Griffin Partners buys into Loop Central complex
Houston-based Griffin Partners has acquired the Loop Central office complex in partnership with Wheelock Street Capital from Dallas-based TIER REIT.
Loop Central consists of three buildings totaling 575,000 square feet in the 4800 block of Loop Central Drive. The multiacre site, just south of Westpark inside Loop 610, is accessible to West University and Bellaire without getting on a highway.
Griffin Partners is developing plans to add amenities such as a new conference room, fitness facilities, food options and exterior spaces over the next nine months to a year, said Griffin Partners’ executive vice president and head of acquisitions, Andrew Montgomery.
“We hope to activate the parklike setting with those mature trees, the new amenities and seating areas for tenants,” Montgomery said.
Griffin Partners made the purchase with Wheelock Capital, based in Greenwich, Conn., and Boston. HFF, which brokered the sale, assisted with the debt side of the transaction, Montgomery said.
The deal comes shortly after Griffin Partners, in partnership with Investcorp, sold nearby Pin Oak Park, a five-building office complex in Bellaire, to Norvin Healthcare Properties. The properties total 505,000 square feet at Bellaire Boulevard and the West Loop.
While the two properties are of a similar size and location, the strategies are completely different, Montgomery said.
During the five-year hold period, Griffin Partners positioned the Pin Oak Park as a medical office property, converting it from about 35 percent medical space to about 65 percent when it sold. The campus has more than 100 tenants.
Loop Central is 87 percent leased to 20 to 25 tenants, Montgomery said. The average lease rollover is more than five years at Loop Central, with some major tenants coming up for renewal within 3½ years.
The buildings are close to Greenway Plaza and the Galleria. Montgomery said tenants have several routes to the Galleria, and west Houston neighborhoods are accessible by the Westpark Tollway.
TIER REIT previously announced deals to sell Loop Central, 500 E. Pratt in Baltimore and the Centreport Office Center in Fort Worth, for a combined $145 million. The Loop Central portion would be $72.3 million, based on reported sales prices of the other two.