This Week’s Houston Deal Sheet: Florida Firm Buys Historic Downtown Buildings
An Orlando-based private firm made its entrance into the Houston market with the acquisition of historic downtown properties known as The Jones on Main.
The Wideman Co. purchased the 700 block of Main Street, which has two conjoined buildings at 708 Main St. and 712 Main St., in an all-cash transaction.
The firm said it will update the buildings to attract new tenants. Plans include creating turnkey spec suites in a portion of 712 Main St., ranging from under 2K SF to over 10K SF, adding a modern industrialist finish package and bringing in its own property management team.
The 1929 JPMorgan Chase Bank Building at 712 Main St. has 794K SF throughout 34 floors. The 1908 Great Jones Building at 708 Main St. has 95K SF throughout 10 floors.
“This won’t be your grandfather’s stodgy office building,” The Wideman Co. CEO Matthew Wideman said in a release. “We are using the historic base building, complemented with a modern industrialist finish package, to create an environment of collaboration and rejuvenation.”
BayBridge Real Estate Capital, in partnership with The Wideman Co., tapped an undisclosed proprietary family office to participate as an equity partner for the acquisition. The purchase price was not disclosed.
“This is only the beginning of the story for Jones on Main,” Wideman said.
PEOPLE
JLL hired Walker Pennington to its healthcare and life sciences team as vice president. Pennington will focus on investment sales and tenant representation.
Pennington is returning to JLL after two years at CBRE, where he worked in the healthcare and life sciences sector. He had previously spent four years at JLL.
LEASES
Big Air Trampoline Park leased 35K SF to anchor Cypress Landing shopping center at 3040 FM 1960 E in Houston. The park will open in May.
Jason Gaines of Sturbridge Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord. RJ Mohindra with FEC Real Estate represented the tenant.
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SiYi America Hardware LLC subleased 32K SF at 5910 West by Northwest Blvd., Suite 100 in Houston. Oxford Partners’ Austen Buckalew and Matt Rogers represented the tenant.
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Waste Connections leased 27.8K SF of industrial outdoor storage at 15550 Export Plaza Drive, near George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Trey Erwin III and Josh Carl of Lee & Associates - Houston represented the landlord. Jason Whittington and Clint Hankla of Partners Real Estate represented the tenant.
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Festival Trading Co., an indoor and outdoor furniture provider, leased all 168.9K SF of Logistics Park Building A, one of the buildings at Jackson-Shaw’s Post Oak Logistics Park. This means 31% of the park is pre-leased.
An affiliate of Greystar Real Estate Partners is the equity partner on the project. Rosenberger Construction is the general contractor, with Powers Brown Architecture as the architect, WGA Consulting Engineers as the civil engineering firm and BancFirst as the lender. Cushman & Wakefield’s Beau Kaleel and Michael Foreman manage the leasing assignment.
SALES
A local private investor purchased a 36K SF shopping center on South Gessner Road. Kevin Ward of World Wide Realty LLC represented the buyer in the off-market transaction, and Logan Kelly of Newman Kelly Real Estate represented the seller.
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Junction Commercial Real Estate’s Reed Vestal and John Erck represented a storage group in the acquisition of 10.7 acres at 17210 Huffmeister Road in Cypress. The transaction marks the completion of a 16-month hold by Junction’s investment team, which resulted in a 52.33% rate of return for limited partners.
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An Austin-based investor purchased a new construction, six-building, 36K SF industrial park at 25412 Aldine Westfield Road in Spring. The seller is a Woodlands-based investor. Jared Pinto of Newman Kelly Commercial Real Estate brought the buyer to the transaction.
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Anton Paar USA plans to construct its headquarters on a tract within East River that it bought from Midway. Anton Paar USA is a developer, producer and distributor of laboratory instruments and process measuring systems.
The company plans to build a new three-story, 30K SF facility on the tract at the southwest corner of Clinton Drive and Meadow Street. This will be its new south region headquarters, moving from an industrial building on World Houston Parkway.
The building will include 12.5K SF of office space, 12.6K SF dedicated to technology, lab, training and conference facilities, and 5K SF for distribution and shipping.
Midway’s David Hightower represented Midway and Chadd Bolding with Colliers represented Anton Paar.
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Rosenberg BP Partners bought 12 acres in Rosenberg Business Park. Barkley Peschel of Colliers represented the seller, Si Environmental. Faaiz Momin of MS Realty Advisors represented the buyer.
The buyer is an industrial user that plans to use part of the property for its business and develop or sell the remaining land.
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Hines, Clearwater Living Senior Housing Fund V — a Clearwater Living investment vehicle — and an institutional investor formed a joint venture to recapitalize and rebrand a senior living community previously known as The Watermark at Houston Heights. Clearwater at The Heights will have Clearwater Living as the new manager of the community, marking its first venture into the Texas market.
The seven-story, 182K SF senior living community designed by Muñoz + Albin opened in 2022 and has 220 independent living, assisted living and memory care residences with floor plans ranging from studios to two-bedrooms.
FINANCING
BridgeInvest provided a $55.5M loan to support the acquisition of Park on Voss on behalf of Tara Capital. The 810-unit community is at 2424 S. Voss Road in Houston. The loan will fund new appliances, HVAC systems and exterior enhancements to the property.
Tara Capital plans to renovate 610 units and upgrade the rest, which were already renovated. Tara Capital acquired the property for $63M with total project costs estimated at $82.1M.
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International Bank of Commerce financed a $100M construction loan for Satya to build Tiara on the Beach, one of Galveston’s only new condominium projects on the island in over 15 years. Tiara on the Beach will be a 10-story building with 63 residences. Dune construction is complete, and groundbreaking is slated for this summer.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Legend Homes plans to build its seventh community of new homes in Montgomery County. Ridgeland Hills will be at 9238 Crestone Peak Drive in Willis and will have 127 lots.
Legend Homes affiliate partner Academy Development developed the community, which will have a pool, playground and covered pavilion among its amenities. Two model homes will open this month.
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Monet Estates is in the pre-selling phase for its gated community of 32 luxury waterfront homes in Sugar Land. The homes were designed by Todd Rice of Rice Residential Design, planned by Johnson Development and will be built by Psalms Fine Homes.
Construction is set to begin this spring.
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Cielo, The Signorelli Co.’s 256-acre community in Conroe, is open for home sales. The public can tour model homes from CastleRock and Rausch Coleman Homes. Brightland Homes plans to open model homes this summer.
More than 800 single-family homes are planned for Cielo. Conroe ISD’s new elementary school is within the community and is scheduled to open this fall.
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Gauge Real Estate Partners completed construction on Gauge Interwood Logistics, a Class-A, 95.9K SF industrial project on 6.9 acres at 3955 Interwood Parkway S in Houston. The rear-load facility is within Interwood Business Park, a 440-acre deed-restricted park.
The building will have 32-foot clear height, 19 trailer parking spots and oversized electrical service. CBRE’s Jason Dillee and Nathan Wynne are providing leasing and sale brokerage services, respectively.
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Torrey Chase Apartments, the first project by the MLC HTX development team, officially opened last month. The 280-unit complex is an affordable apartment community along FM 1960 in Houston’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
The development joint venture is led by Moez Mangalji of Westmont Hospitality Group, CC Lee of STOA Architects and Roberto Contreras IV of DC Partners. The complex is 75% occupied. Applicants must earn 60% or less of the median area income to qualify.
