Despite the state of oil and financing across the city, last week NorthMarq Capital VP Warren Hitchcock (left, with managing director Kerry French) was able to arrange acquisition financing for Tower Park North, a 181k SF office building in Greenspoint. Bisnow spoke with Warren about the contrarian play in one of the city’s worst submarkets.
When Warren first started his search, things couldn’t have been worse. 40 lenders looked at (and passed on) financing the deal. In the end, Warren found an investor who shared his view of the area. Greenspoint is centrally located between Houston’s booming east side, IAH, Downtown and The Woodlands. The highly accessible area is a balance of proximity to upstream and downstream needs. With big leases at Class-A Hines buildings in the area, Warren says now is the time to get in at the bottom.
The large out-of-state institutional investor is providing 70% of the purchase as well as 70% of capex needed for improvements, such as expanded parking. The investor is affiliated with life insurance and therefore was willing to accept a longer term than typical bridge financing options. The four-year term was aggressively structured with extension options that Warren says were the key to securing the deal.
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