The Marcel Group is moving forward with the Marcel District, a 63K SF mixed-use development adjacent to Johnson Development's Riverstone master-planned community in Sugar Land. Construction has begun and is expected to take nine months, according to a CBRE release.

The official groundbreaking event is May 5. Marcel founder Vernon Veldekens will provide a $20K donation to four local nonprofits serving the Sugar Land community.

CBRE Senior Vice President Jeff Stein arranged a $14.2M construction loan and $3.4M of equity, securing 94% of the total capital stack including a 76% loan-to-cost construction loan with a regional bank. The floating interest rate loan featured 24 months of interest-only and then amortizing on a 25-year schedule. CBRE also secured the equity via a private investor.

The project will deliver into a healthy retail market in Sugar Land. According to CBRE quarterly retail research, the Far Southwest submarket, which includes Sugar Land, marked 43K SF of positive absorption in Q1 2019 compared to 46K SF in 2018. The triple net asking rents average at $24/SF.

The occupancy rate in the Far Southwest was 94.8% in the first quarter of 2019, a tick better than the overall Houston retail occupancy of 94.2%.

In 2018, CBRE Houston's Debt and Structured Finance team secured more than $3.6B in commercial real estate across multiple property types.

The Marcel Group has over two decades of experience developing, constructing and managing commercial property in Houston including retail centers in The Woodlands, Katy and Cinco Ranch.

UPDATE, APRIL 15, 12:25 P.M. CT: The updated version of this story corrected the name of the mixed-use development in Sugar Land and added details regarding the $20K donation.