HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Hines, together with partner Cerberus Capital Management, has acquired the 600 Travis building, a 75-story office tower long recognized as the tallest building in Texas.
The purchase price was not publicly disclosed. Real Estate Alert previously estimated the value at about $627 million, roughly $300 per square foot.
The transaction also includes the adjacent 601 Travis Street (formerly known as the JPMorgan Chase Center), together conveying approximately 2.1 million square feet of combined office and retail space in downtown Houston.
Both buildings occupy a central location within Hines’s downtown holdings near the intersection of Texas Avenue and Travis Street, where the firm controls multiple high-rise office and residential properties.
Developed by Hines and completed in 1982, the 75-story tower comprises roughly 1.7 million square feet of office space.
Hines has retained HOK to design a comprehensive renovation for the property. Planned improvements include substantial updates to the lobby and exterior plaza, the creation of connected collaborative workspaces, upgrades to shared building amenities, and the addition of a thoughtfully designed conference center.
“Our goal is to elevate 600 Travis’ standing as one of the premier office buildings in the Southwest,” said John Mooz, Hines Senior Managing Director. “By activating significantly more common space and creating new opportunities, this repositioning will improve tenant attraction and retention while preserving the building’s architectural heritage and projecting a contemporary image for today’s workplace.”
Cerberus, a New York–based investment firm, is Hines’s investment partner and will hold a majority stake in the property.
“600 & 601 Travis are institutional-quality assets strategically located in Downtown Houston’s vibrant North District, which offers a mix of office, residential and cultural amenities,” said Tom Wagner, Head of North American Real Estate and Senior Managing Director at Cerberus. “We look forward to combining our firms’ operational and asset-management expertise to modernize 600 Travis and align it with contemporary tenant needs in this dynamic market.”
The seller was Prime Asset Management, an entity controlled by the family of the late Rafic Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon.
Designed by I.M. Pei & Partners, the tower was previously known as the JPMorgan Chase Tower and earlier as the Texas Commerce Tower. It occupies the block bounded by Texas, Capitol, Milam and Travis streets.
At 1,002 feet tall, the 75-story tower was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until it was surpassed by a California tower some years later. JPMorgan Chase moved its offices out of the building years ago, and the Chase branch that operated in the first-floor lobby closed last year when the building’s name was changed.
Located near Houston’s Theater District, the 600 Travis building features a large outdoor plaza anchored by Joan Miró’s monumental sculpture “Personage and Birds,” the largest Miró sculpture ever commissioned and a prominent landmark for the site.
Hines has managed the tower for several years, while Colvill Office Properties has handled leasing activities.
The Houston Endowment, a major philanthropic organization that maintained offices on the tower’s 64th floor, plans to relocate to a new headquarters being developed near Buffalo Bayou Park.
Oct. 29, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
Read the New Book by Ralph Bivins, Editor of Realty News Report
Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up
Available on Amazon
