HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTERS) has agreed to acquire Bank of America Tower from Skanska for $542 million or $695 per SF – a record per SF sales price for a Houston office building, reports Real Estate Alert.
Located at 800 Capitol Street, the 754,000-SF tower covers a block bordered by Travis, Milam and Rusk streets in the center of downtown.
Bank of America, the anchor tenant, leased 205,000 SF of office space and another 5,000 SF for a street-level bank lobby.
The 35-story building also has a 35,000-SF lower-level food hall and retail/amenity space called “Understory.”
The newest downtown office building, the Bank of America Tower, opened a few months ago.
According to Real Estate Alert, Skanska is expected to retain ownership of about 10 percent of the building. Eastdil Secured is handling the sale.
The building, which is about 90 percent leased, has the following tenants:
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Skanska (12,481 SF, floor 12)
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Bank of America (210,000 SF, floors 14-20)
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Winston and Strawn (62,515 SF, floors 23-24)
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Waste Management (284,000 SF, floors 25-33)
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Quantum Energy Partners (32,000 SF, floors 35-36)
The Bank of America Tower was built over a long period of time. In 2011, Skanska purchased the old 18-story Houston Club building, 811 Rusk. The Houston Club building was destroyed, giving Skanska a clean full-block canvas to create this new tower.
The foundation for the new building was poured by a massive fleet of concrete trucks on August 22 and 23 of 2015. But crude oil was in the midst of a steep drop at that time. West Texas Intermediate crude, which was over $100 a barrel in 2014 slid in a free fall that would not stop until it dipped below $27 a barrel in early 2016.
After pouring the tower’s foundation in 2015, Skanska appeared to slow-walk the project while waiting for CBRE to reel-in tenants. The ice-breaker was the signing of Bank of America. Vertical construction began in 2017.
After the building opened in the summer, Skanska moved to market the building.
The effort apparently will result in a record sales price. The record had been $528 per SF, a price that was achieved when Masaveu paid $172 million for the BBVA Compass building in 2015.
Nov. 19, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
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