HOUSTON-Acquisitions of office buildings, along with repositioning and lease-ups aren't all that uncommon. What makes the acquisition, repositioning and proposed lease-up of the 93,000-square-foot Thirty One Twenty interesting, however, is that its acquisition was overseen by one individual, and that same person is also handling the renovation. That individual, Craig McKenna, is an associate with Stream Realty Partners LP – and he also has an equity stake in the building.

In other words, "We agreed to buy the building, we went out and financed it, and Craig owns 10% of what Stream owns," says Mike McVean, co-founder and co-managing partner of Stream Realty. Also owning 10% is McKenna's colleague Adam Jackson, managing director of Stream's office division. "If we make $1 million in profit off this, they benefit too," McVean notes.

McKenna tells GlobeSt.com that, while employed with Frost Bank (prior to joining Stream in February 2012), he'd learned about the office building at 3120 Southwest Fwy., in the Greenway submarket. "I got to talking with the owner of the building, we entered into friendly conversations, and realized, when I moved to Stream, that we could use the platform and Stream's name to raise money, purchase the building and renovate it," McKenna says.

In this day and age in which larger real estate companies divide acquisitions, leasing and management into separate departments, Stream Realty is somewhat of a maverick, encouraging leasing professionals to source transactions, and salespeople to have a hand in property management and building renovation. McVean says the purpose of blurring the lines is to attract, retain and sustain talent. "Our belief is that, if we could provide optimal professional experience for that talent, they'd flourish and want to stay with Stream," he tells GlobeSt.com. "That could be 'I want to make a lot of money,' or it could be 'I want to learn, to advance my career, to be a leader.'" Or it could be a mix of all of that."

For McKenna, it involved a 1970s building smack in the middle of an active submarket. Over the next several months, the 81%-occupied building will undergo upgrades that include expansion and renovation of the lobby area, modernization of the elevator systems and new HVAC equipment and inclusion of more greenery and landscaping between the building's parking garage and its main entrance.  Completion is scheduled for fall, 2013.

McKenna believes the investment makes sense because of where the office building is located. "This is a great submarket with single-digit availability and great proximity to business hubs," he says, adding that class A and class B office product saw increases in rental rates and decreases in concession packages during the past year. "Barriers to entry for anything in the inner loop or major submarkets are so high, this is a rare opportunity for us to get involved and a good opportunity for us to deploy an acquisition/reposition strategy."

McKenna says he's certainly focused on improving and repositioning Thirty One Twenty -- but is on the lookout for additional opportunities. "The platform at Stream is that leasing and management is the company's lifeblood, but the great thing is we have the opportunity to apply things we're learning and seeing by being boots-on-the-ground transaction specialists," McKenna observes. "We're always looking for opportunities to buy or build buildings, to partner with clients to help them see that some of these opportunities have an operating partner with Stream's expertise."