Investors Seek Value-Add Plays With Private Capital Surplus

Austin says he looks forward to growing JLL’s multifamily business in Houston.

HOUSTON—The area continues to push the limits with a robust multifamily activity level. As part of its continuing effort to drive growth and round out its multifamily expertise, JLL enticed two veteran players to return to the fold. Greg Austin and Chip Nash , managing directors, along with vice president, Bob Heard, who will be based in Houston, complete the firm’s client service offerings in the Texas apartment sector, joining colleagues in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. “The return of Greg and Chip is a key part of our strategy to achieve full-service multifamily execution in the state of Texas—providing both institutional and private clients the best-in-class expertise they’ve come to expect from JLL,” said Jeff Price , managing director and leader of the firm’s multifamily investment sales platform in Texas.  “We can now accommodate the entire spectrum of clients in every market in the state, and Greg, Chip and Bob are the right team to lead us to success in Houston.” Managing director Scott LaMontagne , who recently brought Streetlights Residential and The Hunt Companies ‘ 300-unit property called The Catherine to market in Austin, TX, say the full coverage around the state is proof of JLL’s momentum in the market. Austin tells GlobeSt.com: “We look forward to growing JLL’s multifamily business in Houston. This was a great opportunity to join an established statewide team, thus allowing us to be an integral part of a full-service and broad-market multifamily initiative for JLL throughout Texas.” Austin and Nash originally joined JLL in 2010, broadening the firm’s multifamily expertise in the Houston office. They spent the last two years at a competing national real estate brokerage firm. Prior to that, the two opened the Houston office of a national real estate advisory firm specializing in multifamily in 2000 and parlayed that into more than $2 billion in sales transactions. Austin has more than 35 years of experience within the industry and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas. Nash also has nearly 35 years of experience in the industry and has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Houston. Heard has nearly 10 years of commercial real estate experience and is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. “In just a few short years, we’ve achieved optimal bench strength for our multifamily investment sales platform in Texas,” concludes David Williams , international director and leader of the firm’s multifamily capital markets.  “Now, with the addition of our full-service mortgage lending and mortgage banking capabilities from Oak Grove Capital in 2015, we are perfectly positioned to meet and exceed our client’s expectations in this important space.”