$14M Plus Channels Into 140,000-SF Mixed Use

BRYAN, TX-A local developer has secured $14.4 million to continue work on a redevelopment in the Downtown. The 140,000-sf Fibertown project is coming out in five phases as a mix of office and retail space.

Developer Astin Redevelopment LP, a division of Astin Partners, had acquired seven buildings within a historic district for redevelopment into class A space. The project’s name, “Fibertown,” was selected because the majority of the redevelopment will include data centers either in or near the buildings.

The First National Bank building at 120 N. Main St. has already been renovated and fully leased to Managed Network Solutions. The next move will be to renovate the 52,000-sf Woolworth building, which is down the street. When it’s completed, the building will house a 14,000-sf, tornado-proof data center.

Randall Spradley, vice president of Astin Redevelopment, says the next phase will cost about $12 million. The full project cost isn’t available, but when it’s finished, he says “it will be like being on a corporate campus.” The plan includes restaurants and retail space.

Spradley tells GlobeSt.com that the project is a rolling one with no true end-date. He estimates his company will be busy for several years renovating the remaining five buildings.

“We’re getting top rates for the property,” Spradley says. Depending on the space and the utilities, including broadband capabilities, tenants are paying between $24 per sf and $50 per sf.

The financing was arranged by Ralph Daruns, Richard Lapp and Mikel Reynolds of Dallas-based Joe Foster Co. Hamp Green of Merchant Capital LLC in Birmingham, AL handled the placement of the seven-day revolving commercial paper.