), and the lobby and restaurant will be on the second floor, instead of on the top floors as originally planned. It’s being developed by Midway and Valencia Group, and will deliver in late 2016. Rottet Studio is designing the interiors.

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Griffin Partners entered into a JV with Shorenstein for the possible redevelopment of 800 Bell (Exxon’s former HQ) if the City of Houston chooses to move its justice complex there. (The property would need some reworking to suit the City’s needs.) Exxon will vacate the 1.2M SF building later this year.

FINANCING

CBRE’s Aron Will, Mitchell Kiffe and Matthew Whitlock arranged $350M to refi The Ranger Portfolio, 36 senior housing communities across 10 states. They secured a 10-year fixed-rate CME loan from Freddie Mac with five years of I/O. The borrower was a JV between Formation Capital and NorthStar Healthcare Income.

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HFF’s Wally Reid, Tyler Ford and Matthew Putterman arranged $50M for 3040 Post Oak Blvd, a 427k SF Class-A core office building in Lakes on Post Oak. The borrower was MetLife Real Estate Investors, which bought the asset last year. (HFF repped the seller in that transaction.) It secured a 10-year fixed-rate loan through Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. 3040 Post Oak is 80% leased.

THIS AND THAT

Unilev Management is underway with capital improvements on 2700 Post Oak Blvd (493k SF) and the Galleria Financial Center (252k SF). The $8M renovation of 2700 Post Oak includes new second- and third-floor lobbies; new stone and carpet flooring; updated restrooms, elevators and escalators; a remodel of the ground floor garage entry; new signage; and a new valet service (the first for any office building on Post Oak in the Galleria). The Galleria Financial Center is getting new elevator lobbies and glass-enclosed skybridges, and new building entrances from parking. Uptown Houston District has proposed to rebuild Post Oak Boulevard, which would serve as another amenity to these two properties. Colvill’s Michael Anderson, Marilyn Guion and Brad Beasley lease the assets. Galleria Tower I has 200k SF coming free this November, and the Galleria Financial Center has suites up to 12k SF available.

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Stream was selected as the leasing agent for 5050 Westheimer. Black Forest Ventures owns the 71k SF property and is planning major enhancements, including new glass entrances on the north and south sides of the building, updated lighting, new landscaping and upgraded elevator cabs. The  building has 38k SF of contiguous space available on the top two floors. Paul Coonrod, Adam Jackson and Mathew Volz will handle the assignment.

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NAI Partners was chosen to lease 11451 Katy Fwy. The Energy Corridor office building is 121k SF.