Five Mile, Crocker Partners Sell Houston Office Tower to MetLife

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

A joint venture consisting of Five Mile Capital Partners L.L.C. and Crocker Partners has sold 3040 Post Oak Blvd., one of three buildings that comprise the 1.2 million-square-foot The Lakes on Post Oak office complex in Houston’s Galleria/Uptown district.

With the assistance of commercial real estate and capital markets services provider HFF, which marketed the entire campus, the partners sold the 427,000-square-foot tower to MetLife Real Estate Investors.

More than a few investors, predominantly institutional advisors and private equity funds, took a keen interest in 3040 Post Oak, and for good reason. “It’s kind of interesting because it is part of a larger complex so three office buildings and a land piece were offered on a portfolio or individual basis, and on that  particular building we did have strong interest,” Trent Agnew, director with HFF, told Commercial Property Executive. “It’s 80 percent leased in one of the strongest submarkets in the city, so there’s near-term potential with vacancies, and in-place and long-term leases provide a backstop and security of income.”

The tallest of The Lakes’ three towers at 22 stories, 3040 Post Oak is also the newest, having been developed in 1982. The building is home to a roster of 25 businesses, including the likes of Bechtel Corp., which serves as the anchor tenant at The Lakes.

“Lakes on Post Oak has been a very successful project for Five Mile Capital and Crocker Partners due to its location, access and park-like setting within the Galleria submarket,” HFF managing director Jeff Hollinden noted in a prepared statement. The complex’s smallest building, the 350,000-square-foot 3050 Post Oak, sold a few months ago to its tenant, Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec, and rumor has it that a buyer has staked a claim to the remaining tower, 3000 Post Oak.