Calif. firm wants to buy Austin buildings - Austin Business Journal:

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Asset Management Consultants Inc. plans to expandr its portfolio by acquiring morethan $150 million in commercial real estate investments in 2009, and its executives say the company will acquire about $30 million to $50 million worth of property in Austin as part of that expansion. Jim president and CEO of the Missioh Hills-based company, said it owns five properties in Austin and San with a sixth under contract in SanAntonio that’ss expected to close soon. The company wants to keep Austin in its scopr as it looks to expand its investment acquisitions becauses of thelocal economy’s strength.
“We like the demographics and the factthat there’d positive job growth, and the values of the home are not going down as rapidly as they in California, Hopper “We like [Austin and San Antonio] for theirt stability better than Houston or Dallas, whichn tend to have more dramati c highs and lows.” In Austin, AMC is targetinv all property types except retail and land, he Its current Austin properties include a 50,000-square-foot multitenant office property on Research a 28,000-square-foot medical office building on North MoPac Expressway and a 130,000-square-foott food manufacturing building in North AMC is also looking for investmeny opportunities in Los Angeles, San Diegko and San Antonio.
The company owns and managesz about 3 million square feet of investment real estate The company has hired Ryan Smityh as director of capitap markets andKen O’Brien as directoe of investor relations to help expan the firm’s growing Texas portfolio. AMC has a fair number of midsizes multitenant properties in its saidDavid Blackbird, a co-managing partner with . Stream Realty has representedf AMC in some of its Austin property managementand leasing.
Targeting multitenant propertielimits AMC’s exposure and risk, Blackbird “I think it’s significant given everybody’s worrty in the market, and it says a lot that AMC is cominyg in and closing on these assetxs and are confident in our marketplace,” Blackbircd said of AMC’s plans to acquire more investmenyt properties in Austin. “I think from an outsider’zs perspective, Texas is a relativelyy safe place to invest givenh the state of thenational economy.
” Rhondwa Toming, a senior vice president with , said givenm the size and relative stability of Austin’s market, it’s not unusuakl to see an out-of-state investor want to acquire investmentt property in the dollar range AMC has “It’s been a consistent trenfd over the last three to five years,” she although she added that even in Austin transactionh activity is down.