Granite Towers
Acquisition Date | March 2007
Disposition Date | December 2014
Year Built | 1999
Class | A
Size | 240,153 square feet
Building Height | 10 Stories
Location | 4055 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch, TX 75244
IRR | Approximately 10%
Actual Multiple | 1.8x
The Opportunity
In Granite Tower, CREA recognized a well-located Class A office building that held tremendous potential and could be acquired at a very attractive price. CREA’s relationship with the seller allowed the Company to purchase the property in an off-market transaction, and the property’s acquisition price was significantly below replacement cost.
Granite Tower was 90 percent occupied at acquisition in March 2007; however, several large leases were set to expire in two to three years – during the upcoming LBJ Freeway expansion project.
The Strategy
CREA began creatively restructuring the leases of targeted tenants, thus stabilizing the rent roll and creating significant value. The Company aggressively marketed the remaining vacant space, and completed a modest capital improvement program on the multi-tenant floors.
The Result
Before closing on the acquisition, CREA identified a major new tenant and signed it for a 75,000-square-foot, 12-year lease, thus restructuring the rent roll on three floors. This brought the Company to the halfway mark of its goal. Within 12 months of closing, the balance of the space was released/restructured completing the execution of the business plan. Unfortunately, during this time the capital markets collapsed, changing the business plan from a quick sale to a longer-term hold. CREA has since weathered the economic storm and sold the building producing a multiple of 1.8x equity.
