Texas is For Sale: The Third-Tallest Skyscraper

In Houston, A 71-story downtown skyscraper, formally known as Wells Fargo Plaza, is being marketed for sale, setting up what could be one of the largest office building transactions in Houston in recent years.

The 1.7 million-SF building, located at 1000 Louisiana Street, was developed by Century Development, which developed Greenway Plaza and a number of significant buildings in Houston.

In 2011, the owner of the building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., sold a 50% stake in the building to the New York State Common Retirement Fund.

Now, the building’s owners have hired veteran brokers Jeff Hollinden and Kevin McConn of JLL Capital Markets to sell the tower, which opened in 1983.

The 1000 Louisiana building stands 992 feet tall, making it the third-tallest tower (3) in the Lone Star State.

The tallest building in Texas is (1) Waterline, a 74-story tower, standing 1,025 feet tall. The building opened in downtown Austin earlier this year.

In second place is the (2) JP Morgan Chase Tower, a 75-story, 1,002-foot tower that opened in downtown Houston in 1982.

Construction on the Wells Fargo Plaza began in 1979 and it was opened in 1983. It was designed by architect Richard Keating, while he was a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The building is wrapped in blue-green reflective glass and at one time it was labeled as the tallest all-glass building in the Western Hemisphere.

When the tower opened it was named Allied Bank Plaza. In 1988, it was renamed the First Interstate Bank Plaza. After First Interstate Bancorp was purchased by Wells Fargo bank in 1996, the building was renamed Wells Fargo Plaza. Recently, the tower appears to be just called by its street address, 1000 Louisiana. It sits on a block bounded by Smith, Lamar, McKinney and Louisiana streets.

Today, the building is 70.6% occupied with tenants including Wells Fargo, NextDecade, PwC, Susman Godfrey law firm, and the Adair restaurant.

In July, the 64-story Williams Tower, adjacent to Houston’s Galleria mall, was sold in what was called the largest Houston office sale in years. Williams bought the building for more than $300 million, or $215 per SF, as stated by Real Estate Alert.

In 2019, the California State Teachers organization paid $596 per SF or $418 million for the Bank of America Tower in downtown Houston.