Westmount sells business parks to California buyer

Houston Business Journal
Published September 19, 2006

Westmount Realty Capital LLC recently sold a 475,000-square-foot industrial portfolio in Houston, just weeks before unveiling plans to develop a new 900-home community on Lake Houston.

A Westmount affiliate named Northbelt Industrial LP sold the Greenbriar North Service Center to Manny Khoshbin of Irvine, Calif. The purchase price was not disclosed on the transaction, which was completed in August.

The industrial portfolio consists of five business parks in north Houston near Bush Intercontinental Airport. Greenbriar I Plaza, Greenbriar II Plaza, Greenbriar 8 Plaza, Greenbriar Square Plaza and Hedgecroft Square contain 18 single-story buildings erected in 1979 and 1980. Continental Airlines, Securitas and Control Dynamics are key tenants, which was roughly 80 percent occupied at the time of the sale.

Cliff Booth, president of Dallas-based Westmount, says the property was only 72 percent occupied when he purchased it three years ago. He decided to sell the portfolio after reaching his objective of increasing the tenant base.

The seller was represented by Monte Lowery in Houston and Michael Lawrence in Newport Beach, Calif., both of whom are with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. Patrick Giles, who works in Marcus & Millichap's Dallas office, represented the buyer.

Westmount's other recent deal involves the August purchase of 322 acres on the west side of Lake Houston, just south of Kingwood, for The Bridges at Lake Houston.

The single-family residential community is being developed by a partnership known as WY Atlantis that includes Westmount; Wyatt Henderson and Allen Jones, former principals and co-founders of Dallas-based Marlin Atlantis; and The Yucaipa Cos., a Los Angeles-based private equity investment firm.

"We like the Houston market," said Booth, who is looking for other local acquisition opportunities.

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