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Fund Of Texas-Based Skywalker Property Partners Targets $250M In Investments, Including Medical And Senior Housing

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Skywalker Property Partners has become the latest investment firm preparing to take advantage of turbulence in the commercial real estate market, with the launch of its fourth and largest fund,

The Leverage Strikes Back LLC, that has the capacity to make up to $250 million of opportunistic investments in Texas and surrounding states.

Skywalker Property, the fund’s manager, completed the $20 million capital raise during the first quarter of the year. The fund will target investments with opportunistic return profiles in the $10 million to $30 million range. Investments could vary from brick and mortar to note-buying to joint venture equity, including distressed assets and new developments. The acquisition strategy will focus on multiple asset classes, including medical, senior housing, residential, retail, mixed use, office and industrial, with the goal of completing the investments by December 2025.

The company’s first investment will be in a project in the Interstate 35 corridor in Texas, but executives did not provide further details on the transaction.

“We anticipate the CRE market will be faced with a wave of maturing loans held by owners who will be struggling to refinance under-performing projects amid tighter capital conditions,” Gary Walker, founder & president of the Arlington, Texas,-based firm, said in a prepared statement. “The new fund is well-positioned to capitalize on those opportunities.”

William Welder, Skywalker Property’s director of acquisitions and capital, called the new fund a milestone for the 33-year-old firm.

 “It is the largest fund in the company’s history and a significant shift from its two-year focus on dispositions,” Welder said in prepared remarks

Welder joined Skywalker Property in 2021 after leading commercial real estate lending for one of the nation’s largest financial institutions.

“The firm has longtime relationships with community banks and will use its deep ties in the CRE and banking communities to source investments,” Welder said.

The team expects opportunities to increase if interest rates remain at the current level or tick up, further impacting the availability and affordability of capital for critical needs, including refinances. Providing joint venture equity, for example, would be a value-add opportunity for developers and investors facing capital shortages for construction starts, completions or improvements to existing projects being primed for repositioning.

Previous Transactions

Skywalker Property identifies, underwrites, acquires and executes highly opportunistic and value-add investments on behalf of funds including When Opportunity Knocks LLC and Cash Flow Fever LLC. The firm currently has a portfolio of about $200 million of office, industrial and retail properties in Texas and surrounding states.

At the end of 2022, Skywalker Property sold three office properties in North Texas and Oklahoma on behalf of three managed funds. The properties sold were Brookhollow Riverside, a 119,121-square-foot office building in Grand Prairie, Texas; Crescent Parc, a 61-unit medical and office condominium in McKinney, Texas; and a 36,590-square-foot office building that houses Miller-Motte College in Tulsa, Okla.

In September, the firm invested in a shuttered 116-bed assisted living and skilled care facility in Waco, Texas, with Utah-based Zelevie Health that has been rebranded and reopened as Zelevie Health of Waco. The investment was made by Come Together Prop Co LLC, a single-purpose entity of Skywalker’s When Opportunity Knocks investment fund and marked Skywalker’s entry in the asset class.

Also in September, Skywalker sold 141,480-square-foot One Northwind Plaza, an eight-story office building in Houston acquired in March 2018, to Versa Creative Tower LLC. It had been the firm’s first Houston asset and was purchased on behalf of its When Opportunity Knocks fund.

 

Source: Commercial Property Executive

$7.9M Medical Office Building Set For The Clearfork West Development In SW Fort Worth, Texas

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In the first ground-up project for its tenant partnership program, SkyWalker Property Partners has started site work on a $7.9-million medical office building on the last commercial tract in the Edwards family’s Clearfork West development in southwest Fort Worth.

Edwards Ranch Medical Building rendering (CREDIT: MICHAEL JESTER)

SkyWalker Property is developing the 20,200-square foot project at 5612 Edwards Ranch Rd. for its fund, When Opportunity Knocks LLC. Dr. Nathan Lesley, a orthopedic hand surgeon based in Fort Worth, has leased 50% of the two-story building and invested in the project. The 10,100-square foot balance is available for lease.

The as-yet unnamed project will be situated within a short drive of the Fort Worth medical district, where Lesley has his current office in the Fort Worth Hand Center. The 1.8-acre site also is close to Chisholm Trail Parkway and Interstates 20, 30 and 35.

“We had been searching a long time for a building to buy and renovate. Development seemed to be the quickest and best way to meet Dr. Lesley’s expansion needs,” said Gary Walker, founder and president of Arlington-based SkyWalker Property Partners. “When you can’t find what you want, you start to think ‘where would you want to build.’ We were fortunate to be able to acquire this site, which is an ideal location for his expanding practice.”

The medical office building will be completed in Q1 2020. Prim Construction LLC of Fort Worth is the general contractor. The local architect is 97w, a collaborative design firm. Frost Bank is the project lender. Walker‘s longtime colleagues Theron Bryant and Casey Tounget of Transwestern have been retained to lease the 10,100 square foot of available first-floor medical/general office space. Lesley has signed a 10-year lease for the entire second level to house his practice and full-service physical therapy clinic, The Hand & Upper Extremity Institute.

“Unfortunately, health-care costs continue to rise. With SkyWalker’s help, The Hand and Upper Extremity Institute will have the ability to offer comprehensive care from the initial patient visit through surgical procedures and physical therapy, if necessary,” Lesley said. “This will allow us to manage costs while continuing our mission of providing exceptional care to every patient, every time.”

The developer of record, I Can See Clear Fork Now LLC, is a single-purpose entity of SkyWalker‘s co-investment program, which requires a five- to 10-year lease commitment. Under the tenant partnership agreement, SkyWalker Property will build and provide leasing services until occupancy stabilization is achieved.

“This investment strategy was always intended to be a flexible facilitator of user/tenant needs. We’ve taken it to the next level with this ground-up project,” Walker explains. “And, we’re optimistic the future holds more tenant partnerships.”

Source: Fort Worth Business Press