230 of you joined us last night for great food and killer views at San Felipe Place. (We shook so many hands we need to ice down our wrists.) Here are some faces we picked out in the crowd.
Many thanks to Parkway Properties for hosting us last night. We found managing director Mike Fransen and CEO Jim Heistand with Cushman & Wakefield vice chairman Joe Peddie. At our power networking event last year, Jim said Parkway planned to expand in Houston, but even he didn’t know they’d be purchasing Thomas Properties, adding 2.5M SF here. (Parkway acquired $1.7B last year, and $1B of that was in Texas.) He says these assets have been outperforming their underwriting. Jim said he still wants to expand into Houston—might we see another mega transaction by our next happy hour?
We snapped Tanglewood Property Group prez Henry Hagendorf, Independence Bank’s John Gonzales, and Paul A. Lynn and Associates principal Paul Lynn. John tells us it’s a borrower’s market today… for the right borrowers. He says there’s lots of money out there, but lots of competition for it, so his challenge is picking the right group. (Why don't they have a reality show for borrowing yet?)
Oxford Partners’ Ryan Hartsell, Cooper Bagheri, and John Zivley and JLL’s Rick Goings were looking dapper. (Sky blue must be in this season.) Rick is coming to market next week with Columbia Centre, a 167k SF office building. He also just put 1800 Bering under contract, and last week took in offers on Westchase Corporate Center.
Cassidy Turley’s JP Hutcheson (who leases San Felipe Place with colleague Eric Siegrist) and HFF’s Jeff Hollinden. Last month, Jeff finalized the sale of Centre at Cypress Creek, a four-building office and industrial complex totaling 466k SF in Northwest Houston.
Duplantis Group’s Cindy Young, Marek Brothers’ Marshall Cook and Mark Mueller, and Burton’s Brad Burton. Brad tells us he broke ground this week (in the rain, so he didn't break as much as he scooped the ground) on Mason Creek Office Center Phase 2, a three-story, 128k SF office building. His team is also building Interstate Commerce Center, which is breaking ground next month.
Angler Construction’s Amanda Carrington and Liberty Property Trust’s Christie Weiss. Liberty has two projects underway, Legacy at Fallbrook (a 208k SF office building on the Beltway) and Fallbrook Distribution Center (400k SF).
Conor Commercial’s Jeff Stringer and CBRE’s Paul Penland.
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