Drexel Development Co. LLC kicked in another $2 million of equity to make the deal fly, Michael Huff, senior vice president in Dallas for Trammell Crow Co., tells GlobeSt.com. The gist of the transaction is that Drexel went in search of a JV partner to refill its pool after funding a development thrust with capital from an Oklahoma bank. Start to finish, the equity marriage took six months to consummate, but Drexel now has replaced its initial outlay and picked up "a substantial portion of the equity for the second project," he says, adding the finished contract includes "typical promotes throughout the deal as it performs.
"At the end of the day, it was a win-win for both Cohen and Drexel," Huff says. "Cohen got a niche developer with a strong track record and Drexel got an institutional partner."Cohen, though, has bought into the hottest multifamily sales and rental market in the city. The 30-unit Drexel Montane, with keys poised to turn in the summer, has more than one-third of the condos reserved at a price tag of $275 per sf. The $9.5-million project at the southeast corner of Woodside and Allen streets in Uptown's historic State-Thomas District contains 24 two-bedroom condos, ranging from 1,900 sf to 2,550 sf, and six one-bedroom units with 1,400 sf.
And the jewel of the buy-in is the $18.5-million Drexel Highlander, set to break ground in late summer or early fall in the heart of the Oak Lawn shopping district in Highland Park. Drexel is putting the finishing touches to the one-, two- and three-bedroom plan for an 84-condo, eight-story project for the southwest corner of Prescott and Oak Lawn avenues. A summer 2005 delivery is planned.
Drexel is led by principals with 20 years of development savvy, who formed the company four years ago to develop infill urban "for lease" or "for sale" product. To date, the firm's kept its building to Uptown, where rents and sales are commanding top dollar and units are filling at breakneck speed. Just in March, Dallas' close-in neighborhoods and the CBD attracted 17 single-family sales at an average price of $242,869; 76 condo and townhouse sales with an average $277,766 trading price; and 31 leases at an average rent of $1,374.
Besides Huff, the TCC team included Jack Crews, senior vice president and leader of the investment sales division in Dallas, and Jon Geanakos, a senior vice president in New York City. Cohen Financial had Terrence B. Connors, investment officer, and Thomas A. Jaekel, managing director, representing its interests.
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