BBVA Compass Plaza has new owner
Foreign investors have taken notice of city’s top locations
BBVA Compass Plaza, the first office building to rise on the Uptown skyline in 30 years, has changed hands in a deal that signals the strength of Houston for international investments.
Masaveu Post Oak Houston Delaware, a private investor based in Spain, has purchased the 22-story building at 2200 Post Oak Blvd.
The sale price was not disclosed, according to commercial real estate firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, which marketed the property for the seller.
Completed in 2013, BBVA Compass Plaza was sold by a venture partnership of Stream Realty Partners, TRC Capital Partners (formerly the Redstone Cos.) and an institutional client of L&B Realty Advisors.
“The sale of BBVA Compass Plaza reflects the continued interest of foreign capital in Class A product in superb locations in Houston such as the Uptown/ Galleria submarket,” Steve Lerner, CEO of TRC Capital Partners, said in an announcement.
The 326,200-square-foot building is 83 percent leased, with BBVA Compass Bank occupying 58 percent of the space. The building has seven levels of parking with 1,144 spaces, a retail bank, a fitness center and two upscale restaurants, Caracol and Oka Sushi.
Located on Post Oak Boulevard north of the Galleria, the building is in a high-growth urban area where cranes dot the skyline and amenities such as 40 restaurants are within walking distance. But, with oil trading below $50 a barrel, it is unlikely additional office buildings will break ground anytime soon.
“With its groundbreaking, BBVA Compass Plaza ignited a development renaissance in Houston’s most coveted submarket that is ongoing and encompasses more than 6,050 luxury multi-housing units, more than 2 million square feet of office space, in excess of 697,000 square feet of high-street retail and two new luxury hotels,” Dan Miller, senior managing director of HFF said in an announcement. “The transformative impact that this property has had on the Galleria skyline cannot be overstated, placing it at the forefront of the ‘urbanization’ movement in the Houston marketplace.”
In the past two years, foreign investors have spent nearly $2.5 billion on all types of commercial real estate in the Houston market, placing it just ahead of Miami and behind Atlanta, according to Real Capital Analytics, a real estate information firm. Foreign investments represented 9.2 percent of all commercial real estate investments here during the period.
The top cities for foreign investment in the past two years are Manhattan, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
The biggest deal occurred earlier this year when German realty fund Union Investment purchased 1000 Main, a 36-story downtown building from Invesco Real Estate. With a price tag of $440 million, the sale is one of the biggest ever in Houston.
Post Oak Boulevard has been a popular street for foreign investors.
This summer, Strategic Capital, the U.S. investment arm of China-based real estate conglomerate CSCEC, made its first Texas purchase with the acquisition of Broadstone Post Oak apartments at 3100 Post Oak Blvd.
Last year, Sinopec USA of China purchased 3050 Post Oak Blvd., a 17-story office building in the Lakes on Post Oak complex. And FG Asset Management of South Korea bought 3000 Post Oak Blvd, a 19-story building in the same complex.
The investment sales team of Scott Galloway, Dan Miller, Matt Kafka, Colby Mueck and Trent Agnew from HFF handled the sale of 2200 Post Oak Blvd.