Veteran Patrick Hicks has left the Houston office of Trammell Crow Co. to lead MetroNational Investment Corp. as a principal. He tells GlobeSt.com that the new firm will focus on acquisitions in all submarkets in Houston and Austin.
The parent firm's existing portfolio, valued at $1 billion, has Memorial City Mall at the epicenter with the balance of the holdings clustered around it. The portfolio contains Memorial City Hospital, related professional buildings, ancillary retail, 1.4 million sf of office space and about 5,000 apartment units. At this time, the plan is to keep the assets separate from those to be acquired or developed by the newly created subsidiary, Hicks says.
"The direction of this new company is to diversify MetroNational's holdings through the acquisition of existing office, retail and multifamily projects as well as raw land for new development of office, build-to-suits, retail and mixed-use projects," Wayne Hays, MetroNational COO, says in a press release.
Working with a flexible investment strategy, Hicks and team could pick up value-adds for as little as $1 million yet consider joint ventures for acquisitions exceeding $100 million. New debt with a 60% to 80% loan-to-value ratio will be secured to help fuel the play.
Hicks says the investment group is starting with an open ticket--no limit on how much to spend or how many properties to acquire. The future, he says, might result in the creation of property-specific funds, but now it's a chance to be a commercial real estate melting pot. Hicks says he's already underwritten seven possible purchases of office buildings, raw land and medical office properties.
"We are eager to take on the challenging projects that, due to their complexity, others may pass on. Pat Hicks will bring many opportunities to the table for consideration," Hays says. Trammell Crow did not return telephone calls for comment on the departure of the managing director for the office division.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
