FORT WORTH – Cousins Properties has agreed to sell 777 Main building in Fort Worth, a 40-story tower it acquired as part of its deal to buy Greenway Plaza in Houston last year.
777 Main is a 980,000 square foot, Class-A office tower located in downtown Fort Worth and is 75 percent leased with Jacobs Engineering, Frac Tech Services and Crescent Real Estate as major tenants.
In September 2013, Cousins purchased the Fort Worth building in a $1.1 billion acquisition which included the 4,348,000 square-foot Greenway Plaza, a 10-building office complex in Houston. The seller in the 2013 deal was an affiliate of Crescent Holdings, the Fort Worth realty firm led by John Goff. Of the $1.1 billion purchase price, approximately $950 million in value was ascribed to Greenway Plaza, the remainder to the Fort Worth building.
Earlier this month, Cousins, an Atlanta-based REIT, had its stock downgraded by security analysts concerned about Cousins’ exposure to Houston and falling oil prices. Houston is the dominant market in the portfolio of Atlanta-based Cousins (stock symbol: CUZ on the New York Stock Exchange.)
Citing falling oil prices and exposure to Houston, a security analyst from Bank of America downgraded Cousins to “Hold” from “Buy” and the Stifel investment firm also downgraded the CUZ shares.
The Fort Worth building, formerly known as Carter Burgess Plaza, was built in 1982 by Woodbine Development.
Crescent, a possible candidate to buy the Fort Worth building, has its headquarters in 777 Main. In a news release late Tuesday, Cousins declined to disclose the identity of the buyer, but said the sale would close before the end of the year.
Cousins primarily invests in Class-A office assets located in Sunbelt markets, with a focus on Texas, Georgia and North Carolina. Cousins is also partnering with Hines to develop a 23-story office tower in Victory Park in Dallas.