Texas’ First Mass-Timber Office Building 95% Leased

Texas’ first mass-timber office building, the Soto in San Antonio, is 95 percent leased, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. Local firm Hixon Properties developed the building at 711 Broadway, and it opened in 2020. The relocated headquarters of Pabst Brewing is among the tenants, and Hixon itself plans to move into the building.

Building speculative office space during a pandemic wasn’t easy.

“I will never do a 100 percent spec office building again. We will have an anchor tenant, because it’s not worth the stress of going about it with no one lined up,” Hunter Kingman of Hixon told the outlet.

Capital Metro bought Fifth + Tillery, an East Austin office building, from CIM Group for $87 million, the Austin American-Statesman reported. That’s almost $478 per square foot for the 187,000-square-foot three-story building, which is adjacent to the transportation authority’s leased headquarters. It will pay a broker fee of almost $654,000 to CBRE. CIM developed the building, which opened in May 2020.

Elsewhere in Austin, the empty William P. Hobby State Office Building downtown is ready for redevelopment. It’s actually three connected buildings at 333 Guadalupe Street. The Texas Land Commission and Texas General Land Office will soon begin accepting submissions from developers to turn the 1.75-acre property into “workforce housing,” the Austin Business Journal reported.

The 419,000-square-foot office building was constructed in 1984. The state offices it once housed are now located in the North Wing of the Texas Capitol, which was constructed in 1993. The Hobby building was said to require $50 million in repairs and renovations. It was originally developed by Watson-Casey Companies, and the State of Texas bought it in 1990, the outlet said.

The 13-story Galleria North II, owned by Dallas-based RREAF since 2015, is being marketed by CBRE, the Dallas Morning News reported. The asking price wasn’t listed, but the building at 13727 Noel Road is valued for tax purposes at $71 million, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.

Built in 1999 and 2018, the 300,000-square-foot building is 90 percent occupied, with tenants including Merit Energy, Robert Half International and Clifford Fischer & Company.

LimeRock Management renewed the lease of its headquarters in Houston, the Houston Business Journal reported. The private equity investment firm offices in 57,000 square feet at the Brookfield-owned Heritage Plaza, at 1111 Bagby Street.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story referred to RREAF as Chicago-based. It is based in Dallas.