Welcome Gets $200M Credit Facility for Texas Portfolio

The seven-year financing involves 18 fully leased, single-tenant industrial properties, more than two-thirds of them located in metro Houston.

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Welcome Group has received a $200.6 million, seven-year credit facility from Global Atlantic Financial Group for a 1.7 million-square-foot Class A industrial portfolio. JLL Capital Markets secured the financing for Welcome.


READ ALSO: Welcome Group Lands $300M Capital Infusion


The portfolio comprises 18 single-tenant industrial properties in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio and is reportedly fully leased. Thirteen of the assets are in metro Houston, with two each in the Austin and Dallas markets and one in San Antonio.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, represented by Welcome Wilson Jr., president & CEO, and Ralph Fite, director of finance. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by Managing Director Tyler Ford and Analyst Tolu Akindele. The deal was secured by HFF before it was acquired by JLL on July 1.

Welcome’s legal counsel consisted of Bill Boyar, Alex Parker and Cyrus Chin of BoyarMiller. Global Atlantic’s legal representatives were David Curfman and Tai Palacio of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Lots of deliveries, less absorption

As Houston’s economy benefits from above-average job growth, at 2.6 percent year-over-year, the industrial market specifically continues to be buoyed by strong job expansion in durable goods manufacturing, according to a second-quarter report from Cushman & Wakefield. The delivery of more than 12.1 million square feet of new space in the previous 12 months helped drive a 110 basis point increase in the overall vacancy, to 7.3 percent—versus a 6.3 percent historical average.

As of the second quarter, 95 properties totaling nearly 18.1 million square feet were under development. With even more space set to deliver through 2020, overall vacancy is expected to rise further. Still, investors remain active in the market. In May, Exeter Property Group bought the six-building, 245,860-square-foot Century Oaks Business Park from Bearden Investments.

Through a representative, Global Atlantic declined to provide additional information about the transaction. JLL was unable to provide additional information as of press time.

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