From: The Austin Business Journal
Tom Castro is a visionary. Castro, president of Houston-based Border Media Partners LLC, co-founded the broadcasting company three years ago in McAllen. He since has built a mammoth Texas network of radio stations.
Border Media Partners entered the Austin market last year with the purchase of radio stations KHHL-FM 98.9, KXXS-FM 104.9 and KOKE-AM 1600, along with radio stations in Waco, Dallas and Laredo, from Irving-based Amigo Broadcasting LP. The deal was valued at $70 million.
Now with seven frequencies in Austin, most of them targeted at the Hispanic market, Border Media Partners is capitalizing on Texas' growing Hispanic and Latino demographic.
Growing right along with that demographic is Castro's company, which has swelled from 12 Austin employees last October to the current 81.
"We've run out of space in this building," Pedro Gasc, Border Media Partners' vice president and Austin market manager, says of the company's current 4,500-square-foot space at 2211 S. I-35. "We need to hire more people, but we just don't have the room for them here."
Border Media Partners will have room for growth in its new 18,779-square-foot home at 912 S. Capital of Texas Highway. Move-in is scheduled for November.
Richard Paddock, office specialist with Hill Partners Inc., represented Border's new landlord, Boston-based REIT Management.
Border Media Partners' Austin offices and studios will take up the entire fourth floor of the Vista Ridge building, more than quadrupling its current space.
With that added space, Gasc says, the company likely will end this year with another 20 employees. He says another 40 could come aboard in 2006.
Construction has started at the new office, with BMP sinking about $2 million into remodeling, studio soundproofing and equipment to improve radio signals.
That's a small investment compared with the $250 million that Border Media Partners has raised over the past three years. Investors include New York-based Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group; Washington, D.C.-based Darby-BBVA Latin America Private Equity Fund LP; the family of Laredo banker Tony Sanchez, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for Texas governor in 2002; and, most recently, New York-based Vestar Capital Partners.
"For us, Austin is a top priority, along with San Antonio," Castro says.
"We've probably created 50 jobs in Austin in the last nine months, and spent a lot of money on research and developing formats. Now, we are focusing on business-to-business marketing to educate other Austin businesses about the buying power of the Latino market."
With 11 percent of Austin's radio dollars targeting Hispanic listeners -- the Capital City is ranked 42nd among national Hispanic radio markets, according to research company Arbitron Inc. -- Border Media Partners is riding a swelling radio wave.
Mark Vanderslice, a senior associate with Hill Partners Corporate Services in Austin who represented Border Media Partners in the Vista Ridge deal, says the broadcasting company's Austin expansion won't end with the office improvements.
"This is going to be an extreme upgrade for Border Media," Vanderslice says. "But they might also eventually do some kind of small retail outlets, one up north and one south, but that's still in the preliminary stages."
Other plans for Border Media Partners include live broadcasts for the company's local Air America affiliate, and the possibility of buying more radio stations -- in Texas and elsewhere.
"If the opportunity came up, we'd be interested in buying more stations," Castro says.
"We currently have about 35 in Texas, but we're looking at other states between Texas and the West Coast as well. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California -- those are all areas we'd like to move into."
Tom Castro is a visionary. Castro, president of Houston-based Border Media Partners LLC, co-founded the broadcasting company three years ago in McAllen. He since has built a mammoth Texas network of radio stations.
Border Media Partners entered the Austin market last year with the purchase of radio stations KHHL-FM 98.9, KXXS-FM 104.9 and KOKE-AM 1600, along with radio stations in Waco, Dallas and Laredo, from Irving-based Amigo Broadcasting LP. The deal was valued at $70 million.
Now with seven frequencies in Austin, most of them targeted at the Hispanic market, Border Media Partners is capitalizing on Texas' growing Hispanic and Latino demographic.
Growing right along with that demographic is Castro's company, which has swelled from 12 Austin employees last October to the current 81.
"We've run out of space in this building," Pedro Gasc, Border Media Partners' vice president and Austin market manager, says of the company's current 4,500-square-foot space at 2211 S. I-35. "We need to hire more people, but we just don't have the room for them here."
Border Media Partners will have room for growth in its new 18,779-square-foot home at 912 S. Capital of Texas Highway. Move-in is scheduled for November.
Richard Paddock, office specialist with Hill Partners Inc., represented Border's new landlord, Boston-based REIT Management.
Border Media Partners' Austin offices and studios will take up the entire fourth floor of the Vista Ridge building, more than quadrupling its current space.
With that added space, Gasc says, the company likely will end this year with another 20 employees. He says another 40 could come aboard in 2006.
Construction has started at the new office, with BMP sinking about $2 million into remodeling, studio soundproofing and equipment to improve radio signals.
That's a small investment compared with the $250 million that Border Media Partners has raised over the past three years. Investors include New York-based Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group; Washington, D.C.-based Darby-BBVA Latin America Private Equity Fund LP; the family of Laredo banker Tony Sanchez, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for Texas governor in 2002; and, most recently, New York-based Vestar Capital Partners.
"For us, Austin is a top priority, along with San Antonio," Castro says.
"We've probably created 50 jobs in Austin in the last nine months, and spent a lot of money on research and developing formats. Now, we are focusing on business-to-business marketing to educate other Austin businesses about the buying power of the Latino market."
With 11 percent of Austin's radio dollars targeting Hispanic listeners -- the Capital City is ranked 42nd among national Hispanic radio markets, according to research company Arbitron Inc. -- Border Media Partners is riding a swelling radio wave.
Mark Vanderslice, a senior associate with Hill Partners Corporate Services in Austin who represented Border Media Partners in the Vista Ridge deal, says the broadcasting company's Austin expansion won't end with the office improvements.
"This is going to be an extreme upgrade for Border Media," Vanderslice says. "But they might also eventually do some kind of small retail outlets, one up north and one south, but that's still in the preliminary stages."
Other plans for Border Media Partners include live broadcasts for the company's local Air America affiliate, and the possibility of buying more radio stations -- in Texas and elsewhere.
"If the opportunity came up, we'd be interested in buying more stations," Castro says.
"We currently have about 35 in Texas, but we're looking at other states between Texas and the West Coast as well. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California -- those are all areas we'd like to move into."
