“People-First” Environment Brought to CapRidge

• Houston, TX - November 22,2019
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Austin-based CapRidge Partners revealed details about the upcoming renovation and rebranding of three recently acquired office buildings on the fringe of the exclusive Memorial Villages.

The portfolio, totaling 541,000 square feet, is about three miles west of the Galleria and just over four miles from Memorial City Mall. The 1616 S. Voss and 7500 San Felipe buildings will be rebranded as Memorial Tower I and Memorial Tower II, respectively, while nearby 6363 Woodway will be known as Woodway Tower.

“Now is the time for this portfolio to elevate its presence in the Memorial neighborhood, and we are thrilled to share the exciting changes,” Dan Terpening, director at CapRidge Partners, said in an announcement. “From extensive interior improvements to upgraded tenant amenity packages, the project will provide a connected, engaging and people-first environment for our tenants.”

CapRidge, which purchased the buildings from a partnership of Unilev Capital Corp. in March, tapped Stream Realty Partners to handle leasing and marketing of the project. Stream’s Craig McKenna and Matthew Asvestas have been tasked with finding tenants.

The location next to some of the Houston area’s most exclusive neighborhoods, such as Tanglewood and the Memorial Villages, is between two office submarkets, Asvestas said. It competes with the Memorial City submarket, which has an overall vacancy of 5.7 percent, and the Galleria submarket, where vacancy stands at 17.5 percent.

Construction is scheduled to begin in January and wrap up in the summer of 2020. The project team includes Abel Design Group as lead designer, Clark Condon as the landscape architect and O’Donnell/Snider Construction as the general contractor. The renovation budget was not disclosed.

Related: Galleria-area building owner leverages the lobby in renovation

The interiors will get new finishes and seating areas in the lobbies, enhanced amenities such as a different dining option each day from Fooda, and Avenue C market, updated restrooms and elevator cabs. An activity lawn for events is planned between the Memorial Tower buildings and shaded seating areas and outdoor meeting spaces are also envisioned.

The renovation is designed to create more areas for tenants to collaborate, whether for a makeshift meeting in the lobby or outdoors, Asvestas said.

The portfoliohas gained a few tenants since March according to Stream. The 1616 S. Voss building is 70 percent leased, 7500 San Felipe is 78 percent leased and 6363 Woodway is 88 percent leased.

CapRidge Partners, which invests in well-located office buildings that can be purchased below replacement cost in nine U.S. markets, has purchased 41 buildings since 2012. The company owns two other Houston office buildings: 12012 Wickchester and Briar Forest Crossing, at 1300 W. Sam Houston Parkway.

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