Fed Announces Possible Extension on Emergency Loans

WASHINGTON (Associated Press, Real Estate Center) – Four months after agreeing to let squeezed investment banks temporarily turn to the Federal Reserve for emergency loans, Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke has announced plans to extend the length of time Wall Street firms have to draw those loans.

“The financial turmoil is ongoing, and our efforts today are concentrated on helping the financial system return to more normal functioning,” Bernanke said this morning.

The Fed’s initial decision to help investment houses came last March after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy.

Dr. Mark Dotzour, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said Bernanke is clearly telling the global marketplace that the financial markets were in jeopardy last July and that serious challenges still exist today.

“We have been warning our audiences about this since last summer,” Dotzour said. “My theme since last July has been ‘expect the unexpected and expect the unprecedented.’ The government and the press have consistently underestimated the severity of this situation for the past year. Now our government informs us that they are making contingency plans in case a major financial institution fails.”

Dotzour said the United States is presently in uncharted waters and the financial crisis is not over yet, but that investors should not panic if a major bank or investment firm rolls over.

“Just watch it happen and don’t panic,” he said. “The American financial system has weathered financial panics for 200 years; it can weather this one as well.”

Buda's Multifamily Boom

BUDA (Austin Business Journal) – This small town just 15 miles south of Austin will get five new apartment communities totaling almost 1,000 units in the next two years.

Two projects totaling 440 units have already broken ground:

• Tuscany at Buda, being developed by Houston-based M Group Holdings Inc.; and
• Vantage at Buda, developed by American Opportunity for Housing Inc.

Three more projects are planned to break ground in late 2008 and 2009, and will be complete by 2010. The complexes, totaling 628 units, will be:

• 364-unit Broadstone, developed by Alliance Communities;
• 120-unit The Huntington, developed by M Group Holdings; and
• 144-unit Creekside Villas Senior Village, developed by Denison Development.

Texas Employment Still Climbing

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas nonfarm employment rose 2.4 percent from May 2007 to May 2008 compared with 0.1 percent annual growth rate of nonfarm employment for the United States.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.4 percent in May 2007 to 4.5 percent in May 2008.

The state’s mining industry, helped by higher oil prices, ranked first in job creation, followed by professional and business services, construction, leisure and hospitality, and education and health services.

All Texas metro areas experienced positive employment growth rates from May 2007 to May 2008. Odessa ranked first in job creation followed by Longview, Midland, Laredo, and College Station–Bryan. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Odessa, College Station and Lubbock.

The complete June economic review is available on the Real Estate Center's website.

Dotzour to Speak at Aggie Real Estate Network Conference

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Dr. Mark Dotzour will be a featured speaker at the Aggie Real Estate Network’s 2008 Annual Conference next month in Grapevine.

The Real Estate Center's chief economist will kick off the conference with a discussion about the U.S. economy, pre- and post-election.

In addition to Dotzour, a wide range of speakers are scheduled, representing a vast array of real estate companies. Rick Rhodes, assistant commissioner with the Texas Department of Agriculture, will also be on hand to discuss rural markets.

The conference will be held Aug. 7–10 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center. Registration information and a conference schedule are available online.

Shell Expands at Westhollow

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Shell Oil Co. will expand and renovate its more than one million-sf, 200-acre Westhollow Technology Center before relocating 480 employees to the facility.

The project will add 150,000 sf of new space, including a LEED silver–certified laboratory, multipurpose facility, and shipping and receiving building. The facility will be renamed Shell Technology Center–Americas.

Renovations will begin this year and new construction will start in 2009.

The center, located near Westheimer and SH 6, currently houses 1,300 employees. The 480 other employees are scheduled to move in by 2011.

Holt Makes Mark in Red Bird

DALLAS (Dallas Business Journal) – Addison-based Holt Lunsford Commercial has broken ground on a more than $13 million, 345,600-sf bulk distribution center near Dallas Executive Airport.

The new Executive Distribution Center will go up in the Red Bird industrial submarket and is set for completion by the end of this year.

The site is at 5220 S. Westmoreland Rd.

BOMA International Honors Seton Building

AUSTIN (anthonyBarnum Public Relations) – Seton Northwest Health Plaza has won the highest honor given for excellence in building management: the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International’s TOBY (The Building of the Year) Award in the Medical Office Buildings category.

The 110,100-sf Seton building, the sole Texas property to be honored this year by BOMA International, was selected as the highest-quality and best-managed medical office building. It is owned by LHRET Ascension Austin LP and managed by Lillibridge Healthcare Services Inc.

The announcement was made at the BOMA International Conference last month in Denver.

The International TOBY Awards honor buildings that excel in occupant welfare, accessibility, community involvement, emergency preparedness, security standards, sustainability and continuing education for building personnel.

More than 75 properties located around the globe competed across 14 categories.

Sierra Pines Office Development Coming

THE WOODLANDS (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP) – Stream Realty Partners LP is bringing 180,000 sf of speculative Class-A office space to The Woodlands.

Situated on 35.5 acres at 1601 Sawdust Rd., Sierra Pines is the first phase of a three-building, 540,000-sf office development. It is slated to be completed in January.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP arranged the $23.5 million construction loan through Wachovia Bank N.A. on behalf of Stream Realty.

Survey Sheds Light on Homebuyer Behavior

SALT LAKE CITY (Coles Marketing Communications) – A recent survey sheds light on the role gender plays in the homebuying process.

According to a survey of more than 500 adult respondents conducted by National Polling Service on behalf of Obeo, a provider of residential real estate online marketing products:

• Forty-one percent of women and 25 percent of men surveyed began their search for a new home online. More men (28.5 percent) initiated their search by contacting a real estate agent.
• More women (52.6 percent) than men (45 percent) searched at least 21 homes online.
• While price was considered the most important home feature to consider by both men and women, 13.2 percent of men surveyed said the size of a home was the primary feature to consider compared with 4.4 percent of all women.
• More than half (51.3 percent) of women homebuyers surveyed were more inclined to search for homes in both familiar and unfamiliar neighborhoods compared with 39.6 percent of men.
• Ninety-four percent of all women surveyed said photos of a home would be very helpful in their search for a home while nearly 70 percent said 360-degree panoramas would be very helpful.

Towne Park Sold

VICTORIA (Apartment Realty Advisors) – The 168-unit Towne Park Apartments has been sold to a Houston-based private investor.

The 97 percent occupied complex is located at 2107 N. Ben Jordan St.

Apartment Realty Advisors represented the buyer. The sellers were California-based private investors.

Concierge's Purchase, Upgrade Plans

UNIVERSAL CITY (globest.com) – Concierge Asset Management has purchased the 333-unit, 13.7-acre Sable Ridge complex for $10.9 million.

Located at 330 Kitty Hawk Rd., the Class-C complex is 88 percent occupied and was built in the 1970s.

The new owner plans to upgrade the complex to Class-B status through a proven renovation and revitalization program.

Rents will range from $425 for an efficiency unit to $788 for a three-bedroom unit. The complex is a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 405 to 1,248 sf.

KET Enterprises Inc. and Houston Income Properties Inc. brokered the transaction.

Raceway Trifecta

AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Stream Realty Partners LP, Thackeray Partners and Chief Partners are developing Raceway Crossing, a three-part warehouse project in north Austin.

The development will have one 51,200-sf building and two 99,200-sf buildings.

The site, a former racetrack in the 1970s, is south of SH 45, west of I-35 and east of Mopac Blvd.