Category: News & Market Reports

Safespill Inks new 55,000-SF Lease Near 610 South Loop

Posted on by Sarah

Safespill has signed a new, 54,869-square-foot lease at 1900 Crosspoint in Houston. The fire protection firm is relocating from its existing facility off Knight Road. Transwestern Real Estate Services’ Carter Thurmond provided tenant advisory services on behalf of Safespill, whose company growth stems from high demand from the U.S. military and large third-party logistics companies. Evtex Companies, which owns the property, was represented by Robyn Berry and Janae Evans. “It was a pleasure working with Safespill, and I look forward to serving their needs for years to come,” said Thurmond. “The space at Crosspoint not only satisfies the tenant’s current growth needs but also provides a runway for them to continue growing.” 1900 Crosspoint is a freestanding building with a fenced truck court that provides excellent access to Houston’s Loop 610 and the Texas Medical Center. The building configuration includes 46,393-square-feet of warehouse space and 8,476 square feet of office space.

BBVA USA Launches Milestone Green Commercial Real Estate Loan Throughout its Footprint

Posted on by Sarah

HOUSTON, Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — BBVA USA has launched a sustainability-focused commercial real estate loan for clients across its footprint, marking a milestone in the bank’s new 5-year strategic plan implemented in January 2020. The loan is designed to help small business owners with closing costs related to the purchase of commercial real estate, provided the property meets certain environmental sustainability standards. The loan is another step the bank is taking in support of the second pillar of its strategic plan – focusing on aligning business efforts with economic, social and environmental sustainability. “This product underscores both the economic and environmental concepts of the bank’s strategic plan,” said BBVA USA Small- to Medium-Enterprises Network Executive Elizabeth Dobers. “It helps small business owners build their business portfolio with savings on closing costs as well as their green portfolio by acquiring energy-efficient property. We’ve long been champions of small businesses, the economic backbone of this country, and this is another way we’re continuing that mentality, while encouraging sustainable behavior.” BBVA USA’s new sustainability-focused loan allows small business owners to receive a discount of 1 percent, up to $10,000, of their loan amount toward closing costs if they buy or build an energy-efficient building, or renovate an existing building to improve its energy efficiency. To qualify for the loan to build or purchase an existing building, the property must obtain one of the following certifications: LEED® green building program, National Green Building Standard™, Green Globes®, Living Building Challenge™, or ENERGY STAR™. If the loan is for a building renovation, the building must secure one of the previous certifications or achieve a verifiable 20 percent increase in efficiency from measures not required by building code, or can include adding an on-site renewable power system that supports at least 20 percent of the renovated building’s total electrical load. Click to read more at www.prnewswire.com.

Amazon Plans to Put 1,000 Warehouses in Suburban Neighborhoods

Posted on by Sarah

Amazon.com Inc. plans to open 1,000 small delivery hubs in cities and suburbs all over the U.S., according to people familiar with the plans. The facilities, which will eventually number about 1,500, will bring products closer to customers, making shopping online about as fast as a quick run to the store. It will also help the world’s largest e-commerce company take on a resurgent Walmart Inc. Amazon couldn’t fulfill its two-day delivery pledge earlier this year when shoppers in Covid-19 lockdown flooded the company with more orders than it could handle. While delivery times have improved thanks to the hiring of 175,000 new workers, Amazon is now consumed with honoring a pre-pandemic pledge to get many products to Prime subscribers on the same day. So with the holidays approaching, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is doubling down by investing billions in proximity, putting warehouses and swarms of blue vans in neighborhoods long populated with car dealerships, fast-food joints, shopping malls and big-box stores. Click to read more at www.bloomberg.com.

New TexAmericas Website Provides Detailed Economic and Community Information to Site Selectors

Posted on by Sarah

TEXARKANA — TexAmericas Center has upgraded its website on Thursday to provide a depth of information that could be valuable to business owners, site selectors and commercial listing agents evaluating locations. The website, in addition to a more user-friendly and intuitive interface, integrates with RealMassive, a real estate database provider, and ZoomProspector, a leading commercial real eastate data portal, according to a TexAmericas Center press release. Site selectors are used to culling multiple sources to identify, vet, and eventually select the ideal location for business establishment or expansion. Businesses have different goals for projects which can require weighing variables like cost per square foot, utilities, labor markets, tax rates, incentives, transportation, and cost of living. The press release states that the new TexAmericas Center website is designed to offer a single resource for more of these critical data points. The new website provides visitors with an overview of Texarkana a 75-mile, four-state (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma) region — as well as a robust database of TAC’s commercial property listings. The Property Search Database integrates listing information with economic and community data via RealMassive and ZoomProspector including regional demographics, laborshed, and industry concentrations. The aggregation of this information allows site selectors to view a variety of data points in one resource. This streamlines the initial process, after which the TAC real estate development professionals can offer more customized information, reports, and solutions for businesses. Click to read more at www.texarcanagazette.com.

‘Wave of Foreclosures’ Expected to Hit Commercial Real Estate Market

Posted on by Sarah

The pandemic has hit commercial properties hard – especially restaurants, retailers and hotels, which are having a hard time making mortgage payments because of reduced business. As a result, the industry is facing a “wave of foreclosures” over the next several quarters, according to securities data company Trepp, which warned that “borrowers may be strategically defaulting on their loans.” Borrowers with loans coming due in 2021 or before have stopped making payments at a rate six times greater than those whose loans are due later, according to Trepp (a 1.66 percent delinquency rate compared to 0.27 percent, respectively). That suggests such borrowers, believing they will not be able to find financing to keep their buildings when their current loan expires, are cutting their losses by defaulting sooner, rather than later. Stopping payments can also put pressure on a lender to negotiate with the borrower, said Matt Anderson, managing director at Trepp. While data suggest owners of smaller properties are more directly impacted by the recession — loans with balances of less than $1 million have a delinquency rate twice that of the overall portfolio — larger property owners appear to be most aggressively cutting their losses. The term of a commercial real estate loan generally comes due before it is fully paid off. When the loan expires, or becomes mature, borrowers generally take out a new loan to pay off the first – a practice that allows both sides the flexibility to reset the terms to better reflect market conditions and the borrower’s financial state. Click to read more at www.lmtonline.com.