Memorial Park Place Office Property in Houston Refinanced

JLL’s capital markets team has arranged refinancing for Memorial Park Place, an 80,349-square-foot office property in Houston. Working on behalf of Gupta Partners, JLL placed the 10-year, fixed-rate loan with TIAA Commercial Finance, a division of TIAA Bank. “As a national provider to commercial space, Gupta Partners believes in Houston’s submarket specific long-term growth potential,” said Jonathan Gupta of Gupta Partners. “The buildings proximity to downtown and one of the largest national urban parks are driving factors in our investment strategy. Therefore, we are investing significant capital in the overall appearance of Memorial Park Place, including the lobby, common areas, entranceway and facade.” The five-story property is positioned at 550 Westcott Street on the cusp of the Rice Military and Crestwood/Glen Cove areas in Houston’s northern Inner Loop. This location is just south of Interstate 10 providing regional connectivity through Greater Houston and just east of Memorial Park, which affords tenants access to walking trails, golf and additional outdoor recreation options. The property was built in 1984 and is currently undergoing a rebranding and renovation that includes upgrades to the common areas, lobby, façade and exterior areas. Three fully modernized elevators, new chillers and BAS systems were installed in 2017. The property is currently 91 percent leased to 33 tenants. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by senior director Michael Johnson and managing director Kevin McConn. “Despite some challenging market conditions, lenders were excited at the opportunity to write a loan for Memorial Park Place given the assets ideal proximity to high-end neighborhoods and Memorial Park, boutique profile and diverse rent roll with the average tenant size being less than 2,250 square feet, which mitigates rollover risk from any single tenant,” Johnson said. “TIAA Commercial Finance gave our client a great execution and demonstrated that lenders are still willing to lean into Houston office if the key fundamentals underpinning the deal are right.”