Clarion Buys 165 KSF Office Portfolio in San Antonio, Expands Presence

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Clarion Partners, of New York, has acquired University Park Tech Center III & IV, a 165,007-square-foot, Class A flex/office property in San Antonio, Texas, Clarion announced Thursday. The two buildings are part of the University Park development, a 3.2-million-square-foot master-planned business park covering more than 176 acres.

University Park Tech Center III & IV was developed in 2001–02 and is 100 percent leased by two tenants.

The park is about 12 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio, just south of the University of Texas at San Antonio, and is immediately off I-10 and close to both I-410 (the inner loop) and 1604 (the outer loop).

This acquisition is Clarion’s second in the park; the firm already owns University Park Tech Center I & II. Clarion bought buildings I and II in 2007, according to a spokesperson, who was unable to provide any financial information about the latest acquisition, nor identify the seller or the tenants.

“The property’s central location and strong tenancy, coupled with the park’s high historical occupancy, make it an ideal addition to the well-performing assets we already own next door,” Brian Watkins, a Clarion managing director, said in a release.

University Park Tech Centers I through VII were built by San Antonio’s Pruitt Realty between 2001 and 2007, Hank Pruitt, SIOR, CCIM, of Pruitt Realty told Commercial Property Executive.

The seven buildings total almost 600,000 square feet and occupy about 60 acres. University Park Tech Centers III & IV, the ones just bought by Clarion, were originally sold by Pruitt Realty to GE Capital, Pruitt said.

Fully leased office buildings appear to be uncommon in suburban San Antonio these days.

The average total vacancy in suburban Class A office space is 18.7 percent, and first-quarter absorption was about –153,000 square feet, on an inventory of 7.1 million square feet, according to figures from JLL’s San Antonio office. Fortunately, no new office space is reported to be under construction, either downtown or anywhere in the suburbs.