Developers Get Land in Houston, Austin Areas

Eastbourne Investments and local firm, Wellington Development Co., have spent $500,000 for a quarter acre at 7311 S. Main St., one of the few remaining in-fill sites in the district, Frank Egan, president of the Williamsville, NY-based equity partner, tells GlobeSt.com. He says the property, within walking distance of all hospitals, will be built out with a medical office building, the first for the developers' portfolio.

Chris Hotze and Rocky Stevens, Wellington principals, sourced the deal in talks with HealthSouth Corp.'s broker Rhodes Baker of Lincoln Harris CSG in Dallas as a result of negotiations for a tract in Arlington. Hotze says there is no plan to immediately build on the Houston land, which takes up the northeast corner of Main Street and Greenbriar Road. In keeping with the duo's other developments in the region, Hotze says retail could be part of the final plan.

South of Austin, Eastbourne scooped up 285 acres in Creedmoor and 103 acres in Buda. Egan says the Creedmoor land, ticketed for single-family development, cost $3 million and the Buda acreage was bought for $6 million.

The Buda land sits at the intersection of County Road 210 and Interstate 35. "It's extremely good dirt," he says. "The opportunity to acquire exit parcels is becoming scarce." Ground could break within a year on a retail development, he says.

The Creedmoor land, situated five miles east of Interstate 35, is bisected by a proposed toll road, but right at a planned exit. Egan says the site is ready to go for single-family development, which could get under way this year.