Business Specialties Investments
Goddard Sells Houston Building, Puts Another on Market
May 16, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Southwest Correspondent

Goddard Investment Group L.L.C. has sold a 135,000-square-foot office building at 675 Bering Dr. in Houston to Griffin Partners for an undisclosed amount.

In addition, Goddard is also putting the 218,000-square-foot, 21-story 801 Travis St. tower (pictured) in Houston’s Central Business District on the market.

A spokesperson for Goddard declined to comment on the sale and the listing of 801 Travis, but indicated that Goddard planned to remain in the Houston market with its ownership of the 1.3 million-square-foot Heritage Plaza, which the firm acquired in 2005 for about $130 million from ING Clarion.

Griffin Partners, the new owner of 675 Bering Dr., also owns or manages the following Houston properties: 520 Post Oak, 1177 West Loop South, 1301 Fannin and Westchase Place.

“Despite a softening national economy ... investors remain keenly interested in Houston’s commercial real estate as a result of sound local economic fundamentals such as increased occupancies and solid rent growth,” stated a Grubb & Ellis Co. Houston market research report for the first quarter. According to Real Capital Analytics, private, public and institutional investors spent nearly $600 million so far in 2008 to acquire office properties in the Greater Houston Area. Currently, newly offered office properties are trading for approximately $192 per square foot, well below the national average of $279 per square foot which is one reason investors are attracted to the area.

 
Recent Investments Headlines
Sterling JV Pays $38M for Tampa Apartments Despite Soft Market
July 23, 2008
Sterling American Property Inc., in a JV with The Collier Cos., has purchased the St. Croix Apartments, a 540-unit, gated, resort-style apartment community in Tampa, for just north of $38 million.
merrill Exclusive: Harrison Street Closes on $430M Equity Fund
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Chicago-based Harrison Street Real Capital has closed on a new private equity fund after raising about $430 million. Harrison Street Real Estate Partners II L.P., as the fund is known, began raising capital in March. There are more than 40 investors in the fund, including both domestic and European pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations. One particularly large participant, the Arizona Public Safety Pension Retirement System, has committed $80 million to the fund, including an additional $45 million for co-investments.
Westcore Sells Vienna Office for $39M
July 23, 2008
Westcore Properties has announced the sale of a Class A Austrian office building.
NYC Office Snapped Up for $146M
July 22, 2008
The 274,000-square-foot office building at 180 Madison Ave. in Manhattan has officially come under new ownership, courtesy of a transaction between two New York City-based real estate companies.
Prospect Proceeds in Buying IndyMac Mortgage Branches
July 22, 2008
Prospect Mortgage has decided to proceed with its acquisition of most of IndyMac's retail mortgage branches in a deal scheduled to close early next month.
 

 

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