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 Centre Plaza Austin-based Live Oak-Gottesman recently purchased Centre Plaza (138,300 sf)…again. Live Oak-Gottesman originally acquired the building in 1993 and later sold it in 1998. The property sits at 45 NE Loop 410 in the North Central sector and has a current occupancy rate of 62% but the new owners plan to spend big bucks to upgrade the property in order to attract new tenants and improve occupancy.
Click to read the full article: Austin real-estate firm Live Oak-Gottesman is back in San Antonio and making deals (San Antonio Business Journal, 5-11-12)
 Source: NAI REOC San Antonio The San Antoniooffice market is expected to face increased vacancy later in 2012 resulting from several large users like NuStar Energy, KCI, and Nationwide Insurance vacating multi-tenant office buildings in order to occupy newly constructed build-to-suit facilities, but healthy leasing activity in the first three months generated 215,922 square feet of positive net absorption. This marks the third consecutive quarter of positive net gain for the local office market and the largest since mid-year 2010. …Read Entire Post
 Development of oil and natural gas in the Eagle Ford Shale contributed $25 billion in total economic output to the region in 2011, according to a study released today by the Center for Community and Business Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development.
“The Eagle Ford Shale has proven to be one of the most important economic engines in the state,” said Thomas Tunstall, director of the UTSA Center for Community and Business Research and the study’s principal investigator. “In 2011 alone, the play generated over $25 billion in revenue, supported 47,000 full-time jobs in the area and provided $257 million in local government revenue.”
The study also concluded that in 2011 shale development:
- Paid $3.1 billion in salaries and benefits to workers,
- Provided more than $12.6 billion in gross regional product,
- Added more than $358 million in state revenues including $120.4 million in severance taxes
- And spurred a triple-digit sales tax revenue increase in various local counties.
Click to read full article Eagle Ford Shale generated more than $25B in revenue for South Texas in 2011 (UTSA Today, 5-9-12) and follow link at bottom to view full study report.
 H-E-B Plus - Loop 1604 & Bandera H-E-B’s largest store recently opened in San Antonio at 9238 N. Loop 1604 W. just northeast of Bandera Road. At 182,000 square-feet, the new H-E-B Plus store is more than twice as big as the adjacent H-E-B which was closed and is available for lease.
Click to read: H-E-B’s largest store opens in SA (San Antonio Express-News, 4-27-12)
 Source: NAI REOC San Antonio Building on the moderate performance of 2011, San Antonio retail properties experienced positive gains in the first quarter which moved the market further towards recovery. In the absence of any significant speculative construction projects, leasing activity has been focused on re-tenanting existing vacant spaces.
As anticipated, the closure of five area RoomStore locations countered some of the gains generated by new leases and expansions signed in the first three months of the year. Still, the San Antonio retail market closed the first quarter with 86,814 square feet of positive net absorption.
In response, the citywide vacancy rate improved to 12.9% compared to 13.2% recorded in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the average asking rental rate for retail space remained relatively flat at $18.14 per square foot per year on a triple net basis. As spaces darkened by the recession continue to fill and the vacancy rate tightens, rental rates are expected to experience more significant upward pressure but dramatic changes are not expected until the market sees the return of new construction.
No new projects were added in the first quarter but the largest project nearing completion and set to come online in the second quarter is the H-E-B Plus center at Bandera & Loop 1604 (208,000 sf). Investment activity in the first quarter was led by the purchase of the former Target store (97,348 sf) at 5330 Walzem Road by United Fashions of Texas, a women’s apparel retailer which plans to reposition the property and divide the big box into a multi-tenant project starting with a new Melrose store to open later this year. Some retailers continue to face challenges, like Best Buy which will close its Woodlake Crossing store, but investors and consumers alike appear to be more optimistic about the direction of the economy.
Click to read related article: Trader Joe’s, grocers taking advantage of San Antonio’s big-box vacancies (San Antonio Business Journal, 5-4-12)
 Source: NAI REOC San Antonio New leases and expansions signed between the first of January and the end of March generated 662,358 square feet of positive net absorption within area industrial properties – the largest quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2004 and a reversal of last year’s first quarter performance of nearly 217,000 square feet of negative absorption. …Read Entire Post
 Metropolitan Methodist Gateway Downtown has a new medical office building. The three-story Metropolitan Methodist Gateway (35,500 sf) is located at Interstate 35 between McCullough and Brooklyn on the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital campus. The building features the Broadway Bank Downtown Banking Center in 5,000 square feet on the ground floor. The remainder of the building is available for lease for physician’s offices.
 I recently had the opportunity to tour the first floor of Wonderland of the Americas where former retail space is being repositioned to medical space. In addition to providing needed services to the community, the medical center component has diversified and revitalized the mall generating additional foot traffic to complement existing mall tenants like Burlington Coat Factory, Hobby Lobby, SteinMart and the newly opened Ross Dress for Less. …Read Entire Post
 Developers of Helotes Town Centre – a project more than two years in the making – recently announced that Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. purchased 16 acres of land in Helotes at the southwest corner of Bandera and Leslie roads. Plans call for a 150,000 square-foot Supercenter. The tract accounts for the lion’s share of the Helotes Town Centre development but the project will also include additional retail and restaurant space.
Click to read: Long-delayed Helotes retail center gains some Wal-mart traction (San Antonio Business Journal, 4-13-12)
 The local housing market continues to grow reflecting the strong economic climate of the city according to the March 2012 Multiple Listing Service report by the San Antonio Board of REALTORS (SABOR).
Click to read SABOR’s March release and related article San Antonio’s housing statistics are up on all fronts, latest SABOR report shows (San Antonio Business Journal, Alamo City Beat blog, 4-13-12)
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