To commercial real estate veterans, TIG is better known as The Industrial Group, but that's changed and so has its focus. Tom Smolik, TIG senior vice president, expects an Austin office will be up and running by mid-year. He tells GlobeSt.com that the present plan calls for one of TIG's Memphis executives to head to Austin to set up the new operation, which also will include San Antonio. The plan is unfolding after four years of building relationships and owning a three-building complex, totaling 250,000 sf, in Braker Center Business Park.
The move comes with significant financial backing to acquire additional properties. "We're looking to more than double what we have," says Smolik. "We have several large customers interested in acquiring and developing."
TIG has used this same game plan to drive its inroad into Memphis. The office had opened two years ago after a stint of business as usual and now the Memphis portfolio totals seven million sf, says Smolik. TIG also owns six million sf in Dallas, its corporate headquarters. "We like to have some relationship, which we do now," he explains of the strategy, "and then we can build up the portfolio."
The expansion comes just as TIG has fully leased two of its three buildings, with only 39,825 sf remaining open in the Austin holding. Recent deals have Pavilion Technologies now occupying 89,438 sf in an expanded lease at 11100 Metric Blvd. while Simplified Inc., a new tenant, has moved into 21,575 sf at 11008 Metric Blvd. The tenants, signing five-year leases, are paying between 85-cents per sf and 95-cents per sf in the service center structures, owned by Watch Omega's Dallas office.
"We keep chasing the supply," says Smolik. And Austin has what TIG wants: supply, solid occupancy levels and a sound employment scene. "We still believe the rents have not reached the high-end," he says. "Austin is more and more attractive."
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