NAI Houston partners with a new company which anticipates spending $25 million to $50 million this year for as much as 1,000 apartment units and 100,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet of commercial properties.

1. INSIDE SIPHONING AWAY VALUE: CITYBEAT
Shares of local companies associated with the
It’s a gas, gas, gas Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have plunged
A startling theory from a to new depths/PAGE 2
Houston scientist could
dramatically affect the future
of the natural gas industry.
PAGE 2
Strictly Houston. Strictly Business.
Vol. 41 No. 2 Week of May 21–27, 2010 houston.bizjournals.com 52 Pages, 1 Section $2.95
Here comes the sun
Two Houston companies
combine efforts to introduce
lower priced solar power
installations.
Key clans back real estate deal Tux slides over
to make room
for prom dress
PAGE 2
Cullen, Brown families Michelle Burk came
up with a fashionable
Bell tolls for CyrusOne
A Houston data center
lend nancial muscle business plan to cope
with the cost of out t-
operator is scooped up by
a Cincinnati company in a to commercial venture ting her 17-year-old
daughter for competi-
$525M deal. tion in pageants.
PAGE 6 BY JENNIFER DAWSON Burk opened Only
HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL About e Dress, a
store with an array of
Houston’s prominent Cullen and rental apparel for all
Brown families are among the partners sorts of special occa-
in a new company created to acquire and sions.
manage commercial real estate. Gowns, cocktail
e Cullens and Browns are the high- Arcadian Real Estate Arcadian Real Estate dresses, bridesmaid
est pro le investors of the bunch, but Services Capital dresses and quincea-
they are only two of 16 partners in the (Real estate brokerage services) (Property management (Asset management and ñera dresses are
newly established Arcadian Real Estate services) acquisitions) available for rent at a
Group LLC. Another key partner is NAI fraction of their retail
Houston, a well-established real estate cost.
Big week for layoffs brokerage rm. “Men have been
Chevron and several other is is the newest investment vehicle renting tuxedos for
companies announced a All in the family fortunes: The newly formed Arcadian Real Estate Group backed by Brown and years,” says the new
surprising number of job cuts SEE ARCADIAN, PAGE 45 Cullen interests has three offshoots covering three commercial real estate sector components. businesswoman. “So
this week, but experts say the why not give women
region will experience overall the same opportunity
growth in 2010.
PAGE 7
Fit food ght sprouts throughout city to save?”
Burk who had pre-
vious experience as
an electrical engineer
Building momentum Rival healthy fast-food convenience stores o er everything from organic soup to natural nuts and manager of a
Integris Roofing Services came women’s boutique,
up with a solid business plan BY ALLISON WOLLAM decided spending a
to boost revenue despite the HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL lot on a dress worn
shaky economy. only once just wasn’t
STRATEGIES/PAGE 17 Smart Meals set up shop on Shepherd practical.
Drive this week, just a few doors down She did some re-
from a My Fit Foods location. search on her rental
INDEX is head-to-head competition be- idea and found a
tween healthy fast-food retailers is in- similar company in
WEEK IN REVIEW 3 dicative of a niche market that continues California, but noth-
FACE TO FACE 13 to grow fatter catering to the health-con- ing in the Houston
STRATEGIES 17 21 scious crowd. area.
HERITAGE 22 My Fit Foods and Smart Meals share Burk launched the
FOCUS 23 28 the so-called healthy convenience store business out of her
PEOPLE/MOVE 29 30 sector with others such as Tru Meals and home, with tentative
AROUND & ABOUT 31 haute box meals. plans to open a store
FOR THE RECORD 32 36 All o er an expansive variety of pre- in September.
CLASSIFIED 37 43 pared meals for customers on the go Spiraling demand
OPINION 48 who want to keep in shape. accelerated the
COMMENTARY 49 MICHAEL STRAVATO/HBJ
INDEX 50 My Fit Foods and Smart Meals, both located in the same shopping center, compete for consumers. SEE FOOD, PAGE 44 SEE CITYBEAT, PAGE 4
FOCUS: TALENT THE LISTS
MANAGEMENT A ranking of the region’s largest
HBJ’s annual report on the key issues Johnson Space Center contractors
facing human resources managers in and area auto dealers.
the Houston area/PAGE 23 PAGES 20, 28

2. Week of May 21–27, 2010 Houston Business Journal houston.bizjournals.com 45
CONTINUED FROM...
ARCADIAN: Wealthy local families gain access to di erent commercial property types
FROM PAGE 1 $250 million worth of multifamily properties in acquisitions on a deal-by-deal basis. Addi- Kurtz is primarily responsible for the real es-
in Houston through Preferred Communities, tional individual and institutional investors tate services and capital companies.
for the old-money families, whose ancestors Kurtz says. Properties include the 596-unit will be brought into some acquisitions. No properties changed ownership as part
made their fortunes in energy and construc- Promenade Jersey Village, the 404-unit Prom- Arcadian will acquire assets ranging in of the merger, but new capital was invested to
tion and left their marks on Houston through enade Champions Forest and the 263-unit price from $2 million to $50 million, and ob- fund the entity. I
a multitude of business and philanthropic en- Arcadian Kirby. tain 50 percent to 70 percent debt on each jdawson@bizjournals.com • 713-395-9631
deavors. e Cullens and Browns have co-invested deal depending on the product type.
Arcadian plans to invest as much as $50 quite a bit, he adds. e group anticipates spending $25 million ARCADIAN’S 16 PARTNERS
million in commercial assets this year, as well By combining Preferred Communities with to $50 million this year for as much as 1,000
as o er a wide range of real estate services in NAI under the Arcadian umbrella, the fami- apartment units and 100,000 square feet to • All 11 shareholders in NAI Houston, including co-managing
connection with those acquired properties. lies will be able to funnel investment dollars 200,000 square feet of commercial properties. Partners Jon Silberman and Randy Wilhelm.
e Arcadian umbrella organization con- into additional commercial product types. Most of the value-add acquisitions will be • Three partners of Preferred Communities LP, including Mark Kurtz.
sists of three companies: ey will keep a close eye on the manage- in Houston, although some will be located in • Legacy Trust Company NA, a $1.5 billion entity that handles
• NAI Houston; ment of those assets through NAI, which has Dallas and Austin. Cullen family business.
• Arcadian Real Estate Services LLC, a com- the capability to manage o ce, retail and in- Arcadian Real Estate Group’s operating • Highland Resources Inc., the Brown family’s real estate
mercial property management rm; and dustrial assets. partners include Kurtz and NAI Co-Managing holding company.
• Arcadian Real Estate Capital LLC, which Each of Arcadian’s partners will participate Partners Jon Silberman and Randy Wilhelm.
will acquire properties and provide asset
management.
e three companies have a total work force
of 83 — a number that is expected to climb
over the next year as assets are acquired.
Arcadian’s 16 partners own an interest in
all three companies.
DIVERSE INVESTMENTS
e unique blend of partners is an o shoot
of Preferred Communities LP, which is no lon-
ger in operation since its functions have been
rolled into the new group. Preferred Commu-
nities was formed in 2005 by Mark Kurtz to
handle apartment investments for the Cullen
and Brown families.
Preferred Communities helped the families
acquire multifamily complexes and operate
them. e families wanted to manage their
investment risk by having their own property
manager, says Kurtz, a local real estate vet-
eran.
Since 2005, the families have purchased
Arcadian banks on
local foreclosure deals
One function at Arcadian Real Estate
Group LLC addresses the rise in foreclosures
that has become part of the current nancial
climate.
Arcadian will act as a special servicer for
regional banks that need to manage and
sell commercial properties they have taken
ownership of through foreclosure.
e company can act as an outsourced
real estate owned, or REO, department for
lenders too small to manage the slew of
commercial properties expected to go into
default.
Arcadian has secured a deal with an
undisclosed regional bank to handle its
REO assets. e bank has approximately 40
branches and less than $1 billion in assets.
Arcadian is dealing with smaller foreclosures,
on properties valued at $1.5 million or less.
Randy Wilhelm, co-managing partner at
NAI Houston, says banks often need help
with distressed properties in the areas of re-
pairs, management, leasing and disposition.
“We can literally walk in and take over an
REO department,” Wilhelm says. “It’s very
much a full-service type of deal.”
Jon Silberman, co-managing partner at
NAI Houston, says the demand for such
a service will grow because a lot of o ce
buildings need to go through the foreclosure
process. While foreclosures are a negative,
Silberman says they are necessary for the
market to heal.
“It’s like a root canal,” he says. “ e sooner
they go through it, the better.” I
Jennifer Dawson