California Homebuilder Buys Nearly Empty Dallas Building

Details about American Premier Homes' entry into Dallas/Fort Worth were unavailable, but the game plan calls for renovation work to begin immediately on the Park Plaza office building at 13111 N. Central Expressway in Dallas. Southern California investor Rafael Bega bought the asset from Fremont Investment & Loan of Anaheim, CA, says Stuart Wernick, president of Quantum First Capital in Dallas.

Wernick tells GlobeSt.com that he arranged three-year interim financing for more than $2.3 million, with a 75% loan-to-value ratio, through a pairing of Equity Bank and Benchmark Bank so the deal could close in a start-to-finish of just 40 days. "It was a tough assignment, but we had the right lender," he explains. "The buyer had gone hard and needed to close."

Wernick says Park Plaza was 12% occupied with some leases waiting to roll. But, he explains, the plan is to renovate and re-tenant the property so no leases were renegotiated to help cushion the sale. Wernick says American Premier, which builds homes in California, Nevada and Austin, is ramping up for a full-fledged push in the metroplex and intends to take over a full floor in Park Plaza and lease the balance after the High Five interchange work is done. Sary Benzi with the Weitzman Group in Dallas represented the homebuilder in the acquisition from Fremont.

Wernick says the location--the northwest corner of North Central Expressway and LBJ Freeway--was the chief selling point for the 21-year-old building on 3.8 acres, which was foreclosed on last year. The difficulty in reaching the building due to the freeway construction drove tenants to other locations, according to Wernick. "Once the High Five is done, it won't be hard to reach," he says.