Aspen to outsource local property leasing
Oct 5, 2008
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/10/06/story2.html
Aspen Properties, in its continued focus on new development projects, will outsource to third parties the leasing and marketing for most of its 1.8 million-square-foot commercial portfolio in Austin.
Aspen, which splits its headquarters between Austin and San Diego, says the decision is part of a strategic shift the company initiated last year to concentrate on the more than 500,000 square feet in its development pipeline. Since that change, Aspen quickly sold the bulk of its stabilized assets, whittling down a 2.5 million-square-foot portfolio it had amassed since 2004.
Aspen will continue to manage its entire local portfolio internally, but it has already made third-party leasing and marketing assignments for nearly 1 million square feet. Those assignments include:
* Aquila Commercial, which has been handling leasing for Aspen Lake I, will also handle leasing for the adjacent Tower of the Hills and Tower Point properties. The Class A office complex is roughly 178,000 square feet.
* Stream Realty Partners will handle leasing for 8303 MoPac, Colina West and Parkline properties, which total roughly 406,000 square feet. Kevin Granger, senior vice president and head of leasing at Aspen, will join Stream Realty’s local team.
* Lucian Morehead, a leasing agent at Aspen, will handle leasing for Plaza on the Lake and Prominent Pointe I and II, which total roughly 370,000 square feet. Morehead is expected to transition to an undetermined company by the end of the year. Prominent Pointe II, a 102,046-square-foot expansion of Prominent Pointe I, was completed in August.
The decision to tap third parties to handle leasing assignments enables Aspen to more efficiently focus on its new development projects while better positioning the company as an investment and development firm, says Mark McAllister, president of Aspen Properties.
Since launching its new strategy — a goal set by the late Aspen CEO John Tworoger, who died last February — Aspen has centered its attention on three new developments totaling more than 500,000 square feet, two of which hit the market in the last couple of months. In August, Aspen completed Prominent Pointe II, an office complex at North Capital of Texas Highway and Bluffstone Drive. Borland Software has preleased nearly half that building’s space.
Last month, Aspen Lake I, a 205,000-square-foot office building at U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 45, came online. Entitlements are near completion for Aspen Lake II, which will bring 1.3 million square feet of new development — including a hotel, retail space and office buildings — adjacent to Aspen Lake I.
Finally, Aspen recently began site work on a 23-acre mixed-use project called Riverplace Pointe at River Place Boulevard and RM 2222. That project will be 265,000 square feet, including office space, a medical office building, restaurant, bank and hotel.
Meanwhile, in the past year, Aspen sold three of its assets for undisclosed amounts. River Place, a nearly 586,500-square-foot, seven-building corporate park in Northwest Austin, was bought by JPMorgan. Barton Oaks Plaza I, a nearly 100,000-square-foot, five-story building at MoPac Expressway and Bee Caves Road, was sold to GID Investment Advisers LLC. And Wells Fargo Tower, a 281,000-square-foot, 17-story tower at 400 W. 15th St., was sold to AFIAA U.S. Investment Inc.
Founded in 1976, Aspen remains one of the biggest office landlords in Central Texas. Besides its local development pipeline, Aspen has more than 700,000 square feet in the works in San Diego.
