Peerspace, ‘Airbnb for commercial sites,’ expands target for Houston-area listings
Peerspace, a San Francisco-based company that allows property owners to list their facilities, Airbnb style, for hourly rentals announced last week it had turned its focus to Houston.
While users from any city can list their facilities on the site — the first Houston property was listed on Peerspace in 2017 — the company is now drawing on the $19 million in funding it raised in 2018 to expand upon the organic growth already taking place in cities such as Houston.
Local mansions, ranches, warehouses and studios have already been booked for events ranging from music videos to corporate events and from national cable television network interviews to nude painting classes.
Houston-area listings include a 75-acre horse ranch in Humble, a tropical tiki bar in Pearland — complete with pool, hot tub, tiki bar and “life-sized Easter Island statues” — and a production studio in Tomball.
Tom Ford store to relocate to Galleria
Luxury fashion retailer Tom Ford said last week it would relocate its Houston store to Simon Property Group’s Galleria mall.
The 4,000-squarefoot store, expected to open in the Galleria’s luxury wing by the holiday season, will sell women’s and men’s apparel, accessories, shoes and sunglasses. The New York-based company also announced plans to relocate its Atlanta store to another Simon property, Phipps Plaza in the Buckhead district.
The move represents a major coup for Simon, which has invested more than $300 million into Houston’s top-performing mall as it faced mounting pressure from River Oaks District, location of Tom Ford’s present store, and Highland Village. The Indianapolis-based company, the nation’s largest mall owner, recently relocated the Saks Fifth Avenue into a new home on its sprawling Galleria campus and transformed its former space into four high-end restaurants and 35 shops.
Refinance arranged for affordable housing complex
Heights at Post Oak, a 940-unit collection of 94 two-story apartment buildings in the Fondren/Westbury area, has arranged refinancing through a $28.3 million Freddie Mac loan. The seven-year, variable rate loan with three-years of interest-only was arranged by Hunt Real Estate Capital on behalf of the owner, an affiliate of Iliad Realty Group.
Heights at Post Oak is an affordable housing complex built in 1972 acquired by the Iliad affiliate in November 2016 through foreclosure. It has invested $5.4 million in property upgrades such as upgraded unit interiors, new appliances and boiler and HVAC replacement.
“The … proceeds from the new loan will be used to return equity to the sponsors and complete the finishing touches on the renovation program,” Bryan Cullen, senior managing director at Hunt Real Estate Capital, said in a news release.
Further improvements, such as upgrading vacant units and completion of a new leasing office, fitness center and community facility, are planned.
Architecture firm Kirksey opens Austin branch
Houston-based Kirksey Architecture is opening an office in Austin to serve the some $500 million worth of design projects it has underway in Central Texas.
The firm’s clients in the state’s central region include the Austin and Round Rock school districts, Bastrop County, Bracewell, Cushman & Wakefield, Koontz Corp., the Texas State University System, the University of Texas System and Transwestern.
The 48-year-old-firm, founded by John Kirksey, has 150 employees in Houston. The Austin office, at 1701 Directors Blvd., is led by Benito Guerrier, David Dalton and Kathleen Jircik.