This Week's Houston Deal Sheet
A Chicago-based company is entering the Houston market, putting an industrial park into motion in the southwest Houston submarket.
Logistics Property Co. is constructing CityPark Logistics Center, a 97-acre business park at Highway 90 and the Sam Houston Tollway. The deal marks the company's first development in the Bayou City.
“We continue to see robust industrial demand and a need for modern, logistics-oriented space in the greater Houston area,” said JLL Senior Vice President John Talhelm, who is leasing CityPark with Kevin Erck. “CityPark Logistics Center will be the pre-eminent logistics hub in southwest Houston and will provide a much-needed multi-tenant logistics center to the submarket.”
Warehouse/distribution space is dominating the industrial construction pipeline, but activity is slower in the southwest Houston submarket.
There is 980K SF of industrial space under construction in the southwest submarket — ranked fifth of seven Houston submarkets for development activity ahead of the Downtown and South submarkets, according to Avison Young's Q3 industrial report.
Elsewhere in Houston, the industrial market is more robust. More than 10.3M SF of industrial space is under construction citywide, with 10M SF of that as warehouse/distribution space. Direct vacancy for all industrial space citywide stands at 5% for the last quarter.
At build-out, CityPark will include 1.7M SF across seven buildings and will target logistics and distribution firms. Bordering Harris and Fort Bend counties, the park offers over one-third mile of a mile of Beltway 8 frontage.
Phase 1 will provide tenants with 77K SF of rear-load dock configuration and Class-A office improvements. Construction of the first portion is expected to start in Q1 and deliver by year-end. Phase 2 will feature larger cross-dock facilities with larger build-to-suit opportunities.
Method Architecture will be the architect.
EXECS
Maurizio Ferrarese was hired as executive chef at Hotel Granduca, a boutique hotel at 1080 Uptown Park Blvd. in Houston. He will be responsible for the hotel's in-house restaurant, Ristorante Cavour, the in-room dining program and event catering. Ferrarese will introduce new menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea at Ristorante Cavour. Previously, he spent nearly a year at the Rice Village eatery Sud Italia.
SALES
An undisclosed buyer purchased Casa Roble Apartments, a Class-C property at 2708 Oakcliff St., Houston. The 14-unit asset is within the Inner Loop near the University of Houston. River Oaks Equity Partners' Clint Roberts and Chance Atkins represented the seller and secured the investor.
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Greybrook Realty Partners and Marlin Spring Investments purchased two townhome complexes for $68M in Houston. Value-add renovations plans include updating the rental suites and common areas and increasing building efficiencies across both properties. The two assets include 566 garden-style residential townhomes on 39 acres. Each property includes a clubhouse, a fitness center and a resort-style pool.
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An undisclosed buyer purchased a 72K SF industrial building at 4545 Langfield Road in Houston. NAI Partners’ Randy Wilhelm and John Ferruzzo represented the buyer. CBRE's Bill Rudolf represented the seller.
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Merit Hill Capital L.P. purchased the 67K SF self-storage property at 810 Gladstell Road in Conroe. The Gladstell Self Storage features 549 units and 50 RV/boat parking spaces. CBRE’s Nick Walker and Trevor Roberts represented the seller, PV Conroe Storage LLC.
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RPM Investments purchased an 11K SF industrial spec building at 13016 Misty Willow in Houston. NAI Partners’ Travis Land and John Ferruzzo represented the seller, Steadfast Development. Southwest Realty Advisors' Marc Drumright represented the buyer.
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Harbor Group International LLC sold three separate portfolios of apartment communities for $700M. The 21 properties were sold to 15 different buyers:
- 12 properties in Dallas and Houston, totaling 3,100 units, which HGI acquired in November 2014.
- Seven properties in Central Florida, mostly in Tampa, totaling 2,284 units, which HGI acquired in April 2016.
- Two properties in Connecticut, totaling 568 units acquired in May 2014.
LEASES
Plateplus Inc. renewed an 11K SF lease at 21 Waterway in The Woodlands. Newcor Commercial Real Estate's Ryan Dierker and Rob Banzhaf represented the tenant. Transwestern's Katy Gragg and Eric Anderson represented the landlord, 21 Waterway Holding LLC.
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Hillier Restoration signed a 35K SF lease at Parc Air 59 at 18710 Eastex Freeway 59, Humble. Cushman and Wakefield’s Allison Bergmann, Nathan Wynne, Beau Kaleel and Jason Dillee represented the landlord, Jackson Shaw. Caldwell Cos. represented the tenant.
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SI Granite inked a 16K SF office/warehouse lease at 4849 Cranswick Road in northwest Houston. First Houston Properties' Patrick McKiernan represented the tenant and landlord.
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Henek Fluid Purity Systems Inc. signed a 21K SF industrial lease at 6633 Lindbergh St. in Houston. NAI Partners’ Chris Caudill and Jake Wilkinson represented the landlord, R. Pennington Investments LP. Colliers International’s Jeff Peltier and Barrett Gibson represented the tenant.
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Star Furniture & Mattresses, a Berkshire Hathaway company, and Landmark Industries signed leases at the 70K SF retail center The North Cypress Landing. The redevelopment has hit full occupancy. Originally built for a Randalls grocery store, the center was purchased from the grocers' parent company, Safeway, in May. Houston-based Star Furniture is expected to open in Q1 for its eighth citywide location. Transwestern's Nick Hernandez and Crystal Allen represented Star Furniture. Baker Katz's Neal Wade and Lunden McGill represented Landmark Industries (Timewise). Houston-based Williamsburg Enterprises' Jeff Warwick represented the landlord.
FINANCING
JLL secured a $60M loan to refinance the Hyatt Regency Houston Galleria, a 325-key hotel in Houston. MetLife provided the loan, which will be used to retire the existing construction debt. The recently constructed hotel is at 2626 Sage Road in the Uptown submarket near The Galleria. On-site amenities include 19K SF of flexible meeting and event space, two restaurants, an outdoor pool with a sun deck and a fitness center. JLL's Jeffrey Davis, Mike Melody, Kevin Davis, Paul House, Matt Nowaczyk and John Ream represented the borrower.
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LMI Capital's Kurt Dennis, Jamie Mullin and Jamie Safier secured financing for four multifamily complexes, one hotel and one industrial building:
- A 73% loan-to-value, 4.88% fixed-rate loan for a 60-unit asset in Galveston County.
- A fixed-rate agency loan on a 50-unit apartment complex in the Spring Branch submarket. The 73% loan-to-purchase price first mortgage featured a two-year interest-only period allowing the borrower to complete planned property renovation.
- An $8.4M fixed-rate, nonrecourse loan for the refinance of a 165-unit asset in the Spring Branch submarket. Terms included four-year interest-only and cash-out proceeds to the borrower.
- A cash-out refinance of a 56-unit complex in north Houston. The loan is a 10-year term with fixed interest rate, three-year interest-only and 74% leverage.
- A seven-year, $7.2M construction/mini-perm loan for a 90-room hotel in northwest Houston. The bank loan was structured as a two-year interest-only floater followed by a five-year fixed rate after construction.
- A 10-year loan for the acquisition of a 22K SF single-tenant industrial building in Missouri City. The first mortgage represented 80% LTV.
THIS AND THAT
LandPark Commercial LLC has been awarded the management and leasing responsibilities for a Class-B office property at 397 North Sam Houston Parkway East in Houston. The four-story, 68K SF asset has convenient access to Interstate 45, Sam Houston Tollway, the Hardy Toll Road and FM 1960 and is minutes away from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The asset is anchored by Bank of the Ozarks with a full-service banking lobby in the building along with a drive-thru.
