$27M Financing Goes Towards Office Build

Situated on close to 11 acres at Beltway 8 and West Road, the building has a 2009 completion date, thanks to help from a construction loan put together by Wachovia Corp. and equity financing kicked in by GE Real Estate of Norwalk, CT. Michael Perot, senior vice president, development and marketing with developer White Rock Commercial LLC says PM Realty Group's Houston office is handling leasing. "We've had interest in the project, but no takers yet," Perot tells GlobeSt.com.

Wallace Reid, managing director with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Houston office says getting financing for the project was difficult. The problem wasn't the sponsor, but rather, the huge amount of development activity taking place in northwest and southwest Houston.

"We had to work hard to find a lender that would underwrite our loan, even with the amount of equity we brought in. A lot of banks have bets out there with other guys, so it was like finding a needle in a haystack," explains Reid, who worked with John Rose, managing director of HFF's Dallas office to secure the three-year, LIBOR-plus-200 loan from Charlotte, NC-based Wachovia. GE has a 30% stake in the project.

Though White Rock Commercial isn't tapping into any more financing at present for future Houston projects, the company is looking for more land. "It's too early to talk about plans for the future," Perot comments. "We don't have anything imminent, but are looking at several opportunities." He says the company's ultimate goal is to get enough office and industrial projects going to eventually open a satellite office.

As for the company's plans for West Pointe Center when it's completed, Perot says that's to be decided later on as well. "We'll take a look at what the market conditions are when the project is stabilized and make a decision then," Perot comments.