For just one Midtown office tower, a Houston investor's acquisition matched half of all the office investment sales volume in Atlanta during the first quarter.

As Bisnow first reported, Lionstone Investments purchased 271 17th St., the BB&T-anchored trophy office tower in Atlantic Station. Lionstone paid $182M for the 542K SF tower, or $335/SF at a 5.9% cap rate, according to CoStar.

Thanks to slower investment sales volume in 2017, Lionstone's buy is the biggest of the year thus far, according to a recent Colliers International report, which showed KBS REIT's February purchase of Crown Pointe for $83.4M as the largest in the first quarter.

Total sales volume in Q1 was just $317M, according to Colliers, down by more than half from the same period in 2016. Total sales volume in 2016 topped $4B, with high-profile trades such as 191 Peachtree Tower for $267.5M, One Atlantic Center for $315M and Bank of America Plaza for $220M.

"Activity is off due to the lack of offerings in the market,” Colliers officials stated in the report. "A few large buildings remain for sale, but overall volume is expected to be low in 2017."