Stratus Properties' Fourth-Quarter Return Delivering 37-Cents Per Share

The Austin-based developer's overall year 2000 earnings have come in at $14.2 million, or 85-cents per share, up 67 cents from 1999's final. The fourth-quarter dividend has been boosted from a $6.9 million settlement with the City of Austin over a long-standing Circle C utility reimbursement and a $5.3-million sale of a 36.4-acre multifamily-zoned tract in Lantana. A $3.5 million payment has been deferred until all infrastructure is completed in the development, which will be done by the third quarter, says the company. The sale has set the tone for land prices, fetching $3.15 per sf. The projects call for 400 multifamily units.

Fourth-quarter earnings total $6.2 million after a $35 million debt pay-down that to Comerica Bank-Texas. The debt repayment has cleared the way for a new $30-million credit facility. Stratus is starting its new fiscal quarter with $5.3 million in cash and no strikes against its two-year Comerica credit facility.

Also in the fourth quarter, Stratus has received final payment of deferred revenue from the sale of Oly Stratus Barton Creek I Joint Venture. That deal had taken place in 1999 and brought in $11 million for 174 acres of undeveloped property zoned residential. Stratus participates in several joint ventures, including the Barton Creek Joint Venture, with Olympus Real Estate, an affiliate of Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst Inc.

Stratus' fourth-quarter development activities have seen the groundbreaking for the high-end Mirador, a residential project of the Barton Creek Joint Venture. And, Stratus had secured final OKs from the city to develop about 170 acres of commercially zoned property in Lantana. The project will deliver more than 800,000 sf of office and retail space.