Frost Bank Tower Lands $123M Refi

By Veronica Grecu

Frost Bank Tower in Austin

HFF arranged a $123.2 million refinancing loan for Frost Bank Tower, one of Austin’s trophy office buildings. The seven-year, floating-rate loan was secured through New York Life Insurance Co. on behalf of Lionstone Investments, a data-analytics driven real estate investment firm.

“Frost Bank Tower is the most iconic trophy office tower in Austin’s CBD, which is one of the most dynamic markets in the country,” said Doug Opalka, senior managing director with HFF, in prepared remarks. “When you look at the most desirable office addresses in the United States, Congress Avenue in Austin is always amongst a very elite peer set, and that is always led by Frost Tower.”

Occupying an entire city block at 401 Congress Ave. between Fourth and Fifth streets in Austin’s CBD, the 535,924-square-foot tower was designed by Duda/Paine Architects and completed in 2003. The building offers more than 535,000 square feet of Class A+ space, as well as 12,000 square feet of retail and an underground parking garage with 1,400 spaces.

Frost Bank Tower is currently 96 percent occupied by a mix of national, regional and local companies such as anchor tenants Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody and Frost National Bank, and retail tenants Soul Cycle, Taco Shack, Juiceland, Houndstooth Coffee and Modern Market.

The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower was led by Opalka, alongside Managing Director Colby Mueck.

TOBY Award winner

Frost Bank Tower in Austin, lobby

In spring 2017, Frost Bank Tower won the Outstanding Building of the Year Award for the Southwest region in the 1 million square feet category after the ownership went through a thorough evaluation of the building’s management, operational efficiency, tenant retention, emergency planning and community impact.

The office tower, which is LEED Gold-certified, offers a long list of on-site amenities such as dry cleaning services, a 5,500-square-foot fitness club, 2,800 square feet of conference space and a full-service bank branch.

California-based CalSTRS acquired the high-rise from Equity Office Properties in 2007 as part of a $1.1 billion Austin portfolio transaction that incorporated 3.3 million square feet of office and 40,700 square feet of retail space.

Images courtesy of Endeavor Real Estate Group