Accesso Partners Loses Devalued Houston Office Portfolio

Florida-based Accesso Partners is losing a devalued Houston office portfolio.

Its three-building office complex in the Energy Corridor, spanning 570,000 square feet, was recently appraised for $26 million, under $46 per square foot and down 20 percent from its $32.5 million valuation last year, according to Morningstar Credit. A buyer has been found to purchase the loan, which was issued at $60.9 million ($107 per square foot) in 2012, when the portfolio was valued at $83 million.

The current loan balance is $46.6 million.

The buildings — Ashford 5, 6 and 7 at 14701 Saint Marys Lane, 1155 Dairy Ashford Road, 900 Threadneedle Street — were sent to special servicing after the owner failed to pay off the loan at its maturity date in August 2022. The special servicer, Midland Loan Services, hired JLL to market the property in the summer of 2023. The servicer has signed a sale agreement for the property, and a loan assumption is being finalized. The buyer hasn’t been identified.

The buildings have been about 59 percent occupied since October of last year, according to the listing, while Houston’s overall average vacancy rate hovered around 26 percent in the third quarter this year.

Accesso listed another of its Houston commercial buildings, 3900 Essex Lane, in July. It was also performing slightly worse than the city’s average vacancy rate, with 73 percent occupancy.

Houston’s office market was losing about $1.56 billion annually in potential rental income at the close of the first quarter due to vast stretches of empty office space: up to 50 million square feet are unoccupied.

Recently, another loan, $80 million for 3000 Post Oak Boulevard, owned by Five Miles Capital Partners, went to special servicing again in September after engineering and construction firm Bechtel’s lease ended in July.