Enron’s former headquarters [..] was purchased by Brookfield Office Properties for $120 million in 2006. Brookfield is now close to a deal to sell the gleaming 50-story tower to Chevron Corp., its tenant, for as much as $380 million, according to people familiar with the deal. That would set a record for the city.
Known as Four Allen Center, the building formerly had Enron’s trademark crooked “E” sign near the entrance. It became a poster child for the market’s troubles when it remained virtually empty for several years in the wake of Enron’s bankruptcy.
As energy prices rose, Brookfield snapped up the tower and leased it to Chevron through 2019, signaling the market’s resurgence.
Chevron declined to comment on the building.
Blackstone Group LP holds a roughly 4% stake in the Houston tower. If it sells for $380 million, the initial annual yield for the buyer would be about 5%, based on estimated net operating income in offering documents related to a $240 million mortgage on the building.
I am appallingly sentimental about that structure and do not want ownership to change again. Alas.
Here are some photos of the beautiful building.
This post is unrelated to the Enron building sale, but I was unable to figure out how to post a general question. I’m a member of an internal audit department and my primary responsibilities relate to SOX compliance. I wanted to know if anyone has specific information on how internal controls at Enron failed to prevent or detect the accounting activities that caused the Enron collapse. I entered this industry long after SOX was approved by Congress and I’m trying to understand exactly how internal controls played a roll in the downfall. Please let me know if you have any documentation, articles, books, etc. I could review to get more detailed information.
Thanks,
Drew
I just posted a comment to this article, but forgot to select notify me of follow up comments via email. If you have any specific information about how controls failed, please send me an email of where to go.
Thanks,
Drew
Hi Drew,
I can get you a better answer over the next day or so but I’ll start by saying that SOX was a supremely ironic thing to happen out of the Enron collapse because one thing Skilling did when he became CEO was start to implement some things that would later be integrated into SOX. I’ll try to answer this property in the next 48 hours or so. I’m sort of swamped at the moment.
Thanks Cara!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Drew
Hi Cara,
I was wondering if you ever had a chance to find information on the SOX controls we discussed. Please let me know.
Thanks,
Drew