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​​​​MERCEDES – International clothing store H&M is opening its third Rio Grande Valley location this month at 5001 E. Expressway 83.

The 25,000-sf store will be at the Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets, joining Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Banana Republic Factory, and Express Factory Outlet, among others.

​​​​HOUSTON – Dornin Investment Group (DIG) has sold two adjacent Class B office properties totaling 164,933 sf. 

The buildings are at 1250 Wood Branch Dr. and 11931 Wickchester Ln. in the Energy Corridor. 

DIG purchased the​ properties in 2013 and sold them to two separate investors. 

​Check​ out Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Office Market Research.

​​AUSTIN – Single-family home sales remained flat across the metro last month, reports the Austin Board of Realtors. 

​Despite a slowdown in total sales, sales dollar volume increased in September, partly due to a 4.2 percent increase in median home price from $290,000 to $302,250.

Year to date, home sales in the area are up 3.6 percent from the first nine months of 2017.​​

​​​​LUBBOCK – Georgia-based Dovetail Development.​ has sold Wildwood of Lubbock to a private buyer.  

The 1,005-bed, 294-unit student housing community is at 1701 N Quaker Ave. It co​​mprises​ 25 buildings totaling 470,700 sf.

The community, which serves Texas Tech University, has the largest swimming pool in the city.

CBRE brokered the deal. 

​IRVING – Trammell Crow Co. has started construction on a 259,947-sf general services administration building at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. 

The one-story, Class A building will house the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Texas Service Center. The project will meet the government’s security and energy efficiency requirements. 

It will be on 27 acres at the northwest intersection of N. Belt Line Rd. and President George Bush Turnpike.​

Delivery is set for early 2020.

​Check​ out Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Office Market Research.

​​​​​​NEW BRAUNFELS – Austin-based Calendar Holdings is leasing 250,000 sf in a new 400,000-sf warehouse near I-35 and Rueckle Rd. 

Between 65 and 70 people will be employed at the site once the move is complete in May. 

The company is making the move after shutting down its 200,000-sf distribution center on Freidrich Ln. in Austin.​

​FORT WORTH – Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) has broken ground on a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at Alliance Airport.

On completion, the Adversary Center of Excellence facility will be ATAC's largest operation, including up to 200 personnel responsible for the maintenance of high-performance aircraft.

The facility will include a 75,000-sf hangar to support not only maintenance but also pilot training and professional development. Delivery is slated for summer 2019.

Fort Worth Alliance Airport, the world’s first industrial airport, anchors AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre master-planned community home to over 488 companies.

​​​​​​​​​​​​KILLEEN – Z Modular has purchased a 230,000-sf building at 710 Swanner Loop in the Killeen Industrial Park.

​The company, which manufactures steel-framed building modules, e​​xpects to hire 250 highly skilled workers at the facility within three years. 

​HOUSTON – London-based BP PLC has leased 91,000 sf in West Memorial Place II at 15377 Memorial Dr. 

The property is a sister building to Skanska's West Memorial Place I next door. The complex sits on 12 acres. ​  

Part of BP's space is part of space that was up for sublease by IHI E&C International Corp. The deal resulted in IHI being taken off the lease and BP leasing the space directly from the landlord.

Savills Studely represented IHI, and JLL represented BP. ​

​Check out Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Office Market Research.

​FORT WORTH – Kansas-based QTS Realy Trust has purchased land to expand a $50 million data center campus it purchased last year from Health Care Services Corp.

Building permits have been filed with the city for a $20 million addition. 

The AllianceTexas facility in the same area where Facebook has its huge new data center complex.

​​​​​​COPPELL – Cawley Partners is planning ​The Braun on Belt Line, a three-phase office park on the northeast corner of South Belt Line and Hackberry Roads, just north of I-​635.

The first phase will be a four-story, 168,000-sf office building.

Designed by Gensler, the property will also have a fitness center, a conference center, and a ground-floor exterior patio lounge.

​Check out Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Office Market Research​.

​SHAVANO PARK – MSL Investments has broken ground on a 75,000-sf medical office building along Lockhill Selma Rd. near North Loop 1604 East.

The three-story office is 100 percent leased to a group of local doctors, surgeons, and medical professionals operating as The National Joint Care Institute.

Delivery is expected by fourth quarter 2019. The surgical part of the facility will be ready by first quarter 2020.

​​​​​​​SAN ANTONIO – California-based Arrimus Capital has acquired the Prado student-housing complex.

The 472-bed apartment at 7114 UTSA Blvd. is adjacent to the University of Texas at San Antonio and features an on-site coffee house.

The property was sold by Fountain Residential Partners.

​​​HOUSTON – MetroNational has sold three suburban office properties totaling 230,506 sf.

The Kempwood Building at 2930 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. was purchased by Amerix Capital. Built in the early 2000s, it is 94.2 percent leased. 

Enterprise Holdings purchased the property at 10401 Centrepark Dr. It is 69.7 percent leased and was also built in the early 2000s. 

Built in 1992, the 155,118-sf vacant building on 5.7 acres at 15150 Memorial Dr. was purchased by S&B Engineers and Constructors Ltd. Mission Action Marketing Inc. represented the buyer. 

​HFF acquired all three buyers.​

​Check out Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Office Market Research.

​TYLER – Local developer Ed Thompson is building the Majesty Events Center on the corner of West Bow St. and North Palace Ave.

Thompson's crew has completed the framing work and plans to have the facility open in early 2019.

The 24,000-sf lot at 900 W. Bow St.​ had a convenience store on one side, a nightclub on the other, and several gas pumps outside in a parking lot area.

The developer bought the whole building this spring for about $2 million, and is on track to put about $1.5 million into renovations.

Plans currently include keeping the gas pumps under a different brand, turning the convenience store into a homestyle restaurant, and converting the old nightclub into an inclusive events center.

​​​DALLAS – North Texas has become one of five Tier 1 markets for data centers in the U.S.—alongside Chicago, Metro New York, Northern California, and Washington D.C.—and a key international data center market. 

There are more than 115 active data centers in the market with a total of over 4 million sf and a market estimate of p​ower well over 400 megawatts.​

A number of elements make North Texas an attractive location for data centers, such as its central location near a major population center, relatively moderate climate, and affordable, dependable power supply.

In addition, the viability of many suitable sites for data center development and overall lower land costs set the region apart from the other Tier 1 markets, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

​Check out CBRE's semiannual "H1 2018 U.S. Data​ Center Trends Report​​ ."

​​​​COLLEGE STATION – Low unemployment levels and steady nonresidential construction in August indicated a healthy border economy, according to the Real Estate Center. 

The lack of wage growth, however, revealed additional slack in the labor market. 

Despite stagnant wages and slower job growth, housing demand was strong, albeit in the lower price ranges. 

Border housing sales dipped 2​ percent in August ​after reaching record levels in July but maintained an upward trend. El Paso sales through Multiple Listing Services (MLS) held at an all-time high of 732, accounting for more than half of total border activity. Sales flattened in Laredo and contracted 6.8 percent year to date in McAllen. In Brownsville, sales dropped 7.6 percent in August but have trended upward since the start of the year as activity strengthened in the $300,000-$400,000 range.

Trade values balanced around record highs, and the outlook improved following the announcement of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. The unofficial pact calms concerns of supply-chain disruptions and overall operating uncertainty.

For more, read the latest Texas Border Economy​ ​report by Center Chief Economist Dr. Jim Gaines, Research Economist Dr. Luis Torres, Research Associate Wesley Miller, and Research Intern Paige Woodson. ​​​​

​​HOUSTON – ​​Texas' crude oil production​ is projected to grow by 68,000 barrels a day next month, said the Department of Energy.

That growth will be led by the Permian Basin, which increased production faster than expected this month. It is projected to grow by nearly 40,000 barrels more th​an previously estimated. 

By the end of the month, the Permian is expected to produce nearly 3.5 million barrels a day. The Energy Department expects the shale's production to grow by an additional 53,000 barrels a day in November. 

Three major projects with a total crude capacity of more than two million barrels a day are under construction from West Texas to the Gulf Coast markets and export hubs. Completion is expected by early 2020.

Estimates of oil production in South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale for October were revised down by more than 25,000 barrels a day to 1.42 million. Oil production is expected to grow by 15,000 barrels a day in November. 

Drilled but uncompleted wells continue to increase across Texas. The Permian added 194 such wells from August to September, increasing the total number to 3,722. The Eagle Ford added 18 to its inventory, which totals 1,584 wells. 

​​​​​​​​WASHINGTON – Three major Texas metros have landed on U.S. News and World Report​'s list of the best places to retire in America. 

​Austin ranked fourth with a​ 5.6 healthcare score, ​6.0 housing affordability score, and a 7.2 overall score. 

San Antonio (​5.4 healthcare, 7.0 housing affo​​rdability, ​7.0 overall) and Dallas-Fort Worth (6.4 healthcare, 6.4 housing affordability, 7.0 overall) ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. 

The rest of the top ten rankings are: ​​​

• No. 1 Lancaster, Penn.; 
  

• No. 2 Fort Myers, Fla.; 
  

• No. 3 Sarasota, Fla; 
  

• No. 5 Pittsburgh;
  

• No. 6 Grand Rapids, Mich.;
  

• No. 7 Nashville, Tenn.; and 
  

• No. 10 Lakeland, Fla. 
  

El Paso followed closely behind, ranking 11th with a 7.0 overall score, 7.9 housing affordability score, and 4.7 in healthcare. 

To identify the best places to retire, U.S. News analyzed data for the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Top criteria include the happiness of local residents, housing affordability, tax rates, and healthcare quality.​​

​​​​​​HOUSTON – A major oil field services provider has signed a 17-year lease at the 300,000-sf Enclave Place building at 1414 Enclave Pkwy. 

The 11-story, Class A office building is on 4.7 acres in the Enclave Business Park within the Energy Corridor. 

Atlanta-based Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc.​ is the owner. 

​Check out Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Office Market Research.