HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Hines, in partnership with Cerberus Capital, has agreed to acquire the 600 Travis building, a 75-story office property known as the tallest tower in Texas. That’s according to Real Estate Alert, which reported the sales price is around $627 million or $300 per SF.
The seller is Prime Asset Management, which is controlled by family of Rafic Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon who was assassinated in 2005.
Cerberus, a New York investment firm, is taking a 90 percent stake in the building and Hines will hold a 10 percent share, according to Real Estate Alert.
The deal also includes the adjacent 601 Travis building, a 20-story building with 415,000 SF of office space and 12 levels of parking. Combined, the two buildings have about 2.07 million SF of rentable office space.
The main tower, developed by Hines, is a 1.7-million-SF office tower that opened in 1982.
I.M. Pei & Partners designed the building, previously known as the JP Morgan Chase Tower and earlier as the Texas Commerce Tower. The tower is located on a block bounded by Texas, Capitol, Milam and Travis streets.
With a height of 1,002 feet, when the 75-story tower building it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. But a few years later it was surpassed by a tower in California. Chase moved its offices out of the building years ago. The Chase bank in the first floor lobby closed last year the building’s name was changed.
The 600 Travis building, located near the Theater District, features a large outdoor plaza. The focal point of the plaza is a monumental sculpture by Joan Miró entitled “Personage and Birds.” The sculpture is the largest Miró sculpture ever commissioned.
For a number of years, Hines has been managing the tower and Colvill Office Properties has handled leasing.
The building is located in the midst of a number of major Hines properties along Texas Avenue.
Hines is constructing a 47-story tower across the street on the block that was formerly the offices of the Houston Chronicle, 801 Texas Avenue. Hines is building a 46-story residential tower on a half-block where the old Chronicle garage is located – Block 42, bounded by Milam, Preston and Prairie streets.
Also, Hines completed the 1.1 million SF 609 Main at Texas office building a couple of years ago, and other near office and residential towers prior to that including 717 Texas.
June 20, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
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