Houston Downtown Alliance

St. Joseph Building Gets New Owners

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

A joint venture between Mission Equities GP LLC and Alex Brown Realty Inc. has purchased the St. Joseph Professional Building, located next to the St. Joseph's Medical Center in downtown Houston.

The buyers picked up the 139,000-square-foot building in March from ORIX Capital Markets LLC. Terms of the deal, which was announced this week, were not disclosed.

The 18-story medical office building at 2000 Crawford was built in 1964. St. Joseph's Medical Center was acquired in 2006 by Hospital Partners of America, which has spent more than $10 million to improve the urban hospital.

Houston-based Mission and Baltimore-based Alex Brown Realty plan to spend $7.8 million to renovate and reposition the medical office building, which is only 54 percent leased. The joint venture will replace the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system; install a sprinkler system; upgrade elevators; and renovate the façade and common areas.

ORIX was represented in the sale by Tim Gregory of Transwestern, which also is the firm that handles leasing for the building. Mission Equities will oversee building management going forward.

Others involved in the deal include Robert LaRue of Live Oak Capital Ltd., which arranged the equity and debt financing; and Whitney National Bank in Houston, which provided the acquisition and redevelopment loan for the project.

9-May-08 12:00 PM

Waste Management and Houston Astros Team Up on Recycling

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Waste Management Inc. and the Houston Astros are teaming up again this summer to promote recycling at Minute Maid Park.

The Houston waste collector is placing eight automatic recycling machines at the park for 20 games beginning April 22 through June 11.

When fans drop in plastic and aluminum beverage containers, the machines will randomly distribute coupons good for prizes including discounts at the Astros store, offers for half-price Astros tickets and other Astros items.

The new recycling option complements the existing 125 recycling containers at the park. So far, fans have recycled 129 tons of aluminum and plastic bottles.

21-Apr-08 2:00 PM

Lone Star Rising

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT

In 1995, during his senior year at Texas Southern University, a predominantly black school in Houston, accounting major Al Colbert and his cousin, Ja Ja Ball, a TSU senior studying business, hatched a plan to make some money during the January-to-mid-April tax season. They rented an inexpensive storefront in a low-income neighborhood and offered tax-preparation services, specializing in electronic filing and quick refunds for clients. The Colbert/Ball Tax Service handled 270 tax returns the first year. The two natives of Beaumont, Texas, sensed an opportunity and kept the fledgling company going after graduation. Our goal, recalls Colbert, now in his early 30s, was to become the black H&R Block. We knew that market and felt it would be the right one for us to serve. The business quickly took off, doubling the returns it prepared the next year and increasing to 1,800 in 1997. By then the company’s main office was in the Astrodome area, with two satellite offices in the city, still...

1-Mar-08 11:00 AM