Category: News & Market Reports

Partners Real Estate Company Announces New Director-Level Hire

Posted on by Sarah

Partners Real Estate Company—the holding company of NAI Partners, Partners Capital, and Partners Development—has announced that Brett Chiles, a veteran private equity professional, has joined Partners Development as a Director. Mr. Chiles will be responsible for growing capital and sourcing debt for Partners Development’s ground-up retail and other development and investment opportunities. In addition, he will be responsible for other aspects of development projects including legal, entity organization, project management and other activities. Mr. Chiles has over two decades of experience in the investment space, and comes to Partners Real Estate Company from KA Investments, a Houston-based private equity firm where he was a Principal. Prior to that, he spent time at Equus Total Return, Inc., and Murphree Venture Partners. Mr. Chiles has an MBA from Rice University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Texas Christian University.

KBS Extends Technology Focus; Achieves WiredScore Status for Four Class A Office Properties in Texas

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City View and Fountainhead Tower are the first two properties in the San Antonio market to achieve WiredScore certification. City View, a 221,373 square-foot office building located at the corner of Interstate 10 and Huebner in northwest San Antonio, was awarded WiredScore Gold, and Fountainhead Tower, 179,932 square-foot office building located directly off IH-10 with quick access to Loop 410 and just minutes from Loop 1604 and the San Antonio International Airport, was awarded WiredScore Silver. The certifications are noteworthy accomplishments in today’s tech-driven office environment, according to Gio Cordoves, Western regional president for KBS. “KBS understands that connectivity is critical to driving business for today’s office tenants and enabling them to operate efficiently,” says Cordoves. “By offering the first two WiredScore certified properties in San Antonio, KBS continues to lead the market in providing its tenants with outstanding service and amenities.” Two additional Texas-based KBS office assets – 515 Congress, a 263,058-square-foot office tower located at 515 Congress Avenue in Downtown Austin, and 1800 Bering, a 171,510 square-foot office building located at 1800 Bering Drive in Houston – have each been certified WiredScore Silver. With these new designations, KBS now holds a majority of Wired Certified assets nationwide. Click to read more at www.businesswire.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).

Austin Draws Closer to Scoring $17 Billion Factory from Samsung

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CULTUREMAP AUSTIN – Austin now appears to be the frontrunner for landing Samsung’s new $17 billion U.S. chipmaking plant. Citing unnamed sources, South Korea’s Electronic Times reports that Samsung has picked Austin over the Phoenix area and upstate New York for the massive project. Samsung reportedly will start construction on the factory in the third quarter of this year and open it in 2024. Electronic Times speculates that Samsung’s Austin expansion could be announced Friday, May 21, when President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C., with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The Phoenix Business Journal notes that the May 21 timing of an announcement may be premature, as no decisions have been made yet about tax incentives that Samsung is pursuing in Texas. In documents seeking $805.5 million in tax breaks for the Austin project, Samsung has said the new plant would create 1,800 jobs. So far, Samsung has been mum about whether it has chosen Austin for the factory. Last month, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce indicated Austin was “still in the running” for the Samsung plant. If Samsung does select Austin, a 7-million-square-foot chip factory would be built on a 640-acre site that the industrial conglomerate owns in Northeast Austin. Click to read more at www.kvue.com.

Station at St. Elmo Development in Austin Sells Out Before Construction

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The 132 condos that comprise The Station at St. Elmo were completely sold out in a first-ever, record-breaking five hours during a same-day virtual sales launch event held this month by Legacy Communities and Legacy Performance Capital, investors in South Austin’s up-and-coming St. Elmo Neighborhood and Austin’s major real estate boom. Set to break ground in August 2021, the $40M-plus development will include a North 4 story and South 3 story building housing studio suites and one- to three-bedroom condos, priced from the mid $200,000 to the $600,000+ range, with easy access to several indoor, open-air and outdoor gathering areas and lounges. Special amenities will include a library, home delivery lockers in the lobby, a cozy third-floor night owl lounge with a fireplace, a fourth-floor sky lounge with a catering kitchen offering great views of downtown Austin, separate yoga, dance and fitness areas, an outdoor resort-style swimming pool (with comfortable in-water pool seats), a special dog “bark park,” direct access to live/workspace, first-floor cafes, offices and shops, as well as a secure, gated, underground private parking garage. When completed, the new property will capture the St. Elmo area’s industrial revitalization, blending thoughtful architecture designed for modern-day functioning, using reclaimed materials, weathered brick, metal accents, oversized windows and classic touches woven into both the interior and exterior, ultimately creating a mixed-use community resembling a modernized warehouse from the early 1900s. Legacy DCS President and CEO, Cass Brewer added: “Austin’s housing and condo supply hasn’t kept pace with the continued strong demand, especially in the formerly industrial St. Elmo district that has become an easily walkable, up-and-coming shopping, dining, entertainment district with some 1.4 million square feet of residential, commercial real estate either proposed or under construction. The new St. Elmo property will only build on the assets we’ve designed in Austin’s South, Northeast, East and Western corridors, including our recently sold out communities of Westside Landing, The Isabella, Cooper’s Square, The Addie at Westlake and Gravity ATX with several more properties to be announced later this year.” For the past three years, Legacy Performance Capital has sought new micro-market asset opportunities in Central Texas. The St. Elmo district made perfect sense to develop new, attractively priced homes for first-time buyers, empty nesters, those seeking professional home offices and others avoiding higher rents and mortgages found close by in Austin’s Central Business District. The formerly industrial St. Elmo District, south of Austin’s city center area, has started to pique the interest of developers, tenants and shoppers alike. Most of its commercial space delivered to this point is better known as The Yard, a renovation and conversion of existing warehouses into retail and “maker” spaces (local breweries, creative studios and music venues) marketed to community-minded companies and social entrepreneurs. One of The Yard’s largest developments is Tesla’s $2.5 million renovations at 500 E. St. Elmo Rd. into a 30,000-square-foot auto showroom and service center, slated for completion in September 2021. Another major landmark is the St. Elmo Public Market, a mixed-use project promising office, hotel, residential and retail space, including an indoor market with vendors and restaurants.

Opportunity Update: As Major Deadlines in the Opportunity Zone Program Pass, We Dive into the Benefits that Still Exist

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Going into a new presidential administration, one of the big concerns in the investment community was the future of the Opportunity Zone (OZ) program. It was created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was passed under a Republican administration. “These are uncertain times for any income tax laws. However, the OZ program was originally enacted with bipartisan support, and I’m not aware of any proposed discontinuation of the OZ program,” said Chris Goodrich, partner at Houston-based law firm Crady Jewett McCully & Houren. “There has been Democratic interest in imposing more stringent reporting requirements for OZ investments, but it’s not presently known what these more stringent requirements might be.” §§ 1400Z allows investors to defer, reduce, and in some cases, eliminate
capital gains tax by investing in specified low-income areas designated as qualified Opportunity Zones (OZs). They must do so by reinvesting their capital gains in Qualified Opportunity Zone funds (QOFs). State governors submitted their recommendations for OZ tracts, areas in need due to chronic unemployment, lower population density and economic disruptions, such as natural disasters. The result is more than 8,700 qualified tracts scattered around the country, including hundreds in Texas. A common question related to that list is whether it could change based on the results of the 2020 Census. “Technically, the designation of a census tract as an Opportunity Zone expires after 10 years,” said Goodrich. “But the final regulations provide that an investment in OZ property will retain its status through December 31, 2047, even though a census tract ceases to be classified as an OZ due to a future census.” Click to read more at www.rednews.com.