Landmark Galleria Skyscraper Sells for $300 Million, Market briefs

In Houston, The 64-story Williams Tower, the landmark skyscraper adjacent to Houston’s Galleria mall, has been sold in the largest Houston office sale in years.

Williams, the Oklahoma-based energy company that occupies a significant amount of space in the 1.4 million-SF building, has purchased the tower for more than $300 million, or $215 per sq ft, as stated by a price estimate reported by Real Estate Alert. The seller was Dallas-based Invesco Real Estate, which was represented by Eastdil Secured..

The deal is the biggest Houston skyscraper sale since 2019 when the California State Teachers organization paid $596 per SF or $418 million for the Bank of America Tower in downtown, as stated by Real Estate Alert.

Designed by Johnson and Burgee, the building was completed in 1983 by Hines, a Houston real estate firm founded by Mr. Gerald D. Hines. Clad in silver-gray reflective glass, the tower recalls the art deco style of the early 1900s.

The building, 2800 Post Oak Boulevard, is connected by skybridge to The Galleria, a Hines-developed mixed-used center that attracts shoppers from around the world. On its southern side, Williams Tower is adjacent to the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, featuring a 64-foot-tall structural fountain and green lawn that became a city park.

When completed, the Williams Tower was known as Transco Tower. For its first few years, it was topped by a rotating beacon and was an admired point of conversation for Houstonians. Some long-time Houstonians still call the building “Transco.”

For years, the tower was known as the nation’s tallest office building that was not located in a downtown. Transco Tower was renamed after Transco Energy was purchased by Williams Cos. In 1995.

The tower and adjoining Galleria were transformational, leading to the birth of the surrounding Uptown District, which now includes multiple high-rise office and residential buildings, hotels, restaurants, and retail centers. In the 1960s, when Mr. Hines selected the site, just west of Loop 610 along Westheimer Road, the area was underdeveloped compared to its density today.

Hines Interests, one of largest real estate development firms in the world, maintained its global headquarters in the Williams Tower for many years, until it moved to its Texas Tower building in downtown a few years ago.

In 2013, the Hines Real Estate Investment Trust sold the building to Invesco for $412 million.

Tulsa-based Williams, a major pipeline company with revenues of $12 billion in 2025, is acquiring the building as office valuations have declined.

Other tenants in Williams Tower include the CBRE real estate firm and Camden Property Trust, a major multifamily REIT co-founded by Houston civic leader Ric Campo.

The LyondellBasell company recently moved its U.S. headquarters from downtown’s Houston Center complex into 318,000 SF in Williams Tower.

Today, Williams Tower is about 85% leased.