Shopping centers changing hands as

market stays hot

Austin Business Journal - October 13, 2006

by A.J. Mistretta

ABJ Staff

Several major retail centers have changed hands in recent weeks and more are on the sales block as the local investment market continues to ride a high tide.

A 255,947-square-foot retail portfolio comprised of three separate retail centers sold earlier this month to Danville, Calif.-based Rassier Properties. The portfolio includes the 41,690-square-foot Shady Hollow Village northeast of Brodie and Slaughter lanes, the 127,941-square-foot Greenlawn Crossing at Louis Henna and Greenlawn boulevards in Round Rock, and the 86,306-square-foot Govalle at East Seventh Street and Pleasant Valley Road. Irving-based Archon Group LP sold the properties, which it purchased from Endeavor Real Estate Group in 2003.

The portfolio is roughly 95 percent leased to tenants such as Blockbuster, Family Dollar Store and Washington Mutual, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, which marketed the properties. HEB anchors both Govalle and Greenlawn Crossing. A purchase price was not disclosed.

Ironwood Real Estate has been tapped to manage and lease the properties.

Also this month, Grand Central Station, a 170,000-square-foot shopping center at 8700 Research Blvd., sold to Los Angeles-based Western Paradise LLC for $12.2 million.

Grand Central Station is 92 percent occupied with tenants including Big Lots, Office Depot, Family Dollar Store and Comp USA. The center is shadow-anchored by a former Albertson's store site, one of 10 locations the grocery company recently closed in the Austin area.

The Weitzman Group has picked up the leasing assignment on the property for the new owner. Sperry Van Ness represented the buyer and Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented the seller, Texas-based TCP Grand Central Partners.

Holliday Fenoglio is also marketing three other properties for sale:

• Endeavor is selling the retail portion of its Southpark Meadows development at I-35 and Slaughter Lane that will eventually include about 1.5 million square feet of store and restaurant space.
• Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors is selling the 144,657-square-foot Southridge Plaza at South First Street and William Cannon Drive. The center is about 89 percent leased to tenants including HEB and Family Dollar.
• And Cencor Realty Services has put the 87,472-square-foot Shops at Mira Vista on the market. That West Austin property, which was initially slated to be a grocery-anchored center, was repositioned as a specialty retail center with the opening of several interior design firms.

David Simmonds, senior vice president with The Weitzman Group, says investment interest in Austin retail is definitely on the rise. He says some of the same factors driving interest in local real estate in general -- Austin's relative value compared with other markets and high barriers to entry -- are contributing to retail center swaps. In addition, he says, as overall retail-tenant credit quality has improved through the years, it's made it easier for banks to underwrite purchases of well-anchored shopping centers.

Weitzman is currently marketing two Class C retail properties, the 48,224-square-foot Concorde Center and the 101,000-square-foot Riverside Place Shopping Center. Simmonds says both are expected to go under contract soon.

Chris Ellis, principal with Endeavor, says that with cap and interest rates both expected to rise, companies seeking to trade assets are trying to get ahead of the game.

"We've seen the top of the market, but I think there are still good deals to be made," he says.

Ellis points to the Grand Central Station sale, which closed at a relatively low 9.2 percent cap rate.

Overall, the Austin retail scene remains healthy. Occupancy in the market's 32 million square feet of retail space is holding at about 93 percent, according to Weitzman.