Last week, the Houston and Dallas offices of HFF worked together to arrange a financial JV for a 69k SF General Services Administration border control facility in McAllen. Bisnow’s Houston reporter met with analyst Trent Agnew and senior managing director Danny Miller, who tell us they typically arrange outright sales, but in this case arranged a refinancing so the owner, McAllen Customs Border Patrol, could keep the property. (Besides wanting to maintain management, McAllen owns contiguous land, and if GSA expands, McAllen wants that contract, too.) The building is new, with processing, admin, emergency HQ, and a maintenance facility for CBP vehicles. Danny tells us finding investors wasn’t hard—GSA has 95% renewability: some of “the best credit you can have.”

The facility has updated capabilities (eg, it’s bomb-resistant) and more space (accommodating 350 agents) than old properties, and is situated between the new and old international bridges to Mexico. Danny and Trent describe it as “location-driven and mission-specific,” (which we think means border control doesn't have much need for space in Milwaukee or Poughkeepsie). They say it’s a modern prototype  for border control facilities. Direct that praise to designer TAG International, developers Live Oak-Gattesman and FD Partners, and Harvey-Cleary Builders.