Monday, April 14, 2008

Unilev invests further in San Felipe area By KATHERINE FESER

Unilev Capital Corp. has picked up a five-story building at 7700 San Felipe to add to its portfolio of office properties in the affluent San Felipe and Voss area.

"We own three other buildings in the same area," said Danny Levy, a principal with Unilev who has invested in Houston with his brother Raymond since 1991. "It's a very well-situated area with healthy residential behind it."

Located on the edge of Piney Point Village, the 100,716-square-foot building is 96 percent leased. The building has drawn longtime tenants who live in the surrounding Memorial Villages. The list includes doctors, dentists and orthodontists.

Ken Page and Scott Myers of Cushman & Wakefield represented the Seller, KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif. The sales price was not disclosed.

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Unilev also owns 1616 Voss, 7500 San Felipe and 6363 Woodway in the area. The firm owns several other office and retail properties in Houston and is looking to make other acquisitions here.

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Thursday, November 02, 2006

Wells Fargo Place office tower is sold

Wells Fargo Place, formerly known as the World Trade Center , has been sold.  Beyond that, not much more is being said.  The sale of the downtown building, St. Paul's tallest, closed October 26, said a spokeswoman for Eden Prairie’s Northstar Partners, which represented seller Zeller Realty.  The spokeswoman didn't divulge details, citing confidentiality agreements.

The talk in commercial real estate circles is that the buyers likely are Dan and Raymond Levy of Unilev Capital Corp. in Beverly Hills, Calif.  Calls to Unilev Capital were not returned Wednesday.

Zeller Realty of Chicago is expected to continue managing and leasing the space, which that company owned for about six years.  Tom Stella, a vice president of United Properties commercial real estate firm, suspects the tenant mix won't change.  Zeller lured the building's namesake tenant, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., away from nearby Fifth Street Center (formerly Northwest Center) five years ago.

"Every landlord in the country would want to have Wells Fargo as a tenant," said Bob Pounds, senior vice president at Welsh Cos., another real estate firm.

Despite a glut of vacant office space in downtown, a drive nationally by institutional investors such as pension funds and real estate investment trusts to buy office towers is pushing sale prices higher.

Among the recent deals in downtown St. Paul, Plymouth-based Hempel Properties agreed last month to purchase UBS Plaza , formerly known as the Jaffray Tower, for an undisclosed price.  The U.S. Bank Center sold earlier this year for $58.2 million.  Galtier Plaza's office portion changed hands on June 13, when an affiliate of California-based National Exchange Advisors acquired it for $15.9 million.  And Lawson Commons sold last year for $84.5 million.

"There's a lot of investment money all over and all over the world going into American urban high-rises," said Dick Zehring, president of MSP Commercial.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Unilev Sells 6161 Savoy and 6200 Savoy

The Grubb & Ellis Southwest Investment Team of Darrell L. Betts, CCIM and Scot C. Farber, CCIM is pleased to have represented Regency Savoy Group Ltd. in the successful disposition of The Savoy Portfolio.

The Portfolio consists of 6161 Savoy, a Twelve-story, Class B+ office building with approximately 223,000 RSF and 6200 Savoy, a Twelve-story, Class B+ office building with approximately 218,443 RSF. The property is located in the Southwest/Hillcroft Submarket of Houston, Texas.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

AT&T Signs Long-Term Lease for Greenway Space

HOUSTON-AT&T Corp. is relocating from within the Greenway submarket, signing a long-term lease for 18,840 sf. AT&T, acquired recently by SBC Communications, will take possession in the coming weeks.

The telecommunications giant will move into a class B office building at 3555 Timmons Lane and exit Greenwood Plaza. Built in 1984, the Timmons Lane building, owned and operated by Beverly Hills, CA-based Unilev Corp., is 96% occupied with the new deal. "The AT&T deal really helped pushed occupancy for us in that building," Steve Rocher, senior vice president in Houston for Trammell Crow Co. The building's quoted rate is $18 per sf.

"We have three small spaces remaining and we're working on some deals to fill those.The property could end up being 100% leased within the next 30 days."

Rocher and TCC's Kristen Rabel represent Unilev. Scott Wegmann and Justin Leighton with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. in Houston were the tenant's reps.

Monday, November 07, 2005

EMC Corp. Seals Five-Year Renewal

HOUSTON-EMC Corp., headquartered in Hopkinton, MA, has signed a deal for its second five-term lease for 19,478 sf at the class A One Riverway Building, in the Galleria submarket. The deal involves a minimal retooling of its office.

One Riverway's quoted rate is $21 per sf. According to Steve Rocher, senior vice president of Trammell Crow Co.'s Houston office, the transaction brings the 481,222-sf office building, developed during the late 1970s, to 92% occupancy. HOUSTON-One of the city's biggest building owners bests a dozen others to win the 481,222-sf, 25-story Galleria tower. UniLev wasn't the highest bidder for the property, but its reputation as a solid closer helped to seal the deal. Rocher says that they have several deals working there and should be close to 95% shortly.

Rocher says EMC had moved into its current space five years ago. The renewal, he says, was a "strong one" for both sides.

Rocher teamed with TCC colleague Dave Hanusa to represent the building owner, Unilev Capital Corporation of Beverly Hills, CA. EMC, which provides information storage and management services, was self-represented in the transaction. The Houston office is responsible, in part, for assisting with documentation services and storage.