Local Firm Buys Vacant Houston Office in West Belt

A local firm picked up an empty office property in a Houston submarket struggling with high vacancy. 

U.S. Property Management bought the 225,000-square-foot office building at 4646 West Sam Houston Parkway North, according to a release from JLL, which represented the seller, Connecticut-based insurer RVI Group. 

The price wasn’t disclosed, but the property’s taxable value is $9.7 million this year, a curious drop from the year before when it was assessed at $35.6 million, appraisal district records show. 

The property has been vacant since November of last year, when offshore drilling company SLB left. It’s marketed as “an HQ-style building.”

The nine-story building constructed in 2001 is in Westway Park, a 150-acre business complex developed by Wolff Companies. It’s home to offices for General Electric Oil & Gas, Travelers and Schneider Electric. 

Westway Park is in Houston’s West Belt submarket. The location provides easy access to the Beltway, Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 290.  

Houston’s office market is struggling with high vacancy rates, due to a chunk of older inventory that’s largely become obsolete. At the end of the first quarter, vacancy at properties built in the last 15 years averaged 14.9 percent, compared to 27.5 percent in properties constructed before 2009, according to Partners Real Estate.

At the end of the second quarter, Partners reported West Belt had an office vacancy rate of 31.8 percent — higher than the overall market average of 26.2 percent. 

U.S. Property Management is based in Houston. In addition to 4646 West Sam Houston Parkway North, its portfolio includes the Lyric Tower, a 380,000-square-foot downtown Houston office building; the 130,000-square foot Houston Medical Center; a Hilton near the Medical Center; and a 23-key resort on Turneffe Island off the coast of Belize.