HOUSTON – Hines, in partnership with Cerberus Capital, has agreed to acquire the 600 Travis building, a 75-story office tower recognized as the tallest structure in Texas. According to Real Estate Alert, the purchase price is approximately $627 million, or about $300 per square foot.
The seller is Prime Asset Management, which is controlled by the family of Rafic Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon who was assassinated in 2005.
Cerberus, a New York-based investment firm, will take a 90 percent stake in the property, while Hines will retain a 10 percent interest, according to Real Estate Alert.
The transaction includes the adjacent 601 Travis building, a 20-story office structure with roughly 415,000 square feet of office space and 12 levels of parking. Together, the two buildings offer about 2.07 million rentable square feet.
The primary tower, developed by Hines, contains approximately 1.7 million square feet of office space and opened in 1982.
Designed by I.M. Pei & Partners, the building has been known as the JP Morgan Chase Tower and, earlier, the Texas Commerce Tower. It occupies the block bounded by Texas, Capitol, Milam, and Travis streets in downtown Houston.
Rising to 1,002 feet, the 75-story tower was, at the time of its completion, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, though it was later surpassed by a California tower. Chase moved its offices out of the building years ago, and the Chase branch in the first-floor lobby closed last year when the building’s name was changed.
Located near Houston’s Theater District, the 600 Travis property features an expansive outdoor plaza highlighted by a monumental sculpture by Joan Miró titled “Personage and Birds,” the largest Miró sculpture ever commissioned.
Hines has managed the tower for several years, with Colvill Office Properties handling leasing activities.
The building sits among several major Hines developments along Texas Avenue. Hines is currently building a 47-story tower across the street on the former Houston Chronicle site at 801 Texas Avenue. On a nearby half-block where the old Chronicle garage once stood—Block 42 bounded by Milam, Preston, and Prairie streets—Hines is constructing a 46-story residential tower.
In recent years, Hines also completed the 1.1 million-square-foot 609 Main at Texas office building, along with other nearby office and residential towers such as 717 Texas.
June 20, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
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