Two-Building HQ Location Draws $25M

HOUSTON-Three former owners of Mustang Engineering have sold the 219,166-sf headquarters complex in West Houston to GE Business Asset Funding of Bellevue, WA. The sale comes three years after the trio sells the firm to a Scotland company, which got a 12-year tenant in the turnaround.

The buyer is holding deeds to a 136,954-sf building, built in 1983, at 16001 Park Ten Place and a 136,954-sf, 23-year-old structure at 16900 Park Row. Industry sources tell GlobeSt.com that the properties brought close to $25 million for the seller of record, Brech Services Inc. of Houston.

The engineering firm’s former owners formed Brech Services when the buildings were acquired in 1996 and 1997. Three years ago, they sold the firm to the John Wood Group of Aberdeen, Scotland, but held tight to the office buildings’ deeds.

The seller’s side was brokered by the CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s Houston team of H. Dan Miller, first vice president, and Maggie Ogilvie, associate, and Gary Ross and Trey Beasley, both with JPMorgan Realty Advisors in Houston. The buyer’s side was handled by GE’s in-house team of Mike Cullen and Pat Pearson.

Miller says the prospect of buying a building with a credit tenant like Mustang Engineering attracted more than a dozen offers. He says GE Business Asset Funding was the best choice because it had placed one of the highest offers plus it had the financial wherewithal to pay cash.

According to the lease terms, Mustang is responsible for the upkeep of the buildings so the new owners have a low-maintenance asset. Miller says Mustang Engineering and the John Wood Group lease 750,000 sf in Park Ten.