SoCal REIT Puts Up $28M For Office Complex

SUGAR LAND, TX-Wanting to take advantage of demos and growth in Fort Bend County, KBS REIT Inc. has laid claim to the 170,436-sf Kensington Office Buildings. In an SEC filing, the buyer’s adviser reported paying $28 million for the class A complex.

Newport Beach, CA-based KBS bought the nine-acre property from ING Clarion Realty Services LLC of New York City. Situated at 1600 and 1650 Texas 6 South, the seven-year-old, two-building complex stands at 85% occupancy. Its largest tenant is Noble Drilling Services Inc. The complex has an aggregate base rent of nearly $3 million, according to the SEC filing.

“There are no real near-term major rolls,” says Robert Williamson, managing director with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP’s Houston office. “This has an evenly dispersed expiration schedule, which gave KBS additional comfort in the property.” He and HFF managing director Jeffrey Hollinden represented the seller.

Bill Rogalla, KBS’ senior vice president and acquisitions director for the Central US, tells GlobeSt.com that his company had been eyeing Fort Bend County for some time. He says KBS has about four million sf in the Houston metro, but Sugar Land represents a small component of that collection. “We’ve been watching the area for awhile,” he adds. “The opportunity presented itself and it was attractive. The location was appealing.” Local firm, PM Realty Group, will stay in place to lease the asset as it does the rest of KBS’ local portfolio.

In fact, KBS’ footprint in the Houston is what helped it to beat the other offers during the 30-day marketing period. “We felt like the buyer was getting both a good base of what drives Houston and what will drive this property,” Williamson says.