Met Life Collects $65M for 5 Post Oak Park

HOUSTON-Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. and GE Pension Trust have shelled out $65 million for the lone Houston office building in an offering that Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. took to market in November.

Under the terms of the joint venture, Crescent will have 30% interest in 5 Post Oak Park in the Galleria submarket while GE gets the lion’s share. The 28-story, 567,000-sf building is 82% occupied. Crescent, along with the ownership share, will be managing and leasing the property for a fee. Southwest Bank is the lead tenant with 150,000 sf.

“What makes 5 Post Oak particularly attractive is the opportunity to acquire an extraordinarily high quality asset at a significant discount to replacement costs,” Crescent’s president and COO Dennis Alberts said in a press release. The Harris County Appraisal District has levied a $60-million assessment on the 15-acre holding.

Keira B. Moody, Crescent’s vice president of investor relations, tells GlobeSt.com that there are no major capital improvements planned for the new buy, which is the joint venture’s fourth office acquisition. The duo also owns Three and Four Westlake in Houston and Bank One Tower in Austin.

The closing falls within days of New York City’s Met Life collecting $240 million from CB Richard Ellis Strategic Partners II LLC for the 15-story, 421,000-sf Metropolitan Executive Tower and five-level parking garage in East Rutherford, NJ; 21-story, 406,000-sf 101 Arch St. building in Boston; and 13-story, 448,000-sf Century Centre, with six-level parking garage, in Irvine, CA.