Meet the Contrarian Investor Buying US Office Properties in Bet That Market Will Come Back Article originally posted on CoStar on November 7, 2023 New Company by Former Owner of the NBA’s Suns Has Made Major Purchases in Dallas and Houston So Far The former owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, Robert Sarver, is taking a contrarian view of the future of office space — despite its noted structural shifts in demand — with a newly launched firm to invest in office buildings in mixed-use environments being sold at a discount to historic values. 3Edgewood, Sarver’s Arizona-based private alternative real estate investment firm, bought the State Farm-anchored 2.2 million-square-foot office, retail and medical office campus called CityLine in a Dallas-area suburb for a reported $580 million last month. The deal could be the priciest U.S. suburban office deal to hit this year and will likely be 3Edgewood’s most expensive transaction for the year, Jordan Mellovitz, head of real estate investment for 3Edgewood, told CoStar News in an exclusive interview. “We are one of the crazy people buying office buildings,” Mellovitz told CoStar News. “We believe, long term, if we own the right assets — with newer vintage buildings in a vibrant, mixed-use environment where a lot of tenants want to be — in the right markets that the office world will come back.” Another Texas deal will be 3Edgewood’s largest transaction in terms of square footage this year, Mellovitz said. In September, 3Edgewood teamed up with Parkway in buying a nearly 3 million-square-foot portfolio spanning seven office buildings across two campuses in Houston. Parkway did not disclose the partnership with 3Edgewood when announcing the acquisition of the campuses called Post Oak Central and CityWestPlace. Parkway did not immediately respond to an interview request from CoStar News about the partnership.