M2G Buys Aging Austin Industrial as Part of Glow-Up Strategy

A firm whose speciality is revitalizing old industrial properties aims to work its magic again on a North Austin holding.

Fort Worth-based M2G Ventures, led by co-founders Jessica Miller Essl and Susan Gruppi, recently acquired a 54,000-square-foot light industrial property at 4806 Commercial Park Drive, in partnership with Chicago-based Blue Vista Capital Management, the Austin Business Journal reported.

The venture bought the site from East Monroe Block for an undisclosed amount, although it was recently valued at $5 million, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records. Aquila Commercial’s Leigh Ellis, Will Sikora and Chris Perry brokered the sale and will also lease the property.

M2G plans to renovate the 40-year-old property through improved landscaping, move-in ready interior offices, storefront upgrades, new signage, repainting the building and an expanded food court — a move that’s on par with the company’s business model since its formation in 2014.

It was last renovated about 10 years ago, M2G’s Brett Zimmerman said in a news release.

The firm chose the North Austin property because of the area’s steady growth and its easy access to U.S. Highway 183, U.S. 290 and State Highway 130. The newly-acquired building is less than 7 miles north of the 71-acre industrial site at 827 Ed Bluestein Boulevard, where Kairoi Residential is planning a massive mixed-use redevelopment with 2,000-plus homes.

M2G has delivered other light industrial projects, such as the 50,000-square-foot Woodall in Dallas, as well as the Bogart office building, an adaptive reuse of a former YWCA campus.

—Quinn Donoghue