Tollroad 121 and Super Wal-Mart Coming to Crowley

If you were not at last week’s city council meeting, it appears that the new extension of the 121 Tollroad will come through Crowley! This is going to be great for the future development of the area.Here is a link Map of Crowley 121 Tollroad

Mayor, Billy Davis, commented on the new Super Wal-Mart in Crowley:

“Crowley will get all of the benefit out of this without a lot of the headache. It’s on the east side of town – traffic won’t cause more congestion in downtown like it would if it were out there with the Kroger and Albertson’s. This can’t be anything but a big plus for Crowley as far as job opportunities and revenue for the city and it will also give our residents a place of their own to shop, rather than going to the congested Burleson store or Fort Worth.”

Mall Acquisition in Texas City

TEXAS CITY (Houston Business Journal) – A group of California investors headed by brothers Michael and Mayer Makabeh of Los Angeles have purchased the Mall of the Mainland from Triyar Cos. LLC.

The 15-year-old, 780,000-square-foot mall on Emmett F. Lowry Expressway, off I-45, is the first Texas acquisition — and the largest purchase to date — for the Makabehs, who own a majority stake in the property.

Mall of the Mainland is one of five local malls put up for sale late last year by Triyar. Among the tenants are Dillard’s, Macy’s, Palais Royal and Sears.

Mixed-Use Community in Tyler

TYLER (Tyler Morning Telegraph) – An Arizona private investment firm has purchased 543 contiguous acres for developing a mixed-use community between Loop 323 and Lake Bellwood.

“Middle-sized markets like Tyler often get overlooked by large institutional investors, but I know Tyler is a great town and I asked them to come look. Once they visited, they were sold,” said Eric Davis, president of TierraStar Real Estate in McKinney, which helped facilitate the sale for the owners, Westchase Land Development and Martin Heines. Davis is also a former vice president of the Tyler Economic Development Council.

Delaware Investor Purchases Upscale Hotels in Texas

AUSTIN, HOUSTON (Austin American-Statesman) – Walton TCC Hotel Investors of Delaware will pay $550 million for the 375-room Omni Austin Hotel and six other properties, including the Renaissance Houston hotel.

The seller, Fort Worth–based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co., had announced earlier this month that it was putting all of its holdings in Austin and a few other cities up for sale to match a revised business strategy.

The Omni is the latest in a series of sales which have put almost every major hotel in downtown Austin in new hands or under new brands in the past 18 months.

New Landlord For Exxon Mobil and JPMorgan Chase

HOUSTON (globest.com) – Griffin Partners of Houston, in partnership with Urdang Capital Management of Pennsylvania, has purchased the high-rise known in the 1980s as the operations center for First City National Bank.

The 85 percent leased, 795,000-square-foot, Class-A building at 1301 Fannin St. was purchased for $114.5 million from the San Diego–based Shidler Group and Angelo, Gordon & Co.

Major tenants are ExxonMobil Corp., AIM Management Group and JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Eastdil Secured’s San Diego office represented Shidler and New York City–based Angelo, Gordon & Co. Griffin Partners, which will lease and manage the building, represented itself.

129 Acres Frontage Along 183 Purchased

CEDAR PARK (Austin Business Journal) – Dennis McDaniel, cofounder of Merit Texas Properties LLC, has purchased 129 undeveloped acres that includes 2,700 square feet of frontage on the new 183A tollway.

The firm purchased the land in partnership with a commingled fund managed by Strategic Capital Partners, a real estate investment management company based in Chicago.

New Office Building Along 183

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Two major real estate companies are planning to break ground later this year on new buildings along US 183.

Trammell Crow Co. will develop Pecan Park Place, a 266,000-square-foot, four-story, two-building office development on 24 acres under contract on the south side of the intersection of US 183 and RR 620.

Bury+Partners is handling the civil engineering for Pecan Park, and Studio 8 is the architect.

Just down the road, Cousins Properties Inc.’s Austin office is planning Research Park Plaza V, the last piece of the campus that already includes more than 620,000 square feet in four buildings.

Expo Group Purchases Warehouse Office

IRVING (globest.com) – The Expo Group LP has purchased a 210,000-square-foot office/warehouse from Invesco Real Estate.

The 27-year-old building, which is on ten acres at 5931 W. Campus Circle Dr., contains 30,000 square feet of office space, which Expo Group plans to overhaul. The company will also make minor upgrades to the warehouse area.

The local trade show display company will move its operations into the building toward the end of the year.

Holt Lunsford Commercial Inc. in Dallas represented locally based Invesco.

Houston Industrial Building Purchased

HOUSTON (globest.com) – Meritex Enterprises has purchased a 205,000-square-foot industrial building on the city’s northeastern side from Denver-based Argus Realty Investors LP for $10.4 million.

The Class-A Portwall building, built in 2000 at 200 Portwall St., is 100 percent leased for the long term to two tenants.

Grubb & Ellis Co. in Houston represented the Minnesota-based buyer.

Office Building Purchased in Las Colinas

IRVING (globest.com) – SMA Equities has purchased a Class-A office building in Las Colinas from Connecticut-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, an affiliate of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

The Overlook at 251 O’Connor Ridge Blvd. encompasses more than 95,500 square feet and is 92 percent occupied. Transwestern retained leasing duties, bringing the Bruning law firms, now at 3102 Maple Ave. in Dallas, to the three-story building’s top floor. The lead tenant is Darling International Inc.

Cornerstone owned the 22-year-old building, which sits on almost five acres, nearly a decade.