Dallas investor buys Austin industrial portfolio to convert to office space

Jan Buchholz | Senior Staff Writer

Westmount Realty Capital LLC has purchased a huge industrial/flex building profile in North Austin within the Braker Center.

The price of the 13-building, 537,000-square foot property was not disclosed. The seller was a partnership of Dallas-based Granite Properties and Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group. The property was 88 percent leased at the time of closing.

Westmount, based in Dallas, had not been active in the Austin market in recent years but decided to get back in, given the area’s strong economy. Located between I-35 and Mopac Expressway near Braker Lane and Metric Boulevard, Braker Center was built in the mid-1980s for light industrial use.

Westmount will invest about $1.5 million to update the project and reposition it as single story, value-based office space. The name will be changed to The Offices at Braker Center. Property management services will included in leases.

Current tenants include the state of Texas, Allergan Inc. USGB LLC, George P. Johnson Co. and Revenue Cycle Inc.

A CBRE Group Inc. team based in Dallas represented the sellers. NorthMarq Capital, headquartered in the Minneapolis area, helped obtain financing.

Industrial leasing in Austin is the strongest its been in more than a decade.