Walmart to Hire 275 People at Northeast Supercenter

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Walmart Stores Inc. is looking to hire about 275 full- and part-time employees at its new Supercenter, along Binz-Engleman and Foster Road, which is expected to open this spring.

The Northeast project is one of the four that the Bentonville, Ark.-based company is currently developing in the Alamo City. The four new stores, which will open in phases throughout this year and 2014, will create approximately 1,200 new jobs. “We are excited to add a new Walmart to San Antonio and bring good jobs with great career opportunities to the area,” said Michael Weder, store manager for the Foster Road Supercenter, as quoted by the San Antonio Business Journal.

The other Walmart Supercenters set to open this year are located at:

• Leslie and Bandera roads, just northwest of San Antonio in Helotes;
• The intersection of Woodlawn and Bandera, on the West Side;
• Thousand Oaks Drive and Nacogdoches Road, on the Northeast Side.

In 2014, the company will open a new Supercenter at Wurzbach Parkway and Blanco Road.

Meanwhile, H.E. Butt Grocery Co. is building a new 96,000-square-foot store in the Rio Grande Valley community of Palmhurst. The company expects to open the store in late fall, according to The Monitor.

The H-E-B store will be located at the corner of Highway 107 and Three Mile Line, across the street from the Walmart store, which opened in 2005 and has been attracting other smaller retailers and hospitality businesses in the area.

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Two San Antonio Apartment Communities Change Hands

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

The San Antonio apartment market is attracting investors, as evidenced by two important multifamily properties changing hands recently.

Sierra Ridge Apartments

Sierra Ridge, a 230-unit apartment community on the city’s North Central Side, gained a new owner on Feb. 14: Omaha-based Metonic Real Estate Services, which purchased the gated community on behalf of investors. The property, which was 94 percent occupied at the time of the sale, features an updated clubhouse with a business center and a fitness center. Outdoor amenities include a lighted tennis court, a sport court and a two-tiered pool with sundeck.

According to the San Antonio Business Journal, the new owners plan to upgrade the 30-year-old complex, focusing mainly on extensive interior improvements.

“The San Antonio market boasts excellent fundamentals,” said Bob Dean, president of Seldin Co., told the San Antonio Business Journal. Seldin Co. is in charge of  management duties at the complex.

View at Encino Commons Apartments

Meanwhile, another investor entered the San Antonio market in February, when McCann Realty Partners L.L.C. acquired the View at Encino Commons Apartments, a 324-home, garden-style community. Built in 2001, the multifamily property includes amenities such as an elegant clubhouse with a fitness center, a resort-style swimming pool and a movie theater. Pegasus Residential L.L.C. was selected as the complex’s manager.

“We have been targeting the San Antonio market for quite some time due to its dynamic job growth prospects and strong business climate. McCann plans to do a modest interior and amenity upgrade to the property,” said McCann’s chief investment officer, Brand Inlow, in a statement.

Inlow expects to see growing rents in the Alamo City over the next several years, a reason why the company is actively looking to add more apartments in the city.

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146-Room Boutique Hotel Planned for Pearl

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

The Pearl development will gain a new boutique hotel next year, as Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants was selected to operate a 146-room project on the former brewery site.

According to the San Antonio Business Journal, the four-star hotel will be located in a 119-year-old structure that used to house the brewhouse. Slated to open in the fall of 2014, the San Antonio hotel will be Kimpton’s third in Texas, with two others in Dallas.

Woodbine Development Corp. was already selected to develop the project, which will be designed by Roman and Williams.

The boutique hotel will include two new restaurants, a roof-top pool, venue space facing the San Antonio River and a cocktail bar. A new six-story tower behind the original brewhouse will house the hotel rooms.

“San Antonio is emerging as a hot destination for culinary travel, and Kimpton has a great reputation for chef-driven restaurants,” Elizabeth Fauerso, chief marketing officer at Pearl, told the San Antonio publication.

Pearl is a 22-acre urban neighborhood two miles from the center of downtown and adjacent to the northern Riverwalk. Plans call for additional residential and commercial projects, including the Cellars and Bottling House, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Once these projects are complete, the original Pearl campus will be entirely developed.

Image credits: atpearl.com/real_estate

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Brookhollow Park Office Building Changes Hands

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

The San Antonio office of Transwestern has recently brokered the sale of Brookhollow Park – a 102,466-square-foot Class A office building. Located in the North Central submarket of San Antonio, the multi-tenant building is currently 100 percent leased.

Built in 1999, the four-story property is considered to be a solid asset for investors, providing above-average returns. Due to its established investment-grade tenant base and location, Brookhollow Park represents a low-risk investment. The city’s North Central submarket has been recording vacancy rates that historically trend below the San Antonio city-wide average.

“Investors recognize the value in stable Class A office investments,” said Alan Grilliette, managing director with Transwestern, who teamed up with Hale Umstattd and Leah Gallagher to represent the seller in this transaction, Grosvenor International. The buyer was not disclosed.

The downtown office market had a tough 2012, ending the year with 333,000 square feet of negative absorption. Moreover, its vacancy now stands at more than 30 percent, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

Still, the future looks bright for the downtown submarket; according to Gallagher, 2013 will mark a larger volume of office deals in the Alamo City due to three main factors: its proximity to the Eagle Ford Shale, the bilingual workforce and the fact that investors are turning their attention to secondary markets like San Antonio as prices for office properties in the larger core markets have risen above what many buyers are willing or able to pay, the business journal reported.

Photo credits: Grosvenor International

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Gold’s Gym Adds Two New Facilities in Alamo City

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Gold’s Gym International continues to add new fitness facilities in growing San Antonio areas. The company recently announced plans to open two new gyms, totaling 103,000 square feet of space, adding to the 20 locations it already operates in the Alamo City.

The Venice, Calif.-based firm broke ground on a 54,000-square-foot facility at the Legacy Trails shopping center late last year and expects to open it for business later this summer. The gym will feature more than 15,000 square feet of outdoor space, including a lap and wellness pool and a basketball court.

The second facility, which the company expects to open for business at the beginning of the next year, will be located at the southeast corner of Loop 1604 and Culebra, also on the far West Side, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. The 49,000-square-foot Culebra location will also feature premium outdoor exercise space, including a 5,500-square-foot swimming pool, according to a company statement. Construction will start early this summer.

“We are very bullish on San Antonio,” said Jim Snow, president of Gold’s Gym International. “We look forward to growing with the San Antonio community for years to come.”

A year ago, GGI acquired 11 Spectrum Athletic Club locations in the San Antonio area, which quickly became the biggest market in its corporate portfolio and the second biggest Gold’s Gym market in the country, behind Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy of: www.facebook.com/goldsgym

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Phase One of $100M Solar Project Breaks Ground in San Antonio

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

OCI Solar Power is in the process of developing Alamo I, the first phase of a $100 million major solar project in San Antonio. Phase I of this project will have a capacity of 41 megawatts and is expected to be complete by mid-2013.

In late December 2012, OCI Solar Power announced the signing of an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES Americas) for the Alamo I project.

“The development of Alamo I is an exciting and highly anticipated project,” said Tony Dorazio, president of OCI. “Its long-term impact on the area – boosting the economy and creating jobs – reinforces our commitment to form valuable and trusted relationships with the communities we serve.”

Once all phases of the project are complete, the solar development is expected to create more than 800 permanent jobs, according to an official statement by the developer. In the summer of 2012, OCI signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with CPS Energy to build 400 megawatts of photovoltaic plants in and around San Antonio, the San Antonio Business Journal reported.

The $100 million project will provide enough electricity for nearly 70,000 local households, or about 10 percent of San Antonio’s customers. Developers expect it to reach its full capacity by 2016.

According to CPS CEO Doyle Beneby, the project will put Texas among the top five states for photovoltaic capacity in the United States.

Photo courtesy of RES Americas.

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Dave & Buster’s to invest $15M in SA Venue

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Dallas-based Dave & Buster’s announced plans for a new dining, arcade and entertainment venue at Rivercenter Mall, in downtown Alamo City. The new Dave & Buster’s will be located in the former Joske’s building and should be open in the summer of 2014.

The company plans to invest $15 million in a 33,000-square-foot venue, part of a larger redevelopment of the downtown shopping center that opened its doors in 1988, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. The location is a “dynamic tourist destination” and attracts a large number of visitors, according to the company.

REATA Real Estate handles leasing for the mall. According to its Web site, the mall is currently undergoing Phase I of the redevelopment project, which includes the addition of as many as five restaurants off Commerce Street. Moreover, the master plan includes the addition of at least one hotel anchor, along with space for retail, entertainment and restaurants, as well as a rebranding to “The Shops at Rivercenter.”

Rivercenter Mall is owned by New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisitions Corp., which bought the property in 2005.

Dave & Buster’s, which owns about 60 dining-and-arcade locations, recently unveiled a new flagship in Dallas that is considered to be a model venue for future locations. The Dallas flagship store is 44,000 square feet, featuring 170 different games, a full restaurant, a towering bar and large TV screens to watch sports, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

Rendering of the Rivercenter Mall courtesy of REATA Real Estate.

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Éilan Development Sells to Lone Star Funds as Part of $720M Deal

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Netherlands-based Wereldhave recently announced the decision to sell its entire U.S. portfolio to Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based private equity firm.

Back in May 2012, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the owner of the Éilan mixed-use project wanted to focus on development in Western Europe, resulting in its decision to sell its U.S. properties. Wereldhave expects to close the deal with Lone Star Funds in the first quarter of 2013.

According to its Web site, the Dutch company owned 19 developments in the country, in cities like San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Washington and San Diego. About 90 percent of its portfolio consists of office space.

The upscale San Antonio development, appraised at $169.3 million in 2012 by the Bexar Appraisal District, is the largest property owned by the European developer in the U.S. Wereldhave purchased the 120-acre property in 2005 for $18.5 million, according to the San Antonio publication, and began to develop it in 2007.

The first phase of the project, located near Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, includes 500 apartments, a hotel with 165 rooms, two office buildings and a retail component.

Lone Star Funds buys financially distressed assets to restructure and sell for profit. Apart from the deal with the Dutch company, Lone Star agreed to buy commercial properties from the German government valued at about 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), according to Bloomberg.

Photo rendering of the Éilan Hotel Resort and Spa

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Hyatt Hill Country Undergoes $35M Renovation

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Woodbine Development Corp. recently unveiled interesting details regarding the $35 million renovation and expansion of its Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio.

“While much of what this resort offers is about tradition, we want to reward our loyal guests with new experiences and capture group customers who needed more function space than we were able to provide in the past,” said John Field Scovell, CEO & president of Woodbine.

According to an official statement, the transformation includes:

• Updating all 500 guestrooms to include amenities like a Hyatt Grand Bed mattress and an oversize granite-top vanity in the bathroom.
• Doubling the indoor function space from 35,000 square feet to about 70,000  with the addition of a 20,000-square-foot ballroom and 12,000 square feet of outdoor garden event spaces.
• Replacing the existing plants and trees with plants that are native to the Lone Star State. The final enhancements to the resort will also include extensive exterior landscaping and energy-efficient LED lighting.
• Adding a wave machine and tower slide to the resort’s water playground, which will be expanded from four acres to five. Plus, the Hyatt will also boast a 22-foot-tall tower slide.

The renovation project will be completed in two phases: The guestrooms renovation project will be in progress through March 2, 2013, while the ballroom and meeting space expansion will be complete by September 2013.

Apart from Woodbine, which is managing the project, the team also includes HKS Hill Glazier Studio, the architect of record; Hardin Construction Co. as general contractor; WATG and Wimberly Interiors providing interior design services.

Photos courtesy of Woodbine Development Corp.

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Ashley Oaks Apartments Changes Hands in $30.8M Deal

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Steadfast Income REIT Inc. made its third acquisition in Texas on Nov. 29, with the purchase of Ashley Oaks in North Central San Antonio. The 462-unit garden-style apartment community was sold for $30.8 million.

Ashley Oaks has several amenities, including three swimming pools and a spa, a fitness center, picnic areas with barbecues, a media room and a business center. Built in three phases, in 1985 and 1995, the multifamily property is currently 93 percent occupied.

The San Antonio community was part of a $68 million round of buys that also included the Arrowhead Apartments and The Moorings for a combined $37 million, according to a company news release. “We think these assets are consistent with our focus on acquiring established apartments in locations that present strong opportunity for rent growth and value appreciation,” said Ella Neyland, president of Steadfast.

• Arrowhead Apartments is a 200‐unit apartment community located in Palatine, III., a Chicago suburb. The property is 98 percent occupied.
• The Moorings Apartments is located 10 miles south of Arrowhead and consists of 216 units. The community is 99 percent occupied.

With these latest acquisitions, Steadfast has acquired 24 properties with more than 5,200 apartment units in nine Midwestern and Southern states for a total of $415 million.

Photo rendering of Ashley Oaks, courtesy of Steadfast Income REIT

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