$50M for First Union Tower

BALTIMORE-The looming 25-story First Union Tower has gotten a new owner in a recent $50.2-million transaction between buyer Harbor Group International, and seller Crow Holdings and its partners. Offering 380,000 sf of class A space, the trophy property carries a 2003 assessed value of $34.7 million. HGI has no immediate plans to make changes at the property and will keep on Trammell Crow Co., which also has its Baltimore office in the building, to handle leasing and management activities.

Located at 7 St. Paul St. in the nucleus of Baltimore’s central business district, the 18-year-old First Union Tower is currently leased to 92% capacity, with First Union Bank carrying a long-term lease on half of the building’s space. The structure’s high occupancy level is in line with the 10.4% vacancy rate among the city’s CBD office market, but belies the 13.7% office vacancy rate in the Baltimore’s general office market. Other tenants in the First Union Tower include Salomon Smith Barney and law firms Whiteford Taylor & Preston and McGuire Woods Battle & Boothe.