JLL Capital Markets announced secured the sale of Northpark Village and Commerce Square, two grocery-anchored shopping centers totaling 220,938 square feet in Texas.

JLL represented the seller, Phillips Edison & Co. The buyer was Dunhill Partners.

The portfolio consists of Northpark Village, a 70,479-square-foot shopping center in Lubbock, and Commerce Square, a 150,459-square-foot retail center in Brownwood. Both properties are 100% occupied and anchored by leading grocery retailers with strong market positions.

Northpark Village is strategically located at 401-405 Slide Rd. in Lubbock, just one mile from Texas Tech University’s campus with more than 40,700 students. The property is anchored by United Supermarkets, part of the Albertsons Family of Companies, which generates average sales exceeding $519 per square foot and ranks in the 78th percentile for visits within United Supermarkets’ portfolio. The center features a weighted average lease tenure of 29.2 years and minimal rollover exposure of less than 11% within the first three years.

Commerce Square is positioned at 509 West Commerce St. in Brownwood along the city’s primary retail corridor with exposure to more than 24,600 vehicles daily. The center features national tenants including TJ Maxx, Aldi, Boot Barn and Harbor Freight. Current in-place rents sit 32% below market value, providing substantial upside opportunity with a projected 5.74% seven-year compound annual growth rate. The property also offers two future pad development opportunities totaling approximately 1.5 acres.

JLL Capital Market’s Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Directors Chris Gerard and Adam Howells.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction completed the expansion of the emergency room at northwest San Antonio’s Methodist Landmark Hospital.

AP broke ground on the project in April 2025. Designed by LK Design Group, the expansion adds 1,850 square feet to the existing ER, creating space for six additional patient beds, restrooms and secure holding to support the hospital’s increased demand for emergency care.

Located at 5510 Presidio Parkway, the expanded ER will help Methodist Landmark Hospital manage higher patient volumes, improve flow and reduce overcrowding, enhancing the experience for patients and staff. The $2.3 million project underscores AP’s continued investment in strengthening Texas’ healthcare infrastructure.

Altogether, AP delivered improvements across 3,500 square feet, including interior structural upgrades and the installation of advanced medical equipment to increase patient capacity. Construction efforts focused on expanding the ER footprint, repurposing underutilized space and upgrading essential systems such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of Westheimer Lakes II, a 52,322-square-foot shopping center in Katy, Texas. 

Alex Wolansky and Gus Lagos, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Houston office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a local partnership. 

Built in 2013, Westheimer Lakes II is situated on 5.94 acres at 26440 FM 1093. The 52,322-square-foot property features 15 suites occupied by a mix of service, restaurant, education and retail tenants. It is surrounded by dominant national retailers including Walmart Supercenter, Plato’s Closet and LA Fitness.

Cromwell Commercial Group, an affiliate of Coldwell Commercial APEX, Realtors, has been selected to lead the leasing and marketing of the newly branded Waco I‑35 Logistics Center, a 1,060,000‑square‑foot industrial facility on 56 acres at 5200 Beverly Drive in Waco, Texas.

In addition to securing the leasing assignment, Cromwell Commercial Group also facilitated the property’s sale to a Dallas-based investment firm, with the transaction closing Dec. 17.

Jordan Beard of Cromwell Commercial Group represented the buyer, Keating Resources. The opportunity was sourced and procured through Cromwell Commercial Group’s network of industry relationships before the asset was formally marketed.

The property operated as a glass bottle manufacturing facility for consumer beverage companies for more than 80 years, running continuously from 1943 through 2023. The developer plans to reposition the approximately 907,000‑square‑foot distribution component for lease or sale as the Waco I‑35 Logistics Center, a multi-tenant industrial and manufacturing campus.

Cromwell Commercial Group’s leasing team, led by Beard and Clay Fuller, has been engaged to market the Waco I‑35 Logistics Center and direct its repositioning strategy. Their assignment includes branding, market outreach and a targeted leasing campaign emphasizing the building’s natural divisibility into roughly 100,000‑square‑foot units, a size increasingly sought by modern industrial users looking for scalable space.

While the facility was well maintained, updates have already begun, including new dock-high doors, fresh paint and general site improvements. Its location near Interstate 35 places it at the center of the Texas Triangle, one of the fastest-growing megaregions in the United States, providing tenants access to more than 23 million people within a 2.5‑hour drive. The site also offers heavy industrial infrastructure with Class I rail service via Union Pacific in the Waco market.

There are plenty of reasons for the multifamily sector’s resilience. Many people are choosing to rent rather than buy a home. Mortgage interest rates are keeping some potential buyers from making the leap to homebuying. Today’s luxury apartments attract renters who want high-end amenities without the hassle of maintaining a home.

Then there’s the cost of renting vs. the cost of owning a home. According to the latest research from LendingTree, renting an apartment remains cheaper than owning a home in every large metropolitan area in the United States. This ranks as one of the key reasons why demand for apartment units continues to rise.

According to a LendingTree report released this month, U.S. homeowners with a mortgage pay 36.9% more a month than do renters.

LendingTree reported that the median monthly gross rent was $1,487 in 2024. The median monthly housing costs on homes with a mortgage stood at $2,035 during the same time. This means that renting was $548 less expensive each month or $6,576 cheaper annually.

That monthly gap is $50 more than it was in 2023, when the difference between median monthly gross rent and median monthly housing costs was $498, according to LendingTree.

In Chicago, the median apartment rent was $1,469 a month in 2024 while the median housing costs for homes with a mortgage stood at $2,237. That means that renting was $768 cheaper in Chicago than owning a home.

In Milwaukee, the median rent stood at $1,177 a month, while the median housing costs were $1,849, a difference of $672. In Madison, median monthly rent was $1,437 while median housing costs hit $2,118, a difference of $681.

In Minneapolis, renters spend a median amount of $1,444 in rent each month while homeowners with a mortgage spent a median monthly amount of $2,181. That comes to a difference of $738 each month.

Will this change? No one can predict that, though higher housing prices seem to suggest that renting might remain more affordable in the long-term.

This, then, could be yet another factor that continues to fuel the demand for multifamily housing across the United States.