Schlumberger, an international oilfield services company headquartered in New York City, used the site as a shipping and distribution point. The land takes up the hard corner of Ardmore and Alice streets near US Highway 288.

"They had a good piece of property on their hands so they decided to shut down the facilities, demolish them and put the property on the market," Mark Russell, vice president in Houston for Studley, tells GlobeSt.com. "They decided it was worth more as land and it was definitely worth the value."

Russell had the property listed at $11.5 million. He says it generated a good deal of interest from investment circles. He says the deal's winner, MediStar, paid just south of the asking price. Sam Sheff of Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Houston office represented MediStar.

The new owner develops hospitals, medical plazas and other medical-related facilities throughout Texas, but so far there's no word about what it plans to build on the land. Its developments include the 363,766-sf Twelve Oaks Medical Center near the Downtown and 52,000-sf second phase of the Foundation Surgery Center in San Antonio.

Russell predicts Schlumberger's remaining 12 acres will sell be sold within three to six months. "The medical center area is exploding," he points out. "There's a lot of demand for land in that area." The well-known local firm, though, is holding tight to its other locations in the city: a distribution center at 2248 Schlumberger Dr. and offices at 335 Tristar Dr.