Houston Chronicle
March 7, 2010 – by Katherine Feser
Means Knaus Partners Picks Up New Houston Properties With JV
Houston-based Means Knaus Partners will more than double the size of its property management portfolio through a venture with Lexington Realty Trust, one of the nation’s largest owners of properties leased to big corporations.
Lexington MKP Management will perform property management and construction management services and oversee leasing and development for certain Lexington properties. The portfolio covers 12 million square feet in 48 cities in 19 states.
“It really goes across the spectrum of assets, from central business district to suburban,” said Doug Knaus, CEO of Means Knaus.
The properties cover 1.4 million square feet in Texas with 415,000 square feet in Houston. The Houston properties are: Transwestern-Newpark at 1311 Broadfield Blvd.; IKON Office Solutions at 810 and 820 Gears Road; and Lexington Northchase at 16676 Northchase. The deal also includes Edison Plaza, a 425,000-square-foot building in Beaumont.
Means Knaus developed 16676 Northchase about seven years ago for Kerr-McGee, which later merged with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The building is 100 percent occupied with Schlumberger, McMoRan and Exxon Mobil subleasing space from Anadarko.
The deal expands Means Knaus’ management portfolio to 20 million square feet and could open the door to developments for corporate tenants. But Means Knaus would not exclusively develop such projects.
“We’re there for Lexington as a resource to assist in any development opportunities with outside national developers,” Knaus said.
Lexington is a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in New York. It has interests in 45.9 million square feet in 259 properties throughout the U.S. Of those properties, 53 require management because they are not single-tenant net-leased, which means the tenants generally manage the properties themselves and pay the operating costs directly.
“We’ve known Means Knaus for a long time and have great respect for their skills both in the development and property management areas,” said Will Eglin, CEO of Lexington. “We wanted to partner with a firm that we felt could bring the highest level of service to our tenants and help us manage our portfolio most efficiently.”
Means Knaus has about 150 employees and offices in Houston, Chicago, Tampa, Los Angeles, Denver and Dallas. Its Houston portfolio includes One and Two Oak Park, 2000 West Loop South, Briar Forest Crossing, Westchase Corporate Center, Oak Park at Westchase, Jacobs Engineering, Medical Towers, 1200 Enclave Parkway and One Westchase. In a recent national deal, Means Knaus was selected to take over the operations and management of 707 Wilshire, a 62-story building in Los Angeles.
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