Two Houston investment firms have snapped up a fully-leased office building just south of Chinatown, banking on the staying power of one of the state’s biggest employers.
Fuller Realty and ICP Funds acquired the 133,000-square-foot BlueCross BlueShield Building at 8101 West Sam Houston Parkway South from an affiliate of Denver-based Sagard Real Estate, JLL announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Harris Central Appraisal District valued the property at $14.7 million in January, the Houston Business Journal reported.
BlueCross BlueShield of Texas recently signed an 11-year lease for the entire two-story building, which will get a full interior renovation and expanded amenities under the insurer’s tenancy. Developed in 1999, the property has housed a string of major corporate occupiers.
JLL represented the seller, procured the buyers and arranged a five-year acquisition loan from a regional bank.
JLL’s Kevin McConn said in a statement that Houston ranked fourth nationally in office sales volume for the first half of this year, noting “a generous amount of investor interest with each asset that hits the market.”
The acquisition comes amid a surge of office leasing and trading activity on Houston’s west side and in the Energy Corridor, where limited supply of high-quality product has pushed rents up nearly 20 percent in the past year, according to JLL. Since 2022, more than 10 million square feet has been leased in the area, bolstering landlord confidence even as some legacy properties face distress.
Recent trades include U.S. Property Management’s purchase of a vacant Schlumberger building, at 4646 W. Sam Houston Parkway North in Wolff Companies’ Westway Park, and Wu Properties’ purchase of Woodlake Plaza, a 106,000-square-foot office building at 2600 S. Gessner Road.
The BlueCross BlueShield deal fits a different profile: a stabilized, single-tenant office with long-term income locked in. — Eric Weilbacher
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