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Apartments

Apartment market occupancy in the Greater Houston area stood at 88.4% in September 2011, an increase of 0.1% compared to the previous month, according to www.oconnordata.com, O’Connor & Associates data. Overall rents stood at $0.891, an increase of $0.001 over the average in August. Average rental rates per unit stood at $770.89, an increase of $0.95 over the previous month. Pre-leasing is currently underway in seven communities (1,513 units) out of the 33 total properties (5,398 units) in the construction pipeline city-wide.

Apartment Developments

Arcadia at Westheimer

• Resource Real Estate Inc (David E. Bloom: 215-231-7050) has completed renovation of Arcadia at Westheimer (2119), a 404-unit, Class B apartment community located at 2503 Panagard Drive in the Far West submarket (488T). The community is currently 76% occupied and features one-, two-, and three-bedroom units with an average size of 897 square feet and average rents at $0.77 per square foot. RRE purchased the property in October of 2010 and began renovations shortly thereafter.
  
  
• Grayco Partners (Jeff Gray: 713-426-2004, jgray@graycopartners.com) recently broke ground on Lakes at 610 (18765), a 319-unit, Class A apartment community located at 8811 Lakes at 610 Drive in the Hwy 288/Almeda submarket (532U). The community, which is being developed at the former site of a Lawrence Marshall car dealership, will be a single building that features a 483-space parking garage.
  
  
• Watermark Residential (Eric Garrett: 317-454-8021) is developing Watermark at Sienna Plantation (18770), a 240-unit, Class A apartment community located within the master-planned Sienna Plantation community, along Sienna Ranch Road in the Sugarland/Fort Bend submarket (609V). The community will be developed on a 10-acre site that Watermark recently acquired. The project which will feature one-, two- and three- bedroom units was designed by Humphreys & Partners Architects, employing an e-Urban concept. Pre-leasing is expected to begin in January 2012 with completion set for October.

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The following chart illustrates historical apartment occupancy.

Source: O'ConnorData

Apartment Sales

In September, the following major sales were noted.

Villas of Kingwood

• Various entities of Atlanta, Georgia-based Lane Company (Colin Gillis: 404-459-6126) have purchased the following multifamily properties, from entities of Davis Development (Mike Davis: 770-474-4345), also based in Georgia.
  
  

Villas at Huffmeister

• TEL-LA Villas Kingwood LLC has purchased Villas of Kingwood (18197), a 330-unit, Class A apartment community located at 300 Forest Center Drive in the Spring submarket (295Z), from Kingwood Partners LP. The two-year-old property is 93% occupied with average rents at $1.00 per square foot.
  
  
• TEL-LA Villas Huffmeister LLC has purchased Villas at Huffmeister (17714), a 294-unit, Class A

  Carrington at Champion Forest

  apartment community located at 15050 Copper Grove Boulevard in the Bear Creek/Copperfield submarket (408B), from Huffmeister Partners LP. The three-year-old property is 96% occupied.
  
  

Carrington Park at Huffmeister

• TEL-LA Champion Forest LLC has purchased Carrington at Champion Forest (18200), a 284-unit, Class A apartment community located at 13313 Cutten Road in the Champions-East submarket (370F), from Cutten Partners LP. The two-year-old property is 98% occupied with average rents at $0.91 per square foot.
  
  
• TEL-LA Carrington Huffmeister LLC has purchased Carrington Park at Huffmeister (17597), a 232-unit, Class A apartment community located at 14600 Huffmeister Road in the Steeplechase

  Waterford Place at Riata Ranch

  submarket (368A), from Telge Partners LP. The two-year-old property is 82% occupied.
  
  

Greenbriar Chauteau

• TEL-LA Riata Ranch LLC has purchased Waterford Place at Riata Ranch (18382), a 228-unit, Class A apartment community located at 10880 Barker Cypress Road in the Steeplechase submarket (367T), from Stick Barker LLC. The two-year-old property is 95% occupied.
  
  
• Insite Leaf LLC, an entity of Insite Realty Partners LP (Alan Ratterree: 713-339-1300, aratterree@insite.com) has purchased Greenbriar Chateau (2591), a 145-unit, Class B apartment community located at 4100 Greenbriar in the Museum District submarket (492Y), from Kaleigh 94 LLC (Martha Richardson: 713-465-3382). The 41-year-old property is 98% occupied with average rents at $1.15 per square foot.

26 multifamily properties were sold in the month of August 2011, according to the monthly Commercial Deed Report published by O’Connor & Associates. This represents a decrease of 42% in comparison to July. The number of units sold in Harris county (2229) represented a decrease of almost 70% compared to number of units sold in July (7381).

The following charts illustrate multifamily sales in the Houston area:

Source: Commercial Deed Report

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Apartment Financing

Villa Adora

• LMI Capital has arranged $5.3 million in refinancing for Villa Adora (3047), a 266-unit, Class C apartment community located at 10534 Beechnut Street in the Alief submarket (529L). The 31-year-old property is 94% occupied with average rents at $0.73 per square foot.

  Champions Pointe

  Chris Pollard (214-459-3333, cpollard@lmicapital.com) of LMI arranged the 10-year loan on behalf of The Conti Organization (214-452-0694). Financing was arranged through Fannie Mae.
  
  
• San Antonio National Bank has provided $2.75 million in financing for Champions Pointe (1408), a 240-unit, Class B apartment community located at 12335 Antoine in the Champions – East submarket (371L). Rental rates at the 28-year-old property average at $0.85 per square foot. The borrower was Newport Asset Management LLC (Zafer Kahn:

  Spring Rose

  281-558-7988).
  
  
• American First National Bank (Bruce Chang: 713-596-2888, cs@afnb.com) has provided $2.24 million in financing for Spring Rose (3035), a 182-unit, Class D apartment community located at 10000 Club Creek in the Sharpstown/Westwood submarket (529R). The 32-year-old property is 95% occupied with average rents at $0.66 per square foot. The borrower was Spring Rose Property LLC (John Hong: 713-988-0513).

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Office Buildings

Citywide occupancy for Houston area multi-tenant office buildings is 84.4% (Class A = 85.0%; Class B = 82.8%; Class C = 86.4%; Class D = 86.4%), according to the O’Connor & Associates Second Quarter 2011 Houston Office Data Program. The citywide quarterly multi-tenant office rental rate is $19.43 per square foot (Class A = $21.39; Class B = $18.44; Class C = $16.34; Class D = $16.26).
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Note: The office buildings listed herein are followed by their representative sector code and identification number as they appear in the O’Connor & Associates OfficeLink Online Data platform and are provided for subscriber cross-referencing. The property information contained within this database is updated on a monthly basis and accessible over the web. (Please contact us for more details.)

Office Developments

• Planned Community Developers Ltd (Wende Lewis-Buckley: 281-276-6000, wendel@pcdltd.com) has completed construction of Town Square Office Suites, approximately 15,000 square feet of Class A office space within Sugar Land Town Square (1519). Sugar Land Town Square is located at 2245 Texas Drive in the Sugar Land/First Colony sector (568X). Ambrose, McEnany and House Architects designed the suites while Trademark Construction served as general contractor.

For comprehensive and up to date property information, subscribe to OconnorData.com.

The following chart illustrates historical office occupancy.

Source: O'ConnorData.com

Office Sales

Sales recorded in September include:

Houston Club Bldg

• Skanska USA Commercial Development (Steven Arsht: 813-281-3261, steven.arsht@skanska.com) has purchased the Houston Club Building (104), a 370,000 square-foot, Class D office building located at 811 Rusk Street in the Central Business District (493L), from Wells Fargo Bank NA, which foreclosed on the building a year ago. The 63-year-old building is around 50% occupied with average rents at $14.00 per square foot. Houston Club, the city’s oldest social club, is the largest tenant occupying 120,000 square feet. Following the acquisition the club plans to relocate to a different location. The move is expected in 2013.
  
  

Intercontinental Center

• 15600 JFK Houston Partners LLC, an entity of Laurus Corp (Frederique Szita: 310-356-7631, fszita@lauruscorporation.com), has purchased Intercontinental Center (596), a 198,000 square-foot, Class B office building located at 15600 JFK Boulevard in the Greenspoint Northbelt sector (374T), from Bresler & Reiner Inc. The 20-year-old property is 98% occupied with

  7171 Harwin Dr

  average rents at $14.25 per square foot. Mark Ray of Kensington Property Group represented the buyer, while David Carter (713-830-2135, david.carter@colliers.com) of Colliers International represented the seller. Kensington Property Group will handle leasing activities for the property.
  
  
• Jimin & Jeff Investments LLC (Jeff Quan) has purchased 7171 Harwin Dr (1742), a 59,000 square-foot, Class C office building located at 7171 Harwin Drive in the Southwest Freeway sector (530D), from Youngpower International LLC. The 32-year-old building is fully occupied with average rents at $10.20 per square foot.

In the month of August 2011, 21 office buildings were sold according to the monthly Commercial Deed Report published by O’Connor & Associates. This represents a 47% decrease when compared to July. In terms of gross square feet, sales came down by 77% in August.

The following charts illustrate office sales in the Houston area:

Source: Commercial Deed Report

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Office Leases

Williams Tower

• Community Bancorp LLC – CBC – has leased 30,064 square feet at Williams Tower (478), a 1.5 million square-foot, Class A office tower located at 2800 Post Oak Boulevard in the Galleria area (491U), from Hines REIT. The 28-year-old, 64-story building is over 82% occupied with average rents at $12.25 per square foot. CBC will occupy 23,090 square feet in the 38th floor and close to 7,000 square feet of retail space in the lobby. The move is expected later this year. Kevin Snodgrass and Scott Wegmann of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas represented the tenant, while Allison Knight and Chrissy Wilson (713-621-8000, chrissy_wilson@hines.com) represented the landlord in-house.
  
  
• CB Richard Ellis – CBRE – assisted in the following leases in the Houston area:
  
  

Sage Plaza One

• PSC LLC has leased 71,913 square feet at Sage Plaza One (496), a 520,000 square-foot, Class B office building located at 5151 San Felipe Street in the Galleria area (491Q), from a fund managed by New York City-based BlackRock. The 28-year-old building is over 78% occupied with average rents at $18.00 per square foot. Jim Bailey (713-877-8651, jim.bailey@cushwake.com) of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, while Bonnie Kelley

  Greenway Plaza 9

  (713-980-4783, bonnie.kelley@cbre.com) of CBRE represented the landlord.
  
  
• W&T Offshore Inc (Tracy W. Krohn: 713-626-8525) has renewed its 71,289 square feet lease at Greenway Plaza 9 (747), a 747,000 square-foot, Class A office building located at 9 Greeenway Plaza in the Greenway Plaza sector (492X), from Crescent Crown Nine Greenway SPV, an entity of Crescent Real Estate Equities. The 33-year-old building is over 96% occupied with average rents at $20.00 per square foot. Charles Gordon (713-881-0921, charles.gordon@cbre.com) and Ron McWherter of CBRE represented the tenant, while Warren Savery (713-966-3980, wsavery@crescent.com) and Bubba Harkin represented the landlord in-house.
  
  

1700 W Loop S

• Burns & McDonnell (John Lionberger: 713-622-0227, jlionberger@burnsmcd.com) has expanded its lease to 59,174 square feet at 1700 West Loop South (530), a 253,000 square-foot, Class A office building located at 1700 West Loop South in the Galleria area (491R). The 34-year-old building is 70% occupied with average rents at $13.00 per

  Two Corporate Plaza

  square foot. Joe Peddie of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, while Steve Rocher and Kristen Rabel of CBRE represented the landlord, Younan Properties (Denise Davis: 818-703-9600, ddavis@younanproperties.com).
  
  
• Kuraray America (713-495-7311) has leased 18,000 square feet at Two Corporate Plaza (229), a 161,000 square-foot, Class A office building located at 2625 Bay Area Boulevard in the Clearlake sector (618G), from Metro Properties Inc (310-829-1223). The 16-year-old property is over 97% occupied with average rents at $17.00 per square foot. Derrell Curry of Studley represented the tenant, while Dena Wren (713-577-1745, dena.wren@cbre.com) of CBRE represented the landlord.
  
  
• NAI Houston participated in the following leases in the area:
  
  

1 Houston Center

• Peter Paul Petroleum Co (Wise Lambert: 713-209-1111, wisel@ppp-co.com) has leased 24,000 square feet at 1 Houston Center (89), a 1.1 million square-foot, Class A office building located at 1221 McKinney Street in the Central Business District (493Q). The 15-year-old, 46-story tower is 92% occupied with

  Koch Bldg Greenway Plaza

  average rents at $25.00 per square foot. Jason Whittington and Jon Silberman of NAI Houston represented the tenant, while Debbie Wilson (817-321-2100, dwilson@crescent.com) provided in-house representation for the landlord, Crescent Real Estate.
  
  
• Bridgeway Capital Management (John Montgomery: 713-661-3500) has leased 14,000 square feet at Koch Bldg Greenway Plaza (819), a 466,000 square-foot, Class B office building located at 20 Greenway Plaza East (492W), from Transwestern Commercial Services. The 14-year-old property is 65% occupied with average rents at $15.00 per square foot. Griff Bandy and Jon Silberman of NAI Houston represented the tenant, while Monte Calvert (713-272-1234, monte.calvert@transwestern.net) represented the landlord in-house.

Get latest tenant and vacancy information at OconnorData.com.

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Retail Centers

Citywide occupancy for Houston area multi-tenant retail buildings is 87.9% (Regional = 95.0%; Community = 88.2%; Neighborhood = 85.5%; Strip = 86.2%), according to the Second Quarter 2011 Houston Retail Data Program. Occupancy is up 0.22 points over the last quarter and up 2.24% over the second quarter 2010. The citywide quarterly multi-tenant retail rental rate is $1.60 per square foot (Regional = $2.73; Community = $1.63; Neighborhood = $1.24; Strip = $1.29).
                                        _
Note: The retail centers listed herein are followed by their representative identification number as they appear in the new O’Connor & Associates RetailLink Online Data platform and are provided for subscriber cross-referencing. The property information contained within this database is updated on a monthly basis and accessible over the web. (Please contact us for more details.)

The following chart illustrates historical retail occupancy.

Source: O'ConnorData.com

Retail Sales

Sales recorded in September include:

Bellaire Village

• Cathay Bank (Dunson Cheng: 213-625-4700, dunson_cheng@cathaybank.com) has purchased Bellaire Village (3958), a four-year-old, 65,000 square-foot, multi-building neighborhood shopping center

  Best Buy

  located at 13602 Bellaire Boulevard in the Far Southwest sector (528F), from Earth Group LP (Anthony Le: 281-398-1550).
  
  
• National Retail Properties LP, an entity of National Retail Properties Inc, has purchased Best Buy (1250), a 59,000 square foot retail center located at 7318 FM 1960 West (370F), from BB LP, an entity of Buy Best Purchasing LLC (Brian Dunn: 612-291-1000). The 13-year-old property is fully occupied by Best Buy.
  
  
• WSE Town Center LLC, an entity of Westwood Financial Corp (Steve Fogel: 310-820-5443, sfogel@westfin.com) has purchased Town Center Lakeside (630), a 23,000 square-foot strip center located at 1925 Lakeside Plaza Drive in the Far Southwest sector (568X), from MG Capital LLC, an entity of Garrison Oil Corporation (David Garrison: 713-888-0242). The seven-year-old property is over 91% occupied.

In the month of August 2011, 46 retail centers were sold according to the monthly Commercial Deed Report published by O’Connor & Associates. This represents a 46% decrease when compared to July. In terms of gross square feet, sales decreased by 21% in comparison to July.

The following charts illustrate retail center sales in the Houston area:

Source: Commercial Deed Report

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Retail Financing

Cullen Crossing

• Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has arranged $3.7 million in refinancing for Cullen Crossing (2436), a 101,000 square-foot neighborhood shopping center

  Marina Bay Village Shopping Center

  located at 8321 Broadway Street (FM 518) in Pearland (613R). The 11-year-old property is over 96% occupied. Travis Anderson (214-265-0880, tanderson@hfflp.com), Director at HFF, lead the team that arranged the 10-year, 5.39% loan on behalf of Cencor Realty Services (R Marshall Mills: 214-954-0300, mmills@cencorrealty.com). The loan was provided through American United Life Insurance Company.
  
  
• Spirit of Texas Bank (Dean Bass: 979-846-8000, info@spiritoftexasbank.com) has provided $582,000 in

  Highway 36 Plaza

  financing for Marina Bay Village Shopping Ctr (2735), a 38,000 square-foot neighborhood shopping center located at 3202 Marina Bay Drive in League City (97B). The six-year-old property is 62% occupied. Tenants at the property include Anytime Fitness and Pier 27 Tavern. The borrower was Scotto Collection Ltd (Nick Scotto: 281-334-2323).
  
  
• Prosperity Bank (Ken Medders: 979-778-2900, bryannorth@prosperitybanktx.com) has provided $1.27 million in financing for Highway 36 Plaza (2385), a 13,000 square-foot strip center located at 1718 Callender Street in the Far Southwest sector (604Y). The 10-year-old property is fully occupied. The borrower was Philip Thomas (281-969-8761).

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Retail Leases

• Davita Dialysis (Pamela M. Arway: 303-405-2100) has leased 10,528 square feet at Teas Crossing Shopping Center Phase I (54682), a 600,000 square-foot retail center located on Teas Nursery Road in Conroe,

  Former Circuit City

  from Teas Crossing West Commercial. Louis Carpenter of USI Real Estate represented the tenant, while Cort King and Ryan Orr (713-782-9000, ryan@read-king.com) of Read King represented the landlord.
  
  
• Family Thrift Center (952-832-0534) has fully leased Former Circuit City (1779), a 20-year-old, 32,000 square-foot, single-tenant retail building located at 2680 Highway 6 South in the Far West sector (488W), from Wilcorel No 1 LP. Ronnie Turboff of Turbo Corp represented the tenant, while Mark Davis (713-528-9776, mark@davis-commercial.com) of Davis Commercial represented the landlord.

       Get latest tenant and vacancy information at OconnorData.com.

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Industrial Facilities

Citywide occupancy for Houston area operating multi-tenant industrial facilities is 86.6% (Bulk = 84.2%; Flex = 86.9%; Manufacturing = 94.2%, Service = 84.4%, Distribution = 86.7%, R&D = 82.6%), according to the O’Connor & Associates Second Quarter 2011 Houston Industrial Data Program. Occupancy increased by 0.3% over the last quarter and decreased by 0.20% by over the second quarter 2010. The overall quarterly rental rates is $0.45 per square foot (Bulk = $0.44; Flex = $0.47; Manufacturing = $0.36; Service = $0.60; Distribution = $0.38; R&D = $0.77).
______________________________
Note: The industrial facilities listed herein are followed by their representative identification number as they appear in the O’Connor & Associates IndustrialLink Online Data platform and are provided for subscriber cross-referencing. The property information contained within this database is updated on a quarterly basis and accessible over the web. (Please contact us for more details.)

Industrial Developments

• E.E. Reed Construction (Patti Miller: 281-933-4000, pmiller@eereed.com) recently broke ground on AmeriPort Building II, a 168,000 square-foot distribution facility to be located within the AmeriPort Industrial Park in Baytown (503E). The facility is being developed by National Property Holdings and Powers Brown Architecture (Jeffrey Brown: 713-224-0456, brown@powersbrown.com) provided the design. This building will be the first tilt-wall and structural steel building within the 700-acre park.
  
  
• Arch-Con Construction (Michael G. Scheurich: 713-533-1900, mscheurich@arch-con.com) is developing the following projects in Houston:
  
  

4230 Greenbriar Dr

• For Puffer Sweiven (281-240-2000), a 40,500 square-foot expansion at 4230 Greenbriar Dr (26448), a 133,000 square-foot warehouse facility located at 4230 Greenbriar Drive in Stafford (569K). The expansion will add 40,000 square feet of warehouse and 5,000 square feet of office space at the facility. Completion is expected by the end of 2011.
  
  
• For Total Safety-Webb Murray (Dave Myslenski: 713-681-2525, dmyslenski@totalsafety.com), a new 40,000 square-foot, tilt-wall office/warehouse facility to be located at 4210 Malone Drive in Pasadena (537R). Space will be divided equally between office and warehouse portions and the property will also feature a one-acre lay-down yard. Powers Brown Architecture has designed the project, build-out of which is expected in February 2012.

For comprehensive and up to date property information, subscribe to OconnorData.com.

The following chart illustrates historical industrial occupancy.

Source: O'ConnorData.com

Industrial Sales

Sales recorded in September include:

9330 W Airport

• Realty Associates Fund IX LP, an entity of TA Associates Realty (Michael Ruane: 617-476-2700, ruane@tarealty.com) has purchased 9330 W Airport (6106), a 128,000 square-foot distribution center located at 9330 West Airport Boulevard in the Far Southwest sector (570E), from Beltway Houston Industrial LP, an entity of Holt Lunsford Commercial Inc (Edward Bane: 713-850-8500, ebane@hlhouston.com). The eight-year-old property was fully occupied at the time of sale.
  
  
• A&R Texas Investments Ltd (Ramon Creixell) has purchased two buildings totaling 21,192 square feet located within Racepark Center Bldgs 1-5 (6419), a three-year-old,

  610 Milby St

  47,000 square-foot office/warehouse facility located at 6800 Sam Houston Parkway in the Far Northwest sector (370T), from Racepark Development LP, an entity of The National Realty Group Inc (Mike Spears: 713-956-1000, mspears@tnrg.net). The three-year-old facility has average rents at $0.52 per square foot.
  
  
• Amerimex Motor & Controls (Wade Stockstill: 713-225-4300, Wade@amerimexinc.com) has purchased 610 Milby St (1413), a 37-year-old, 46,000 square-foot warehouse facility located at 610 Milby Street in the Near Southeast sector (494P), from 610 Milby LLC. Cyndi Corley of RE/MAX Northwest represented the buyer, while Jim Foreman (713-963-2824, jim.foreman@cushwake.com) and Beau Kaleel of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller.

In the month of August 2011, 111 industrial properties were sold according to the monthly Commercial Deed Report published by O’Connor & Associates. This represents a 4% decrease compared to July. In terms of gross square feet, sales increased by 27% in August.

The following chart illustrates industrial property sales in the Houston area:

Source: Commercial Deed Report

Improve your sales opportunities with detailed contact information of all buyers and sellers. Subscribe to our Commercial Deed Report.

Industrial Financing

Westchase Corporate Park

• Aztec Group has arranged $7 million in acquisition financing for Westchase Corporate Park (3226), a 177,000 square-foot office/warehouse facility located at 11201 Richmond Avenue in the Far Southwest sector (489X). Financing was arranged by Howard Taft (305-854-5000, htaft@aztecgroup.com) and Charles Penan of Aztec on behalf of AF Westchase LLC, a joint venture between Adler Real Estate Fund and TriGate Capital. In the sale transaction Gary Carr, Russell Ingrum, Jack Fraker, Josh McArtor, and Tom Lynch of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller, PS Business Parks.

Find detailed contact information of all buyers and lenders and mortgage amounts of Deed of Trust transactions. Subscribe to our Commercial Real Estate Loans report.

Industrial Leases

11931 Hwy 225

• Frontier Logistics (800-610-6808) has fully leased 11931 Hwy 225 (2172), a 27-year-old 200,000 square-foot warehouse facility located at 11931 Highway 225 in the Far Southeast sector (540N), from Heller Industrial Parks (Jeffrey J. Milanaik: 732-287-4880, jmilanaik@hellerpark.com). Both the tenant and the landlord were represented in-house.

  Portwall Distribution Center I

  
  
  
• Palmer Logistics (800-237-0370) has leased an additional 65,000 square feet at Portwall Distribution Center I (5820), an eight-year-old 191,000 square-foot distribution center located at 250 Portwall Street in the Near Northeast sector (495B). With this lease, Palmer Logistics now occupies the entire facility. Bob Berry (713-888-4028, bob.berry@am.jll.com) of Jones Lang LaSalle represented

  Sago Plaza

  the tenant, while Walter Menuet (713-780-4300, wmenuet@vantexcpg.com) of Vantex Commercial Property represented the landlord, Meritex Portwall.
  
  
• Eaton Corp (Carl Berthold: 337-499-6374, carlberthold@eaton.com) has leased 99,125 square feet of office/warehouse space at Sago Plaza (6398), a 162,000 square-foot warehouse property located at 14825 Northwest Freeway in the Near Northwest sector (410W), from Sago Enterprises (Alfredo Samano: 713-856-8443). The tenant was represented by Trace Elrod (713-621-9278) of Jackson & Cooksey. Beau Kaleel, Cape Bell and James Foreman of Cushman and Wakefield represented the landlord.

Get latest tenant and vacancy information at OconnorData.com.

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Sales recorded in September include:

• Sagacity Inc (c/o Dan Little: 580-795-3397, dan@littlelaw.com) has purchased 1,447 acres of farmland located in Galveston County, from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Dean Thompson: 502-895-3411, dthompson@lpts.edu).
  
  
• Shami Enterprises LP (Farouk Shami: 281-876-2000) has purchased 14.9 acres located at the southeast corner of East Richey Road and West Hardy Road (333W), from Richey Road Development Company LLC, a partnership from The Woodlands, for an industrial development. Randy Sparks and Josh Feinberg (281-367-2220) of J Beard Real Estate Company represented the seller.
  
  
• Itex Professional Park LLC, an entity of Itex Property Management LLC (Ike Akbari: 409-724-0020), has purchased a 12.4 acre REO asset from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Kristie K. Elmquist: 972-761-8215) – FDIC. The land is located along SH 105 near the intersection of FM 3083 (156R). Jason Tangen (281-210-0096, jason@bandierpartners.com) and Rob Banzhaf of Bandier Realty Partners represented the seller, along with CB Richard Ellis.

In the month of August 2011, almost 9,471 acres of land were sold according to the monthly Commercial Deed Report published by O’Connor & Associates. This represents a three-fold increase over July when 2989 acres were sold.

The following charts illustrate land sales in the Houston area:

Source: Commercial Deed Report

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Single-Family Housing

MLS home sales went up slightly in August as 4,720 existing homes were sold, compared to 4,341 homes sold in July 2011, according to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). Sales for August 2011 increased by 34.4% compared to August 2010. The median price of an existing single-family home sold in August was $149,000, up 1% from the value in 2010, while the average home price – $206,478 – represented an increase of 1.4% compared to August 2010.
____________________
Note: MLS sales include primarily existing home sales throughout the Houston region. Historical comparisons are offered solely for informational purposes and may not truly reflect growth in sales.

According to American MetroStudy, net sales of new homes in the Greater Houston Area dropped by 4.4% in August 2011 to 1,210 but are up 13.6% from August 2010. Realtor co-op sales represented over 61% of gross sales for the month, and are up 1.8% from August 2010. Traffic increased by 3.6% compared to last year to 14,119 in August 2011. The inventory of completed speculative homes (1,183) is down 19.4% from August last year. There are 1,486 spec homes under construction, a decrease of 11.2% from August 2010. Overall, the 2,669 specs (both completed and under construction) decreased by 15% compared to August 2010.
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Note: the 23 homebuilders in this survey account for approximately 55% of housing starts in Houston.

According to RealtyTrac, Texas reported 10,148 foreclosure filings in August, a 4% decrease in filings when compared to July. Harris County recorded 2,485 filings which represented a 25% increase from the previous month. 62% of the filings were recorded in Houston. On a year-to-date basis, Texas filed 85,381 foreclosures in August.

The following chart illustrates historical existing home sales.

Source: Houston Association of Realtors

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Permit Issuance

The City of Houston issued permits to build 274 private single-family houses in August. 22 permits were issued for private multifamily buildings. Demolition permits were issued for 83 private single-family houses and none for multifamily structures. In addition, 197 permits were issued for privately owned non-residential construction totaling $73,485,922 and 6 permits were issued for public non-residential construction. Additions, alterations, and conversions totaled $104,289,991 for the private sector and $5,290,000 for the public sector.

Cost of Construction*
	2009	2010	2011
Month of August	$257,369,013	$314,332,913	$315,031,315
Year-to-Date	$2,706,836,514	$2,237,681,991	$2,297,684,330

*The figures in this section include all categories of buildings and non-building structures

Source: City of Houston Housing Statistics

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Economic & Financial News

The total number of nonagricultural wage and salary jobs in the ten-county Houston area increased by about 3,200 jobs to 2,595,600 in August 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This total is 65,775 jobs more than the 2,529,820 jobs in August 2010. As it had been in July, of the nonagricultural employers the Education & Health Services sector marked the largest growth over the month adding 4,600 jobs. On a year-on-year basis, the Mining and Logging sector continued to record the largest growth. Compared to August 2010, the sector added almost 8,493 jobs.

The following chart illustrates total non-agricultural employment in the Houston MSA.

Source:  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all items stood at 202.445 in August, an increase of 3.7% compared to August 2010. The Food and beverages index recorded an increase of 4.1% over last year. Prices for food at home increased by 5.8% over the year, a larger increase when compared to food away from home which went up by 2.7% compared to August 2010. Prices for motor fuel and gasoline increased by 38% over last year, while decreasing slightly on a two-month basis. The index for Houston (310) was, however, slightly lower than the national index for motor fuel. The shelter index stood at 207.560, essentially unchanged from last year. CPI is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services and is relative to a figure of 100 in 1982, the base year.

The Business Cycle Index (BCI) for Texas stood at a seasonally adjusted 185.1 in July while the BCI for the Houston metropolitan area stood at 276.6, according to the Federal Reserve. The Texas Leading Index posted 120.7 for the month of July 2011. The indexes represent broad movements in local Texas economies relative to a figure of 100 in 1987, the base year.

The Baker Hughes count of active domestic rotary rigs stands at 1,957 for August 2011. The current rig count increased by 19.5% compared to last year’s figure of 1,638 rigs. The rotary rig count is a census of the number of drilling rigs actually exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the United States.

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Potpourri

According to the monthly U.S. Monster Local Employment Index, overall online job demand in the Houston area stood at 136 in August, an increase of 1 point over July 2011 and an increase of 19 points over August last year. Eight out of the 21 sectors surveyed recorded decreases compared to the previous month. Significant decreases were noted in the Protective Services sector (-33 points) and in Arts, Design and Media sector (-16 points). Demand went up steeply in the following sectors: Production (+14 points); Education, Training and Library (+23 points); and Healthcare Support (+30 points).

The Architecture Billings Index developed by the American Institute of Architects, stood at 51.4 in August (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings), after four consecutive months of decline. The score was over 6 points greater than the score in July (45.1) and is representative of increased demand in design services. Both the project inquiries index and the inquiries for new projects score was 56.9, a significant increase from the figure in July.

University of Texas Medical Branch (Sheila Lidstone: 409-772-8699, shlidsto@utmb.edu) – UTMB – has announced plans for the construction of Jennie Sealy Hospital in Galveston, as a replacement for the existing Jennie Sealy facility which was damaged during Hurricane Ike. The 13-story hospital will feature 250 rooms, intensive-care space and surgical suites. The project is estimated to cost $438 million, of which $170 million will be provided by Sealy & Smith Foundation. UTMB will foot construction costs (expected at $118 million), while the Texas Legislature will support the project to the tune of $150 million. Remaining cost will be covered through philanthropy giving. Demolition of the existing facility is expected to begin in late fall and continue through spring next year. Nebraska-based HDR Inc (Merle S. Bachman: 402-399-1000, merle.bachman@hdrinc.com) is the architect. Build-out is projected for early 2016.

GVM Hotel Partners, a Dallas-based joint venture of Varro Hospitality (Jeremy Robinson: 972-516-0700, jrobinson@varrohospitality.com) and the Muse Family Office (John Muse: 214-740-7300, jmuse@hmcapital.com) – both affiliates of Gatehouse Capital (Marty Collins: 214-922-4300) – has purchased five TownePlace Suites by Marriott Hotels, two of which are in Houston. The hotels are located at 11040 Louetta and 1050 Bay Area Boulevard in the Clear Lake area. The total cost of the deal was a reported $30 million. The seller was Inland American Hotel Group. Texas Western Management has been retained to manage the hotels.

Two properties owned by Crescent Real Estate Holdings (James H. Wilson: 817-321-2100, jwilson@cei-crescent.com) have been certified as LEED ® Gold buildings:

The Shops At Houston Center/ 4 Houston Center

• 4 Houston Center (91) is a 674,000 square-foot, Class B office building connected to The Shops at Houston Center. The 16-story building is located at 1300 McKinney Street. The 28-year-old property is 78% occupied with average rents at $20.00 per square foot.
  
  
• The Shops at Houston Center (88) is a 196,000 square-foot community center located at 1200 McKinney Street in the Inner Loop sector (493Q). The 28-year-old property is 80% occupied.

This is the first project in Texas comprising mixed-use retail and commercial space has been awarded LEED Gold.

Following appointments and promotions were noted in real estate firms in Houston:

• Harish Jajoo has joined Isani Consultants (713-747-2399), a civil engineering firm, as a partner with responsibility for engineering operations and business development.
  
  
• Rahul R. Bijlani has been promoted to Vice President of investments at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. Mr. Bijlani has been with the firm since 2005.
  
  
• Steve Eklund (713-212-0011, seklund@burypartners.com) was promoted to Managing Principal at Bury+Partners. The engineering firm offers services like civil engineering and landscape architecture. Jason Atkinson joined the firm as Senior Vice President. He was previously heading his family’s engineering business.
  
  
• Kristin Taylor was promoted to Executive Vice President of Accor North America (972-360-9000) – ANA. Ms. Taylor, who has

  Mark Nicholson

  been with the firm since 1998, will be responsible for technical services, real estate, and development for Motel 6 and Studio 6.
  
  
• Mark Nicholson (713-577-1686, mark.nicholson@cbre.com), managing director at CB Richard Ellis has been appointed as President of the Houston chapter of BOMA, for 2012.
  
  
• Jan Sparks and Michael Snodgrass have joined Transwestern as Senior Vice Presidents in the investment services division of the firm. They will specialize in commercial real estate loan origination, underwriting and closings.

Please direct any questions regarding content in the Houston Real Estate Trends to Holly Kelch at 713-686-9955 or hkelch@poconnor.com.

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