The 18-story office tower has been sold twice since it was built in 2015. (Mike Platania photos)
A downtown office tower has changed hands in the highest-priced real estate deal the city has seen in more than a decade.
Gateway Plaza, the 18-story McGuireWoods-anchored building at 800 E. Canal St., sold last week for $150 million, city records show.
The buyer was an entity tied to Houston-based Woodbranch Investments Corp. The firm completed the deal on July 6.
The seller was New York-based Lexington Realty Trust, which paid $104 million for the tower shortly after its completion in 2015. Chicago’s Clayco was its developer and original owner.
City records show that Gateway Plaza was most recently assessed at $108 million. In addition to McGuireWoods, its tenants include TowneBank and Bill Goodwin’s Riverstone Group.
McGuireWoods and TowneBank are Gateway Plaza’s primary tenants.
Details of Woodbranch are scarce. It describes itself on its website as a “private real estate investment and development concern,” and doesn’t provide any further information about itself or its portfolio. Representatives for the company weren’t available for comment by press time. Calls and emails to Lexington Realty Trust seeking comment went unreturned.
The $150 million price tag is the biggest the city has seen in the last decade, and is upstaged only by a series of deals for Riverfront Plaza in the late ’90s and mid-2000s. City records show the twin towers sold for $232 million in 2005, then again in 2006 for $277 million. After the Great Recession and Riverfront Plaza lost some tenants, the buildings sold again in 2015 for $147 million.
The most recent $100 million-plus deal in the city prior to Gateway’s sale was CoStar’s purchase of the now-former WestRock building at 501 S. 5th St. in early 2021 for $130 million.
Another downtown office tower is also set to be sold as Genesis Properties is under contract to buy Dominion Energy’s 20-story office building at 707 E. Main St. Dominion is preparing to vacate the building and Genesis plans to convert it into 300 apartments.
The 18-story office tower has been sold twice since it was built in 2015. (Mike Platania photos)
A downtown office tower has changed hands in the highest-priced real estate deal the city has seen in more than a decade.
Gateway Plaza, the 18-story McGuireWoods-anchored building at 800 E. Canal St., sold last week for $150 million, city records show.
The buyer was an entity tied to Houston-based Woodbranch Investments Corp. The firm completed the deal on July 6.
The seller was New York-based Lexington Realty Trust, which paid $104 million for the tower shortly after its completion in 2015. Chicago’s Clayco was its developer and original owner.
City records show that Gateway Plaza was most recently assessed at $108 million. In addition to McGuireWoods, its tenants include TowneBank and Bill Goodwin’s Riverstone Group.
McGuireWoods and TowneBank are Gateway Plaza’s primary tenants.
Details of Woodbranch are scarce. It describes itself on its website as a “private real estate investment and development concern,” and doesn’t provide any further information about itself or its portfolio. Representatives for the company weren’t available for comment by press time. Calls and emails to Lexington Realty Trust seeking comment went unreturned.
The $150 million price tag is the biggest the city has seen in the last decade, and is upstaged only by a series of deals for Riverfront Plaza in the late ’90s and mid-2000s. City records show the twin towers sold for $232 million in 2005, then again in 2006 for $277 million. After the Great Recession and Riverfront Plaza lost some tenants, the buildings sold again in 2015 for $147 million.
The most recent $100 million-plus deal in the city prior to Gateway’s sale was CoStar’s purchase of the now-former WestRock building at 501 S. 5th St. in early 2021 for $130 million.
Another downtown office tower is also set to be sold as Genesis Properties is under contract to buy Dominion Energy’s 20-story office building at 707 E. Main St. Dominion is preparing to vacate the building and Genesis plans to convert it into 300 apartments.
Yet another example of an out of town investor recognizing value in the City of Richmond.
Let’s remember that Riverfront Towers sold for 277 million in 2006, just before the Great Recession. In 2015 it sold for 147 million. Value is in the eyes of the beholder. If there’s another major recession hopefully there won’t be a repeat of what happened to Riverfront Plaza!