This Week's Houston Deal Sheet
Yesterday was a red letter day for pre-leasing, something we didn’t think we’d be seeing again for awhile. A spec office building announced a huge first tenant, and a spec industrial building also dramatically slashed its delivery vacancy.
IHI E&C inked 158k SF in Skanska’s West Memorial Place II, securing the space for 12 years and taking down 41% of the 385k SF building. Beginning January 2017, the firm will occupy floors three through eight. The firm’s been growing quickly, says president Glyn Rodgers, and wanted dynamic, energy-efficient space with flexibility for future growth. Savills Studley EVP Mark O’Donnell repped IHI E&C and tells us the deal was a challenge—it took two years and significant dissection and investigation into all aspects of multiple transactions. But the stress in the market benefited his client; new buildings expected to be stabilized much more quickly and that created tremendous opportunity, he says.
IHI E&C is an engineering, procurement and construction company specializing in energy, which might make you wonder how this deal happened, but Mark (pictured here) says it’s a downstream firm, which is benefiting from lower oil prices. Plus, he tells us, well-managed companies like this one continue to grow in good times and bad and are able to transact in slower office markets. Mark expects we’ll continue to see larger deals as leases expire and as opportunities for tenants continue to grow, but says most (unlike this growth story) will be restructuring and downsizing, cost control or relocations. West Memorial Place II will top out in October. It was designed by HOK and is developed by Skanska, which represented itself in the lease.
Intrepid Business Park got a pre-lease in just under the wire, announcing that an undisclosed tenant brought Building 4 to 38% leased right before it delivered. Stream’s Jeremy Lumbreras (who repped the landlord with Justin Robinson) says the company is a national tech firm that relocated from the north submarket to better serve its customers. It liked Intrepid’s location (Brittmoore Road near Tanner) and ability to divide down to accommodate its size. Intrepid is developed by Triten; Building 4 is 86k SF. Jeremy says that his team has seen great interest on the last remaining 54k SF availability, an end-cap.
EXECS
Allan Williams joined Humphries Construction as senior project executive.
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Cherry’s Patrick Bridges was promoted to divisional manager. He has been with the firm five years.
SALES
NewQuest’s Jeff Lokey closed two land sales: 19 acres at FM 3083 and Teas Nursery in Conroe (Melder Real Estate’s Webb Melder repped the buyer) and 1.5 acres on FM 1960 (bought by MMM 1960 LLC).
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River Oaks Baptist School purchased 1.8 acres on Westheimer and Weslayan. NewQuest’s David Meyers repped the seller.
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Refuge Temple Ministries purchased 18 acres at 15310 Old Humble Rd in Humble to build a new religious facility. NewQuest’s Ryan Sweeney repped the seller.
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Fallbrook Partners purchased 2.8 acres on N Sam Houston Parkway. NewQuest’s Ryan Sweeney and Jeff Lokey repped the seller.
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Noble Investment Group purchased the SpringHill Suites by Marriott Houston Northwest, a hotel that delivered on Chasewood Park Drive in May. The 139-room hotel was built by MAS Lodging Capital, a JV between Oldham Goodwin Group and TEKMAK Development. Oldham Goodwin will continue to manage the property.
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Guy Pfitzner purchased 44 acres on FM 565 in Baytown. The site is half a mile east of the Grand Parkway. Mary Dunn Real Estate’s Brenda Wagner repped the buyer, and Avison Young’s Lee Jones and Tommy LeBlanc repped seller Sperry Eugene Family.
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Turnaround Properties purchased an 11k SF property at 6942 Signat Dr. SRA’s Marc Drumwright and Steven O’Connor repped seller S&S Investments, and The Gustafson Group’s Jim Gustafson and Brett Walker repped the buyer.
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Woodlands Medical Properties, an out-of-state investor, purchased ALORE Center. The MOB/office/surgery center facilities are at 26710 I-45 in The Woodlands. Colliers’ Beth Young repped the seller.
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Rockspring Capital sold four acres at the corner of Yale and North Loop 610. The firm bought the tract seven months ago as a covered land play because it saw that surrounding neighborhoods (including Garden Oaks and the Heights) were rapidly appreciating in value. It exited quickly at a premium price. It’s a unique deal for Rockspring, which typically buys vacant land sites and entitles/plans them. Rockspring was repped internally by Beau Ryan, who says it has a number of similar properties under due diligence.
LEASES
IHOP leased one acre at Spring Town Center at FM 2920 and Kuykendahl in Spring. NewQuest’s Bob Conwell and David Meyers repped the landlord in-house, and SDI Realty’s Jon Kantalis repped the tenant.
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Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers leased 39k SF of land in Chambers Town Square at I-10 and Highway 146 in Baytown. NewQuest’s Bob Conwell and Brad Elmore repped the landlord in-house, and Colliers repped the tenant.
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Trans-Hold renewed its 252k SF lease in Railwood Industrial Park. CBRE’s Bill Rudolf repped the tenant, and Warehouse Associates’ David R. David and Lee Paris repped the landlord in-house.
