This Week's Houston Deal Sheet: Whitestone REIT Acquires Garden Oaks Shopping Center
Whitestone REIT acquired the grocery-anchored Garden Oaks Shopping Center in Houston. The 107K SF shopping center is 96% occupied and anchored by an Aldi.
The Garden Oaks neighborhood, north of Houston Heights, has seen its property values increase nearly 50% since 2019 as young professionals settle beyond the Heights area to take advantage of larger plots and tree-lined streets, Whitestone said in a news release.
The acquisition is funded through Whitestone’s capital recycling efforts, which are focused on portfolio improvement. The capital recycling program began in 2022 and has resulted in more than $80M in acquisitions. Since the third quarter of 2022, Whitestone has acquired four shopping centers.
PEOPLE
Junction Commercial Real Estate hired Stefan Galagaza and Robert Slatton to the firm’s brokerage division.
Galagaza, formerly of Dosch Marshall Real Estate, is a partner in Junction Commercial Real Estate’s brokerage division. Galagaza and his team have handled over $275M in transaction value in the past two years.
Slatton joins the company as an associate in the land and industrial brokerage division. Slatton spent six years working in residential real estate as well as almost three years in environmental consulting and commercial real estate due diligence.
SALES
SVN | J. Beard Real Estate – Greater Houston represented the seller of Windcrest Village Square Phase 2, a 15K SF retail strip center at 9533 FM 1488 in Magnolia. The newly constructed Class-A shopping center is 100% leased.
Rosa Dye of SVN | J. Beard Real Estate – Greater Houston represented the seller, Workhub USA. The buyer, Windcrest FM 1488 Center Holdings LLC, was referred to Dye by out-of-state broker Don MacLellan with Faris Lee Investments.
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Levcor, a commercial real estate owner, operator and developer, acquired 6700 Portwest, a single-story, 67K SF industrial building near 7800 Washington, Levcor’s adaptive reuse development.
Acquired from Intertek, the mixed-use 6700 Portwest was built in 1987 and sits on more than 4 acres. The pavilion-style building features brick construction and oversized windows.
Sasha Levine of Levcor represented the company, and Kevin and Britton Holland of Edge Capital Markets represented the seller.
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Partners Real Estate arranged the sale of an 11K SF flex industrial property at 3611 Gulf Freeway in Houston.
Partners’ Travis Land, Cole Popper and Braedon Emde represented the seller, WE 70 LLC. The buyer was represented by Zachary Green of Chodrow Realty Advisors.
LEASES
Partners Real Estate arranged a 24K SF lease to relocate Landtech Inc. to 1315 W. Sam Houston Parkway N. in Houston.
Partners’ Dan Boyles and Brent Bishop represented the tenant. Andy Havel of Metroway Commercial Realty represented the landlord.
FINANCING
Northwind Group, a New York-based real estate private equity firm and debt fund manager, provided a $111M first mortgage condo inventory loan to a joint venture between Pelican Builders and Ember Group. The loan is collateralized by The Hawthorne, a 17-story luxury residential condominium tower totaling 67 units in Houston's Tanglewood neighborhood.
The loan will provide the sponsorship with the capital and time to complete the project and sell unsold units.
“We are very pleased to have closed a more favorable financing program for our Hawthorne condominium development with Northwind Group who proved to be the best solution for our needs,” Derek Darnell of Pelican Builders said in a statement. “We worked with long-time Houston mortgage banking veteran, John Fenoglio, to find the best loan program and are pleased to have worked with such experienced professionals in both Northwind Group and CBRE.”
Fenoglio arranged the financing alongside Brock Hudson.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Angler Construction broke ground on Port 225 Commerce Center. The 26-acre site will be developed into a 484K SF industrial park with two buildings at Beltway 8 and State Highway 225.
The development is scheduled to be completed in fall 2024. The project is being developed by GTIS Partners and designed by Powers Brown Architecture. This is GTIS Partners’ first project in the Houston area.
