Brown says US Steel has closed the real estate lending operations of USX Realty and will likely put the cash from this or any other disposition back into the company or other investments. US Steel recently has bought an Eastern European company in its current investment strategy.

Located at the back door of the Johnson Space Center, the building's anchor tenant is Houston-based Cyberonics. The firm designs, develops and sells proprietary medical implant devices for the treatment of epilepsy. The company currently occupies about 45% of the building, says Brown. In addition to Brown, Darrell Betts, also a senior vice president in Grubb & Ellis' investment group, assisted in negotiations.

Brown says that recent real estate and financial activity has led him to believe that Houston is back on the investment radar screen. The market for investment properties nationwide requires more input capital and higher cap rates due to the slowdown of the stock market, he says, but Houston's economy is strong and its real estate product is in balance.