Middle Market Digest: This Week in the South and Mountain Regions

Many areas in Texas are struggling to keep up with multifamily demand due to steady hiring. Accelerating job creation together with record-high employment openings have boosted confidence among younger workers, convincing many that now is the time to move out on their own. These newly formed households are facing a tight housing market as national apartment vacancy is below 4% and single-family housing inventory to purchase sits near an all-time low. With hurdles to homeownership still high, many renters are choosing to stay in apartments longer, curtailing available units for newly formed households, according to Marcus & Millichap.—Lisa Brown

NEWS AND NOTABLES

AUSTIN, TX—Xceligent continues to expand the offerings of integrated workflow solutions within its open and collaborative commercial real estate ecosystem with the strategic partnership with IdealSpot, a revolutionary location-based retail demand analytics platform. This integration will allow for users of Xceligent's platform to access a new Retail Insights section, where IdealSpot will provide actionable data including demographics, top retail business counts, most demanded retail categories and the most unmet demand by retail category within a 5-minute drive-time from any address or radius.

DALLAS—Brant Brown, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Westmount Realty Capital LLC has been appointed to the board of directors for the Association for Corporate Growth, Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter. As a board member, Brown will serve as the director–private equity real estate for ACG DFW, a networking organization for accomplished professionals whose success is linked to middle market deals and transactions.

DEAL TRACKER

CHERRY CREEK, CO—The Connor Group, an Ohio-based real estate investment firm, has made its initial investment in the Denver area with the recent acquisition of the 191-unit luxury apartment complex formerly known as Broadstone Gardens at Cherry Creek. David Martin and Pamela Koster, mountain states regional partners of Moran & Company, represented the seller JP Morgan in the transaction. The sale closed on June 27 for $65 million.

HELOTES, TX—Bandera Trails Shopping Center, a 60,748-square-foot property, is a three-tenant net lease retail center anchored by Gold's Gym. Jason Vitorino and Bryce Gissler of STRIVE had the exclusive right to list the property on behalf of the seller, a tenant in common group based out of California. The buyer, an investor based in Dallas was also procured by STRIVE. Additional terms of the sale were not released.

HOUSTON—NAI Partners recently represented Luku 88 LLC, in the sale of a 42,755-square-foot industrial office/warehouse at 9110 Meadow Vista Ln. John Ferruzzo and Chris Kugle of NAI Partners and Mark Miller of NAI Robert Lynn represented the buyer during the negotiations. Jason English of Colliers represented the seller, Essentra Pipe Protection Technologies Inc.

HOUSTON—NAI Partners recently represented Human Capital Inc., in a 2,032-square-foot office lease extension in Heritage Plaza at 1111 Bagby St. Alex Taghi of NAI Partners represented Human Capital during the negotiations. Jon Dutton with Brookfield represented landlord BOP Heritage LLC.

KEMAH, TX—A Sonic, a 1,622-square-foot, net-leased property located at 1355 Highway 146, has sold. Jason Saunders, Bruce Bentley III and Douglas Diffie, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap's Austin office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor. Sonic is located 20 miles south of Downtown Houston along the Galveston Bay. The Sonic is located on a sizeable 1.36-acre parcel and was built-to-suit for the tenant in 2003.

MONUMENT, CO—Walker & Dunlop Inc. structured a $28 million construction loan for Jackson Creek Senior Living, a 137-unit assisted living facility that will be located between Denver and Colorado Springs. The team, led by Ralph Lowen, arranged the property's financing with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on behalf of a local developer, an affiliate of CSI Construction.

OKLAHOMA CITY—Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP has closed the sale of an industrial portfolio consisting of 17 buildings and 1.28 million square feet in addition to a 11.21-acre land parcel. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, an institutional advisor. Dallas-based Sealy & Company, on behalf of Sealy Strategic Equity Partners, purchased the portfolio free and clear of existing debt.

PASADENA, TX—Houston-based Baker Katz has acquired a 22,000-square-foot retail building. Located at Fairmont Parkway and Beltway 8, the building is currently 70% leased to tenants, including Supercuts, Leslie's Pool Supplies and Mattress Overstock. Baker Katz plans to update the building's signage, including the addition of a new monument sign and renovate the surrounding landscape.