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​​​FORT WORTH – Local home sales increased 6.2 percent to 1,129 homes, according to the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors' March 2019 Housing Report. The data came from the Real Estate Center ​and Texas Realtors. 

The median home price increased 4.1 percent year-over-year to $228,900.

Homes spent an average of 49 days on the market, five days more than March 2018, and active listings increased 26.8 percent to 2,360 listings.

​​​​HUTCHINS ​– A consumer packaged goods manufacturer has leased a 1.1-million-sf, cross-docked industrial building at 1200 Fulghum Rd. in the 252-acre Southport Logistics Park.

CBRE represented the property owner, Logistics Property Company​ LLC. Colliers International represented​ the tenant​.

The logistics park is now fully leased.

​In addition to the facility just leased, Southport includes a ​400,000-sf cross-docked facility, a 1.2 million-sf speculative build-to-suit, and an 850,000-sf speculative build-to-suit. 

​​​​PLANO – Cinépolis will open a 40,000-sf, ten-screen movie theater at The Shops at Willow Bend in 2020.

The theater will include fully reclining seats and in-theater food and drink service.

​​​​​IRVING – The $113 million Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas off SH 114 at 400 W. Las Colinas Blvd. ​​has opened. 

The 350-room hotel, which has been under construction since 2017, includes 30,000 sf of meeting space, a 10,000-sf ballroom, and an event lawn.

Dallas-based BOKA Powell designed the 13-story tower. Waldrop + Nichols Studio was the interior designer, ​Austin Commercial was the general contractor.

​​​​​​​AUSTIN – Citywide home sales dipped last month as the median price rose, according to the March 2019 Central Texas Housing Market report by the Austin Board of Realtors. 

Single-family home sales decreased by 4.6 percent over the year to 781 sales in March. The median price was up 3 percent to $375,000.

Sales dollar volume decreased 0.4 percent to nearly $372 million.

New listings decreased 10.4 percent to 1,038, active listings decreased 1.5 percent to 1,149, and pending sales slightly decreased by 1 percent.

The average number of days spent on the market dropped four days to 42.

The data came from the Real Estate Center ​and Texas Realtors. ​

​​​​HOUSTON – GreenSpace Holdings LLC has purchased the former Greensheet printing building with plans to convert it to a self-storage facility. 

The 40,000-sf industrial property on 6.2 acres at​​ 1960 N. Loop W. was valued at $6.3 million in January.

​​​​HOUSTON – Moody Rambin will begin work in June on a 185,000-sf building next to CityCentre and Town & Country Village at the eight-story Town Centre Two at 730 Town & Country Blvd. It will cost an estimated $22 million.

An existing garage will be retrofitted with two new elevators for the project. Kirksey is the design architect. 

​​​​​SAN ANTONIO – The hotel market finished 2018 with increases in occupancy, average daily room rates (ADR), and revenue per available room (RevPAR), according to CBRE’s latest Hotel Horizons.

Occupancy rates were up 1.6 percent and are expected to rise 0.4 percent in 2019, reaching an overall occupancy rate of 66.2 percent. Due to new hotels being built, occupancy is predicted to drop by 1.7 percent in 2020.

ADR gained 3.7 percent last year. It is estimated to increase by 3.2 percent in 2019 and an additional 2.8 percent in 2020. resulting in an ADR of $122.75 by the end of 2020.

The gain in ADR resulted in an overall 5.3 percent boost in RevPAR, far higher than the national average of 2.9 percent. RevPAR is expected to increase by 3.5 percent by year-end and another 1.1 percent in 2020.​

​​​​​​EL PASO – Last month, 708 single-family home sales closed, up 34.6 percent from 526 closed sales in February, according to the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors' "Monthly Listing Snapshot" report.

The average sale price was $176,619, reflecting no change month over month. The median sale price was $158,000, falling 3.3 percent.

There were 1,024 new listings across the metro, up 5.7 percent over the month. There were 2,504 active listings in March.

Homes spent an average of 78 days on the market, down 11.4 percent from 88 days in the previous month.​

​​​CORPUS CHRISTI – Steel Dynamics Inc. will build a $1.8 billion steel mill, and it's asking the local school district for tax cuts before it decides.

The company wants the district to cut property taxes on the proposed facility by 70 percent, which would save the company $149 million over ten years.

To operate the mill, Steel Dynamics plans to hire 500 workers at an average wage of $76,000 per year.

The property on 2,621 acres along US 77 consists of five parcels with a total value of $4.3 million. 

​​​​KYLE – Sentry RV & Boat Storage will open this month at 231 Graef Rd.

The five-acre property will have numerous security features, including six-ft fencing and high-definition cameras.​​

​​​​PLANO – Japanese luxury hotel group Kintetsu Enterprises Co. of America will build its first Texas hotel in Dreien Opportunity Partners' Campus at Legacy West.

The Miyako Hotel and a parking garage will be near the intersection of Legacy Dr. and Corporate Dr. on the site of the former J.C. Penney corporate headquarters complex.

​The ten-story, 250-room hotel will be on a pond with a boardwalk and surrounding offices and retail. 

Check out the Dallas Morning News' reporting on this project.​

​​McALLEN – The industrial vacancy rate fell 130 basis points over the year in first quarter 2019 to 1.7 percent, beating fourth quarter 2018's previous record low of 2.4 percent.

According to CBRE, net absorption in the last quarter was 111,000 sf more than the combined first quarter net absorption for 2017 and 2018, which also surpassed the ten-year quarterly absorption average by 129,000 sf.

Marketwide asking rates grew by $0.30 per sf over the quarter. Class A and B rents increased by $0.11 per sf, a new record high for both product classes as well as the marketwide rate.

​​​​PLANO – Billingsley Co. has started work on the first two buildings in a new office campus near the northwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Bush Turnpike in the International Business Park.

The four-story, 180,000-sf office building​ will open in June 2020.

A separate single-story amenity center will house a fitness center, conference facilities, and food service.

The new campus will eventually add almost another one million sf in five planned buildings to the business park.

GFF designed the project.

​​​DALLAS – A joint venture between Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate and Bain Capital Real Estate has acquired the six-story Greenville Medical Tower.

The property at 7150 Greenville Ave. is across the street from the 857-bed Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

​​​​​​AUSTIN – The Central Texas data center market—primarily in Austin and San Antonio—r​​​emains steady overall, according to CBRE’s latest North America Data Center Trends report​.

Austin’s data center supply is primarily in the Met Center area, west of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It consists of several large providers such as CyrusOne, Data Foundry, and Digital Realty, along with some retail providers like LightEdge and Flexential.

The Capital remains a booming tech market, but data center construction activity is limited. The largest project is Data Ranch by Data Foundry, which has 480,000 sf and room for expansion.

San Antonio’s data center market is driven by one major cloud provider that has driven over 95 percent of the demand over the past three years.

The markets closed 2018 with an overall vacancy rate of 4.5 percent. Rental rates ranged between $140-155 for deals below 250 kilowatts (kW) of critical load. This is well above the national average of an 11 percent vacancy rate with rental rates of $120-140 per kW. 

Demand continues to remain stable, with more than four megawatts (MW) of absorption in 2018.

WASHINGTON – Four Texas cities have landed on Apartment List's ranking of the best cities in the nation for families.

​​​​Flower Mound ranked fourth with an overall grade of A+. The North Texas city had a weighted score of 92.8 and ranked ninth in high school graduation.

​No. 7 Cedar Park (91.4 weighted score) and No. 8 League City (90.9) both received an A+ grade. ​​No​. 9 Mansfield had a weighted score of 89.5 (A). 

The rest of the top ten overall rankings are:

• No. 1 Fischers, Ind.;

• No. 2 Carmel, Ind.;

• No. 3 San Ramon, Calif.;

• No. 5 Naperville, Ill.;

• No. 6 Newton, Mass.;​ and

• No. 10 O'Fallon, Mo. 

Apartment List also ranked the 50 largest cities. Texas dominated those rankings, as well, with El Paso taking the number two spot, behind only Virginia Beach, Va. Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth ranked fifth, sixth, and eighth, respectively. 

Other highlights from the report:

• ​​Pharr ranked as the second-most affordable city. It was also eighth in child-friendliness.

• Plano ranked seventh in affordability. 

• Abiline was sixth in safety.

• Laredo, Edinburg, and Harlingen were fifth, seventh, and tenth in child-friendliness, respectively. 
  

• Baytown had the highest high school graduation rate. No. 3 Frisco, No. 4 Allen and No. 7 Wichita Falls also received high marks.
  

​​​​HOUSTON – Hartman Income REIT has purchased Ashford on the Bayou, a 126,811-sf office building on 2.5 acres at 1001 S. Dairy Ashford Rd. 

The five-story property is currently 55 percent leased after undergoing renovations to offer 26,000-sf average floorplates and a seven-story parking garage. 

​​DALLAS – Law firm Kane Russell Coleman Logan has leased 45,000 sf on the 51st and 52nd floors of the Bank of America Plaza at 901 Main St.

All 45 of the company’s attorneys and 55 other employees will be moved into the new office from Thanksgiving Tower by August 1.

The new space will accommodate the company’s growth plan and give employees an updated workspace focused on efficiency and better communication.

The 72-story, 1.85 million-sf Bank of America Plaza was recently put up for sale. ​​

​​​​​EL PASO – A $12 million Mayan-themed water park called The Lost Kingdom broke ground last week at 6101 Hughey Circle.

The five-acre water park will include a lazy river, toddler pool, climbing wall, lap pool, cabanas, and concessions​. The site is next to the baseball field at Ross Middle School.

This project is one of several neighborhood water parks planned for the community.