Last year was a tough one for the U.S. office market. That doesn’t mean, though, that the sector didn’t see its share of big deals.
And some of those deals? They took place in the Midwest.
CommercialEdge recently ranked the 50 largest office transactions of 2023. And when CommercialEdge says “largest,” it means most expensive, ranking its top-50 office deals by sales price, not square footage.
So which office sale topped the list last year? Italian fashion house Prada purchased two Wharton Properties buildings on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan for $822 million in December of last year. The properties at 720 and 740 Fifth Avenue total 178,302 square feet.
Coming in second place was Alaska Permanent Fund’s purchase of The Gauge and Centerpoint office properties at 41 Seyon St. and 43 Foundry Ave. in Boston for $578 million. The two buildings total 578,130 square feet.
Overall, CommercialEdge’s top-50 office sales totaled $8.7 billion in 2023. This is a big number, but it’s also indicative of the struggles of the office sector. That $8.7 billion total represents a drop of 67% when compared to 2022’s figure.
What about the Midwest? What were its biggest office sales in 2023?
- A sale in Minneapols-St. Paul topped all Midwest office transactions last year. That was the $225 million purchase of RBC Gateway by Spear Street Capital from sellerr United Properties. This ranked as the 9th most expensive office sale of 2023.
- A Detroit office sale came in 20th in CommercialEdge’s rankings. That was the $150 million sale of Huntington Tower by The Herrick Company from seller Richards & Robbins.
- Texas’ first big sale came next, the $142 million purchase of the VA Outpatient Clinic in Austin by Boyd Watterson Asset Management. That sale ranked as the 21st most expensive office transaction of last year, according to CommercialEdge.
- Coming in 35th place, was the $103 million NuStar Energy Corporate Heaquarters purchase in San Antonio by Truist Bank.
- The 36th spot on CommercialEdge’s rankings also came in Austin, the $102.2 million purchase of the Offices at Braker Center by MIG Real Estate.
- A Houston transaction — the $100.7 million purchase of Noble Energy Center II by Acquest Development — ranked 39th on Commercial Edge’s list.
- Chicago finally made the list at spot 45, with the 96.5 million purchase of 300 South Wacker Drive by Agave Holdings.
- Not too far behind, was the $95.3 million purchase by Woods Capital of Saint Paul Place in Dallas, which CommercialEdge ranked as the 47th most expensive office sale of 2023.
