As absorption is slowing, the construction cycle is picking up momentum. At the end of the third quarter, slightly more than 103 million square feet of office space was under construction, the highest level for the construction pipeline in the current cycle, according to Cushman & Wakefield. It could well be that 2017 will turn out to be the inflection point when new construction exceeds absorption and national vacancy rates bottom out. If there was any doubt, the Dallas market continues its fever pitch of activity. In a list of markets with the largest pipeline of office space, only one market is ahead of Dallas, Midtown Manhattan, with 9.5 million square feet under construction. Dallas/Fort Worth is wedged in a construction sandwich with 7.7 million square feet, flanked by Silicon Valley with 6.3 million square feet. The vacancy rate declined from the second to the third quarter in all major regions of the country (Northeast, Midwest, South and West). At the other end of the spectrum, there were large increases in vacancy during the quarter in Tulsa (+130 bps) and Houston (+110 bps) as the softness of the oil sector continued to weigh on energy-centric markets, says the C&W report.—Lisa Brown

BY THE NUMBERS

DENVER—Current Denver market trends data indicates an increase of 11.4% in the median asking price per unit for multifamily properties compared to the prior three months, with an increase of 16.6% compared to last year's prices. Countywide asking prices for multifamily properties are 11.3% higher at $197,976 per unit compared to the current median price of $202,823 per unit for multifamily properties in Denver, according to LoopNet.

NEW ORLEANS—Current New Orleans market trends data indicates a decrease of 4% in the median asking price per square foot for retail properties compared to the prior three months, with a decrease of 17.9% compared to last year's prices, according to LoopNet. Countywide asking prices for retail properties are 2.9% lower at $144 per square foot compared to the current median price of $155 per square foot for retail properties in New Orleans.

NEWS AND NOTABLES

BATON ROUGE, LA—NAI Latter & Blum, the commercial real estate subsidiary of Latter & Blum Inc., has expanded its operations in Greater Baton Rouge through a merger with Baton Rouge-based Skill Real Estate.

RICHARDSON, TX—Charles J. Reagan, president is pleased to announce that Barbara Caires has been promoted to vice president. In this role, Caires will continue to lead and direct the efforts of Alliance Architects' interior design team. She is a LEED-accredited professional with a specialty in interior design and construction and is also a member of USGBC North Texas Chapter.

FRISCO, TX/TULSA—Inventure Design, a Houston-based Workplace Design firm, announces the openings of two new office locations. The Dallas and Tulsa office openings are a result of demand for services by a growing list of nationwide clients. The Inventure Design Dallas office allows the firm to respond to the needs of the expanding office market sector in North Dallas, as well as service multifamily renovation projects that have grown from design work in South Texas through developer relationships. Inventure Design Tulsa will be the first office located outside of Texas for the architecture firm. The new location will successfully bridge design programs for oil and gas, office, healthcare, retail and multifamily clients with offices in both markets. This new office is located just outside of downtown Tulsa.

AUSTIN, TX—Greystone, a real estate lending, investment and advisory company, announced its real estate advisors group has expanded its sales and marketing capabilities with the addition of an experienced team. Joe James and Kent Myers join Greystone as managing directors, bringing a combined 25 years of conventional multifamily sales experience to the company's rapidly expanding advisory group. Joining from Marcus & Millichap, James and Myers have advised on the sale of more than 28,500 multifamily units combined and their team will continue to focus on the Texas market, reporting to Jim McDevitt, president, Greystone Real Estate Advisors.

DEAL TRACKER

OKLAHOMA CITY/DENVER—Toronto-based Milestone Apartments REIT has agreed to acquire a six-property multifamily portfolio comprising 1,460 units in North Carolina, Colorado, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas for $242.2 million. To partially fund the acquisition expected to close by December 1, the REIT also announced that it has reached an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters headed by BMO Capital Markets and CIBC Capital Markets to buy deal equity by issuing 9.49 million trust units of the REIT.

AUSTIN, TX—Mesa West Capital has provided KBS Realty Advisors with a $90.5 million first mortgage loan to recapitalize its recent all-cash acquisition of Stonebridge Plaza I and II, a 386,000-square-foot class-A office campus. The five-year, floating-rate loan is secured by two nine-story LEED-certified office buildings and a seven-story parking garage on a five-acre campus at 9600 and 9606 N. MoPac Expwy., one of the strongest office submarkets in the city. The property is situated at the intersection of Highways 183 and 360, near numerous high-end retail amenities at both the Domain and Arboretum.

AUSTIN, TX—Sands Investment Group is representing Bush's Chicken for multiple completed sale leaseback transactions. Max Freedman, managing director, SIG's Austin office, has completed five sale leaseback transactions year to date for Bush's at an average sale price of $1.978 million. The transactions are located in the following Texas cities: Lacey Lakeview, Copperas Cove, San Antonio, Bryan and Lamesa.

EL DORADO, AR—The board of directors of Deltic Timber Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $.10 per share will be paid to stockholders of record as of December 1, 2016, with a payment date of December 15, 2016.

BUILDING BLOCKS

ALBUQUERQUE—e-Builder, the cloud-based construction program management solution for capital projects, presented the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority and the Hospital Corporation of America with its Innovators in Construction Award. e-Builder's Innovators in Construction award recognizes forward-thinking organizations that leverage e-Builder Enterprise to improve capital project execution through the use of technology and organizational collaboration.

Instant Insights /

Middle Market Digest: This Week in the South and Mountain Regions

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