GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: TCC Fund Bundles 'Buy to Suit' Deal for Republic Underwriters

DALLAS-A Trammell Crow fund, via a convoluted “buy to suit” transaction, has acquired two office buildings, totaling 343,000 sf, in separate submarkets for Republic Underwriters Insurance Co., which reportedly is restructuring along with the transition from building owner to tenant. The insurance company has cut a six-month leaseback for its Uptown headquarters and penned a long-term lease for an LBJ Freeway relocation site.

Richard Fletcher, the TCC senior vice president who masterminded the double acquisition and dual leases, wasn’t available for comment prior to publication time. The Republic Underwriters’ deal has been in the market for some time, but it took one deal falling out with another buyer before TCC came up with a plan for the insurance company to sell a 228,000-sf headquarters building at 2727 Turtle Creek Blvd. and lease a 115,000-sf structure at 5525 LBJ Freeway.

Sources tell GlobeSt.com that the Republic’s 5.5-acre Uptown property has brought $70 per sf to $90 per sf, with the land valued at far more than the class B office building, assessed at nearly $14.6 million. In fact, there’s speculation the building will be razed and the site, abutting the Mansion on Turtle Creek, built out with condos. “They might have a tenant, but I’ll put money on it that they will tear it down and redevelop it,” the source says.