The school's long-term lease of the Americana Building landed a prime 4.5-acre campus in the heart of the city and will help revitalize a long-vacant 15-story structure. "This is a huge coup," Dave Hanusa, Trammell Crow Co.'s vice president with the Houston office division, tells GlobeSt.com about the transaction. "This deal was competitively sought after and we were really pleased we were able to land it."
The school is planning an April occupancy of the 200,000-sf building at 811 Dallas St., which will undergo extensive renovations before the move-in of the Central College corporate training and continuing education department, the ACT center for online training and records management. Most of the relocating functions and programs will be uprooted from 3100 Main St. and bring hundreds of students to the Downtown.
Hanusa says the college selected the site because of its proximity to public transportation, which will make it easy for commuting students. Not only is a light-rail stop just one block away, but the high-rise is surrounded by several bus stops.
The Americana Building, adjacent to the Downtown's Foley's department store, has been largely vacant for more than a year. Its former owners had planned to convert it into luxury condominiums, but lost the property to American National Insurance Co. of Galveston after Houston's condo market went soft, according to Hanusa.
About 28,000 sf is leased to several tenants, including Geological Data Library. Another 140,000 sf is empty, but Hanusa says he expects to fill the open space by the end of 2006.
Citing confidentiality, Hanusa won't disclose what the college will pay for leasing rights to the property. He did, however, note similar properties in the area lease for $14 per sf to $16 per sf.
Hanusa represented the building owner, American National Insurance Co. Handling the deal for Houston Community College was Pat Pollan with Yancey-Hausman of Houston.
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