Category: News

Developers’ Dream in South Texas: McAllen Thrives as Epicenter of the Rio Grande Valley

Posted on by Sarah

It’s got a booming economy. Business development is at an all-time high, people are hustling and bustling. Welcome to McAllen, a mid-sized Texas border town with a big-city attitude.

“The growth in McAllen is amazing,” comments Rebecca Olaguibel, the city’s
Director of Retail and Business Development. “It’s an exciting time to be in
McAllen.”

While McAllen’s population hovers at just more than 142,000, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, the number of people in town swells each day as an estimated 39,000 commuters drop into town to conduct business, shop, dine, and enjoy the cities amenities.

“McAllen has consistently ranked in the Top 20 retail sales tax generators in
the state of Texas for the past few decades,” Olaguibel shares. “And, as of 2015, McAllen MSA is now the fifth largest metropolitan statistical area in Texas, surpassing El Paso.”

Even the pandemic shutdowns couldn’t dampen the city’s economic successes. “Closing out our fiscal year, we have earned epic retail sales tax revenues,” says Olaguibel. “We’ve seen our numbers go up in both retail sales tax and construction.” Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

Abbott Announces CBRE Will Expand Workforce in Dallas

Posted on by Sarah

Gov. Greg Abbott Thursday announced that CBRE, Inc., will expand its workforce and presence in the North Texas area.

The commercial real estate services and investment firm, will, over the next 13 years, create 460 new jobs and more than $29 million in capital investment at its Dallas headquarters, and 550 new jobs and more than $13 million in capital investment at a new operations center in Richardson, the announcement from the governor’s office said.

Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grants of $3,450,000 and $3,300,000 have been extended to CBRE.

“Exceptional companies like CBRE are attracted to Texas because of our dynamic workforce and unrivaled business climate,” said Abbott. “CBRE’s expansion in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex will bring over one thousand high-paying jobs and greater opportunities for the hardworking people of North Texas, and I look forward to a strong relationship with the company as we work together to keep Texas the national model for economic prosperity.”

Local officials were also enthused by the deal.

“CBRE is not a stranger to North Texas and its decision to sprout deeper roots in Dallas proves what many know about the thriving commercial real estate market here,” said State Sen. Royce West. “Even in the midst of a pandemic, Dallas reported the most commercial real estate deals in the U.S. in 2020. Texas knows what it takes to attract businesses and looking forward into 2022, the markets agree with CBRE that Dallas is a great place to do business.”

State Rep. Morgan Meyer said that the move is a “harbinger of the immense growth potential of North Texas.” Click to read more at www.peoplenewspapers.com.

Not Just Residential: Commercial Real Estate Is Booming, Too

Posted on by Sarah

The real estate market is hot in North Texas.

But it’s not just housing – experts say the frenzy we’re seeing in homebuying is happening in commercial real estate, too.

The demand is driving up costs from rent to construction.

“Prices are now at all-time highs,” said Chris Dharod, president of Dallas-based SSCP Management. “There’s a lot of money from other cities coming here because they want to own DFW real estate. For a long time, people wanted to buy California real estate. It’s now Texas real estate that they want to own.”

His company owns several shopping centers, apartment buildings and other real estate holdings, so Dharod has been able to observe the ever-changing market as the pandemic has unfolded over the last 18 months.

He said before COVID-19 disrupted the economy, the market was much more predictable and stable.

“At the start of the pandemic, a lot of businesses sort of slowed down and completely froze any growth that they were going through. They stopped building restaurants, they stopped moving offices, and building offices,” he said. “Since then, companies in most industries have picked back up and prices are now at all-time highs.” Click to read more at www.nbcdfw.com.

National Asset Services Delivers 270% Cumulative Return for Legacy Investors in Dallas Area Multifamily Property

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MESQUITE, Texas, Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — National Asset Services (NAS), one of the Country’s leading commercial real estate companies, successfully delivered a buyer for Alexis at Town East, a 224-unit, multifamily community located approximately 13 miles northeast of downtown Dallas. The sale of the property resulted in a cumulative return of 270% for investors who originally purchased the property as a group of tenants-in-common (TIC) owners in January 2006.

The tremendous return on the co-owners’ investment can be attributed, in large part, to a decision made by the group in 2016 to refinance rather than sell the property at time when market conditions were not favorable.

As the maturity date of the original loan approached in January 2016, NAS executives presented options that included refinancing the property and extending the hold period until market conditions improved. The NAS team then worked with co-owners to refinance the property while securing a capital resource to finance the TIC-structured property, with favorable terms, at a time when capital markets were resistant to financing properties that consisted of multiple co-owners.

Refinancing the asset also presented a major challenge as some co-owners preferred to sell rather than extend the investment holding period. Capital sources required a guarantor for each property ownership position. With procedural guidance from the NAS team, three Town East investors stepped forward as guarantors, satisfying these lending requirements. Click to read more at www.inforney.com.

Office Market Rebound: NAIOP Projects Strong Return to Positive Net Absorption of Office Space in 2021, 2022

Posted on by Sarah

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A demand forecast by the NAIOP Research Foundation is projecting a strong resurgence of the U.S. office commercial real estate market through 2023.

As the unemployment rate declines, more workers return to the office and the economy continues to improve, the office space net absorption forecast has been revised upward from 1.8 million square feet to 8.3 million square feet in Q4 2021. The total net absorption in 2022 is forecast to be 53.5 million square feet with a quarterly average of 13.4 million square feet. In 2023, the projected net absorption is 34.3 million square feet during the first three quarters, with a quarterly average of 11.4 million square feet.

This forecast is dependent on continued economic growth, which seems plausible given recent data. The measured unemployment rate in September was 4.8%, down from 6.1% in April. Supply chain issues have resulted in higher consumer prices and stoked inflationary concerns. Still, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose at an annualized rate of 2.0% in Q3 2021, a pace that cooled from the Q2 2021 real GDP growth rate of 6.7%

According to the report, “although the number of people currently employed in professional and business services, financial activities and information industries is only 1.5% lower than in February 2020, office utilization rates remain much lower than before the pandemic due to continued concerns about coronavirus transmission. Click to read more at www.naiop.org.

UPDATED: Legal Teams Lay Out Arguments in Austin’s Appeal Over Stalled Land Development Code Update

Posted on by Sarah

Austin’s appeal to a court ruling against its land development code rewrite process opened Nov. 17 with brief arguments from lawyers representing the city and the nearly two dozen property owners seeking to stop the revision.

Austin’s land development code covers what may be built in the city and where, and the rewrite process has now played out for nearly a decade without resolution. Some officials and housing advocates have pointed to the code, first laid out in the 1980s, as a barrier to expanding new and affordable housing options in Austin.

Both sides’ Nov. 17 arguments before a panel of three justices in the 14th Court of Appeals followed their previous comments at trial and from court filings.

Jane Webre, representing the city, stuck to Austin’s assertion that the homeowners’ rights to a notice of intention to rezoning and their ability to protest such actions should not come into play if every part of a city is rezoned. Click to read more at www.communityimpact.com.