realestate

Houston Office Loan Defaults After High-Profile Tenant Departure

$80M loan for 3000 Post Oak office building in Houston is transferred to special servicing due to major tenant loss.

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Houston office building at 3000 Post Oak Boulevard is facing financial distress after the departure of its anchor tenant, Bechtel. The engineering and construction firm occupied nearly all of the 440,000-square-foot space before relocating to a new campus in July. This move triggered the transfer of an $80 million loan backed by the property to special servicing.

    The loan was originally issued by JP Morgan Chase in 2020 and is set to mature next March. The building also carries $20 million in mezzanine debt. The owner, an LLC tied to Five Miles Capital Partners, purchased the property in 2014 with a $98 million mortgage from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

    The Houston office market has struggled to recover from the pandemic, leading to rising vacancy rates and distress for older buildings like 3000 Post Oak Boulevard. Despite this, new Class A products have driven up office rents, with average rent increasing by $0.55 per square foot in the last year. The building's value was assessed at $72.6 million in 2024, down from its original purchase price of nearly $223 per square foot.

Houston office building loan defaults after prominent tenant's unexpected departure.