This Week's Houston Deal Sheet

It's no secret that Houston's office market is slowing. While we're unlikely to see any mega-deals, there's still action if you know where to look. Like Lubrizol in West Houston. The Berkshire-Hathaway chemical company just extended and expanded its 50k SF lease.

JLL's Ryan Barbles worked with Lubrizol, which will now occupy the entire third and fourth floors of One Briarlake Plaza, a 20-story Class-A building. John Pruitt and Jessica Ochoa, also with JLL, repped the landlord, TIER REIT. 

LEASES

Freeway Properties selected NAI Partners’ Sam Hansen and Doug Pack as exclusive leasing agents for its six-story, 150k SF Class-A office building, Katy Ranch Phase 1. Freeway has already developed and leased 364k SF of retail in the project. 

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JLL had three retail signings:

• Verts Mediterranean Grill signed a 2k SF lease at Research Crossing, a shopping center to be developed at Research Forest Drive and Grogans Mill Road in The Woodlands. Matt Parsons and Mark Raines of JLL repped the tenant. Howard Hughes' Rip Reynolds repped the landlord, The Woodlands Land Development Co.
• Mama Fu’s Asian House signed two new leases—a 2,300 SF lease at Research Crossing and a 2,200 SF lease at University Commons. Both shopping centers are yet-to-be developed: The former at Research Forest Drive and Grogans Mill Road in The Woodlands and the latter at the northeast corner of University Boulevard and Highway 59 in Sugar Land. JLL's Matt Parsons and Mark Raines represented the tenant in both transactions. Rip Reynolds of Howard Hughes represented the Research Crossing landlord, and Capital Retail Properties' Brad Ryan repped Vista Sugarland Common, the University Commons landlord. 

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Estudio renewed 8,800 SF at 2180 North Loop West in the North Loop submarket. Moody Rambin's Karen Wright and Kurt Kistler repped the building owner, Gupta. Paul Stryker with Stryker Commercial Realty repped the tenant. 

SALES

RJ Katy purchased 14.2 acres at the northwest corner of Franz and Porter roads in Katy from Porter Franz. Taylor Schmidt and Reed Vestal of Lee & Associates repped the seller, and Brendan Lynch of CBRE repped the buyer. RJ Katy is constructing a 90k SF International Leadership of Texas charter school (above) slated to open in August.

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Colliers International's Marshall Clinkscales repped Allendale Shopping Center in the sale of the asset at 200 and 2131 Richey St in Pasadena to SJGZ Investments. The buyer was repped by HighStreet Net Lease Group's Matt Moake.

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Phil Hung Ly purchased 1.21 acres at 18128 Kieth Harrow Blvd in Houston. Betz Commercial Brokerage’s Gloria Parrino repped the seller, JAG Properties. Mai Huong Nguyen of Precious Realty repped the buyer.

DEVELOPMENT

Vigavi West Ten broke ground on a 23k SF spec crane-ready building at West Ten Industrial Park. NAI Partners’ John Simons and Holden Rushing are marketing the park. In 2015, Parkside Capital partnered with Vigavi Realty to purchase 35 acres within West Ten Business Park for the project.

FINANCING

Eastern Union Funding arranged a $7.4M loan for the refinancing of Live Oak Apartments, a garden-style apartment community in the Energy Corridor. Peter Blass, a managing director with Eastern Union's New York City office, was assisted by Adelle Ross with the Howell, NJ office's underwriting team.

HIRES/PROMOTIONS

A new hospitality investment sales team joined Marcus & Millichap’s Houston office. The firm welcomes Lisa Hankamer, who, along with business partner Skyler Cooper, a Marcus & Millichap senior associate, have over 30 years of combined industry experience. 

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Omar Izfar joined Wilson, Cribbs + Goren as a senior associate. He will help with the firm's land use practice. He will represent clients before government administrative agencies in development, land use and government regulatory matters.