This Week's Houston Deal Sheet: Uptown Mixed-Use Redevelopment Completed
Braun Enterprises completed its redevelopment of 53 West, a mixed-use project on 4 acres along Alabama Street in Uptown Houston, adjacent to The Galleria.
Braun Enterprises began redeveloping 53 West in 2019. It has 168K SF of office and 32K SF of ground-floor retail.
The redevelopment included renovating and painting exterior facades, remodeling interior office buildings and enhancing ground-level storefronts. Property and pathway lighting were upgraded and outdoor seating and landscaping now span the ground floor.
Interior enhancements include upgraded common area restrooms, lobbies and atriums that feature new layouts, finishes, furnishings and lighting.
The site features an 11-vendor food hall called Conservatory, which opened in the former Roxy nightclub earlier this year. The overall site is 84% leased, and the retail portion is 90% leased, Braun Enterprises told Bisnow.
The ground-floor retail connects two office towers, one of which was converted to Urban Office, a flexible office space concept by Braun Enterprises.
“53 West brings together our expanding Urban Office concept of flexible office spaces and creative, long-term office space merged with some of the city’s most sought-after food and beverage concepts — all in one central location,” Braun Enterprises President Dan Braun said in a news release.
Other retail on the ground floor includes Burger-Chan, Hidden Omakase, Salon Lofts, Memorial Hermann, Woody’s Furs and Yorktown Dental Spa. Two additional retail concepts are set to open this year.
PEOPLE
The Morgan Group hired Brooks Steele as vice president of business development and client services. He will focus on generating business opportunities within the property management division and maintaining client relationships.
Steele has more than a decade of real estate experience, including working at both Lument and Greystone Servicing Corp., focusing on agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development and bridge loan originations for multifamily assets.
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Cresa appointed Andrew Brod as principal in its Houston office. Brod was formerly managing director and the Houston market leader at Whitebox Real Estate. He has 20 years experience.
The move follows Cresa’s acquisition of Houston-based Fritsche Anderson Realty Partners and marks the first addition by new managing principals and co-market leaders, Anthony Fritsche and David Anderson.
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Jack Parsons joined Colliers in Houston as a senior associate focused on occupier services. Parsons joins Colliers from OldCap Property Group, where he represented users of commercial real estate. Prior to that, he worked at Finial Group, focusing on office and industrial tenant and landlord representation.
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Gensler hired Alanna Carter to lead its healthcare practice for the South-Central region, covering offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Nashville and San Antonio. Carter has more than 30 years of experience with projects such as hospitals, clinics, senior living facilities and surgery centers.
Carter will help Gensler’s healthcare projects address industry challenges like staff shortages.
SALES
Alan Cohen of ACPR1 LLC purchased Barker Cypress Distribution Center, a 142K SF Class-A warehouse at 12020 Barker Cypress Road in Cypress. The facility is 100% leased by 84 Lumber Co.
Colliers’ Lizzy Blake and her team represented the seller, Molto Properties, and the Buena Park, California-based buyer.
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Farouk Saleh of FJS Investments bought an 85K SF building at 10610 Wyman Gordon Drive in Houston. Oxford Partners’ Jeffery Arnaud and Matt Rogers represented the buyer, and Stephen Schneidau of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller.
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Maximillian Yuglich sold 2.71 acres at 0 Sutherland St. in Houston. Oxford Partners’ Jeffery Arnaud and Stephen Hazen represented the seller.
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Newmark announced the sale of One Westway and Two Westway, a 15-acre campus with 194K SF of office space in West Houston. Newmark’s Gary Carr, Robert Hill and Chris Murphy represented the seller, an undisclosed investor.
The portfolio is 95% leased to four major tenants in healthcare, education, energy and homebuilding. It is at the intersection of Sam Houston Tollway and Clay Road, between Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 290.
The campus is in Westway Park, a master-planned, 150-acre office park developed by Wolff Cos.
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Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. acquired Waterway Plaza II, a Class-A, 142K SF office building in The Woodlands Town Center, for $19.2M. The building is 55% leased, which adds “much needed inventory to Howard Hughes’ office portfolio in The Woodlands Town Center, which is currently 96% leased,” Howard Hughes said in a news release.
The six-story building sits on a 3.23-acre site and has a 1,316-space parking garage.
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Lionstone Investments acquired The James, an eight-story, Class-A multifamily asset in Houston’s River Oaks. The 344-unit building was delivered in 2016 and is 94% occupied.
LEASES
Meredith O’Donnell Inc. leased 11K SF of industrial space at 7420 Wynnpark Drive in Houston. Boone Smith of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord and John Parsley and Jeff Peltier of Colliers represented the tenant.
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Hanwha Ocean leased 22K SF at 580 Westlake Park Blvd. in Houston. Oxford Partners’ Ryan Hartsell represented the tenant and Stream Realty Partners’ Matt Asvestas, Grant Schiro and Ryan Barbles represented the landlord, Younan Properties.
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Fort signed a 12K SF lease at Stonecrest Business Center at 10812 Fallstone Road in Houston. The landlord, Fort, was represented internally by Thomas Pfeifer.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Costco Wholesale will open at NewQuest Properties’ The Grand at Aliana in Fort Bend County in the coming weeks. The 155K SF store will be the first to open in the developer’s final phase of the 67-acre regional center.
Also at The Grand at Aliana, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic started construction of a 51K SF clinic. Costco’s opening speaks to the rapid household growth of Aliana and Katy, considering the brand has another store less than 6 miles away, NewQuest Properties Senior Vice President Josh Friedlander said in a statement.
THIS & THAT
Triten Real Estate Partners and TPG Angelo Gordon are upping their initial joint venture to acquire more than $1B in industrial outdoor storage assets over the next five years.
Triten and TPG Angelo Gordon originally teamed up in 2020 to develop a geographically diverse IOS portfolio. The joint venture has acquired over $500M of IOS assets across 16 markets, averaging 18 new acquisitions yearly since 2020.
“In 2017, we saw an opportunity to transform the fragmented IOS asset class into a compelling portfolio with limited capital expenditure needs and an attractive yield,” Scott Arnoldy, founding partner at Triten Real Estate Partners, said in a release. “This additional investment signifies our continued commitment to the IOS asset class.”
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Partners Real Estate launched a generative AI search functionality, which will offer a personalized, context-aware and conversational search experience, on its website. The feature will be in the bottom right corner of the site, while the traditional search functional will remain in the upper right corner, according to a news release.
