Category: Editorial

Landing the Amazon Facility: Third Time’s a Charm for Pflugerville

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When Amy Madison first joined the Pflugerville Community Development Corp. as executive director in 2014, she immediately began looking for opportunities to bring an Amazon facility to Pflugerville. In June 2018, Madison began working alongside an Amazon site selection team to find a plot of land best fit for the job. Three site proposals later, the future facility found its match along Pecan Street, and Project Charm was formally launched. “As in, third time’s the charm,” Madison said. The PCDC hosted a behind-the-scenes panel Jan. 21 into the development process for the upcoming 3.8 million-square-foot facility, set to launch by early fall. The fulfillment center is expected to employ a minimum 1,000 employees once it is online, with plans to seek out local and regional employment in late spring. Key players behind the development who were present at the Jan. 21 panel include Jessica Breaux, economic development manager at Amazon; Jonathan Stites, senior vice president for the Texas region of Seefried Industrial Properties; and Tim Timmerman, a real estate developer and investor behind Timmerman Properties and original property owner of the project site. Click to read more at www.communityimpact.com.

Houston’s Healthcare System Takes a Pause, but for How Long?

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The Houston healthcare sector, like the overall market itself, witnessed incredible growth over the past decade. That activity came to a skid, however, leaving owners and occupiers attempting to navigate the choppy waters brought about by the pandemic. All market metrics—from absorption to vacancy to investment activity—either remained relatively stable or trended in discouraging directions, according to Q3 research compiled by Transwestern. For example, absorption during the quarter was less than that of a typical dialysis center, totaling just 456 square feet.
Granted, just barely positive absorption is better than negative, but that figure is tempered even further by the 70 bps quarter-over-quarter vacancy rate increase to 13.1 percent. One contributing factor to this rise in vacancy is the approximately 252,000 square feet of new healthcare space that came online, less than half of which was pre-leased. The largest delivery during the third quarter was Bissonnet Medical Plaza, a 53,000-square-foot MOB in the Bellaire submarket. All across Houston, multiple projects are in the pipeline that will add additional healthcare supply. In or near the TMC alone there are three hospital facilities now under construction, totaling more than 733,000 square feet. The largest of these is the 427,000-square-foot O’Quinn Medical Tower going up on the Baylor St. Luke’s McNair campus, scheduled for completion in early 2024. The two-building UTHealth Public Education Mental Health Hospital will comprise 220,000 square feet when it wraps construction this December. Slated to deliver in the fourth quarter of 2023, the MD Anderson Cancer Center Proton Therapy Center will occupy 86,500 square feet. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

CREW San Antonio Announces 2021 Board of Directors

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2021 CREW San Antonio Board of Directors, Advisors, and Liaisons Left to Right (sitting): Yesenia Marili, Immediate Past President; Dawn Vernon, President; Laura Gilliland, President-Elect/UCREW Liaison Left to Right (standing): Jennifer Soto, Director of Special Events; Cindy Cohn, Strategic Advisor; Lisa Mochel, Director of Membership; Emily Brown, Director of Communications; Natasha Sattler, Secretary; Erin Salinas, Chapter Champion; Martha Hardy, Legal Liaison; Brianna Covington, Director of Sponsorship; Jennifer Mansour, Director of Programs; and Diane White, Treasurer.

(JANUARY 2021 – SAN ANTONIO) – Commercial Real Estate Women of San Antonio (CREW) today announces 11 women were appointed to the Board of Directors, which will be led by President Dawn Vernon in 2021. Vernon and other members of the 2021 Board officially took office in January of this year. CREW San Antonio’s mission is to pave the way, breaking barriers for women to enter and excel as leaders in the commercial real estate industry. We provide unsurpassed connections, innovative resources and
education to enhance the real estate community,” said Vernon.

2021 Board of Directors and Chapter Leaders:
• President: Dawn M. Vernon, Bain Medina Bain, Inc.
• President-Elect/UCREW Liaison: Laura Gilliland, UTSA School of Business, Embrey Real Estate
Finance & Development Program
• Immediate Past President: Yesenia Marili, Transwestern
• Secretary: Natasha Sattler, HCFD Realty Management Inc.
• Treasurer: Diane White, ATKG, LLP
• Director of Charity & Community Outreach: Kristin Savage, LK Design Group
• Director of Communications: Emily Brown, First National Bank Texas
• Director of Membership: Lisa Mochel, Lone Star Capital Bank
• Director of Programs: Jennifer Mansour, Broadway Bank
• Director of Special Events: Jennifer Soto, Marmon Mok, LLP
• Director of Sponsorship: Brianna Covington, Kimley-Horn
• Legal Liaison: Martha Hardy, Brundage Management Company
• Chapter Champion: Erin Salinas, KFW Engineers & Surveying
• Strategic Advisor: Cindy Cohn, Springboard Consulting

Allen, Texas’ 135-Acre ‘Farm’ Project Attracts Major Entertainment Venue to Join Site Along 121 Corridor

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The Allen Economic Development Corporation announced that JaRyCo’s 135-acre development, The Farm, which is set to break ground in early 2021, will include a 2.6-acre food and beverage-focused entertainment venue, The Hub. This comes as the city’s 121 Corridor, a five-mile stretch along State Highway 121, now includes 900 acres of planned development, with 2.5 million square feet soon underway or recently completed. The Farm site is designed to be a premier place to live, work and play with over 1.6 million square feet of office, 142,000 square feet of retail, a 150-key hotel, 60,000 square feet of restaurants, townhomes and 2,400 urban residential units. The Farm’s entertainment component, The Hub, is set to complete construction in 2022. It will feature 0.75 acres of open space, a 2,000-square-foot stage, a 5,700-square-foot outdoor, covered lawn, nine restaurants, 15,000 square feet of shared dining space and nearly 13,000 square feet of additional outdoor space. “The Farm will be a wonderful addition to the Dallas–Fort Worth metro, with the help of The Hub’s active dining and entertainment space, providing an experience that’s simply unrivaled in North Texas,” said Daniel Bowman, executive director of the Allen Economic Development Corporation. “Its dynamic location also borders other new mixed-use developments. These are projects that will appeal to office workers, residents, students and visitors across the region.” “The Hub, located at the entrance to our Central District and adjacent to West Lake Park, perfectly aligns with our mission to create a master-planned, walkable community oriented around families,” said Bruce Heller, president of JaRyCo. “As developers and operators, The Hub ensures its event spaces are activated daily. Plus, the open-air setup is perfect for today’s circumstances, allowing The Farm in Allen’s tenants and patrons to safely unwind in their own backyard.” The Farm site also embraces the property’s natural beauty with a 2.5-acre lake, boardwalk restaurants, over 2.5 miles of hike and bike trails, a 16-acre greenbelt along Watters Creek and four additional park areas. The development will tie into Allen’s extensive hike and bike trail system and will also include several energy-efficient and sustainable design features. JaRyCo engaged Omniplan Architects, civil engineer Dynamic Engineering, landscape architect TBG and RSM Designs for graphics on The Farm project. Also along the 121 Corridor, Collin College has opened a $177 million, 340,000-square-foot, four-building Technical Campus, serving 7,100 students once fully occupied. It offers courses in advanced manufacturing, health sciences, architecture and construction, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as logistics and transportation. Other planned developments along 121 include The Avenue, an 80-acre mixed-use development from Thakkar Developers, Allen Gateway, featuring a hotel and office condominiums, and Monarch City, a 238-acre mixed-use development perfect for corporate campuses. “Without question, the 121 Corridor is the future of Allen,” Bowman added. “With its shovel-ready sites along the Tollway and The Farm’s undeniable presence—offering a work-live-play fee—we expect ‘121’ to be a center of culture, innovation and employment, recognized as one of North Texas’ most prominent destinations.” Much of the five-mile corridor where Allen borders McKinney, Texas, is former privately owned farmland that is now being redeveloped to house modern amenities for the city’s growing workforce.

Surprise! This Chart Shows Holiday Shoppers Did Rush to Malls in Final Weeks of 2020

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A data analysis released this week by Placer.ai shows how shopper visits to malls have ebbed and flowed amid the Covid pandemic. The research firm, which uses cellphone data to track consumer behavior, studied foot traffic at more than two dozen “top-tier” malls across the country over the span of the year. Visits to the malls tracked, which Placer.ai declined to name, peaked before the pandemic, in February, climbing 10.7% from 2019 levels. In March — when retail stores and malls began to shut down to try to slow the spread of Covid — visits tumbled 59.5%. That was followed by a 95.9% year-over-year decline, marking a bottom, in April. During the summer months, as Americans felt a bit more comfortable getting out of the house, visits to these malls steadily rebounded, month by month into the fall. But a resurgence in Covid cases hit traffic in November and led some to believe that U.S. malls would be especially bleak in the final weeks of the year. A surprise came in December, however, as visits rebounded again. Some procrastinators had no choice but to head to the mall in the final days leading up to Christmas to snag last-minute gifts. The uptick shows, for some consumers, malls still serve a role as a convenient shopping option. Click to read more at www.cnbc.com.

How Will Biden’s Proposed Infrastructure Spending Commercial Real Estate?

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While policy wasn’t necessarily the cornerstone of November’s election, Joe Biden did promise a sweeping program of infrastructure spending. His promised plan would revitalize American infrastructure, from roads to internet access, as well as providing “every American city with 100,000 or more residents with high-quality, zero-emissions public transportation options.” Now with victories in Georgia giving Democrats control of the senate, it seems quite likely that this plan will go forward. But what will overhauling American infrastructure and introducing rapid transit into small cities mean for commercial real estate? We’ve already seen smaller markets become more attractive for residents and employers, able to move thanks to work from home infrastructure. Will better road, rail, and transit systems cement their resurgence? While it may be too early to know for certain, one commercial property developer is already planning accordingly. Click to read more at www.mpamag.com.