Fuller and Harbert Acquire 170,000-Square-Foot 1800 Bering

HOUSTON-Surety of close and experience in the San Felipe/Voss submarket won Bering Office Partners LLC ownership rights to the 170,000-square-foot 1800 Bering. The buyer, consisting of a joint venture between Fuller Realty Advisors and Harbert United States Real Estate Fund IV LP, beat out approximately half a dozen competing offers for the class B-plus office building.

Rudy Hubbard with Jones Lang LaSalle says Fuller has proven to be a successful operator in the submarket. That, combined with the buyer’s ability to close, was also a huge factor in the acquisition says Hubbard, who with JLL colleagues Paul House and Leah Gallagher represented the seller, San Francisco-based Coast Range Investments LLC.  Jones Lang LaSalle also secured financing for the buyer.

Though the building underwent a $1 million renovation in the mid-2000s, the new owners have a capital budget and plans for improvement in place. “One thing that stood out is elevator modernization in their budget,” Hubbard notes.

Hubbard tells Globst.com that Coastal Range Investments bought 1800 Bering in2003 and sold the asset because the company is closing out the particular fund that owned the building. There is one more building remaining in that fund, which will come to market either later next year or the first part of 2013, Hubbard says.

At 85% occupancy, 1800 Bering has some good upside potential. Current tenants include Time Warner Cable Inc., Flagstone Financial Services and Prudential Insurance Co. In addition to the upside of available space, “the rents in place are below market,” Hubbard comments.

The sales price was undisclosed. The Harris County Appraisal District assesses the 1980s building at $11.7 million.