HOUSTON—Originally developed in 2003, 717 Texas Ave. was the first high-rise office building in Texas to earn LEED Platinum certification. Goldman Sachs recently provided a $163.5 million loan for the 33-story 696,000-square-foot trophy office tower located in downtown.

JLL's capital markets experts secured the refinancing for the building on behalf of Hines and Prime Asset Management. Executive managing director Tom Melody and senior vice president John Ream led JLL's team on the financing.

“This is an exceptional asset located in Houston's Central Business District,” said Melody. “This was a great lending opportunity with institutional ownership committed to the long-term success of the property. After evaluating proposals from multiple lenders, Goldman Sachs was ultimately awarded the financing due to attractive pricing and overall deal structure.”

717 Texas was fully leased for more than a decade, however, a major tenant recently vacated leaving the building at approximately 50% leased.

“The drop in occupancy did not deter lenders from aggressively pursuing this refinancing opportunity,” said Ream. “This is a testament to the quality of this asset and the lenders' desire to place capital in Houston.”

The loan includes a facility allowing ownership to draw additional funds to lease the currently vacant space in the building.

“One of the most noteworthy aspects of this deal was the amount of interest it garnered from capital sources across the country,” Ream tells GlobeSt.com. “Despite some of the challenges in the Houston office market, investors and lenders are still interested in downtown Houston.”

Instant Insights /

Despite Loss of Tenant, Platinum Building Has Panache

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