"The building is in good condition--it just needs some tenants," Logan Brown, a senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Houston office, says about 262 N. Sam Houston Parkway. Brown represented the seller, AMP Properties, an affiliate of a Hong Kong-based investment group, and Jerry Ashmore with the Greater Houston Group represented District and Urban Texas.

Brown tells GlobeSt.com that AMP Properties owned the building for 15 years, but refused to be flexible on rental rates and tenant improvements. "As the market went down, the building lost its tenants because the owners demanded a higher than market rent and lower than market TI," he says. The average rental rate is $12 per sf, full service. The building recently underwent some improvements to the elevators, HVAC system and common areas.

The building was on the market about six months, Brown says, adding it garnered a lot of interest from owner-users. "It was an attractive price--about one-third of replacement cost," he says. Overall, it received six offers and had two back-up contracts in place if District and Urban Texas failed to make the close.