Regions Southwest
Prime Takes Last of Former Crescent Office Holdings
Aug 12, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Southwest Correspondent

Morgan Stanley Real Estate has completed the sell-off of the former Crescent Real Estate Equities Co.’s Dallas office portfolio with the sale of Stanford Corporate Centre to Prime Income Asset Management.

Stanford Corporate Centre (pictured)--consisting of a 13-story, 275,000-square-foot office building and the adjoining 63,000-square-foot Telos Fitness Center--is located in the Far North Dallas office corridor, and is the last piece of Crescent’s Dallas Class A office portfolio. On July 31, 2007, Crescent sold about a dozen properties for $382 million. “Stanford Corporate Centre and the North Dallas Athletic Club (now the Telos Fitness Center) were not included in the final transaction and are expected to be re-marketed for sale at a later time,” according to a Crescent-issued statement on July 31, 2007.

The sale of the properties was consistent with Crescent’s efforts to sell off properties as part of its merger with Morgan Stanley Real Estate, which closed on Aug. 3, 2007. Dallas-based NexBank syndicated a $26 million loan to fund the acquisition. Prime, a Dallas-based advisory and management company to real estate and energy sector companies, finalized the acquisition in July. The purchase also gives Prime control of 20-acres of real estate on which it plans to build office towers, hotels and condominiums.

Among Stanford Corporate Centre's largest tenants is AMFM Operating Inc. (Clear Channel) and EnCana Oil & Gas Inc., which encompass more than half of the property's rentable square feet. CRC Insurance Services Inc. and Premier Business Centers are among the tenant mix. Overall, the property is currently 98 percent leased. Prime affiliate Regis Property Management L.L.C. will manage the day to day operation of the building.

Also known as the Clear Channel building, Stanford Corporate Centre is located across from the Galleria shopping center and a Westin hotel. Its neighbor to the north is the 15-story, 412,000-square-foot Centura Tower, which Prime also owns.

Prime Income Asset Management is a Dallas-based real estate company and energy sector advisor, which owns, develops and manages more than $2.5 billion of commercial real estate for public and private real estate entities and advises energy companies with both domestic and international gas, oil and electricity operations. Affiliated companies also under management or advisement by Prime include American Realty Investors Inc., Realty Advisors Korea, Transcontinental Realty Investors Inc. and New Concept Energy.

 
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