Westchase District's 15th Anniversary Party at Rio Ranch

Westchase District's 15th Anniversary Party at Rio Ranch, Thursday September 23rd, 2010

Two founding members of Westchase District: Jim Murphy and Paul McDonald

Attendees at Westchase Anniversary Party

County Proclamation of Westchase Day September 23rd

Ft Bend Society of Real estate Breakfast and O'Connor Office Forecast Luncheon

Ft Bend Society of Real estate Breakfast Tuesday/21


Bob Graff, Missouri City, Dr John Novak, Curtice Commercial/Colliers and Jim Cockrill, Coldwell Banker United

O'Connor Office Forecast Luncheon Wed 9/22

Paul Frazier, Brookfield Properties, Laura Van Ness, Central Houston and Brad Fricks with Stream Realty

Melanie Fregoe Edmundson with Phase Eng, Jim Murphy, Westchase District and Kathleen O'Connor with O'Connor and Assoc.

Paul Frazier feels that the next 3 quarters will be flat or uncertain for CBD market then we could see a bump in gross rental rates to over the current $34. He noted that 67% of Class A space in CBD was built between 1970 and 1984.

Brad Fricks sees recovery in most office markets in 2011 when quite a few leases are up for renewal with The Energy Corridor expected to recover by mid 2011 with Westchase and CBD to follow. The Galleria is now in recovery phase with forecasts of 1 to 3 new buildings projected.

Houston BOMA Tuesday August 31st, 2010

Can You Implement Changes At Your Property to Encourage a Greener Environment?


The answer is yes and a panel of experts including Morris Chen, Dave Johnson and Andre Lehr gave many examples of low cost and no cost items to make your buildings more Eco friendly at the BOMA sponsored event yesterday. In additions to citing methods for implementing programs, many examples of the return on investment for property owners were given.

Andre Lehr, Morris Chen, Dave Johnson and Chuck Moore

Laura Spanjian, Director, Mayor’s Office of Sustainability with The City of Houston announced that the City is implementing a Houston Green Office Challenge. The purpose of the Green Office Challenge is to help participants achieve strategies that reduce energy, waste and water usage and will ultimately reduce overhead costs to owners. Plus the City of Houston will also be providing funds to support these initiatives. Watch for their official announcement next Tuesday!

Laura Spanjian

View the complete video of this event here.

RERAlliance Financial Reform Luncheon

Financial Reform was the topic of the Luncheon that RERAlliance presented Tuesday August 31st. The well attended event offered some fresh faces and comments concerning the "Roadblocks to Commercial Real Estate Recovery".

Phil Lewis with RERAlliance led the discussion which included John Heasley with the Texas Bankers Association and Julie Cripe with OmniBank.

John Heasley

Julie Cripe

 According to John; 95% of the mortgage loans in the past 3 to 4 years would never had been made if not for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Julie says that Commercial Real Estate is out of favor in DC where housing is a "Sacred Cow" and small business is seen as an economy booster. So that leaves out CRE.
The still unanswered question that came from the audience was: "Publicly banks say they are lending but my loan officer says no".

View the complete video of this event here.