ProLogis Gets Natural Distribution

LANCASTER (globest.com) – United Natural Foods Inc. has leased all 589,870 sf of ProLogis Park 20/35’s building two from Denver-based ProLogis.

The distribution center, leased long-term, is within the master-planned park at I-35 and I-20.

The natural distributor of specialty and organic foods is expected to employ about 130 at the distribution center when it begins operations in fall 2010.

Dotzour Brings Crystal Ball to Red Zone

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – What can Realtors, homebuyers, home sellers and out-of-state investors expect in the coming year? We asked Dr. Mark Dotzour, and he told us.

Check out our 12-minute interview with the Center's chief economist on this week's Real Estate Red Zone podcast.

Also, Edie Craig talks about major happenings in Midland, Terrell and out in the West Texas town of El Paso.

To subscribe to the free podcast, just click on the RSS feed found on the podcast page. The podcast is also listed in iTunes.

So join host Bryan Pope in the Red Zone for a half hour of Texas real estate talk. And don't forget to tell your friends about it.

Deloitte Builds Education Campus

WESTLAKE (Dallas Morning News) – Accounting firm Deloitte LLP broke ground Wednesday on its 107-acre educational and office complex, which could cost $300 million.

The project will include construction of classrooms, informal learning spaces, meeting rooms and conference facilities, dining facilities, a fitness center and 800 guest rooms.

The complex is slated for a 2011 opening and could serve as many as 40,000 visitors a year.

New Home Sales Fall, Prices Rise

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – Nationwide, sales of new homes fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from August to September, according to the Commerce Department.

Last month’s decline was the first since March and was off 7.8 percent from a year ago. However, the market has improved 22 percent from its bottom in January.

The median sales price of new homes, $204,800, was down 9.1 percent from September 2008, but up 2.5 percent from August’s $199,900.

Sales declined nearly 11 percent in the West and 10 percent in the South while they remained unchanged in the Northeast and increased 35 percent in the Midwest.

Houston Foreclosures Down from Last Year

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Houston area foreclosures did not significantly increase between the second and third quarters, and there were fewer than last year.

RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report revealed that Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown foreclosures increased 1.5 percent between the second and third quarters, and actually fell 8.1 percent from third quarter 2008.

Approximately one out of every 256 area homes, or 0.39 percent, posted foreclosure activity from July to September, ranking Houston 124th in the United States for number of households in foreclosure.

The Dallas area’s 10,700 properties, or 0.45 percent of the whole, that posted foreclosure activity made it the highest in Texas.

College Station–Bryan had the lowest percentage of housing units in foreclosure during the third quarter, with 46 properties, or 0.05 percent.

Memorial Hermann's Woodlands Expansion

THE WOODLANDS (Houston Business Journal) – Local architecture firm Watkins Hamilton Ross will break ground in early 2010 on the 240,000-sf expansion of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital.

The first phase of the $104 million project will add eight surgical suites, pre-operation and recovery rooms, waiting areas, sterile processing, a 36-bed patient care unit and a parking garage to the hospital.

The hospital will have 288 beds and three shelled floors for future growth.

Walter P. Moore is contracted for civil and structural engineering, while mechanical, electrical and plumbing duties have been given to Smith, Seckman and Reid.

Weingarten Sheds Jester

HOUSTON (globest.com) – Private entity Jester Plaza Ltd. has purchased the 100,600-sf Jester Plaza from Weingarten Realty.

The property at 3500–3582 W.T.C. Jester Blvd. was 90 percent leased at closing.

Boyd Commercial Real Estate Services represented the seller, and local agent Karen Stumbough represented the buyer.

Domain Retail Delayed, Hotel Debuts

AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – The retail phase of Endeavor Real Estate Group’s Domain project has been put on hold for at least three years, but a boutique hotel will open Nov. 12.

The phase that will bring a Whole Foods Market, Saks and a Nordstrom to the North Austin development near Burnet Rd. and Braker Ln. may not begin until late 2012 or early 2013.

Meanwhile, the $26 million Aloft will open in less than two weeks. The 140-room hotel was developed by Kansas-based Lodgeworks LP and Dallas-based Open Hospitality Partners.

In addition to the Aloft hotel, a 175,000-sf office building has been completed and fully leased to OneWest Bank Group.

Endeavor’s envisioned mini-city sits adjacent to Simon Property Group’s mixed-use project, also named Domain.

Conde Nast Readers Choose Texas Hotels

NEW YORK (concierge.com) – Seven Texas hotels ranked in the top 100 of Conde Nast Traveler’s 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards:

Readers submitted their top picks for hotels across the United States. Their criteria for recommendation included food and dining, location, overall hotel design, rooms and service.

Lowe's Coming to College Station

COLLEGE STATION (The Eagle) – Land at SH 6 and Greens Prairie Rd. will be home to a Lowe’s home improvement store.

The company will invest approximately $18.5 million in the site.

Upon completion next summer, the store will create about 175 jobs, most of them full-time positions.

Zilker Lawn Reopens

AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Zilker Park’s Great Lawn reopens today after being closed for landscape repair following the Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival earlier this month.

The City of Austin closed the 46-acre lawn to restore the turf that was damaged during the rain-soaked festival.

ACL organizer C3 Presents will pay for the work done on the lawn, which included hosing down, scraping, aerating and fertilizing the grass that was covered in mud after the festival.

C3 will also pay for an acre of turf in the northwest region of the lawn that will be replaced this spring at a cost of $15,000.

Alamo City Industrial Market's Third-Quarter Bounce

SAN ANTONIO (NAI REOC Partners) – The city’s 30 million sf of competitive industrial properties recorded negative absorption through the first half of the year, but third-quarter activity generated an unexpected bounce that pulled the market back into the black.

According to NAI REOC Partners, new leases and expansions yielded 240,068 sf of positive net absorption, leading to a year-to-date total of 118,429 sf of net gain.

Despite the positive turn, citywide vacancy was at 13.8 percent, up from the 12.2 percent recorded last year at this time. The average quoted triple net rental rate remained relatively stable at $5.57/sf/yr.

Distribution warehouse properties experienced the lion’s share of activity in the third quarter with gross leasing activity generating 224,625 sf of positive net absorption, the majority of which occurred in the northeast sector. The citywide average quoted triple net rental rate for distribution warehouse space remained steady at $4.40/sf/yr.

The service center market experienced 40,326 sf of positive net absorption. The average quoted triple net rental rate remained at $8.24/sf/yr.

Flex properties citywide experienced 24,883 sf of negative net absorption, putting the year-to-date loss total at 21,889 sf. As a result, the citywide vacancy rate for flex properties increased to 18.2 percent compared with 17.1 percent last quarter and 12.8 percent recorded a year ago. The average citywide cost of renting flex space climbed two cents over last quarter to $12.38.

Summer Warms Dallas Home Prices

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Residents of Dallas-Plano-Irving should expect home prices to increase by August 2010, according to First American CoreLogic.

The housing and finance information firm predicts that 12-month appreciation of area home prices will be 0.21 percent next August. The same month this year posted a 0.12 percent price decline.

Houston and Dallas were the best-performing markets surveyed by CoreLogic in August. First-ranked Houston home prices rose just over 2 percent between August 2008 and August 2009.

Overall, Texas prices are off 0.26 percent from a year ago.

Oklahoma Buyers Like Windridge

GRAND PRAIRIE (Dallas Morning News) – A Tulsa firm has purchased the 720-unit Windridge Apartments from American Residential Group of Tulsa in partnership with Lincoln Properties of Dallas.

The 1980s complex was part of a group of complexes in Texas and Oklahoma totaling 928 units.

Capital Assets Inc. of Tulsa put together the sale.