Monthly Archives: December 2019


The top three brokerages on the Houston Business Journal’s Largest Houston-area Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firms List have stayed the same since 2015, each increasing it’s total employed licensed professionals.

CBRE Group Inc., No. 1 on The List, increased its total local professionals by about 53.7 percent over the course of five years, from 119 in 2014 to 183 in 2018. The brokerage peaked in 2017 when it had 213 licensed professionals.

Meanwhile, Transwestern, No. 2, saw a consistent increase in employed license professionals across a five-year period, with 110 in 2014 and 146 in 2018 — around a 32.7 percent increase.

JLL, No. 3, went from 73 licensed professionals in 2014 to 107 in 2018, which is about a 46.5 percent increase.

Colliers International placed No. 4 on the List in 2015 and 2016; however, it dropped to No. 6 in 2017 before moving back to and holding No. 4 by 2018. PM Realty Group was in the top five from 2015 to 2017 before dropping to No. 7 in 2018, when it was acquired by Washington, D.C.-based Madison Marquette. The combined firm now ranks No. 12.

Since 2015, Newmark Knight Frank jumped from the No. 10 spot to its current No. 5 spot.


 

What should the expectation be for capitalization (cap) rates and commercial real estate asset pricing as the Fed continues to cut interest rates? The short answer is, all else equal, a reduction in interest rates should result in a compression of cap rates, thereby increasing commercial real estate prices. This is because lower interest rates result in higher net cash flows available to the investor after accounting for debt service.

This may be thought of as the spread between the cap rate and the interest rate. As interest rates fall, an investor who was willing to accept a 300-basis point spread between a 5% borrowing rate and 8% cap rate would theoretically accept the same 300-basis point spread on a 7% cap rate if their borrowing rate fell to 4%.

Keep in mind, cap rates and interest rates are not 100% correlated. However, buyer beware, interest rates are not the only variable affecting cap rates and the underlying asset pricing.

In addition to an individual investor’s own return requirements, which will vary based on their risk appetite, there are many other data points to analyze in a commercial real estate investment.

Other variables that should be considered are business terms of the lease, the makeup of the asset and the health of the overall market. The business terms of the lease include the duration of the lease, what is the base rental rate and how does it compare to market rents; who is responsible for various maintenance-related items of the leased asset and how creditworthy is the tenant.

The general makeup of the asset would include variables such as location, age, condition, and competition. Any of these variables that reduce the risk of the investment should also reduce the cap rate an investor is willing to pay and those that increase the risk should increase the cap rate.

Longer-term leases, well-located properties, newer assets, below-market rental rates, and better credit tenants would all represent less risk when compared to the median. On the contrary, short term, poorly located, obsolete or older assets, above market rents and low-credit or no-credit tenants would all represent variables having a higher degree of risk and thereby resulting in a higher cap rate expectation.

All of these variables contribute to the overall risk of any given investment opportunity and for each one that reduces one area of risk there may be another that increases a different area of risk, but all should be considered together.

As we move through the third quarter, with expectations growing for another rate cut in September, it will be interesting to see how much further cap rates may compress and if commercial real estate asset prices increase, understanding that interest rates are only one of the variables that determine asset pricing.


A 4-acre parcel in Houston’s Greenway Plaza-Upper Kirby area has sold to an investment group led by a local commercial real estate firm, which is considering a mixed-use project for the site.

The partnership led by Houston-Based Senterra Real Estate Group purchased the property at 3440 Richmond from a joint venture between Houston-based Midway and Cathexis RE Holdings, which is also based in Houston. David Hightower, an executive vice president at Midway, represented the selling entity.

JLL (NYSE: JLL) marketed the site on behalf of the seller. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Managing Director Davis Adams.

The Senterra-led partnership did not disclose the sales price for the land located at 3440 Richmond Ave. However, the Harris County Appraisal District valued the land and improvements at $15 million as of Jan. 1, 2019.

The property is located at the northwest corner of Buffalo Speedway, directly across from the eastern edge of the Greenway Plaza campus. The property includes a corner pad site occupied by an operational branch of BB&T (NYSE: BBT), according to a news release.

Senterra Real Estate Group CEO Neil Tofsky said the partnership that purchased the property is still considering the best way to make use of it. However, he said a mixed-use development is among the possibilities.

“This is a strategic piece of property in the transformation of Buffalo Speedway,” Tofsky said. “The area is going to undergo tremendous changes over the next few years, and we wanted to be part of the transformation.”

The property at 3440 Richmond already abuts another proposed mixed-use project planned by San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital and Houston-based Transwestern Development Co. The Ro, as that development is known, will be built on 16.88-acres at 3120 Buffalo Speedway.

The project consists of eight parcels and will be developed in two phases, according to engineering plans filed with the city of Houston in July. Phase I will include two mixed-use buildings — one with ground-floor retail and office space above, the other with ground-floor retail and multifamily units above — plus two parcels that are still being conceptualized.

Renderings included with the plans show at least one high-rise structure.


Transwestern Commercial Services completed 187,054 square feet of office leases at Westchase Park I and II at 3700 and 3600 W. Sam Houston Parkway North. LJA Engineering, represented by Anthony Squillante and Dustin Devine of Stream Realty Partners, leased 90,989 square feet; Centurion Pipeline Co., represented by Lonna Dorman of Transwestern, leased 28,078 square feet; and ABB, represented by Beau Bellow and Josh Hirsch of JLL, renewed its lease for 67,987 square feet. The new tenants will take occupancy in the first half of 2020. Transwestern’s Eric Anderson, Parker Burkett, and Katy Gragg represented the owner, Clarion Partners. The 569,825-square-foot Westchase Park office complex has a freestanding amenity center with a Citrus Kitchen restaurant, fitness center with locker rooms and tenant conference center with seating for up to 100.

American Cross-Dock & Storage, a family-owned and operated logistics company led by president and CEO Deborah Bressie, signed two leases totaling 146,863 in Pasadena. The company leased 102,863 square feet of industrial space at 9701 New Decade Drive in the Bayport North Logistics Center I, from Triten Real Estate Partners, for storage and distribution, and subleased 44,000 square feet at 13225 Bay Park Road for drayage and cross-dock services. Bob Berry and Grant Hortenstine of Avison Young represented the tenant, while Jason Dillee and Andrew Jewett of CBRE represented the landlord. The company has more than doubled its space since being founded in March 2018. It provides warehousing, trans-loading, fulfillment and packaging services to the Greater Houston area.

Houston-based Hartman Income REIT purchased a three-property office portfolio totaling 254,225 square feet from New York-based HighBrook Investors. JLL Capital Markets, led by Martin Hogan, marketed the property on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer. The portfolio consists of 16420 Park Ten and 1400 Broadfield in the Energy Corridor’s Park 10 Business Park, as well as 7915 FM 1960 near Willowbrook Mall in northwest Harris County. The portfolio is 55 percent leased.

Deugro (USA) leased 16,625 square feet at 480 Wildwood Forest Drive, The Woodlands, for the relocation of its headquarters. Weldon Martin with CBRE represented the tenant. Steve Rocher and Jason Presley of CBRE represented the landlord, GeoSouthern Budde RD LLC.

Humble Independent School District purchased a 50-acre site at the intersection of Will Clayton Parkway and Rustic Woods Drive. The property was purchased from Lennar Homes of Texas for a future elementary school. Mark Wimberly of Houston Commercial Development represented the buyer.

A local investor purchased The Place at Greenway, a 219-unit garden-style apartment complex at 3333 Cummins St. Chris Curry, Todd Marix, Joey Rippel, Chris Young and Bailey Crowell of JLL represented the seller, Redwood Capital Group. Michael Johnson and Tolu Akindele of JLL arranged a five-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan from Ready Capital for the new owner. The property, on 6 acres near Richmond Avenue and Weslayan in the Greenway Plaza area, consists of 15 two-story residential buildings built in the early 1960s. The complex is 95 percent leased.

Oldham Goodwin Capital, in partnership with MGroup + Architects, broke ground on the second phase of Catalon at Lago Mar apartments at 6130 Lago Mar Blvd. in Texas City. The addition will bring 170 units ranging from 715 to 1,417 square feet in four buildings. Completion is planned in November 2020.

Brookdale Home Health leased 3,046 square feet of office space at 15425 North Freeway. Trey Martin of NAI Partners represented the tenant.

Blackstone Builder renewed a lease for 1,124 square feet at 2401 Fountain View Drive. John Buckley with Finial Group represented the landlord.

ESA Business purchased 2.2 acres at the southeast corner of Will Clayton Parkway and South Houston Avenue in Humble for a future fueling station and retail center. Mark Wimberly of Houston Commercial Development represented the seller, Doyle Bond Family Partnership.

 


 

Walker & Dunlop, a commercial real estate finance company based in Bethesda, Md., has opened a Houston office staffed with a team of debt and equity finance professionals formerly with JLL.

Mike Melody, Tom Melody, Tom Fish, and Paul House, all managing directors, and Jonathan Paine, senior vice president, will be responsible for securing financing for owners and developers of all types of commercial real estate assets in the southwestern United States.

“Each member of the team has deep relationships with commercial real estate lenders and owners across the country, and we are thrilled that they will bring such an impressive track record to Walker & Dunlop,” Cliff Carnes, chief production officer for Walker & Dunlop, said in an announcement. “Their long history of raising debt and equity capital for multifamily, office, industrial, retail and hospitality properties across the country will add to the depth and strength of the overall platform.”

The announcement comes about one month after JLL gained a number of capital markets professionals in Houston and elsewhere through the acquisition of Dallas-based HFF.

Melody, Melody, and Fish headed JLL’s national Capital Markets-Finance platform, while House oversaw the Houston Capital Markets platform. The 10-person Walker & Dunlop Houston office will include five staff members to support the group’s efforts and continued expansion.

“We have a 30-year history with the leadership team at Walker & Dunlop and are very honored to be continuing that relationship as part of the W&D family,” Fish said. “The small, ‘family business’ mentality that the company embodies, paired with its big company capabilities is truly unmatched. Our collective experience as a team is a point of pride for us and we are excited to become key components of the growth and success of this company.”

Walker & Dunlop’s debt brokerage team closed nearly 600 transactions in 2018, working with capital providers such as banks, life insurance companies and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) conduits. The company has 29 offices with more than 700 professionals across the U.S.


Skanska Sells Brand New Office Tower For Record Price

Houston reportedly has a new high watermark for office sales prices. Skanska USA has sold the 780K SF Bank of America Tower office building for $542M, according to Real Estate Alert. At $685 per SF, the sale set a new record, far exceeding the previous $528 per SF benchmark set by BBVA Tower in the Galleria in 2015. The buyer, the California State Teachers Retirement System, worked with Eastdil Secured in brokering its purchase. Skanska may retain a 10% stake in the deal, REA reports. Skanska completed the building, once known as Capitol Tower, earlier this year. Bank of America acquired the naming rights when it signed a 210K SF lease. While the LEED Platinum building bears Bank of America’s name, Waste Management is its largest tenant, occupying 284K SF.  The deal might not hold the record long. Nearby, CalPERS and Hines have enlisted Cushman & Wakefield to list 609 Main, the latest jewel in Downtown’s skyline. The 1.1M SF skyscraper could attract bids of about $660/SF, or $700M, according to REA.


High-profile projects in Houston’s Inner Loop are aiming to change the perception of the city’s epic sprawl, the people behind some of Houston’s hottest projects told attendees at Bisnow’s HTX Major Projects event.

“We’re thinking many decades in the future,” McCord Development President Ryan McCord said. “We’re trying to put our finger on why Houston is a lifestyle city. We have no mountains, no beaches. What’s Houston’s intangible? Access to opportunity. There’s something unique and cool about Houston, it’s a little gritty.”
McCord, whose Generation Park master-planned development spans roughly 5,600 acres, has been a passionate advocate for the Bayou City, pitching directly to Jeff Bezos during Amazon’s HQ2 search. “One of the central things about Houston that gets me comfortable is the prospect for growth,” McCord said.

Time will tell if Houston’s perception is really changing. America’s fourth-largest city has changed significantly in just a few years. With pockets of dense infill development, the next step will be connecting them all together, stitching an urban landscape that brings Houston’s diversity together. “The big issue to me is connectivity,” Schultz said. “The city is what it is. It’s vast and getting bigger. We’re not going to change that, so we need to find ways to take advantage of other transportation methods.”


Houston SkylineWhen the opportunity zone program was announced in late 2017, Dosch Marshall Real Estate Vice President Tripp Rich received a lot of calls about the program, including from firms he was not familiar with. The initial prospect of the tax exemption was so attractive and unheard of that everyone wanted in. Houston showed particular promise: The MSA has the highest concentration of assets in opportunity zones — 21.7% compared to the national average at 12.6%, according to the commercial real estate data platform Reonomy. “Houston should attract more opportunity zone projects than any other city,” Reonomy Vice President of Marketing Sam Viskovich said.  But investment interest in the program has dwindled, and Rich said the number of firms talking to him about participating has dropped. Bisnow Archives/Kyle Hagerty Houston skyline Qualified opportunity funds have raised less than 10 cents on the dollar of the program’s targeted goal in 2019, according to CoStar. In Houston, the percentage of total commercial investment within opportunity zones has dropped from 38.5% in 2017, which is the highest in a nearly 20-year span, to 16.4% for the first quarter of 2019, according to a report by Reonomy.  There are at least three possible reasons for the slowdown, Viskovich said. It could be related to the number of sites in high-targeted areas. Since the program used 2010 census data and input from local leaders, some zones were already experiencing an influx of capital. He also noted the maturing cycle could have some investors tightening the purse strings and focusing on the tried-and-true deals. But some of the drops may just be that deals haven’t happened yet, not that they won’t happen at all. The initial obscurity of the program caused some to take a wait-and-see approach. Viskovich expects those who are satisfied with the new guidance (released by the IRS in April) will move forward with their projects.  Courtesy of Reonomy Reonomy Vice President of Marketing Sam Viskovich The pace of investment activity for the rest of the year will be a good indicator of the future traction of the opportunity zone program, Viskovich said.  Rich expects a big rush to close on sites closer to 2020. Opportunity zone projects follow the traditional development timeline and process — the deals take time. It could take up to 12 months after the site is under contract to break ground. And until dirt turns, developers are keeping quiet about their plans. “No one wants to talk about a project until they know it is about to happen,” he said. The rise in pricing in opportunity zones is one reason to stay optimistic about the program’s future in Houston. Since the announcement of the OZ program, the average sales price for properties in Houston opportunities zones has increased significantly compared to properties, not in opportunity zones, which have remained steady. Multifamily development has been the go-to property type for opportunity zone investment in Houston, said JLL Senior Vice President Jonathan Paine, whose team arranged construction financing and equity for Hines’ The Preston, a 373-unit luxury apartment project funded by Cresset-Diversified QOZ Fund in Downtown Houston. He is engaged with more than 10 opportunity zone projects across the country, made up mostly of multifamily developments. A local developer is planning two apartment complexes in the Inner Loop, Rich said.  A national QOZ fund plans to spend upwards of $350M in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah, according to Rich. The fund is targeting mostly multifamily development, while office and mixed-use projects are also being considered. Courtesy of Dosch Marshall Real Estate Dosch Marshall Real Estate Vice President Tripp Rich Developers are opting for apartments and hotels because they can be built quicker; the quality can be sustained over a long period; there is no pre-leasing required for financing; and, unlike office development, they are not dependent on long-term leases, Paine said. He expects retail development to come in the next phase of investment as zones become more densified. Industrial development is also feasible; he is in talks with a fund to develop an industrial building in an opportunity zone out of state.  More than a fourth of the properties in Houston’s opportunity zones are categorized as commercial general and about 25% is multifamily, according to Reonomy. Retail and industrial come in as third and fourth in the share of assets in opportunity zones.   Zones in Houston’s Inner Loop, which includes already-revitalizing areas such as downtown, are expected to benefit the most under the opportunity zone program, Rich said.  That is partial because all opportunity zone projects must pencil out. While the federal program was designed to stimulate commercial expansion in economically distressed areas by providing a tax benefit in exchange for a long-term investment, being in an opportunity alone doesn’t make a project a safe bet.  Bisnow/Catie Dixon Hanover Co.’s Brandt Bowden, JLL’s Jonathan Paine and Weingarten CEO Drew Alexander at Bisnow Houston’s capital markets event February 2016 Investors and developers have become more mindful when selecting partners, as funds must hold properties at least 10 years to maximize the tax benefits of the program, Paine said. These projects will require a long-term commitment from both sides.  Developers want to pick the fund early in the development process before designing and permitting the project, which helps to share the cost and provide input on the scope and viability of the project, Paine said. For example, one opportunity zone partnership in Las Vegas is considering how the next owner will perceive the quality of the product, Paine said. They opted for higher-quality materials and exterior cladding that will provide durability and functionality in the long run. While the upgrades ultimately add 10% to 15% more to the budget, the idea is that the property will retain its value.  “They were in agreement that was the best thing for a project that they were going to own for 10 years,” he said.  While the number of investors eyeing Houston opportunity zone deals has shrunk, that isn’t necessarily concerning. Since the Treasury Department released the second round of guidance in April, sophisticated funds are moving forward with development plans while the delays and intricacies of the process have weeded out less experienced real estate investors. The QOFs interested in building in Houston come from the same group of investors that have considered Houston in prior investment periods, Paine said. The most active groups are ready to deploy capital with the staff and the knowledge to meet and maintain the regulations set by the federal government.


JLL To Buy Peloton Commercial Real Estate

JLL To Buy Peloton Commercial Real Estate Dallas-Ft. Worth September 19, 2019, Kerri Panchuk, Bisnow Dallas-Fort Worth Want to get a jump-start on upcoming deals? Meet the major Dallas-Fort Worth players at one of our upcoming events! Commercial real estate giant JLL announced plans to purchase Peloton Commercial Real Estate Thursday. The merger will effectively pull Peloton’s Dallas and Houston offices into JLL’s agency leasing and property management business lines.  Ricky Bautista, Unsplash Downtown Dallas As part of the merger, more than 130 Peloton employees will be joining JLL. The acquisition is expected to close in the next few weeks, with Peloton co-founding partners Joel Pustmueller and T.D. Briggs and JLL’s Jeff Eckert leading the statewide integration efforts.  Pustmueller and Briggs will work directly with the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston offices while Eckert will oversee Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas-Fort Worth as the teams integrate.  Peloton Property Management partner John Myers will be named the regional leader of property management for DFW. “This is a momentous step in our journey to become a market-leading player in Texas,” said David Carroll, JLL market director for the South Central Region. “With the exceptional growth we have seen in those markets, Peloton’s position as a leading provider of leasing and property management services will greatly enhance our business capabilities and breadth of services. Just as importantly, we look forward to working with a team of professionals that share JLL’s strong commitment to collaboration and culture.” JLL has a long history of growing via mergers and acquisitions, including closing the $2B acquisition of HFF July 1. One of its most notable acquisitions in Texas was bringing The Staubach Co., led by Dallas Cowboys elite quarterback Roger Staubach, into its fold in 2008.


 

investors spent $3.8 billion on investment properties in the Houston area in the third quarter, a sharp decline from the same period a year earlier. The decline in the overall value of transactions, down 47 percent from the year-earlier, fell across most property categories, according to Real Capital Analytics, a research firm that tracks commercial property transactions.

*       Office: Local third-quarter investments totaled $500 million, down 56 percent from the year-ago period.
*       Hospitality: Local hotel investments were an exception, totaling $200 million in the quarter, nearly double the amount from the third quarter of 2018.
*       Multi-Family: The value of apartment deals transacted in the quarter fell by 40 percent year over year to $1.5 billion in the Houston region in the third quarter. Even with the decline, multifamily properties were still the top choice of investors, making up nearly 40 percent of the local sales activity.
*       Industrial: Locally, sales of Houston area industrial properties totaled $900 million in the third quarter, down 13 percent from a year earlier.
*       Retail: The value of year-over-year sales of local retail properties dropped by 85 percent to $300 million.

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