Middle Market Digest: This Week in the South and Mountain Regions

Houston is still one of the nation’s hottest retail hubs, according to a recent report by JLL. When retailers look to expand in Texas, they are looking to Houston first. This comes as the result of strong population growth, a favorable business environment and years of growth in the local retail market. Signaling additional confidence in Houston retail, asking rents and construction activity ticked up in the second quarter of 2018. There’s currently 4.5 million square feet of space under construction, representing the market’s 12^th consecutive quarter with more than 4 million square feet of retail construction. Meanwhile, total vacancy sits at 5.4% (even after the closing of 18 Toys ‘R’ Us stores).—Lisa Brown

NEWS AND NOTABLES

DALLAS—Cushman & Wakefield has hired Scott Hobbs as an executive director within the Dallas office tenant representation group. Hobbs comes to C&W from CBRE, where he was a senior vice president, working with vice chairman Jeff Ellerman.

DALLAS—KeyBank Real Estate Capital has hired Justin Wilbur as senior vice president and senior banker in its Income Property Group. He will be based in Dallas and report to Alex Buecking, central regional executive.

FORT WORTH—Sundt Construction Inc. added Mark Debenport as a preconstruction project manager for the company’s building group, Texas District. Debenport will spearhead preconstruction efforts in North Texas.

HOUSTON—Thomas Wittenberg has joined Transwestern’s healthcare advisory services group as senior vice president. With nearly 30 years of experience, Wittenberg will source, secure and execute opportunities for development, brokerage and agency leasing in the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

HOUSTON—The Plasencia Group, a lodging investment advisory firm, announces a promotion among its team. Robert E. Wiemer Jr. has been named senior managing director responsible for the company’s Southwest region.

HOUSTON—InterLinc Mortgage Services is pleased to announce that Gene F. Thompson III, who has served as president since 2010, is now the chief operating officer. A 20-year veteran of the mortgage lending industry, Thompson has been with InterLinc since 2007, where he has served as both executive VP and president.

HOUSTON—Avenue, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to building affordable homes and strengthening communities, has been selected as a finalist for the 2018 Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award given by the Urban Land Institute Terwilliger Center for Housing. The award honors exemplary developments that preserve affordability for people at multiple income levels, specifically households earning less than 120% of the area median income.

HOUSTON—Empire Communities has acquired Texas builder Centerra Homes, expanding its US presence to include Austin and San Antonio.

HOUSTON—The Dinerstein Companies has announced the appointment of Jared Ford as president of construction and partner. Ford will begin in September of 2018.

HOUSTON—MORGAN has named Nick Laettner city partner-development. In this new position, he will be responsible for sourcing and developing new properties for MORGAN in Houston.

DEAL TRACKER

AUSTIN, TX—Meridian Capital Group arranged $23 million in financing to recapitalize a multifamily community. The three-year loan, provided by a balance sheet lender, features two one-year extension options and a rate of 200 basis points over 30-day LIBOR in addition to full-term interest-only payments. This transaction was negotiated by Meridian’s Dov Jeremias and Managing Director, Brian Flax, who are both based in the company’s New York City headquarters.

CENTENNIAL, CO—Driftwood Hospitality and CBRE leveraged the Ten-X platform to conduct the sale of Staybridge Suites Denver Tech Center for $12.4 million.

DALLAS—The Dallas and Fort Worth offices of Holt Lunsford Commercial recently added more than 1 million of industrial space to the company’s leasing and property management portfolio. The portfolio consists of the following properties: Berry Business Center, Village Creek Business Park, Northeast Business Center, Glenville Business Center, The Plaza on Walnut Hill, Valpointe Business Park and Beltwood Tech Center. Holt’s George Jennings and Thomas Grafton will be leasing the Fort Worth properties. Andrew Gilbert, Clay Balch, Maddy Canty and Ben Wallace will be leasing the Dallas properties. Traci Devereaux will take lead on all property management for the buildings.

DENVER—CBRE’s debt and structured finance practice based in Orlando recently arranged a $24.5 million construction loan for the Brick Stone Apartments on 56th Ave., a new 150-unit apartment community owned by a joint venture between a Boulder, CO developer, SEEC Enterprises and a national private equity group. The project is expected to break ground August 2018 and take 18 months to complete, and it will be located south of East 56th Avenue between Pena Boulevard and Tower Road. CBRE’s Zac Brumbaugh led the transaction.

HOUSTON—NAI Partners investment sales, led by Joshua Lass-Sughrue, senior vice president and group leader, recently completed the sale of the 19-building, 459,390-square-foot Northwest Houston industrial portfolio, one of the largest industrial sales in Houston in 2018.

HOUSTON—NAI Partners recently arranged the lease of a crane-served manufacturing building comprised of 13,750 square feet located at 9797 Galveston Rd. on behalf of Walia Estates LLC to Rotating Machine Services Inc. NAI Partners’ Clay Pritchett and Zane Carman represented the landlord, Walia Estates LLC.

LITTLE ROCK—Vanguard Real Estate Advisors, a Dallas-based real estate advisory firm, announces the sale of a 571-unit multifamily portfolio. The portfolio is comprised of three properties in southwest Little Rock: Spanish Valley, Spanish Viento and Spanish Willows. The Texas-based seller, Granite Redevelopment Properties LP, was represented by Jordan Cortez of Vanguard Real Estate Advisors in conjunction with Flake & Kelley Commercial. Cortez also procured the purchaser, BBR OIL LLC.

ORANGE, TX —Hunt Mortgage Group provided a Freddie Mac small balance loan in the amount of $5.18 million to refinance a multifamily property. Located at 3819 Meeks Dr., Terrace Vines Apartments consists of 14 buildings including 13 two-story walk-up apartment buildings containing a total of 104 residential units and a leasing office.

SAN ANTONIO—Colony Industrial has acquired a portfolio of properties in Northern New Jersey and added new properties in Baltimore, MD and San Antonio, increasing its industrial portfolio by 1.1 million square feet.

WESTMINSTER, CO—Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors has completed the sale of a new construction, freestanding, multi-tenant retail building at 13591 Huron St. The three-tenant building includes Dunkin’ Donuts with a drive-thru, Bank of America ATM and Huron Liquor. The purchase price was $3.25 million, representing $603 per square foot. The property closed at a 5.9% cap rate, one of the lowest cap rates for a multi-tenant retail pad in the Denver MSA.

BUILDING BLOCKS

AUSTIN,TX—Buckner Villas hosted a ribbon cutting recently on a $29 million expansion of its GreenRidge independent living residences. The ceremony officially opened the new 122,331-square-foot expansion and celebrated a 16,010-square-foot remodeling project. The expansion includes new apartment homes and amenities, as well as the renovation of existing common areas to cater to current residents’ needs, as well as those of the retiring Baby Boomer generation.

CENTENNIAL, CO—A new Home2 Suites, a 90-room four-story hotel, is underway. Construction is ahead of schedule with a projected completion date of late November.