Monday, April 28, 2008

White Rock lights up first Houston project with GE as partner

Houston's newest industrial development player -- which finalized its first local land purchase this week -- is bringing some major firepower to the market through a deep-pocketed investment partner.
Dallas-based White Rock Commercial LLC and GE Real Estate acquired 10.8 acres near the northeast corner of Beltway 8 and West Road for development of an industrial-type office building. The deal marks White Rock's entrance into the Houston market.
The firm also has plans to acquire three more sites for projects in the near future. White Rock has several equity partners it is working with on the various deals.
"We're looking to gain a significant presence down there," says Rockwell Hopkins, president and CEO of White Rock.
Houston has been a target market for the firm since it was formed two years ago.
"It's a really solid real estate market," Hopkins says. "How can you not be in Houston if you're in the real estate business right now?"
White Rock scouted Houston for sites for a year before executing this transaction.
"The biggest thing that's going on out there is a lack of available land sites," says Jeff Peden of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.
Peden and colleagues David Cook, Marshall Davidson Jr. and Graham Horton represented White Rock in the deal.
The land was purchased for a little more than $4 million from China Real Estate America Investment LP. The Chinese investor group was represented by Andy Sowell of Boyd Commercial.
White Rock plans to spend $27 million to develop a 170,000-square-foot office building on the site. General contractor Cadence McShane Corp. of Dallas will begin construction as soon as a building permit can be obtained. It will take up to 10 months to erect the building, which will be similar to other value-added office buildings that line the Beltway in Northwest Houston. Named West Pointe Center, the three-story tiltwall structure is designed to look more like a typical office building, Hopkins says. Gromatzky Dupree and Associates, a Dallas-based architecture firm, used spandrel glass in the design to enhance the building's entryway and parts of the third floor.
"We've done some tricks to it architecturally to make it look more dressed up," Hopkins says. "We've tried to design a building that is one level higher in quality than some of our competitors, but keep our cost in hand so our price is not significantly different."
White Rock plans to hire a local brokerage firm within two weeks to handle leasing. Rental rates will not be announced until after that occurs.
Grabbing a slice
White Rock was formed two years ago by parent company Boston Pizza International Inc., which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Boston Pizza is a large restaurant chain that reported 2006 sales in excess of $647 million.
White Rock represents Boston Pizza's entrance into real estate, although the firm has a number of other business lines under its corporate umbrella.
The real estate component was launched in Dallas because that's where Jim Treliving, chairman and owner of Boston Pizza, now lives after moving from Canada. That's also where he met Hopkins.
Before joining White Rock, Hopkins spent seven years as chief financial officer of institutional investor Invesco Real Estate. Prior to that, he spent 15 years with Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co.
Other White Rock executives include Mike Perot, senior vice president of development and marketing; and John Stone, senior vice president of operations and finance.
Even though White Rock has yet to complete a development, Hopkins says the firm was able to secure backing from GE Real Estate because of prior relationships between executives at each of the firms.
So far, White Rock has purchased three pieces of land for developments and has three more under contract in Texas and Pennsylvania. The firm broke ground last December on its first project, which is in the Dallas area, and plans to start construction on two more projects within the next few weeks. for more infromation see: www.houstonrealtyadvisors.com or www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net