Houston's industrial market ends 2018 on a hot note

The numbers are in: Houston’s industrial market ended 2018 on a red-hot note. After a year defined by deals of all sizes in the e-commerce, logistics and petrochemical industries, Houston’s industrial market ended 2018 with a 5 percent vacancy rate, which is lower than it’s been since the second quarter of 2016, according to a … Read more

Commercial property manager adopts new brand after merger

PM Realty Group’s Hawaii office has rebranded as Madison Marquette Real Estate Services with the start of this year. The Texas-based commercial real estate company completed its merger with Washington, D.C.-based Madison Marquette in June. Terms were not disclosed. The two companies announced in late September that the combined company would be called Madison Marquette … Read more

National consulting firm acquires engineering firm Big Red Dog

West Palm Beach, Florida-based consulting firm Wantman Group Inc. acquired Austin-based engineering firm Big Red Dog Inc., which also has offices in Houston, Sugar Land, Dallas and San Antonio. “We were first introduced to the [Big Red Dog] team several years ago, carefully watching the growth and development of a hot firm in hot markets,” … Read more

Netflix's 'Bird Box' success gets Hollywood clucking

Netflix said 45 million subscriber accounts worldwide watched the Sandra Bullock thriller “Bird Box” during its first seven days on the service, the biggest first-week success of any movie made for the company’s nearly 12-year-old streaming service.

Blackboard is leaving D.C. for Reston

The education technology company Blackboard is moving its corporate headquarters from the District to Reston in 2019, fewer than four years after striking a deal to remain in D.C. thanks to incentives from the city. The once high-flying company, now suffering from increased competition and flat revenue, made the announcement Wednesday afternoon. Blackboard will move … Read more

National consulting firm acquires engineering firm Big Red Dog

West Palm Beach, Florida-based consulting firm Wantman Group Inc. acquired Austin-based engineering firm Big Red Dog Inc., which has offices in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Sugar Land. “We were first introduced to the [Big Red Dog] team several years ago, carefully watching the growth and development of a hot firm in hot markets. Combining … Read more

Fast-casual Mexican restaurant to open in expanded Shops at Kenilworth

A fast-casual Mexican concept is joining the redeveloped Shops at Kenilworth in Towson. Felipe’s Mexican Taqueria Restaurant is expected to open in 3,500 square feet of a newly constructed freestanding building set to debut in early 2020. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring. The Baltimore Business Journal reported last month that developer Greenberg … Read more

Local investor buys 35-story downtown tower

A historic downtown property is officially off the market.   The 35-story residential and office building at 909 Walnut St. was bought by Worcester Investments for an undisclosed amount in a deal brokered by Institutional Property Advisors. Included in the deal, which closed on Dec. 21, was an attached eight-story parking garage and 929 Walnut … Read more

Houston City Council delays vote on $13.5M Memorial Park Golf Course project

A vote on the privately funded plan to renovate Memorial Park Golf Course — and thus bring the Houston Open back into city limits — has been delayed. Houston City Council voted on Jan. 2 to remove the proposed ordinance for separate consideration. The ordinance would allow for the $13.5 million golf course redevelopment, which … Read more

Star lawyer leaves Ropes to launch Boston office for Orrick

The corporate legal giant Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is opening a Boston office by hiring away a trio of Ropes & Gray LLP partners specializing in data breaches and cybersecurity, including star litigator Doug Meal. Joining Meal at Orrick are partners Heather Egan Sussman — the co-leader of Ropes’ privacy practice group alongside Meal … Read more

Report: Amazon to add more Whole Foods stores in U.S. suburbs

Amazon.com Inc. will lean more on Whole Foods Market Inc. in the coming years as it tries to put more customers within range of the internet giant’s two-hour delivery service. That’s according to a Dec. 31 article from The Wall Street Journal, which reports Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will go from cost-cutting mode for Austin, Texas-based … Read more

Memphis public company hits 'major milestone'

With an increased access to capital, a Memphis-based public company has hit another “major milestone.” Jernigan Capital Inc. (JCAP) — a real estate investment trust that provides financing for self-storage developments across the U.S. and has a goal to eventually own those developments — announced Wednesday, Dec. 28, it had entered into an amended and … Read more

Development group closes on uptown land where hotel will rise

A hotel group has closed on land in uptown Charlotte where it will build the city’s first JW Marriott. Marlotte Hotel LLC, affiliated with Indiana-based White Lodging, paid $6.3 million for a portion of the block where Ally Charlotte Center is under construction. White Lodging is building a 21-story, 381-room JW Marriott hotel at the … Read more

Cook Medical completes agreement for Whitaker Park facility

Cook Medical says it completed its agreement with Whitaker Park Development Authority Inc. last week to buy a vacant R.J. Reynolds building in the redeveloped Winston-Salem business park. The company will convert the 850,000-square-foot former cigarette manufacturing facility into a “world-class” medical device manufacturing facility this year, the company said. Cook expects to add as … Read more

Jodie Poirier joins CBRE New England leadership team

CBRE New England, the region’s largest real estate brokerage, will have a new member of its leadership team effective Jan. 1.  Jodie Poirier, who previously led a CBRE office in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, will be managing director in Boston, joining Andy Hoar, Kevin Doyle and Steve Purpura. Her appointment follows CBRE … Read more

Boston REIT buys manufacturing facility at Mon Valley business park in Washington County

An active buyer has made what’s expected to be the first institutional investment at the Alta Vista Business Park in what’s been a flurry of activity at the Washington County park. Real Estate records indicate that the developer group of a manufacturing facility for publicly traded Gardner Denver Holdings Inc. in the Alta Vista Business … Read more

Local firm acquires Gemini Rosemont’s local property management operations

Duke City Management LLC, an Albuquerque-based commercial real estate property management company has purchased Gemini Rosemont’s Albuquerque property management operations. The sale closed Dec. 31, according to Joe Farr, owner and operator of Duke City Management. Santa Fe-based Gemini Rosemont confirmed the sale. The sale price was not disclosed. Farr served as senior vice president … Read more