HOUSTON -(Realty News Report) – Only weeks after changing ownership, a prominent downtown tower near the River Oaks District has landed a major tenant.
Weaver and Tidwell, L.L.P., a national accounting firm, has signed a lease for more than 60,000 square feet at the 28-story office building known as Five Post Oak Park.
The tower sits just east of Loop 610 on the northern edge of Houston’s Uptown/Galleria submarket.
The building was recently acquired by CP Group, a Boca Raton, Florida–based real estate investor and developer, through a joint venture with funds managed by Miami-based Rialto Capital Management. CP Group was formerly known as Crocker Partners.
The 567,000-square-foot tower occupies the north side of San Felipe and faces the St. Regis Hotel. The building’s former anchor tenant was Amegy Bank, which occupied roughly 175,000 square feet before relocating a few blocks away to a new building on Loop 610, built on the former Micro Center site.
Weaver and Tidwell had been located at Weslayan Tower in central Houston in approximately 43,000 square feet. The accounting firm plans to relocate to Five Post Oak Park by May 2022.
Deal Comes With Exterior Signage on Top
Under the terms of the lease, Weaver will receive exterior signage at the top of Five Post Oak Park. The firm’s new space will span three floors, linked by an interior staircase, and will include a variety of open and collaborative work areas designed for team interaction.
The office tower at 4400 Post Oak Parkway is a part of the 43-acre Post Oak Park business campus, located just north of the high-end River Oaks District shopping and dining destination.
Designed by Morris Aubrey Architects and completed in 1982, Five Post Oak Park was originally developed by The Winter Company.
In 2002, Crescent Real Estate, a Fort Worth firm led by John Goff, together with an affiliate of GE Pension Trust, purchased Five Post Oak Park for $65 million. Shorenstein Properties later acquired the building in 2008. The property sits roughly a quarter-mile from Loop 610.
Shorenstein marketed Five Post Oak Park in the fall of 2014, with industry whispers putting the asking price near $185 million. That same year, West Texas Intermediate crude oil peaked at about $107 per barrel and Houston’s economy was strong. But after an OPEC meeting that Thanksgiving led to a drop in oil prices, energy firms reduced staff, and Houston’s office market weakened—conditions that reduced demand for large suburban towers like Five Post Oak Park.
UBS Group’s wealth management division is a notable tenant with exterior building signage at Five Post Oak Park. Shorenstein had been the prior owner. Separately, UBS occupies 138,000 square feet in a 29-story Shorenstein-owned building in downtown Nashville called the UBS Tower.
Five Post Oak Park was developed by The Winter Company after acquiring the site from Tenneco Realty. The transaction involved industry figures including Chuck Jacobus, then an in-house representative for Tenneco Realty and later mayor of Bellaire, and Bill McDade and Sid Smith of the Horne Co., who represented The Winter Company.
Aug. 21, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
Image: Courtesy CP Group. Photo credit Mabry Campbell.
For more about Texas real estate: Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins (ebook and print available).
Leasing: David Baker, executive vice president at Transwestern, leads the property’s office leasing team.
File: New Owner Announces News at Five Post Oak.