HOUSTON-Regency Centers of Jacksonville, FL and Australia-based Macquarie CountryWide Trust have sold the 136,235-sf Westheimer Market Place. NewQuest Properties has spent close to the $12.5-million ask for the holding, which traded at a 7.72% cap rate.
Coming along with the 12555 Westheimer Rd. acquisition is a new tenant: 24-Hour Fitness Center, which has committed to backfilling 60,000 sf of the 68,150 sf vacated by Phoenix-based Safeway Inc. when it turned out the lights on a Randalls grocery store site in December 2005. George Cushing, senior vice president in Houston for Grubb & Ellis Co., says the tenant in hand clearly gave an edge to the buyer.
"We had several interested parties. We had private-level interest and we had people who were known repositioners of properties," Cushing tells GlobeSt.com. NewQuest's agreement with 24-Hour Fitness helped to seal the deal as did its history of prior transactions with Cushing.
The fitness chain will open doors in July 2007, turning the space into its largest facility in the metro. The center's other tenants include PetSmart, which has 24,710 sf, and Dots, weighing in at 3,000 sf. The departure of a Sears Paint & Hardware has left a 22,500-sf vacancy. The Randalls' lease, however, had guaranteed rent through 2018 on the store and 2012 for the service station component.
Cushing points out the 81%-occupied center has a solid income stream and offers strong upside potential through lease-up, given the property's location on the west side and the space available. "It's an attractively built center with a lot of residential density and traffic," he adds.
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