Stratus’ 3rd quarter profits jump
Austin-based builder’s shares have risen 26% in the past 12 months.
Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc. saw a big jump in profits in the third quarter, the development company reported Monday.
Stratus had third-quarter net income attributable to common stock of $10.2 million, or $1.27 per share, according to a securities filing.
That’s up from net income attributable to common stock of $600,000, or 7 cents per share, during the same three months last year.
For the first nine months of 2015, Stratus said net income attributable to common stock was $11.9 million, or $1.47 per share, compared to $1.9 million, or 24 cents per share, during the same span of time last year.
The increases have helped fuel Stratus’ stock prices, with shares increasing 23 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 26 percent in the past 12 months.
It’s been a busy year for Stratus. In September, the developer bought out its partner in downtown Austin’s Block 21, home to the W Austin Hotel and Residences and the Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater music venue. The $62 million deal with Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund II gave Stratus full control of the high-profile building.
“Completion of this transaction, which was achieved in connection with the long-term refinancing of the project on favorable terms together with an expansion of our existing credit facility, is expected to simplify operations and generate consistent cash flows going forward,” Stratus CEO Beau Armstrong said in a written statement.
The sale of two commer-
cial projects — Parkside Village and 5700 Slaughter in the Circle C area in Southwest Austin — closed in the third quarter, netting Stratus $45 million.
Stratus also is wrapping up work on its latest retail center, Oaks at Lakeway. The anchor tenant, a 100,000-square-foot, high-end H-E-B grocery store, opened last month. The center is 68 percent leased, Stratus said, with other tenants set to open in the coming weeks, including High 5, a family entertainment center.
Work on Santal, a new apartment complex in Southwest Austin, is progressing, as well, Stratus said, and should be completed in April. Pre-leasing is expected to start this month.
“Construction and pre-leasing activity at the HEB-anchored Oaks at Lakeway retail project and Santal multi-family project are proceeding as planned, and lot sales activity at our Meridian and Barton Creek developments reflect what we believe continues to be an exciting Austin-area market,” Armstrong said.
The company has also announced plans for a mixed-use project in Magnolia, north of Houston, that will be anchored by an H-E-B store.