The 34-story office tower, located at 3200 Southwest Freeway, had been built in 1984 and currently is 95% occupied. Harwood Taylor/HKS had designed the building, which boasts tenants such as Washington Mutual, Philips and Akers PC, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Sprint Communications. The buyer intends to keep Hines as its leasing agent and property manager.

CB Richard Ellis had acquired Phoenix Tower in 1996 on behalf of the seller, an undisclosed pension fund advisor. Mike Everly, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Investors LLC, tells GlobeSt.com that the fund had put the building up for sale after achieving its investment objectives. The premier building is the only Houston asset in the fund's portfolio, says Everly, who declined to give out specifics about other holdings.

UniLev is a private investment firm, owned by Danny and Raymond Levy, which has been buying Houston properties since the early 1990s. The company also owns Briargrove Shopping Center, North Chase Center, Mayde Center and One Sugar Creek Center. Mark McAllister and a CB Richard Ellis team of Texas brokers handled the sale on behalf of UniLev. CB Richard Ellis Investors is the investment management arm of CB Richard Ellis.