CPS Energy has sold one of its downtown properties with River Walk access to a California commercial real estate firm.
On Friday, CPS Energy announced the sale of its Navarro Building and garage at 146 Navarro St., located across the street from its former headquarters at 145 Navarro. Built as a seven-story parking garage for HemisFair ’68, CPS Energy has been the building’s sole occupant since the event, adding three stories of office space above the garage in 1987.
The combined building and garage sold for $22.3 million to Los Angeles-based BH Properties, according to CPS Energy. The utility didn’t immediately respond Friday to emailed questions about other bidders and the criteria it used to select a buyer.
The Navarro Building is one of seven properties CPS Energy has designated as surplus as it consolidates some of its operations into a new headquarters tower at 500 McCullough Ave. The utility is using sales from those properties and available cash on hand to fund that $212 million project.
BH Properties said it plans to upgrade the building’s interior but retain it as office space for one or multiple tenants. Plans include “refurbishing of balconies, redesign of public spaces including lobbies and restrooms,” and “new lighting throughout.” For the garage, the company is planning new access controls and electric vehicle charging stations.
The Navarro Building isn’t BH Properties’ first foray into the San Antonio market. The firm also purchased a ground lease at Highpoint Towers, a 300,000-square-foot building at 8401 Datapoint Dr. near the South Texas Medical Center.
Scott Henry, a managing director who heads the company’s Dallas office, described the Navarro Building as a “one-of-a-kind asset that has never been offered to the leasing market before.”
“Our improvements combined with the incredible office views, the abundance of parking, and its River Walk location, will make the Navarro building competitive with newer product in the downtown area,” Henry said in a prepared statement.
CPS Energy has not yet announced a buyer for its old headquarters building at 145 Navarro St. or its other five remaining surplus sites. These are:
- Tower Garage connected to the Main Office (211 Villita St.). CPS Energy and the Tower Life building’s owners each own half of the garage.
- A parking lot on Navarro and Villita streets surrounding the Mexican Consulate (lot adjacent to the Mexican Consulate)
- Villita Assembly Building (401 Villita St.)
- Northside Customer Service Center (7000 San Pedro Ave.)
- Former Jones Avenue Service Center (326 W. Jones Ave.)
CPS Energy is a financial supporter of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members, click here.
