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BLOG DAYS OF SUMMER
COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) –
Media outlets regularly ask Real Estate Center researchers to weigh
in on issues affecting the state and national real estate markets
and economies. Now our researchers have an online platform from
which to regularly address those same issues. Introducing
our new blog.
Chief Economist Dr. Mark Dotzour kicks
things off by tackling some of the questions he's been asked when
talking with business people from across the United States. Is our
economy going to continue with its modest recovery, or are we headed
for another recession? What's in store for residential real estate?
How about commercial real estate? Read the blog and find out. And be
sure to check back next week. There's much more in store.
DALLAS INTERURBAN BUILDING SAVED
DALLAS (Dallas
Morning News) –
Downtown Dallas' historic Interurban Building gained new life after
being bought out of foreclosure. Interurban’s new owner is
California-based Bridge-National Partners LP, which bought the
property at 1500 Jackson St. for $11.5 million. The nine-story,
95-year-old building has housed retailers and 118 loft
apartments since 2005.
DATA FOUNDRY'S NEW CENTER
AUSTIN (Austin
Business Journal) – The
first phase of Data Foundry’s new 250,000-sf data center has opened
in southeast Austin. The $150 million Texas 1 center is one of
three centers Data Foundry owns in the state. Texas 1 is on 40 acres
near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
MC ACQUIRES PLACE AT LINCOLN GREEN
SAN ANTONIO (Globe
St.) – MC Companies of Arizona has acquired The
Place at Lincoln Green, located between I-10 and SH 281. The
680-unit, Class-B distressed apartment community was sold by C3
Asset Management. MC owns another community, The Place at Overlook,
just one mile from its new acquisition.
ASSOCIATED ADDS APARTMENTS IN BIG D
DALLAS (Dallas
Morning News) – Associated Estates Realty plans to
build a new 104-unit apartment project on Noel Rd. near the Dallas
North Tollway. The Ohio-based firm already owns the 222-unit San
Raphael Apartment Homes next door to the new 1.5-acre development.
Plans for the new complex include a courtyard and parking garage.
DALLAS OFFICE, INDUSTRIAL SALES INCREASE
DALLAS (Dallas
Morning News) –
Office and
industrial leasing aren't the only
things that are up in Dallas. Sales of office and industrial space
are on the rise as well.
Cushman & Wakefield reported that in
the first half of this year office building sales were up more than
50 percent from this point in 2010, with almost four million sf of
space sold.
Sales of industrial space increased
four times in the first half of this year compared with last year,
with more than seven million sf of space sold. This was second only
to Chicago.
FASKEN RANCHING'S NEW HQ
MIDLAND (Midland
Reporter-Telegram) – Fasken Oil and Ranch Ltd. has
started constuction of its new corporate headquarters. The new
60,000-sf facility will be within the company’s C Ranch at Holiday
Hill Rd. and Sherwood Dr. This new office building will be
Midland's first major office project since the 1980s.
HARVARD REMODELING STUDY GRIM
CAMBRIDGE (Joint Center For Housing
Studies of Harvard University) – Home improvement is expected to
remain volatile into 2012, according to the Leading Indicator of
Remodeling Activity (LIRA) by the Remodeling Futures Program
at Harvard's Joint Center For Housing Studies. The LIRA model shows
spending on home improvements will be down 4 percent through first
quarter 2012. “The recent slowdown in the economy has caused home
improvement spending to weaken again. Falling consumer confidence
levels have undermined interest in discretionary remodeling
projects,” said Eric Belsky, the center's managing director.
AGGIES DESIGN HOUSE OF THE FUTURE
COLLEGE STATION (The
Battalion) –
Architecture students at Texas A&M University have created a
prototype of a “house of the future.” The project involved looking
at new ways to use existing technology and new architecture
practices to construct new buildings. "[The house] is not really
using materials you would traditionally see in a suburban house. The
house is actually constructed out of a carbon fiber layup process,
so it's basically layers of resin and carbon fiber, similar to what
you would see in sailboat construction, cars and that type of
thing," said Mitchell Rocheleau, who worked on the project. Students
completed this project during the inaugural Mitchell Lab Visiting
Designer Program. They partnered with California-based architectural
research organization Emergent.
BLUE DOLPHIN SWIMS WITH NIXON
HOUSTON (Houston
Business Journal) – Houston-based Blue Dolphin
Energy Co. has acquired a crude oil processing facility in the Eagle
Ford shale play. The 56-acre Nixon Crude Processing Facility was
acquired in an all-stock transaction from a privately held company.
Nixon is being refurbished to separate input crude oil and
condensate into diesel and jet fuel for sale in nearby markets.
PROJECT TO HELP CLEAR BORDER CONGESTION
TORNILLO (The
Eagle) – A 1920s wooden
two-lane border crossing about 40 miles southeast of El Paso is
getting a major renovation. Construction started Wednesday on the
117-acre, $96 million port-of-entry renovation that will help ease
El Paso border congestion. The six-lane port of entry will be able
to service commercial trucks and manage a portion of the major
traffic of east-bound cargo from Mexico.
H-E-B BUILDS BIGGER IN HELOTES
HELOTES (San
Antonio Express-News) – H-E-B is planning to build
one of its largest stores to date near Helotes, on the northwest
side of San Antonio. The 182,000-sf H-E-B Plus store will replace a
59,000-sf location at the Bandera Pointe Shopping Center at Loop
1604 and Bandera Rd. H-E-B plans to transfer the 390 employees from
the smaller store to the new store.
LIVE OAK BUYS LOCHWOOD
DALLAS (Hendricks & Partners) –
McKinney-based investor Live Oak Lochwood LLC has purchased a
northeast Dallas apartment community. The 200-unit Lochwood
apartments at 11117 Lochwood Blvd. was sold by J.P. Morgan Chase and
En Quernus Holding Corp.
Lochwood, a garden-style community, was built in 1958 and renovated
in 1989. |
The
Come Together Work Day, held on the second
Saturday of each month, is part of a holistic
neighborhood revitalization strategy that seeks
to empower local residents to take ownership of
their homes, and more importantly, their lives.
Lawson, Director of Financial Restoration
Ministries for Antioch, believes that developing
relationships with the residents is the key to
sustainable change on these streets. “We
believe in serving practically, both in word and
in deed,” he added.
from
other clean-up projects. “We want to impart
value back into the neighborhood and work with
the neighbors to see the neighborhood revived,”
Lawson said. So what have the neighbors
envisioned for their area? With speeding and a
lack of youth activities being the issues most
mentioned by neighbors, they foresee additional
sidewalks, stop signs, and street lights being
installed as a practical first step.