Category: Southeast Texas News DO NOT USE

Lowe Joint Venture Acquires Three Hotels in The Woodlands from Howard Hughes Corporation

Posted on by Sarah

A joint venture between Lowe and an institutional investor announced today its acquisition from The Howard Hughes Corporation® (NYSE: HHC) of three hospitality assets located in The Woodlands®, a 28,500-acre award-winning master planned community in the greater Houston area. The Woodlands Resort; The Westin at The Woodlands; and Embassy Suites by Hilton, The Woodlands at Hughes Landing were purchased for $252 million and will continue to be managed by Lowe’s hospitality management subsidiary, CoralTree Hospitality, which took over management of the properties in September of 2020. Lowe will immediately begin a $25 million capital investment program at the three hotels, totaling 909 rooms.

“The Woodlands hotel portfolio acquisition is consistent with our broader hospitality investment strategy that targets quality, full-service hotels and resorts that draw significant leisure travel, but also cater to corporate and group business. Located in a high-growth Houston submarket with strong demand and compelling demographics, the hotels and resort draw from multiple demand segments attracted by the appealing location, lakes, outdoor recreation and considerable amenities within The Woodlands. Business has grown steadily over the past five years and the hotels have weathered the downturn and are rebounding strongly,” said Mike Lowe, co-CEO of Lowe.

With this sale, Howard Hughes has successfully closed on approximately $376 million of the targeted $600 million net proceeds in the sale of non-core assets outlined two years ago. “The sale of our hotel assets in The Woodlands further advances the disposition of non-core assets as outlined in our 2019 strategic initiative,” said David R. O’Reilly, CEO of The Howard Hughes Corporation. “Lowe is recognized for its leading quality service within the hospitality industry, and we are pleased to have found a buyer who shares our commitment to providing visitors to The Woodlands with a best-in-class customer experience.”

Houston Industrial Record

Posted on by Sarah

While the Houston office market has had a rough 12 months, and will likely to continue to lag in the coming quarters, the industrial market is booming. In fact, the industrial market in Houston is so strong that the metro area has hit the highest quarterly leasing total on record, according to a recent report from NAI Partners.

By the end of the second quarter of this year, Houston’s overall industrial vacancy rate stood at 9%, more or less unchanged since the previous quarter, however, there were 12.5 million square feet of leasing activity recorded for Q2 of 2021, which is more than double the 6 million square feet of leasing activity during the same period last year. A wave of new deliveries from previous quarters has kept inventory levels stable and average gross rent rates relatively flat.

The news is significant for numerous reasons, but namely how the industrial market is helping bolster the broader commercial real estate sector as other asset classes continue to struggle since the start of the pandemic. But other economic indicators continue to show improvement, the report reveals, such as lower unemployment stats, the increase in drilling operations, and an uptick in new construction. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

Houston’s Newest Megachurch Demolishes Historic Shadowdale Grain Silos

Posted on by Sarah

Like the fabled Tower of Babel, Houston’s newest megachurch knocked down one of the city’s more recognizable pieces of architecture over the weekend.

Demolition crews were spotted tearing down the Shadowdale grain elevators near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 recently, according to Reddit user u/astrosdude91. The site will be transformed into Hope City Silos, a campus of the non-denominational Hope City Church which currently operates several small campuses around Houston.

One of the two structures will be spared and used as a “branding opportunity” for the church. I can only imagine the daily dose of religious inspiration in store.

Church donors spent nearly $20 million acquiring the silos and the 17-acre site located at 1140 Lumpkin Street. That doesn’t include the cost to build the campus itself.

The new campus is in part being developed by Big Vision Advisors’ Duncan Dodds, who also helped transform the Compaq Center into Lakewood Church in the mid-2000s, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff. Click to read more at www.chron.com.

Playing in the ‘Major Leagues’: Meredith Cullen Moves to Cushman & Wakefield, Tackles ‘Red-Hot’ Land Market

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Meredith Cullen has been interested in the Texas land market since he was a kid, driving around to scout tracts with his father Roy.

“That’s what my dad was into and that was his talent: finding out where the path of growth is,” says Cullen, who leads Cushman & Wakefield’s land brokerage team in Houston along with David Cook.

Roy passed that talent and passion to Meredith, who’s using it to ignite what is already a red-hot market.

“It’s on fire,” Cullen says. “Right now, there’s a lot of opportunity.”

That opportunity only exists if you know where to look like he does. Even then, it’s become a challenge in the past year.

“If I could find 500 acres maybe 10 miles past the Grand Parkway between I-45 and US 59, I could sell that all day long for $50,000 an acre,” says Cullen. “Right now, it’s just hard to find that product.”

What’s driving the demand? He describes it as a perfect storm of behaviors generated by and during the pandemic. First, we all know about the exponential increase in online buying, which created a need for last-mile distribution locations.

“I have a lot of clients looking for industrial land go off-market to try
to find these pieces,” Cullen explains. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

Transwestern Real Estate Managing Director Receives Landlord Broker Award

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Transwestern Real Estate Services (TRS) announces the Houston Office Leasing Brokers Association (HOLBA) has recognized Managing Director Doug Little as the Landlord Broker of the Year for his office leasing efforts in 2020. Little was a finalist for the broker of the year award in 2018 and on the team that received the HOLBA Deal of the Year award in 2019 on behalf of Brookfield for Direct Energy’s 105,578-square-foot lease at 2 Houston Center. This honor is voted on by the tenant representation community in Houston and was presented to Little at the HOLBA Awards ceremony on May 13, 2021. In 2020, Little’s team completed approximately 748,200 square feet of lease transactions with an aggregate value exceeding $132 million. Notable leases include TGS-Nopec Geophysical Company at 10451 Clay Rd. (97,295 square feet), Cadence Bank at Park Towers South (82,215 square feet), Ryan LLC at Park Towers North (66,750 square feet) and Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson at Loop Central III (43,113 square feet).

Who’s Next: Amazon Selects La Marque for Delivery Station

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During a year that was a struggle for so many Texas communities, La Marque saw the light at the end of the tunnel earlier than most. “We had quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work that happened, as you can imagine before we could finally make the announcement,” says Alex Getty, Executive Director of the La Marque Economic Development Corporation. That announcement? Amazon chose La Marque as the site of a 180,000-square-foot delivery station, which will power the company’s last-mile capabilities to speed up deliveries for people in and around Galveston County. “We know location is a very important factor when sites are selected for projects like this. Since La Marque is the hub of the mainland, I think it helped Amazon ultimately choose us,” Getty says. The facility is expected to directly contribute about 400 jobs, which pay a minimum of $15 per hour — everything from drivers to primary management positions, to team leads. But projects show it will also contribute to 150 more, such as janitorial suppliers or employees in restaurants built to accommodate the expanded workforce. Another 230 construction workers are needed just to get the building off the ground. “We are excited to continue to invest in Texas with a new delivery station in La Marque that will create hundreds of new job opportunities and provide faster and more efficient delivery for customers,” said Daniel Martin, a spokesman for Amazon. “We look forward to continuing our growth in Texas and want to thank local and state leaders for their support in making this project possible.” Click to read more at www.rednews.com.