What rhymes with twenty-six?
“Survive ’til ’25” didn’t do the trick for more than half a billion dollars worth of commercial real estate loans in Texas that headed to foreclosure auction this week.
Most of the loans are tied to multifamily properties acquired between 2021 and 2023, during a wave of investor activity in Texas. Buyers snapped up value-add apartment complexes with the intent to renovate and flip them for a profit. But rising interest rates and falling property values upended those plans.
Houston’s Harris County made up more than half of this week’s debt headed to foreclosure, with nine properties representing $267 million, but no metro was spared.
Here’s what else happened in Texas real estate this week.
Billionaire Charles Cohen is facing foreclosure on the Decorative Center Houston after allegedly defaulting on a $50 million loan from Ladder Capital. The potential foreclosure on the 500,000-square-foot property adds to Cohen’s mounting financial troubles, including a $534 million loan default and a $187 million personal guarantee judgment.
Austin-based multifamily syndicator Alan Stalcup is facing a personal guarantee on a loan from a real estate titan. Starwood sued Stalcup, claiming he breached recourse guarantees on three properties, in Orlando, Atlanta and Nashville. He could be on the hook for $110 million.
Former Bank OZK rain maker Dan Thomas is launching Dallas-based Forest Way Capital with $200 million in initial commitments, aiming to invest across asset classes, primarily in the Sun Belt, using a patient, disciplined approach. With the capital raise, the firm will target note acquisitions, mezzanine loans and preferred equity deals.
Dallas-based developer Shawn Todd has a deal to buy historic Upstate New York properties: the 36,000-acre Whitney Park in Long Lake, listed for $125 million, and the Cady Hill mansion in Saratoga Springs, listed for $12.9 million. It is likely that Todd is planning a luxury resort for the properties. His firm, Todd Interests, also bought a 5,000-acre former Texas state park in Freestone County a couple of years ago, with plans to turn it into a $1 billion luxury subdivision. Known for ground-up mixed-use developments as well as renovating historic commercial property, such as the National and East Quarter in downtown Dallas, the firm also bought the old Belmont Hotel in West Dallas in 2023.
This month’s edition of The Real Deal magazine includes a few Texas stories, including a dive into the city of Dallas’ efforts to keep the historic Neiman Marcus flagship store downtown, and a look at the largest residential brokerages in Dallas-Fort Worth.
A couple of celebrities made news in Texas real estate this week. Taylor Sheridan of “Yellowstone” fame bought the 78-year-old Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards with plans to preserve its old-school vibe while adding a private club. And the actor Zachary Levi is raising funds to develop a film studio near Austin, in Elon Musk-influenced Bastrop.
Billingsley Company is done holding and ready to move on a 786-acre tract in McKinney that it’s owned since at least 2008. The firm, led by Trammell Crow scion Lucy Billingsley, is working through zoning for a master-planned community called Huntington Park.
—Rachel Stone
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