HOUSTON-A Sacramento, CA-based global shipping and logistics concern has opened its first Houston operation in a 21,700-sf leased spot at West by Northwest Industrial Center.

HOUSTON-A private Houston partnership has purchased two adjacent industrial properties from Houston's Insite Commercial Real Estate. The deal was closed with a $9.4 million loan from John Hancock Life Insurance.

HOUSTON-A west side apartment complex has been refinanced with a $14.8 million loan from Freddie Mac. The new loan offers greater flexibility for the borrower and an interest rate below 5%.

HOUSTON-A businessman has purchased a 3.1-acre tract in Kingwood for the development of a 10,000-sf retail building to house a karate school and daycare center.

HOUSTON-Weingarten Realty Investors spent $73 million on four shopping centers in Texas, Colorado, Georgia and Florida. The purchase marks Weingarten's first retail venture in the Atlanta area.

HOUSTON-Construction debt has been retired at the Center at Fuqua, 103,282-sf shopping center, and replaced with a $10.2 million loan from GE Asset Management.

HOUSTON-Eastbourne partners with two local firms to acquire the first of two parcels at the southeast corner of FM 529 and Fry Road. The second purchase closes in mid-November to assemble enough land for a 450,000-sf build-out.

HOUSTON-The MIMS Meat Co. will relocate into a 25,000-sf building in the northeast sector in first quarter 2004. In the northwest submarket, Lone Star Overnight has landed in a 6,000-sf space.