NEW YORK -- Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT) has purchased a portfolio of six seniors housing communities for $186 million. The portfolio was purchased with unrestricted cash.

The six rental continuing care retirement communities in the portfolio are all located in Texas and consist of a total of 1,265 beds.

Concurrent with the acquisition, Newcastle has entered into a triple-net master lease agreement with a subsidiary of Lifecare Cos. LLC. 

The lease has an initial term of 15 years with two 5-year renewal options. The initial cash lease yield is 7.6 percent with 3.75 percent increases in years two to four and 2.5 percent in years five to 15.

Lifecare Cos., established in 1971, is a manager of continuing care retirement communities throughout the United States.

Newcastle has invested more than $700 million of equity in the past 24 months to acquire 95 seniors housing properties with more than 11,900 beds, totaling more than $1.8 billion in assets. The company is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC.

Newcastle also recently created a spin-off company, New Senior Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:SNR), a publicly traded REIT focused on the seniors housing sector.

The stock price of Newcastle closed at $4.79 per share on Monday, June 30, down from $5.23 per share on Friday, June 28, 2013.

-- Scott Reid

HOUSTON -- Developer JPI/TDI has begun construction on a 198-unit luxury multifamily community in Houston, within the Heights submarket along the Washington Corridor. The community, Jefferson Heights, is located at 1520 N. Memorial Way. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2016. Jefferson Heights is being developed on 1.47 acres adjacent to downtown Houston.

Apartment homes will offer one- and two-bedroom floor plans ranging from 607 to 1,253 square feet. Units will feature granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, nine-foot ceilings, large closets, garden tubs, separate showers, as well as washers and dryers. 

Jefferson Heights will offer amenities that include downtown views, a pool overlooking downtown Houston, three courtyards, fire pits, outdoor kitchen and grill area, Wi-Fi in common areas, coffee bar and a fitness center. JLL LP arranged the remaining capitalization in the form of a mezzanine loan, which Parse Capital provided. 

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS -- Skanska has signed a $93 million contract to construct a new veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences education complex and renovate and expand the existing small animal hospital on the main campus of Texas A&M University. 

The 330,000-square-foot new building will house state-of-the-art classrooms, teaching and laboratory space, and a caf� with indoor and outdoor dining facilities. Combined with the expansion of the small animal hospital, the new facilities will accommodate more than 500 students. The project broke ground this month and is expected to be completed in April 2016. 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Milhaus has closed on financing and will begin construction on a $42 million mixed-use development in midtown Oklahoma City. LIFT, located at the northwest corner of 10th Street and Shartel Avenue, will include 329 units, comprised of eco-suites, studios, and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. 

Some of the features in the units include granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and hard surface flooring. The development will consist of 4,700 square feet of commercial space and a 445-space parking garage. The development will also feature a yoga room, caf�, bar, game room, fitness studio and children's play area. 

Apartment units are set to be available in the summer of 2015. This is Indianapolis-based Milhaus' first project outside of Indiana. Regions Bank provided construction financing for the project. Milhaus Construction LLC will construct the project, and Milhaus Management LLC will manage the property.

HOUSTON -- Cadence McShane Construction Co. has completed the construction of Fallbrook Distribution Center II, a 400,250-square-foot warehouse/distribution facility located at 8303 Fallbrook Drive in northwest Houston. The property, situated on a 30-acre parcel, was built on behalf of developer Liberty Property Trust. 

Divisible to 100,000 square feet, the cross-dock facility can support single- or multi-tenant configurations. Fallbrook Distribution Center II features 32-foot clear heights; 53.4-foot-by-50-foot column spacing; 83 exterior docks; four drive-in doors; an ESFR sprinkler system; 3,000 square feet of office space to-suit; and on-site trailer parking. Seeberger Architecture provided the architectural services.

SAN ANTONIO -- Laurus Corp. has acquired the Marriott San Antonio Northwest Hotel. The Marriott is located at 3233 Northwest Loop 410 in the Northwest business corridor, just north of the interchange of Interstates 10 and 410. 

The hotel is the only full-service Marriott-branded hotel outside the San Antonio central business district and features 296 guestrooms, two food and beverage outlets, and approximately 8,500 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities, in addition to various amenities such as an outdoor pool, gift shop, guest laundry and business and fitness centers. Laurus Corp. will be investing approximately $16 million to upgrade the entire property to the new Marriott standards.

HOUSTON -- Global Transportation has leased 10,719 square feet at the Norfolk Tower building, located at 2211 Norfolk St. in Houston. Griffin Jaggard and Terri Torregrossa of Moody Rambin represented the building owner, The Realty Associates Fund IX LP. Phil Arnett represented Global Transportation in negotiations.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- InterContinental Hotels Group will manage a dual-branded Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express hotel in downtown Austin. JCI Cos. is developing the hotel, which will feature 134 Hotel Indigo rooms and 171 Holiday Inn Express rooms. 

The dual-branded model allows for operating efficiencies, where guests typically share the same building structure or services, such as fitness centers, pools and food and beverage facilities. Some back-of-the-house operations may also be shared or separate. The hotel is expected to open by the end of 2016.

HOUSTON -- Ryan Watson, vice president of Q10 | Kinghorn, Driver, Hough & Co., has arranged $7.3 million in permanent, non-recourse financing on behalf of a Houston-based investor. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan was arranged through RAIT Financial Trust following the renovation of Bennington Square in southwest Houston in 2012 and 2013. 

The 288,000-square-foot, 313-unit Bennington Square community is located at 6300 W. Bellfort St. The non-recourse financing with cash-out option to the borrower allowed the initial investment capital to be returned to the original investors.

IRVING, TEXAS -- PM Realty Group has brokered a 29,345-square-foot office lease for Hanley-Wood Exhibitions in the Las Colinas Highlands building. The 199,435-square-foot building, located at 6191 N. State Highway 161, is owned by MLCFC 2006-4 Office 6191 LLC. Kurt Cherry, executive vice president of PM Realty, handled the transaction for the owner. Mari Jones, senior director, Billy Gannon, associate director, and Emily Hoffman, senior associate, with Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant.

DALLAS -- Mohr Capital has acquired the Coit Medical Center in Dallas, located at 12230 Coit Road. The 32,611-square-foot medical office building was constructed in 2009 and is 34 percent leased. Scott Henry, Gary Horn and Austin Ames represented Mohr Capital internally, while Evan Kovac with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the seller, Passco Seneca Coit LLC. Frost Bank provided project financing.