DALLAS—TIER REIT Inc. on Thursday joined the ranks of publicly traded office landlords, commencing trading on the New York Stock Exchange and ringing the opening bell. The newly public company also launched a modified Dutch auction to purchase up to $50 million of its common shares.

Scott Fordham, TIER's president and CEO, calls the NYSE listing “a major milestone for our company. As a publicly listed company, we are better positioned to execute on our growth strategy, and we look forward to utilizing this platform to deliver greater total return potential to our stockholders.”

The launch of public trading is the latest step in what a recent profile on NAREIT's REIT.com calls “a multi-year rebranding process.” Formerly known as Behringer Harvard REIT I, Dallas-based TIER moved to self-management in 2012 and adopted its new name a year later.

The company also pared down its roster of markets from what had been 32 in 2010. At present, it operates in 15 markets; Fordham told REIT.com earlier this month that it's concentrating on seven of those, where it sees the greatest growth potential: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Houston and Nashville.

Fordham told REIT.com that constrained supply and a dramatic drop in the vacancy rate within the geographic markets where TIER is focused mean that “this is really the fun part of the cycle” for the office sector. “We're now in a position where landlords can hold firm on concessions and really raise the rates,” he said.

In connection with Thursday's listing and tender offer, TIER engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as its lead capital markets advisor, Wells Fargo Securities LLC as a capital markets advisor and Green Street Advisors as a strategic advisor. Goodwin Procter LLP served as its legal counsel.