Investors are looking for creative ways to meet the growing demand for office space and the associated amenities, so they're turning to flex industrial properties, especially in North Central Austin. Westmount Realty purchased the 13-building Braker Center portfolio, which will be upgraded for higher-finish office tenants, say a Stream Realty duo who just sold a pair of '70s-era buildings to office users.

In North Central Austin, a mass of new development from mixed-use to office and multifamily surrounds these older industrial projects, which represents opportunities for repurposing, says Stream Realty managing director Will Nichols, between Stream VP Sam Owen, and Rosewood Corp prez Schuyler Marshall, and Vintage Interests managing partner Rusty Perry. The area is like the hole in the doughnut with development slowly filling in toward the middle, he says. That targeted area of industrial is generating an enormous amount of the interest because of it's prime location near the iconic shopping center, The Domain.

Will and Sam repped Vintage Interests in the sale of the 119k SF Beatrice Cove industrial property near Kramer and Braker Lanes in North Central Austin to G&I VII Beatrice (formed by DRA Advisors). They also repped Vintage in the sale of the almost 202k SF Pecan Business Park at 3913 Todd Ln in Southeast Austin to G&I VII Pecan (also formed by DRA Advisors). In the last 18 months, there’s been more than 7M SF of industrial and flex traded; and there’s only 1M SF of new industrial construction in the works or recently completed, they tell us. That will maintain a stable supply without overloading the market, which happened during the last real estate boom when 4M SF was delivered during the downturn. These current market conditions are attractive to institutional investors who like the job and population growth that comes with Austin. When the duo can escape the grind, the guys like to play golf, hunt, ski, and fish.