Harris County is set to purchase a downtown Houston office building for close to $29 million.
County commissioners gave the Harris County budget management’s office the go-ahead to complete the purchase of 1111 Fannin Street from Triten Real Estate Partners, during a June 8 meeting. The acquisition — which will conclude the county’s quest to centralize its operations — may not exceed $28.9 million, the commissioners said. The county will issue $29.6 million in bonds to finance the buy.
Triten purchased 1111 Fannin from Taconic Capital Advisors in December 2020. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the building was valued at $21 million, according to a third-party data firm cited in a Houston Chronicle report.
As of January, Harris County had appraised the value of the building at $44.6 million, according to tax records. Triten has a formal hearing scheduled with the Harris County Appraisal District on June 21 to discuss the building’s value.
Triten and the National Land Tenure Company did not return a request for comment on the transaction.
The 17-story, 429,000-square-foot building sits in Houston’s central business district, and is connected to the city’s underground tunnel network, near Discovery Green Park, the Four Seasons Hotel and the Green Street development.
JP Morgan Chase moved out of the property in January 2021 and returned to Houston’s tallest tower — a 75-story building owned by Hines and Cerberus Capital Management’s 600 Travis Street. That building was renamed as the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Tower.
In March 2021, the budget office proposed acquiring a building to centralize its operations. It also previously floated the idea of constructing a new building for $84 million or renovating eight buildings it currently owns for $142 million.
“We saw an opportunity that would save the county money and contribute to the economic development of downtown,’’ Harris County Budget Director David Berry told The Real Deal. “The purchase met both the county’s financial and policy goals and is evidence of Commissioners’ commitment to be a steward of every taxpayer dollar.”