HOUSTON—Transwestern has arranged financing for construction of the Astoria, a high-rise condominium tower that broke ground last year in the Galleria submarket here. The 29-story property, which has a total of 75 residences, is scheduled for completion in December 2016.
Jan Sparks and Michael Snodgrass, managing directors with Transwestern's Houston office, organized the financing on behalf of developer Randall Davis of D.C. Partners. The project's architect of record is Page Southerland Page and the general contractor is G.T. Leach Constructors LLC.
“It was a challenge to find a construction lender willing and able to take on a ground-up, for-sale condominium development of this size on a non-recourse basis,” says Sparks. “Randall Davis has once again demonstrated his skill and expertise in knowing what works and what is truly appealing for condominium buyers in Houston.”
The Houston Chronicle reported in 2013 that Davis had been courting EB-5 investors individually for Astoria, following plans to build a condo tower known as Titan on the same site. Those plans were scuttled, though, amid the 2008 downturn. In the deal arranged by Transwestern, individual investors provided equity funding for the Astoria through the Houston EB5 Regional Center, an entity created via the US Citizenship and Immigration Services' EB-5 Visa program, which allows foreign nationals to obtain lawful permanent residency by investing money in job-creating commercial enterprises.
The Chronicle reported last year that Davis bought the land for the property from McDonald's Corp., which had demolished a restaurant on the property. He based the Astoria's design on the historic Pantages Theater in Los Angeles.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
