Consolidated Asset Management Services Texas, a provider of project and asset management, commercial and operations services to the power generation, exploration and production and midstream sectors of the energy industry, subleased 46,607 square feet at downtown’s One Shell Plaza, 910 Louisiana, from Shell Oil Co. Adam Grimm, Andy Iversen and Audrey Selber of Newmark Knight Frank represented the subtenant. Cushman & Wakefield represented Shell. The company is currently headquartered at 919 Milam.

Holland’s Road LLC purchased five acres at 6753 FM 2920, Spring, from DL Lincoln Distillery. Diana Gaines of The J. Beard Real Estate Co. represented the seller. The vacant land, which is off Lee Road, west of Kuykendahl, will be an expansion to the adjacent eight acres under construction for Geronimo Adventure Park. The park, slated to open this summer, will have 16 zip lines across three zip line courses.

Elumatec North America leased a 15,000-square-foot industrial building at 1511 Industrial Drive in Missouri City. Darren O’Conor and Jake Wilkinson of NAI Partners represented the landlord, Bison Warehouses. Stuart Rosen of Greater Houston Commercial Properties represented the tenant.

EcoLab leased 40,320 square feet of industrial space at 13270 N Promenade Blvd., Stafford. JR Tomlinson, Griffin Rich, Louis Pascuzzi, David Creiner and Frank Puskarich of Newmark Knight Frank represented the tenant. Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, Ranger H-TX LP.

Harrison Street, a Chicago-based real asset investment firm focused on the education, health care and storage sectors, was disclosed as the buyer of the 208,000-square-foot medical office building at 100 Fellowship Drive in The Woodlands. The building was purchased from the Howard Hughes Corp., which developed it for long-term tenant MD Anderson, for $115 million or $553 per square foot.

Overhead Doors Unlimited leased 5,517 square feet at Gessner Business Park in Houston Texas. Jim Autenreith and Sam Rayburn of Moody Rambin represented the owner, Ivest.

Sealy Land Co. leased 1,008 square feet at 7660 Woodway, near Voss and San Felipe. Peggy Rougeou of Tarantino Properties represented the landlord, 7660 Woodway LLC. Melissa Gerber Brams of Gerber Realty represented the tenant.

Wine.com renewed its lease of 18,000 at Willowbrook Distribution Center, 9333 Millsview Road. Boone Smith and Garret Geaccone of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, KKR.

North Houston Birth Center leased 5,554 square feet at 3800-4000 N. Shepherd for 15 years. Kat Morrison represented the landlord, Hartman Income REIT, in-house.

Icryo Enterprises expanded at 14200 Gulf Freeway. Dani Allison of Resolut RE represented the landlord.

Amran Inc. renewed its lease of 24,380 square feet at Sugar land Southwest Business Center, 12320 Cardinal Meadow Drive. Steve King of CBRE represented the tenant. Jeff Pate and Jeremy Lumbreras of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, DRA Advisors.

Abasi Real Estate Group purchased an 11,300-square-foot industrial building at 15600 W. Hardy Road. John Hornbuckle of Cypressbrook Co. represented the seller, Fontana Investments. Enobong Abasi of Fairdale Realty represented the buyer.

QVAL Property Advisors renewed 10,420 square feet at 15995 N. Barkers Landing for six years. Richard Maloof represented the landlord, Hartman Income REIT. CBRE represented the tenant.

The Jenkins Organization, a Houston-based company that has traditionally focused on self-storage, acquired Austin Oaks RV Resort as part of its expansion into the campground industry. The property, at 753 Union Chapel Road in Cedar Creek near Bastrop, will be rebranded as Great Escapes Austin Oaks. Planned improvements include the addition of 74 RV sites, a new pool, clubhouse, dog park and enhanced common areas.

Bayou City Hemp Co. leased 13,562 square feet in Park Row Tech Center, at 16700 Park Row Drive. Daniel Hollek of Centric Commercial represented the tenant. Jason Gibbons of Finial Group represented the landlord.

A private investor purchased the 3rd Street Village Apartments, a 48-unit complex at 310 Waco Avenue in League City and plans extensive renovations. Jeffrey Fript and Christian Mazzini of Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale.

A limited liability company purchased two apartment complexes totaling 227 units at 2120 Strawberry Road and 3201 Red Bluff Road in Pasadena. Jeffrey Fript and Christian Mazzini of Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale. The buyer plans extensive renovations.

 


A little while back, I wrote about how an emerging new category of workplace alternatives are attracting attention from both the venture community and some of the commercial real estate’s biggest players.

One such company is Austin-based Swivel, which has developed an agile leasing platform and network. The startup just raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital (who’s also backed the likes of Facebook and Spotify). Breyer is contributing $5 million of the capital. JLL Spark, the venture arm of commercial real estate brokerage giant JLL, put up the remaining $3 million. The financing brings Swivel’s total raised to $14.6 million, according to its Crunchbase profile.

Swivel raised an $850,000 seed round in 2016 and then another $1 million in June 2017. In 2018, the company brought in another $4.8 million in what Swivel founder and president Scott Harmon described as a Seed 2 round.

The startup has been testing its model across Texas, mostly in Austin and some in Dallas and Houston.

“Everything seems to be proven right and working,” Harmon told Crunchbase News. “So we raised this round to scale up nationwide.”

How it works

Harmon founded Swivel in late 2016 with some initial incubation capital from Floodgate. He and Floodgate Co-Founder Mike Maples had started and sold a software company together in the late 1990s called Motive and decided they wanted to work together again.

They both had a passion for “simplifying the office,” Harmon said and felt like the commercial real estate office market needed to be disrupted.

Swivel Founder Scott Harmon

So how does it work? Pre-qualified member companies can contract with Swivel’s landlord partners for turnkey office space on flexible terms with little or no upfront capital expenditure and no lease lock-in.

Landlords use the company’s agile leasing platform to backstop their leases for member companies. (I wrote about a similar startup, Landing, recently that is focused on flexible apartment leases). Using Swivel, leases are typically a 12-month commitment with a maximum of four years.

Clients are able to use Swivel’s software to configure and design the space however they want; most offices are between 3,000 and 10,000 square feet. Companies need only to give 60 to 90 days notice before moving out and they are not charged any penalties or move-out fees and don’t have to deal with subleasing.

Since its network launch in 2019, Swivel has signed up over 30 landlords representing more than 150 properties across Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

What it is and what it’s not

Harmon is quick to point out that unlike other flexible workspace operators such as WeWork or Knotel, Swivel is not a landlord. It does not lease space.

“We’re more like a VRBO for office space,” he told me. “People who own properties use our technology and platform to lease to new tenants on more flexible terms. Landlords make the money and share their profits with us.”

For example, a landlord can open up two floors in a building specifically to be listed via Swivel. They can charge a (10 to 20 percent higher) price per square foot because of the flexible terms, but it will still come out to about half the cost of a co-working space, Harmon said. The swivel will completely furnish the space, and “the building becomes more valuable,” according to Harmon.

“We work with hundreds of landlords,” Harmon said, “and we allow them to make more money by bringing a different kind of client into their building and providing a new class of service.”

Swivel is also not out to replace commercial real estate brokers, opting instead to partner with them so it saves money on marketing as well. It works out well for all involved, Harmon said.

Looking ahead

Swivel’s target market is tech-enabled companies in their growth phase, which make up about half of the tenants leasing through its platform. (It works with tenants such as Dremio, Graylog, Guideline 401k, hOp, Plivo, Samcart, TalentRobot, and Verify.)

The process is a more appealing one to tech upstarts that simply prefer a more digital process in general.

“They’re just used to the flexibility and that sort of convenience in other parts of their lives,” Harmon said.

But Swivel has also helped a number of multinational companies that require flexibility for their satellite offices.

The company plans to use its new capital primarily to expand across the U.S. in 2020. It is in talks with landlords in Boston, New York, Northern Virginia, Charlotte, N.C., Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Utah, Denver, and San Francisco.

“Expansion cities are a finite list and expand based on how our landlord partnerships unfold,” Harmon said. “Landlord partners will determine the order and timing of opening up each market.”

For his part, Breyer believes Swivel’s business model is an ideal approach to help landlords be able to meet the evolving needs of tenants.

“As a VC, one of my mantras [to portfolio companies] is ‘don’t sign anything longer than two years,’ ” Breyer told me. “Real estate hasn’t kept up with that, as the leasing business hasn’t yet been tech-enabled, particularly in very important markets, like Silicon Valley and Austin.”

In general, he also believes flexible leases will become more and more important in general given workforce needs.

“The next generation thinks about flexibility first and foremost,” Breyer told me. “Swivel gives landlords the opportunity to attract the tenants of the future.”