Thomas Collects $24M Plus From Two-Year Hold

HOUSTON-Thomas Properties Group and CalSTRS have sold the 196,895-sf Intercontinental Center nearly two years after acquiring it in the $280.5-million portfolio buy from Equity Office Properties. The nine-story building has changed hands for $24.2 million or about $123 per sf.

Bresler & Reiner Inc., of Rockville, MD has bought the class A office building at 15600 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Thomas’ chief challenge was filling 120,000 sf and locking in an 81,765-sf renewal for Intec Engineering, which inked its eight-year deal in April 2006. Thomas’ value-added capital improvements and repositioning efforts, with help from Houston-based Colvill Office Properties, brought its aggregate investment in the building to nearly $17 million.

“Thomas Properties has made significant investments in Houston over the past few years and we continue to believe in the long-term strength and desirability of this dynamic market,” James A. Thomas, chairman and CEO of Thomas Properties Group, says in a press release about the sale. He added that Intercontinental Center is a good example of the company’s MO of buying, repositioning, stabilizing and exiting properties in core target markets. Thomas Properties could not be reached by press time.