The Retail Connection has purchased its second shopping center in the Houston metro, and it’s got the location and occupancy every owner craves.

144k SF Woodpark Plaza is in The Woodlands, along I-45 at Briar Rock Road. That’s only 1.8 miles from Exxon. It’s 100% occupied, but TRC Houston prez David Stukalin says there’s room to add value through a remerchandising strategy and aesthetic upgrades. TRC snagged the property in conjunction with Long Wharf Real Estate Partners (which also partnered in TRC’s first purchase locally, Willowbrook Plaza). The seller was a JV between Eagle Equity and NDC Capital Partners.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jason Dillee joined Cassidy Turley as VP of industrial project leasing. He'll focus on landlord rep and expanding Cassidy Turley’s industrial capabilities in Houston. He has 10 years' experience and was previously with Holt Lunsford.

***

Two pros joined Transwestern’s multifamily services group—SVP Tim Gregory and senior associate Ryan Mendez. Tim's a 25-year vet who’s been with Transwestern for more than a decade in its healthcare services group). Ryan joined from a Houston-based development firm, where he was COO.

SALES

Greystone Alloys purchased a 22k SF industrial building at 10531 Fisher Rd. NAI Houston’s Chris Caudill repped the buyer and Cypressbrook Co’s Jim Copper repped seller JKM Fisher Properties.

***

An investment group led by American Realty Capital Properties purchased a 75-building single-tenant national industrial portfolio. It totaled 2.4M SF and sold for $295M. More than 80% of the buildings are in Texas, including eight in the Houston metro. Seller Mesa Real Estate Partners assembled the portfolio over the course of 2.5 years. JLL’s John Huguenard and Sean Devaney repped the seller.

***

An undisclosed buyer purchased Villas at Westador Portfolio, a portfolio of condos on Red Oak Drive. Marcus & Millichap’s Clint Roberts handled the sale.

***

Empire Development purchased 104 acres of industrial land in Telge Industrial Park. Cushman & Wakefield’s John Littman, Kelley Parker, Coe Parker, and Tim Thomas repped seller Wyman-Gordon Forgings and CBRE’s Jeff Pittman repped the buyer.

LEASES

Lennox International pre-leased 190k SF in DCT Northwest Crossroads Logistics Centre. It’s taking space in the 362k SF building that broke ground in Q2, and Lennox will take occupancy at the end of this year or beginning of next. The complex includes two buildings totaling 682k SF—DCT will launch construction on Phase II in the second half of this year. Will Hedges repped the landlord in-house and Allred & Associates’ Gene Allred repped the landlord.

***

Premium Oilfield Technologies leased a 39k SF industrial building in Intrepid Business Park (5727 Brittmoore Rd). NAI Houston’s Chris Caudill and Joel Michael repped landlord TREP Brittmoore South, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Coe Parker repped the tenant.

***

Global Transportation leased 11k SF at the Norfolk Tower (2211 Norfolk St). Moody Rambin’s Griff Jaggard and Terri Torregrossa repped the landlord, The Realty Associates Fund IV. Phil Arnett repped the tenant.

***

Ringers Technologies leased a 12k SF warehouse at 8846 N. Sam Houston Pkwy W in Levey Group’s Sam Houston Business Park. CBRE’s Joseph Smith repped the landlord and Stream’s Anthony Squillante, Jon Farris, and Josh Morrow repped the tenant.

DEVELOPMENT

JPI/TDI Companies began construction of Jefferson Heights, a 198-unit luxury multifamily community in the Heights (1520 N. Memorial Way). The property will deliver in fall 2016. Texas Capital Bank provided the construction loan, and the remaining capitalization was arranged by JLL in the form of a mezz loan through Parse Capital.

***

Beltway North Commerce Center celebrated its groundbreaking last week—above, developer Davis Commercial Development principal Jeffrey Davis, investor Amstar SVP Daniel Cohen, lender Amegy Bank SVP of CRE’s Marc Dunmire, architect Munson/Kennedy Partnership GP Rick Munson, GC Rosenberger Construction prez Steve Salverino, and leasing agent Stream managing director Adam Jackson hit the dirt. The property is a 352k SF industrial building near IAH. The cross-dock facility is LEED C&S registered and can be single- or multi-tenant.

***

Hines remodeled its office in Williams Tower, earning LEED Platinum. The firm has occupied levels 49 and 50 for more than 30 years—they were originally designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and had never undergone major modifications. Kirksey handled the refresh (largely because its vision included adaptive reuse of existing materials), which features a new two-story lobby with view of Downtown. (Hines can spot 12 of its 17 Downtown projects out their windows.) Green features: 42% of materials and 62% of furniture were salvaged, 96% of construction waste was recycled, water usage was reduced 40%, and lighting was lowered 39% over current code.

FINANCING

Q10 Kinghorn, Driver, Hough & Co VP Ryan Watson secured $7.3M permanent non-recourse financing for Bennington Square. The apartment community is in southwest Houston and was renovated in 2012 and 2013 and stabilized. The loan was secured through RAIT Financial and includes a 10-year fixed rate and allowed the borrower to cash out and return initial investment capital to the original investors.

NEW BUSINESS

Stream was selected by KBS to lease and manage 1800 Bering. Ryan Bishop and Philip Armes will oversee leasing of the 172k SF building; Chase Crawford, Robert Halick, and Robert Cerda will oversee PM. It’s 95% leased now, with a single vacancy totaling 8,785 SF on the top floor.