April 15th from 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
at the
Hotel InterContinental Houston
2222 W. Loop S., Houston, Texas 77027

produced by the
Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS (SIOR)
and
Commercial Gateway, The Commercial Division
of the Houston Association of REALTORS.

Commercial EXPO is the event that brings commercial brokers together with developers, service firms and economic development professionals.  Brokers have an opportunity to learn about the newly developed properties that are being brought to market and meet the marketing teams that are presenting the properties.  Developers get to meet the brokers that are active in their market areas.  The Economic Development organizations get to promote their areas to developers and discuss incentives and other opportunities with the brokerage community.  If you make a living in Commercial Real Estate, you will want to attend Commercial EXPO.

As the Name implies, Commercial EXPO is the place where firms are able to exhibit their products and services.  The format of Commercial EXPO has changed over the years to enhance the experience for exhibitors and to improve the interaction between attendees.  Food and beverage has always been an important part of the equation.  The location in the Galleria area and the time, at the end of the workday, makes this event convenient to the many professionals located in the area.  The pipe and drape tradeshow format has been updated to include large-format, gallery-type displays that are 4 feet high and from 6- to 8-feet wide.  Graphics are provided by sponsors and exhibitors in electronic files; EXPO’s production staff prints and hangs the graphics on plastic using Velcro.  Exhibitors and sponsors can then easily take down, roll-up and take the graphics for reuse.

You can buy a ticket for $50, in advance, and there are other more effective ways to get into the show.  Exhibitors and Sponsors receive a bundle of tickets as part of their EXPO agreement.  The Brokerage Sponsorship is the most cost effective way to attend; a firm receives 15 EXPO passes and recognition on the sponsors’ display for $500.  To register, visit www.commgate.com and click on the EXPO registration link.

Exhibitor and Sponsorship Opportunities If you are marketing a real estate development, brokerage services or a related service, you should consider exhibiting or sponsoring EXPO.  The four main opportunities are:

Since its inception in 1983, Commercial EXPO has evolved to become the premier networking event that brings Houston’s commercial brokerage and development communities together.  The 1983 EXPO was called “Developer Day” and was held in the Knoll Furniture Showroom.  Part of the motivation for the event in `83 was that market conditions had softened, and many developments were engaged in marketing to the brokerage community.  The Houston economy in 2010 is stronger and more diversified than it was in `83, but brokers, developers and service providers still need to gather and share information.

So come be a part of a great Houston tradition at Commercial EXPO.  Most show proceeds pay for the food, beverage and production costs of the event, while the local SIOR Chapter and Commercial Gateway utilize the net proceeds to further the educational and other initiatives of those organizations.  For additional information on participation opportunities, follow the link on the front page of www.commgate.com or call Heather Amos at (713) 629-1900, ext. 278.

Local knowledge makes the CCIM Forecast event excellent.  Do not expect a Wall Street titan or an Ivy League PhD to come to Houston to tell us about our markets.  The best resources for information about our real estate marketplace are the local brokers who manage the assets through the business cycles that shape our city.  The roster of presenters represents the finest experience, insight and expertise available to discuss real estate in Houston and is listed below.

Although the CCIM Forecast event is billed as a “competition,” the event is more about a shared perspective.  The presenters in the various asset categories typically agree on most substantive points.  But having two presenters approach the same topic from different perspectives provides additional insight into a large, complex set of markets.  Sure, one presenter is usually more optimistic and the other perhaps a little pessimistic, but the format creates a conversation that describes the markets in more detail than a matrix of market metrics and prognostications.

In addition to the brokers discussing the various property types, the economic picture will be made complete with two additional presentations.  Mark Dotzour, PhD, Chief Economist of the

Real Estate Center at Texas A & M University, will provide his outlook for the region and the state.  Given the importance of available financing, no discussion would be complete without including an overview of the capital markets.  John Fenoglio from Grandbridge Real Estate Capital will let us know what to expect from the finance sector.

Attend the CCIM Forecast Competition if you want to have a sound analytical basis for making better business decisions in the Houston and Texas Gulf Coast commercial real estate marketplace.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Houston Westchase Marriott

2900 Briar Park Drive

7:30 a.m. Registration

Program 8:00 a.m. - Noon

Cost: $60 members, $75 non-members

To Register: http://register.ccimhouston.org/register/CCIM_Member_Signup.asp

On the “Public” side of the CommGate site, we added several new search features which enable investors and business decision makers to more easily find member listings that meet their needs.  The newly designed homepage quickly guides the user to specific searches by property type, (e.g. office, industrial, retail, etc…).  An Interactive Map Search is another new feature that allows you to search using map based criteria. This is particularly helpful if you are not sure of the exact market area of the property, but know the general location. These new features will make members’ listings more accessible and easier to find.

Members can log into the Commercial Gateway application to access many new features.  Commercial Gateway’s research staff surveys the office and industrial lease markets and there is a new set of reporting tools.  Powerful new statistical reports for office and industrial lease markets will enable members to analyze market conditions for specific properties and sub-markets.  Historical trend reports offer researched data both by aggregate and by individual building on vacancy, absorption and weighted average rental rates.  Reports can be customized by class, primary use, occupancy type, geographical area and building status and display both quarterly and annual trends.  By making this statistical data readily accessible, it will save you time and effort when preparing proposals and preparing market research and analysis.

Other notable improvements to the member side include the ability to:

• Promote and search land listings based on the highest and best use for the tract.
• An Improved method for searching both lease and sale properties simultaneously.
• Search for Investment Properties only.
• Search for “Green buildings” based on LEED certification and Energy-Star designations.
• Listing detail reports that present more information in a reorganized format.

The new site also has integrated social media sites Facebook and Twitter to allow our members to connect with other commercial brokers, investors and the research staff at Commercial Gateway.  These social media tools also inform users about new features, networking events and industry news.  All this combined with simple navigation and more organized menus are sure to make the site more user-friendly.

New Social Media Tools for Commercial Brokers:

www.twitter.com/CommGate

www.facebook.com/CommGate

The objective of the new version of Commercial Gateway is to make the application more powerful and easier to use.  To accomplish this, many hundreds of hours of work went into rewriting the application.

The National Association of REALTORS has invested a great deal of money in HAR’s technology partner, ePropertyData.com that was used to accomplish this project.  The commercial brokerage community of Houston has, through their use of Commercial Gateway and the research performed in Houston provided the template for a powerful computer application that is now being used in an increasing number of markets across the nation.  NAR’s own commercial website www.CommercialSource.com is also benefiting from these enhancements and CommGate member listing are automatically forwarded to and promoted in that national listing portal.  So, the creativity of the greater Houston and Gulf Coast commercial brokerage community is represented not just in this new version of Commercial Gateway’s application but in an improved and better organized way of managing information across the entire country.

HAR’s Commercial Information Exchange (CIE) Commercial Gateway has recently launched new tools to address one of the biggest challenges facing commercial brokers in Texas, access to confirmed sales prices and related transaction data.  Members of Commercial Gateway (CommGate) can search over 4000 researched sales transactions.  A “Price Point” system delivers member access to over 1,500 confirmed sales prices.

How the CommGate Price Point System Works (5-for-1)

Commercial brokers may confirm the sales price for any transaction in which their firm was involved.  For each sale price confirmed, the broker’s firm will be credited five (5) Price Points.  Each Price Point may be redeemed later for access to the confirmed sale price of another transaction.

Once a firm has used a Price Point to gain access to a sale price, every member of that firm will continue to have access to that information.  The firm will not have to use any additional points to access the same data.  In other words, the more data you enter into the system, the more data you get.

Commercial appraisers may also confirm the sale price for any transaction in which their firm was involved.  For each sale price they confirm with CommGate, their appraisal firm will be credited with five (5) Price Points.  The points awarded to an appraisal office work in the same manner as those awarded to a commercial real estate firm.

Other Transaction Search Tools

Along with the Price Point system, CommGate also provides a Grantor/Grantee Search and a Commercial Transaction Report feature.  The Grantor/Grantee Search allows CommGate members to retrieve public records such as Warranty Deeds and Deeds of Trust simply by entering the name of the Grantor or Grantee into the search screen.  The Grantor/Grantee Search also allows CommGate members to search public records by instrument type.

The Commercial Transaction Report feature also displays public records, but retrieves property details from the tax roll such as frontage description, land value, improved value, and total value.  The Commercial Transaction Report feature allows CommGate members to search by Parcel Identification Number (PIN) as well as by the document number filed with the county. These added search tools make CommGate one of the most useful Commercial Information Exchanges available.  Plus, these features have been added to the CommGate system at no additional charge.

For more information call CommGate’s help desk at 713-629-1900 ext. 363. 

Fred Caldwell discusses the design and development process of Remington Square in Houston, Texas. The mixed use project was designed around a courtyard area that encourages outdoor meetings and activities to help bring people together. Breaking the mold of traditional office development was a challenge. The initial phases comprise 200,000 sq. ft. designed to accommodate smaller users. “We really view the development process as more than just building a building. It is really about doing things that have an impact on peoples’ lives. And so, we think Remington Square is one of those places that will have a great impact on others, and really, hopefully, our goal is that companies will be more successful, and productive and profitable by locating here at Remington Square.

Regina Morales, the Director of Economic Development for the City of Sugarland reviews the process that the Minute Maid headquarters home to Sugar Land. The Sugar Land Town Square concept was an important factor to Minute Maid. But the tax abatements and economic development incentive tools were an important part of the process in recruiting the anchor tenants for Class A office development in the City. Minute Maid has a ten year commitment to the City in order to secure the incentives provided by the City of Sugar Land. The long term benefits and revenue generated by the head quarters move justifies the investment made by the municipality.

Video - Danny Nguyen discusses the development of Houston’s “International District”. Condominiums, both office and retail are popular form of tenancy in the International District. Bellaire Blvd. is the primary axis of the International District with many new projects focused on the intersection with the West Sam Houston Toll Road. The International District is also broadening its appeal beyond the Asian investors and entrepreneurs to include more main stream business interests who are looking for an energetic business environment. Many investors view real estate very favorably Houston when compared to real estate in other markets around the world.

Video - Jeff Lindenberger discusses the issues pertaining to recent leasing activity in a client’s building in the Cole Creek Business Park in West Houston. The building has some tough competition from other institutionally owned properties in the same development. The design of the building also presented some challenges. Billy Gold with CBRE and Michael Hill recently cooperated on the leases for two tenants.

I’ve been working as a member of this development team for 28 years and for probably 15 of those years, we have thought about what we would do with our prime corner. We started looking around the country at projects that incorporated what you see here: retail, residential, a city hall, office, hotel, conference center.

Those uses can all go on this 32 acres. We have 560,000 square feet of office, 250,000 square feet of retail, 250,000 square feet of residential, 300,000 square feet of hotel/conference center and an 82,000 square foot City Hall. The total is just shy of 1.4 million square feet. The result of that is Sugar Land Town Square.

The Minute Maid Headquarters, which is in completion and nearing occupancy is the end of Phase III. Phase IV will be at the intersection of Highway 6 and Town Center Drive. That will be another 175,000 feet of office with 15,000 square fee of retail. And with that, we’re finished.

Our goal was to create a gathering place, a downtown feel for Sugar Land and Fort Bend County. You can go from A to Z, from 1-year-olds up to 100-year-olds; there is something in Town Square for everyone.

One of the more significant real estate transactions I’ve been involved in recently was the sale of a 60-acre tract of land on the southeast corner of Airtex and I-45 North to Panattoni Development.  The commercial real estate developer is planning a 486,000-square-foot, cross-dock, LEED-certified distribution facility in the first phase.
There were a number of issues with the site.  There was a backfilled area that turned out to require the removal of construction debris and trash about 20 feet deep.  The deal took about seven months from the time it went under contract to complete the due diligence and close.
At the present time. Panattoni is preparing the site, with the product available by April 2009.  This nationwide commercial real estate developer is very excited to lock into this particular piece of land due to the major benefits of freeway exposure in a market that is very active.  Land sites like these on the north side of town are becoming increasingly difficult to find.  That is really what appealed to them:  a major site, major intersection, with off ramps and on ramps right there as well as excellent ingress and egress to the site.