With COVID-19 ravaging the Texas economy, lenders are red-flagging hundreds of Dallas-Fort Worth properties for potential default. So far, there hasn’t been a surge in commercial real estate foreclosures due to the growing pandemic. But lenders are closely watching more and more real estate deals for possible mortgage defaults. Since the start of the pandemic, holders of mortgage-backed ... Read More

Jun. 30--Houston oil field service company McDermott International shed $4.6 billion debt after emerging from bankruptcy Monday afternoon. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones signed a Monday order releasing the company from Chapter 11 reorganization. The oil field service company shed $4.6 billion of debt and emerged with more than $2.9 billion in fresh credit and loans. Exiting bankruptcy also ... Read More

Jun. 30--Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners has signed a long-term deal to supply polymer grade propylene to Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp. Financial terms and length of the contract were not disclosed but Enterprise said Tuesday that the propylene will support the construction of a second propane dehydrogenation plant at the company's petrochemical complex in Mont ... Read More

Jun. 30--Stream Realty Partners broke ground on its 300-acre Empire West Business Park in Brookshire, adding another option for e-commerce tenants aiming to distribute products to consumers in Houston and other Texas cities. The development, located 30 miles west of Houston near the Amazon, Costco, Igloo Products and Rooms To Go facilities, is expected to deliver the first three buildings, ... Read More

An Addison-based data center company is working on plans for a major expansion of its campus in Allen. Compass Datacenters in 2017 started on the first phase of its Allen project located on the west side of U.S. Highway 75 near Stacy Road. The company’s Allen facility is in an area where several data center operators have built large operations. Compass is preparing plans to add to the project ... Read More

Nationwide construction employment is bouncing back from the worst of the pandemic. And the Dallas-Fort Worth area is adding more construction sector jobs, too. Construction employment rose in all but a few U.S. metro areas in May compared April, according to the latest survey by the Associated General Contractors of America. D-FW construction jobs increased by an estimated 1,200 jobs in May ... Read More

Nayda Alvarez said she has caught border wall surveyors — without masks or other protective gear — sneaking onto her property along the Rio Grande several times this year, most recently in April. Later that month, federal attorneys summoned her to court in an effort to seize for the border wall land that her family has owned and inhabited in La Rosita, Texas, since the 1800s. If she wanted to ... Read More

The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a case involving environmental challenges to President Trump's border wall plans, giving him a green light to build without having to comply with the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and other major protections. The case does not resolve ongoing challenges over how Mr. Trump is funding the wall, siphoning Pentagon money. But it does clear ... Read More

One predicted benefit of the pandemic has been a decline in construction costs -- or at least a halt to big price increases of recent years. The idea makes sense. With thousands of construction projects around the country being delayed or killed because of COVID-19, the costs of material and labor ought to be coming down, right? The truth is harder to get at. While nationwide construction ... Read More

Jun. 25--Navistar International Corp. broke ground Thursday on its planned truck plant in San Antonio, but no one showed up for the ceremony -- at least not in person. The groundbreaking was staged virtually in a 15-minute video posted on YouTube, a concession to the COVID-19 pandemic and an effort to reduce the health risks associated with large gatherings. Navistar executives, Mayor Ron ... Read More