9/19/2014 Boston's Taurus Investment acquires Centennial Towers - Austin Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/09/international-investor-takes-leap-into-austin.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-09-18&u=kB… 1/4

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9/19/2014 Boston's Taurus Investment acquires Centennial Towers - Austin Business Journal

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Jan BuchholzStaff Writer- Austin Business JournalEmail | Twitter | LinkedIn

An international private real estate investment company has purchased CentennialTowers in north central Austin and has ambitious plans to add to its localportfolio.

Taurus Investment Holdings LLC, based in Boston, purchased the six-story officeproperty at 505 E. Huntland Drive from Braun Enterprises of Houston for anundisclosed price. The Travis Central Appraisal District most recently valued theproperty at about $15.1 million.

The 156,000-square-foot property was built in 1986 and is 99 percent occupiedwith tenants that currently include Securitas Security Services Inc, KBR USA Inc.,Texas A&M University and Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Gallegos & Green, P.C.

“We like that submarket with its location near Austin Community College and the[redevelopment of the] Highland Mall. We feel it’s a premier facility,” said MatthewReibling, director of acquisitions for Texas and the Midwest.

Taurus has retained Austin-based ECR to handle leasing and management.Taurus will invest in capital improvements but hasn’t determined how much it willspend as yet.

Though Taurus has not purchased commercial properties locally until now, thecompany has had a presence here since 2005 when it acquired more than 2,000acres in East Austin near State Highway 130. Through the Dallas offices, it’s beenmoving forward with the development of Whisper Valley and Indian Hills — twomassive master-planned communities.

Reibling is not directly involved in those developments but said the projects aremoving along and more information will be forthcoming soon.

In the meantime, Reibling is touring various other office properties on the marketand hopes to add more commercial properties to the company’s portfolio.

“We’re in the middle of our second acquisition,” Reibling said, proving his point.

He moved to Austin this spring from Atlanta and settled in a new townhouse inEast Austin. He loves the city and is an avid skydiver. Some weekends he hangs

9/19/2014 Boston's Taurus Investment acquires Centennial Towers - Austin Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/09/international-investor-takes-leap-into-austin.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-09-18&u=kB… 3/4

out at iFly, the skydiving simulation facility in northwest Austin.

Reibling’s father Guenther Reibling and uncle Lorenz Reibling started the realestate invesment company in the 1970s in Munich, Germany. They later relocatedto Florida, where Matt was born and then moved the corporate headquarters toBoston. Peter Merrigan joined the company in 1997 and the three currently shareleadership of the firm, which owns properties in Europe, Asia, Latin America,Canada and the U.S.

“I really wanted to move here. We really believe in Austin,” Reibling said.

Jan Buchholz covers commercial and residential real estate,construction and architecture and retail and restaurants for the AustinBusiness Journal.

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9/19/2014 Boston's Taurus Investment acquires Centennial Towers - Austin Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/09/international-investor-takes-leap-into-austin.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-09-18&u=kB… 4/4

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