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November 23, 2009 by HSACQ · 16 Comments
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Houston Chronicle Article:
November 20, 2009
Written By: Nancy Sarnoff
http://blogs.chron.com/primeproperty/2009/11/greenway_plaza_goes_back_to_le_1.html
Greenway Plaza goes back to lender.
The real estate arm of Morgan Stanley has given the keys back to its lender on a portfolio of properties, including Houston’s Greenway Plaza and interests in Post Oak Central and Houston Center, which the company owns with GE and JPMorgan, the Wall Street Journal reports today.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate acquired the properties when it bought Crescent Real Estate Equities in 2007 for $6.5 billion.
Morgan Stanley turned over the portfolio of more than 17 million square feet of office towers, resorts and hotels which it had acquired in 2007 with a $2 billion loan provided by Barclays. The debt comes due on Nov. 20.Barclays formed a joint venture with Goff Capital Inc. to take over the properties and named John Goff, co-founder of Crescent before it was sold to Morgan, chairman and chief executive of the new joint venture.
The Morgan Stanley unit had been negotiating to avert a default on the $2 billion loan it used to acquire Fort Worth-based Crescent during the height of the commercial real estate boom.
It gave the company ownership, or interests in, 54 office buildings spread across Houston, Dallas, Denver, Miami and Las Vegas, as well as resort developments and residential land.
The company planned to move the properties into an investment fund, but that sunk when commercial real estate values began to slide, and the real estate remained on Morgan Stanley’s balance sheet.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 10:37am CST
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/11/23/daily18.html
Greenway Plaza, other Crescent buildings taken over by lenderHouston Business Journal
Houston’s prominent Greenway Plaza office complex has been handed back to the lender and a new company has been formed to manage the assets.
The 10-building Greenway Plaza complex was taken over by Barclays Capital, which on Nov. 20 gained control of Crescent Real Estate Equities’ entire portfolio as part of an agreement to resolve liability for $2 billion in debt, according to media reports. A unit of Morgan Stanley had acquired Fort Worth-based Crescent in 2007, gaining Greenway Plaza in the transaction.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate paid $6.5 billion for Crescent, a once high-flying real estate investment trust that was publicly traded.
Other Houston properties in Crescent’s portfolio include Houston Center, Fulbright Tower and Post Oak Central, all of which are owned through various joint ventures. Crescent’s interests in those properties were also taken over by Barclays.
Barclays announced on Nov. 20 that it has formed Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC, a joint venture with Fort Worth-based Goff Capital Inc., to acquire Crescent from Morgan Stanley. Goff Capital’s John Goff will now serve as chairman and chief executive officer of Crescent, where he served as vice chairman and chief executive officer until Crescent was sold to Morgan Stanley.
The newly formed company will own and operate Crescent’s assets, including the 4.3-million-square-foot Greenway Plaza complex, which is located along the Southwest Freeway near Buffalo Speedway.
Crescent owns and manages a portfolio of 36 office buildings totaling more than 17 million square feet in markets including Houston, Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas. Crescent also holds investments in resort developments, as well as hotels and in the Canyon Ranch resort chain.
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REAL ESTATE
Foreclosures are up sharply
By NANCY SARNOFF Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 28, 2009, 2:07AM
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sarnoff/6742506.html
Asia Society goes ahead
Plenty of architectural designs drawn up for lofty Houston developments end up in the real estate graveyard, killed by lack of financing, demand or logic.
For others, coming to life just takes a while.
More than five years after announcing it, the Asia Society Texas Center will break ground on a headquarters-gallery and performance hall in December.
The project is notable for several reasons.
It was designed by prominent Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi.
It will be the first free-standing building designed by Taniguchi in the United States and his second U.S. project after the expansion and renovation of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The Houston building is also the only new facility being planned for the Asia Society in the U.S. Headquartered in New York, it has locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington.
The project was announced in 2004, but it was delayed after the Asia Society put it out for bid in 2008.
“It was not a good time in terms of prices,” said Martha Blackwelder, executive director of the Asia Society Texas Center. “Steel and concrete were at their highest.”
So the group waited and began looking for ways to reduce construction costs.
Over the summer it signed a contract with W.S. Bellows Construction Corp. to build the project.
The 38,000-square-foot building, which will be at 1370 Southmore near the Holocaust Museum, will include a 280-seat performing arts theater, a 4,000-square-foot art gallery and outdoor sculpture garden.
Since it started raising money for the project in 2003, the Asia Society has collected $44.6 million.
It recently received a $1.5 million challenge grant from the Houston Endowment. It needs $2.2 million more to reach its goal.
The overall project has not changed, except for a few small details, Blackwelder said.
It’s expected to open in the spring of 2012.
“I really think it’s going to be one of the landmark buildings in Houston,” Blackwelder said.
http://www.hsacq.com
Good article about office building projects moving forward in Houston, Texas.
December 8, 2009 at 4:47 am
12-09-09
HSACQ.com
Houston Office Space and Houston Office Buildings-Leasing Opportunities.
This is a really good time for a tenant to consider options when leasing Houston office space.
The econonomy has certainly had an impact on the Houston office space market. The impact has been most significant behind the scenes with the landlords and owners of Houston office buildings. Most recently we have seen quality Houston office building portfolios going back to the lender due to the owners being unable to repay the debt owed on them. This kind of situation occurs when the (landlord)borrower has paid too much for the Houston commercial property and is unable to refinance or borrow additional money to refinance at a later date. In my opinion we will continue to see this kind of situation occuring in the market creating opportunities for tenants to secure Houston office space and negotiate favorable terms, conditions, and concessions such as free rent. Right now in Houston, Texas many landlords in my opinion are very concerned and uncertain about the economy and the impact it will continue to have on the Houston office space market. This will continue to cause Landlord’s to get aggresive in securing a lease for their Houston office space. Regardless of this though from a tenant’s standpoint business must continue and an Houston office lease will be a necessity. Houston office space leases do expire and being prepared well in advance of the expiration date and knowing what the Houston office space market (Houston, Texas) has to offer will serve tenants well when it is time to renew a current lease or relocate to new Houston office buildings.
In some cases opportunities to lease a Houston office space in a nicer Houston office buildings might exist while maintaining lower rents than what might be expected in a strong Houston office space market. For example a tenant moving wanting to enhance their image might decide to lease class “A” office space instead of the remaining in their Class “B” or Class “C” Houston office buildings. However, one thing that many tenants don’t take into consideration when deciding to move is what the rental rates are going to be after they have have moved and when the lease comes up for renewal in the class “A” Houston office space several years later . A lot of times companies are stretched financially just making the jump to a nicer Houston office building.
This might be a good to consider a higher quality building and securing a longer term with lower rates while negotiating concessions for construction and free rent . Right now is probably as good a time as any to consider looking at opportunities that the Houston office space market has to offer in terms of leasing an office.
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http://www.globest.com/news/1559_1559/houston/182682-1.html?st=rss
Last updated: December 16, 2009 09:03am
Fausset Re-Enters Market With 127,000-SF Buy
HOUSTON-After an absence of close to 10 years, Fausset-Neely returned with its acquisition of the 126,802-square-foot Northwest One. The Ventura, CA buyer paid north of $5 million to seller RPD Catalyst LLC for the class B building.
Los Angeles-based RPD Catalyst bought the building at 13100 Northwest Fwy. a little more than three years ago. According to Rudy Hubbard of Transwestern’s Houston office, RPD Catalyst put some capital into the building during the three-year hold.
“The seller is focusing on other property types,” says Hubbard, who worked with Transwestern’s Leah Gallagher to broker the transaction. “They have a fund they’re putting together for multifamily acquisitions.” Hubbard tells GlobeSt.com that the asset attracted several offers, with Fausset-Neely offering the most competitive price and paying all cash for the deal.
Rick Fausset with Fausset-Neely says the company was looking for finished housing lots in Houston when Hubbard suggested the company give a look-see at Northwest One. Given that there is no debt involved, Fausset says the plan is to offer aggressive rental rates in an attempt to stabilize the building, which is currently 44% occupied.
The company has another building under contract in Dallas. Fausset says closing should take place sometime in January. “Our formula is simple,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “We buy properties substantially below replacement cost in markets that are good for job growth, then sell early. That way, we miss the next down cycle.”
Fausset-Neely bought assets in Dallas and Houston during the early to mid 1990s. In 1998, when the REITS started coming in to buy, that’s when the company sold and began searching for likely assets in secondary and tertiary markets. This is how Fausset-Neely ended up with a large concentration of assets in Amarillo, TX, Fausset says. The last acquisition was in 2001, when the company bought land for a business park in Amarillo.
“We started selling,” Fausset comments. “At one point, we owned more than 2 million square feet, last year we were down to about $400,000. Now things are starting to get interesting again.” Fausset goes on to say that the company will take a look at office, retail, land and industrial, though seems to have a greater comfort level with the office product.
HSACQ-This is a nice office building and it has attracted quality tenants over the years. It will be interesting to see what rental rates will be offered initially.
http://www.globest.com/news/1562_1562/houston/182760-1.html?st=rss
Four Chasewood Almost Full, More Planned
HOUSTON-Four leases totaling 16,667 square feet have pushed the 105,223-square-foot Four Chasewood office building to 90% occupancy a little more than a year after coming online. Owner GenCap Partners Inc. is readying for the next step at Chasewood Technology Park: the 235,000-square-foot Five Chasewood.
“We’ve completed design development on Five Chasewood, and we’re looking for a lead tenant,” comments David Lee, senior vice president with Transwestern’s Houston office. Lee partners with Transwestern senior property management-management services Ray Kubiak and broker associate Courtney Carnahan on leasing and managing the 30-acre Chasewood Technology Park at State Highway 249 and Chasewood Park Drive in the far northwest submarket.
Four Chasewood’s newest additions are US InfraManagement LLC; InEnTec Chemical LLC, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Terrabon Technology Corp. Four Chasewood broke ground in early 2007, came online in September 2008, and Lee tells GlobeSt.com that 60% of the class A office building was leased by 2009.
Lee says location played a main factor in the building’s lease-up, especially in light of the economic slowdown. But it wasn’t always that way. “When I first started working with Chasewood Technology Park in 1996, brokers didn’t know how to get there,” he says. “Three Chasewood had just come on line, and I had to draw people a map to get there.”
Over the years, he continues, residential and retail moved northwest. It also didn’t hurt that Compaq Computer’s main campus was right across the way. Compaq was eventually taken over by Hewlett-Packard, and the campus sold earlier this year to the Lone Star Educational System. But the rebranding of the campus during the late 1990s and early 2000s helped boost leasing at Chasewood Technology Park, Lee notes.
The remaining 20 acres are being targeted for two additional office towers and a hotel. Lee says discussions are underway for the hotel component, adding that, upon build-out Chasewood Technology Park will have 1.2-million square feet of office space, some retail and a hotel.
http://www.globest.com/news/1559_1559/houston/182682-1.html?st=rss
Fausset Re-Enters Market With 127,000-SF Buy
By Amy Wolff Sorter
HOUSTON-The SoCal buyer pays north of $5 million for ownership rights to the class B Northwest One office building.
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http://blogs.chron.com/primeproperty/office_market/
December 08, 2009
Commercial real estate on the mend?
There’s been much hand-wringing over the coming wave of commercial real estate defaults, but some believe the market is stabilizing faster than pundits expected.
The rate of decline in commercial real values is slowing across the country and through all property sectors, according to a fourth-quarter report from Integra Realty Resources.
The report was based on a survey of 59 of Integra’s managing directors throughout the United States to determine the rate of change across the country and in all property types, including multifamily, lodging, industrial, retail and office.
To be sure, the value of commercial real estate is expected to decline further. Integra estimates 5 percent nationally over the next six months.
That rate, however, is well below the 11 to 17 percent depreciation across asset classes in 2009.
New York-based Integra, an independent commercial real estate valuation and consulting firm, said lodging and retail sectors saw the biggest value declines in the current market downturn, with the western part of the country hit the hardest.
The office, industrial, and multifamily sectors have only experienced a 3 percent drop in value in the past three months, with the lodging and retail sectors experiencing a 5 percent drop, according to the study.
This graph shows the stabilization in commercial real estate valuation for the past 18 months in the office, retail, industrial, multifamily and lodging sectors.
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January 10, 2010 at 8:17 pm
New year doesn’t erase old office vacancy troubles
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sarnoff/6806662.html
By NANCY SARNOFF
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 9, 2010, 4:22PM
Demand for office space was the worst it had been since the oil bust.
Houston companies slashed some 90,000 jobs, and the year posted 2.74 million square feet of negative absorption, meaning more space emptied out than was occupied, according to CB Richard Ellis.
The overall office vacancy rate rose to 15.9 percent from 11.9 percent in 2008.
Oil prices recovered in 2009, but it didn’t matter, as energy companies made cuts based on weakened global demand.
“We have a long way to go until we get back to needing the amount of space we did,” Sanford Criner, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Houston, said last week at a commercial real estate outlook luncheon.
Transaction volume was dismal during the year, too.
The commercial real estate market topped out in 2006 and 2007 and has since fallen off a cliff.
Activity won’t return until banks holding real estate loans made when prices peaked realize losses on those that are now under water.
“Most every building bought in 2006 and 2007 with a loan is a troubled asset,” said Mark Dotzour, chief economist at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.
When activity does return, high net worth individuals willing to take risk will be the first in the game, he said.
Institutional investors like pension funds, endowments and insurance companies will follow once they’re sure prices have stabilized.
In 2010, experts anticipate more negative absorption, deteriorating rental rates and increased foreclosures.
Not all the news was bad in 2009.
Absorption in the best quality office properties was almost flat. Asking rents were mostly unchanged. And construction of buildings in the suburbs was essentially completed.
Last year, developers built 5.4 million square feet of office space. Another 2.4 million square feet remains in the pipeline.
Most of that space is BP’s Helios Plaza on the Katy Freeway and downtown’s Hess Tower and MainPlace.
For now, though, new construction is a thing of the past.
Developers won’t start building again until 2012, Criner said.
Texas or bust
While the number of moves into Houston are down quite a bit from before the recession hit, Texas is still in the lead when it comes to states that folks are packing up for.
A report from Allied Van Lines said Texas had nearly 2,000 net relocations last year, meaning the company had more trucks en route to Texas than it had shipping people out of the state.
That was more than any other place in the United States and the fifth straight year Texas took the lead, according to the annual report.
Last year, Texas logged 1,900 net relocations.
Arizona placed a distant second in the most recent study with 566 net relocations, followed by North Carolina, Colorado and Florida.
The states with the biggest net losses were Michigan, Illinois, Penn-sylvania, New Jersey and California.
Attention, fence-sitters
Pulte Homes hopes to make some sales in what’s a typically slow month by putting a little pressure on buyers who may be on the fence.
On Monday, the company is hosting a Tax Credit Blitz at its 22 Houston-area communities where employees will be calling potential homebuyers and real estate agents to make sure they know if they want to use the government’s $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, they’d better start looking soon.
Even though the deadline to qualify for the credit is six months away, Pulte said if buyers don’t decide by March, they might not meet the June 30 closing deadline because of the time it takes to permit a new house, build one and close.
Congress recently extended the tax credit for first-time homebuyers and expanded the program for repeat buyers.
Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com
One of the most interesting points in this article about houston office buildings(http://www.hsacq.com) to me was the following:
“Absorption in the best quality office properties was almost flat. Asking rents were mostly unchanged.”
Absorption was flat in the best quality Houston office buildings and asking rents were mostly unchaged. The rents have maintained most of the gain made prior to any downswing in the national economy. The real softness in the marketplace in my opinion exists more so with the Landlord’s who bought Houston office buildings within the past app. 4 years and that paid too much for those buildings at the time then they were worth. Based from a rental rate standpoint, I believe that Landlord’s of most office building classes purchased prior to 4 years ago have to be happy with the rents they are able to actually command for their office buildings. Tenants are having a difficult time realizing this and feel that they should get a better deal, and these dissapointments over not getting lower rents in a lease negotiation or a renewal are going to quickly turn into nightmares for these tenants when the Landlord’s start standing on their rates and holding their ground.
Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com
http://www.globest.com/news/1580_1580/houston/183125-1.html?st=rss
Pinnacle HQ Groundbreaking Imminent
By Amy Wolff Sorter
PASADENA, TX-Groundbreaking on phase one of the 18-acre corporate campus – a 30,000-square-foot office building, is likely to take place in February.
Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com
http://www.globest.com/news/1582_1582/houston/183167-1.html?st=rssARCT Receives $16M Loan for FedEx Facility
By Amy Wolff Sorter
HOUSTON-Less than a year after acquiring the 152,640-square-foot asset, American Realty Capital Trust has its pick of lenders for financing.
Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com
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STX US Marine Inc. “STXM” is a Certified consulting naval architecture and marine architecture engineering company formed to serve North America in 1983, and since that time has experienced steady growth resulting in providing services to a global market. STXM was formerly known as Aker US Marine Inc., and is a wholly owned subsidiary of STX Europe.
STXM designs government-military Sea-Lift ships, ice breaking oil tankers, offshore support vessels, floating powerplants, UK Navy research ships, and luxury cruise ships to name a few. In fact, there is a good chance that if you have taken a cruise that it was on a cruise ship designed and constructed by STXM. Their high quality and high finish cruise ships attract some of the most discriminating luxury cruise line operators including Royal Carribean who’s fleet includes vessels from Project America, Crystal Symphony, and Project Genesis that are capable of carrying close to 7,000 passengers. View deckplans and images of these cruise ships by clicking on the links above.
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Houston Site Acquisitions offers free location service citywide and they specialize in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com
KTRK News Video: Light Rail Construction in the Galleria Area.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7297506
How will light rail construction impact the office market in the Galleria area of Houston ?