CCIM Luncheon – Major Texas Market Broker Panel

Jane Nodskov, ICO Commercial-Moderator; Phil Crane, Providence Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc (San Antonio).; Saadia Sheikh, ESRP (Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex); Travis Waldrop, Carr Development, Inc. (Austin)

Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex:

  • This megamarket is 7 million people and growing; its economy is very diverse; commercial real estate segments enjoying 2.5% annual rent growth
  • Huge corporate inbound relocation to North Dallas-1.7 mm SF Toyota; 2 mm SF State Farm; 1.4 mm SF JP Morgan; 1.1 mm SF Liberty Mutual, and many many smaller moves
  • Frisco and Plano – two northern suburbs – have more office SF than all of Austin
  • There is some new office development in CBD although there is an overhang of old space as tenants vacate and move to the northern suburbs
  • Industrial market is huge and getting bigger
  • The commercial center of gravity in Dallas is moving to the north, where a new CBD of sorts is forming

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A Shady Business: Houston Developers and Operators-AND our City Fathers- Discover the Sycamore Tree

BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com

For years the oak tree, so prevalent around Rice University and the Museum District, has been the signature tree of Houston.

But the beautiful ‘tree tunnels’ in the Montrose, West University, and Museum District don’t come without problems, as voraciously thirsty iron-hard oak roots heave up sidewalks all over town.

The sycamore, a native Houston tree, is much faster-growing than the oak, providing shade in the summer, and letting the warming sun penetrate its bare branches in winter time.

The first cousin of the sycamore, the plane tree, lines many of the grand boulevards of Europe, and other streets as well. Plane trees line country roads all over France and have for centuries.

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