Third Palm: A Billion-Dollar Taste of Texas May Not Be Enough

MIAMI - Third Palm Capital is undertaking a billion-dollar mixed-use development in Houston's Energy Corridor, but it may not be its last project in Texas.

The Texas Triangle - a heavily populated swath of Texas bounded by Dallas, San Antonio and Houston - holds a great allure, said developer Cameron Graham, executive vice president of Third Palm.

"If you look at the data, the Texas Triangle is probably as hot as anywhere in the whole country," said Graham, in an exclusive interview with Realty News Report.

Graham, who also leads Cayman Islands-based Dart Enterprises Contracting Co., said Third Palm has been acquiring development land and assets in Florida and New York.

South Carolina-based Third Palm recently acquired the former 35-acre Exxon Mobil Chemical campus in Houston's Energy Corridor. Over the next few years, the project will be developed as Republic Square.

Republic Square, near the intersection of Interstate 10 and North Eldridge, will include 2.6 million square feet of office space, 100,000 square-feet of retail and restaurant space, two hotels and 800 multifamily residential units.

Graham attended the recent NAREE - the National Association of Real Estate Editors - conference in Miami. A complete account of the exclusive Third Palm interview will be posted on our www.RealtyNewsReport.com website on Tuesday.

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Fred Griffin Buys Office Project Near Washington Avenue

HOUSTON - Griffin Partners, a Houston real estate firm founded by Fred Griffin, has acquired a seven-story office building in the Sixth Ward area just west of downtown Houston.

 The 85,923 square foot building, built in 1982, is located at 602 Sawyer Street.

 Sixth Ward, one of Houston's oldest neighborhoods, is located north of Memorial Drive and south of Washington Avenue. The main tenant is Houston Police Officer's Pension System.

 National Asset Services, a commercial real estate company, represented the sellers: 22 tenant-in-common co-owners.

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Rents Up 2.7 Percent in American Cities

WASHINGTON -- U.S. office rents increased 2.7 percent in the second quarter compared to a year-ago-the strongest quarterly gain since 2008, according to the DTZ commercial real estate firm.

The top 10 strongest markets in rent growth were San Francisco, with 13.8 percent year-over-year rental appreciation; followed by Oakland, with 8.6 percent; and Orange County, Calif.; San Mateo County, Calif.; Nashville; Denver; San Diego; Boston; Charlotte and Houston. Office rents were up 5.7 percent in Houston. 

DTZ recently announced an agreement to merge with Cushman & Wakefield.

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Jankowski Lowers Houston Jobs Forecast 

 HOUSTON - The Greater Houston Partnership has revised its annual job growth forecast for 2015, issuing a prediction that the Houston area will gain only 20,000 to 30,000 new jobs this year. At the end of 2014, the Partnership had predicted 62,900 new jobs for 2015.

In explanation of his downward revision, the partnership's economist Patrick Jankowski said the North American rig count had dropped by 1,000 rigs, instead of the anticipated 500 rigs and energy companies had slashed exploration budgets deeper than expected.

However, the Partnership has been known to be off-target with its forecast.  It had predicted 69,800 for 2014, far short of the 107,400 jobs Houston actually gained in last year.

Marcus & Millichap predicted Houston will gain 50,000 new jobs in 2015, a reasonable forecast that is likely to be fairly accurate.

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Home Sales up 36 Percent for LGI

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Texas-based homebuilder LGI Homes Inc., sold 331 new homes in June, its best monthly sales total ever.

That was up 36 percent from the 243 homes sales it closed

in June 2014.

LGI builds homes in Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina.

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Houston Retail Center Sold for $74 Million

HOUSTON - DDR Corp. acquired Willowbrook Plaza, a 385,000-square-foot power center located in northwest Houston for $74 million.

 The center, 17355 Tomball Parkway, is adjacent to Willowbrook Mall.

 Anchored by Bed Bath & Beyond, the shopping center is 87 percent leased, said DDR Corp, a REIT based in Ohio.

The seller was a venture of Dallas-based Retail Connection and Long Wharf Real Estate Partners of Boston. Marketing the property was George Cushing, Jack Crews, Wendy Vandeventer and Meaghan Gallacher of JLL.

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Cousins to Liquidate Tower for $170 Per SF

DALLAS - Cousins Properties, an Atlanta-based REIT that owns a significant number of Texas office buildings, is seeking to sell a tower in Dallas.

Cousins has retained Eastdil Secured to market its 2100 Ross Avenue building, a 33-story, 833,000-square-foot building in the Dallas Arts District. Cousins is expecting a price of about $145 million or $170 per square foot, according to Real Estate Alert.

CBRE is a major tenant in the tower, which is 86 percent occupied.

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Vacation Home Sales Up 57 Percent

Vacation home sales were up 57 percent in 2014 over the sales of 2013, according to a national report by the National Association of Realtors.

"Vacation home sales are skyrocketing," says Dallas-based journalist Candy Evans, editor of CandysDirt.com and Secondshelters.com. "I get 50 emails a day from developers with new projects that are coming up."

Evans, who moderated a vacation homes panel in Miami at the recent National Association of Real Estate Editors Conference, says the surge is driven by "The One Percent" - affluent households who have done well in the stock market in recent years.

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Dallas Office Project to Break Ground This Week Near Toyota Site

DALLAS - Gaedeke Group LLC will break ground Tuesday on the 327,856-sf One Legacy West, near the new Toyota Corp. North American headquarters campuses in West Plano.

Gaedeke's 14-story project will be the first multi-tenant office space to deliver in the $2 billion Legacy West, a 240-acre mixed-use urban development of Karahan Cos., KDC and Columbus Realty Partners.

The building is a LEED Gold design by Morrison Dilworth + Walls of Dallas. Austin Commercial is the general contractor; Andres Construction, construction management and Belle Firma, landscape architect.

 July 6, 2015

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