How Placemkr Intends To Support Local Businesses With New Commercial Real Estate Portfolio In Austin
PlaceMKR’s noteworthy acquisition of a 14.7 acre flex industrial portfolio occurred right in the middle of the pandemic, a move that will only bolster support for surrounding flex industrial businesses.
PlaceMKR’s newly acquired investment portfolio in Austin Texas
PlaceMKR is a private real estate investment and development firm that seeks out path of progress investments that marry social impact with investor returns in Austin, Texas. Their investment process is centered specifically on areas where company and residential relocations are motivated by the growth of, and desire to expand outside the city center. PlaceMKR’s closing of this 14.7 acre, 145,000 SF industrial/flex building portfolio in southeast Austin should have taken place at the start of the year. The property was originally set to close at the end of March but the closing was unexpectedly delayed due to the negative side effects, intended or unintended, that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic. The most significant challenges that they faced were the historical decline in mortgage origination and a citywide shutdown that resulted in the restaurant tenant closing their doors permanently.
Emerging post-pandemic and keeping up with growing property demands
The site is now fully leased with six tenants, all of whom are headquartered in Austin. The anchor tenants include Kyrish Truck Center, who began in Austin in 1976 and has since expanded to 25 locations across Texas, and Ace Contractors Supply, who has been a staple of the commercial building industry in one of the country’s most heavily developing metros for over twenty years. Kyrish Truck Center is relocating from East Austin where their former 10 acre headquarters is being redeveloped into a mixed-use project by a local developer. To ensure their tenants have a safe place of business coming out of the pandemic, PlaceMKR has signed all new long-term leases with the tenants to ensure that the backbone of Austin’s industry is supported while many of the City’s former industrial zones are being reinvented.
Booming development in the area
In speaking about the acquisition, Christopher Cortese, Principal of PlaceMKR, stated “We identified this real estate portfolio because of its high concentration of local businesses that support the Austin economy. While the fabric of southeast Austin has historically been used for industrial purposes, we believe there are several factors that will shape a mixed-use narrative going forward including Tesla’s announcement of their plans to build the Cybertruck Gigafactory and the advent of the Austin Transit Partnership which can profoundly impact the accessibility of the submarket.” The site is located across from the Opportunity Zone, and also in close proximity to numerous planned developments; and with several developments already underway, the maturation of the area is already in progress. The Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), Tesla and the Austin Transit Partnership will also support the future maturation of the area. TXDOT is currently building their Headquarters within half a mile of the property, Tesla is developing a 2,100 acre parcel, the Tesla ‘Gigafactory’ for the Cybertruck within six miles of the property, and the Austin Transit Partnership is spearheading Project Connect, a $7.1 billion initiative to bring rail and bus access across the city. The properties purchased by PlaceMKR are also situated along CAMPO 2045’s Bergstrom Spur, an abandoned rail line that will be redeveloped into an east-west multimodal corridor. Developments in southeast Austin are ever increasing and PlaceMKR seized a unique opportunity in acquiring the 14.7 acre commercial property assemblage in an area that is already swarmed with development from some of the country’s most significant real estate investors. Cortese went on to explain that “there is a prevailing Austin traffic problem going North and South, and we think being located along the City’s major East to West thoroughfare, Highway 71, along with robust public transit plans will lead to a significant placemaking opportunity”.
PlaceMKR’s social impact on local business
Southeast Austin is evidently becoming a burgeoning residential and commercial hub all the way from Oracle’s campus along East Riverside to the airport, and with the site in such close proximity to Downtown Austin, PlaceMKR has chosen an optimal location to execute one of the only flex industrial acquisitions in Austin since the outbreak of Covid-19 first began. Yet more importantly, their new portfolio investment in southeast Austin is significant in that it also portrays PlaceMKR’s support for local businesses in the area and reflects their philosophy of social impact alongside their desire for growth and development outside city centers.
Final take: As investors often seek the highest yielding real estate, looking to find that fine balance between capital growth and high rental yields, understanding local markets and trends can make a substantial difference. PlaceMKR seems like one of the few institutions in Austin Texas with local knowledge and connections that can help investors identify these unique opportunities.
I am Darryl Broadhurst and i give investors an insight into the most recent news hitting the “Technology” sector in Wall Street. I have been an independent financial adviser for over 11 years in the city and in recent years turned my experience in finance and passion for journalism into a full time role. I perform analysis of Companies and publicizes valuable information for shareholder community.
