HOUSTON-Willbros United State Holdings Inc. has chosen Five Post Oak Park for its world headquarters. The publicly-traded company, which provides construction and engineering services to the energy sector, signed a 10-year lease for 87,212 square feet at the class A office building.

The deal, which represents a renewal of existing space and a 44,178-square-foot expansion, consolidates four offices totaling roughly 100,000 square feet across the Houston metro area, according to David Guion of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.

Along with Tim Relyea and Joe Peddie of the same firm, Guion represented Willbros in its evaluation for headquarters space, as well as lease negotiations. Clint Bawcom and Brian McMackin of Capstar Commercial represented the landlord, Shorenstein Properties LLC.

“Willbros wanted more of true headquarters atmosphere,” Guion says. “The CEO also wanted everyone – about 250 people – together under one roof.”

Guion tells GlobeSt.com that he and his team worked with Willbros for 18 months before the company made its decision. The company’s three other offices – two situated in north Houston and one situated in west Houston – were not appropriate for Willbros’ world headquarters because they were located class B buildings.

Willbros considered both leasing and owning, focusing its search on the Galleria and Westchase submarkets. The short-list consisted of four options in the Galleria including Five Post Oak Park, which is located at 4400 Post Oak Pkwy. “The Galleria area works for Willbros because it is convenient for its employees,” Guion notes, adding that Willbros’ lease at the 28-story Five Post Oak Park was coming up for renewal this year.

Guion says a number of elements influenced Willbros’ decision to expand in Five Post Oak Park. Among those elements – the company’s long-term tenancy at the 567,319-square-foot property, as well as rate and concessions including free rent and TI dollars.

“Five Post Oak Park ended up the most cost effective, but all options were fairly close,” Guion notes, adding that Willbros plans to redo its entire space at Five Post Oak Park. The renovation is scheduled for completion no later than November.

The Willbros lease is the largest signed at Five Post Oak Park in the last 10 years, but comes on the heels of a period of intense leasing activity, according to Paul Grafft, senior vice president of asset management for Shorenstein Properties. “Although this is our largest deal to date, there have been 20 smaller leases completed at the building in the last 30 days and tenants have responded very positively to the work we have carried out to keep this building at the top if its class,” he says.

Shorenstein acquired the property in 2008 on behalf of Shorenstein Realty Investors Nine LP, one of its closed-end real estate investment funds. It has allocated $5 million to capital improvements at the property including a completed remodeling of the building’s lobby and public elevator lobbies and upgrades to life safety and HVAC systems.

Interesting Article:
Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including , Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, and industrial investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7297506

I spoke to a friend who is a leasing agent in the area and he was surprised to learn about light rail construction on Post Oak Blvd. in the Galleria area crossing Westheimer road.

It took three years for the construction of light rail to be completed in downtown Houston.

What kind of impact do you believe light rail construction will have on businesses in the Houston Galleria area and other areas impacted and how long will construction take to be completed ?

Brookfield Properties Completes 1.2-Million-Square-Foot Lease Renewal And Expansion With KBR At Cullen Center In Downtown Houston
By Business Wire 02/16/10 – 03:05 PM EST

BPO Brookfield Properties Corp. (BPO: NYSE, TSX) announced today that it has completed a lease renewal and expansion with KBR for a total of 1.2 million square feet of office space at KBR Tower and 500 Jefferson St. in downtown Houston.

Brookfield Properties Corporation| BPO UP“Successfully completing an office transaction of this size – involving a significant expansion – speaks to the increase in tenant activity we are beginning to see around our major markets,” said Dennis Friedrich, president & CEO of Brookfield Properties’ U.S. Commercial Operations.
KBR renewed its existing 700,000 square feet of space at KBR Tower as well as nearly 300,000 square feet at 500 Jefferson St. and is expanding its presence in both buildings by a combined 234,000 square feet.
“We are thrilled that KBR has chosen to renew and expand office space at two of our properties in the Cullen Center complex, including the tower that bears the company’s name,” said Paul Layne, regional head for Brookfield Properties’ Houston operations.
“Expanding our downtown Houston presence is not only a good business decision, but also brings the added benefit of contributing to our City’s continued downtown revitalization,” said Klaudia Brace, Senior Vice President, Administration for KBR.
Dan Bellow and Mike Boehler of Jones Lang LaSalle represented KBR in lease negotiations. Brookfield was represented in-house by Mr. Layne and Paul Frazier.
The Cullen Center complex consists of four office towers: the two mentioned above as well as Continental Centers I & II. These towers offer a unique combination of office space in one mixed-use complex. Amenities include a food court, the Crowne Plaza Cullen Center Hotel, full-service banking facilities, along with numerous other retail amenities and conference facilities. The complex is situated adjacent to the downtown YMCA and the Metropolitan Business and Sports Club. Abundant parking in four attached garages, convenient access to the freeway system, and numerous adjacent Metro stops add to the prominence of complex. Cullen Center is inter-connected by an overhead walkway and is accessible via the extensive downtown tunnel system.

Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com

CEO Jim Hackett said this morning in an earnings conference call that in the fourth quarter the company bought its headquarters building in The Woodlands for $215 million rather than renewing its lease again.

The independent oil and gas company actually bought the entire campus: A 30-story building, a midrise on Timberloch and a parking garage, according to spokesman John Christiansen.

Incidentally, the company recently earned the first LEED green building certification for its corporate headquarters from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The tower was developed for Anadarko, which became the largest single employer in The Woodlands when the building opened in 2002.

The company, which now has about 1,700 people there, moved from Greenspoint.

Sound familiar?

Exxon Mobil is considering a similar move.

I wrote this story last week about how the company is studying its real estate options, which could include moving to a 400-acre corporate campus just south of The Woodlands at Interstate 45 and the Hardy Toll Road.

Exxon, which announced its earnings yesterday, was less forthcoming on its conference call.

“There’s a study going on in terms of where our offices are. The study is a study across the board. Beyond that, I’m not going to comment. The study is going to continue well into the end of this year and maybe next,” said Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs, when he was asked to comment on speculation that the company may move its headquarters.

Thanks to the Chronicle’s energy reporter Brett Clanton for listening to the calls and passing along this info.

Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com

“Absorption in the best quality office properties was almost flat. Asking rents were mostly unchanged.”

Absorption was flat in the best quality Houston office space and asking rents were mostly unchaged. The rents have maintained most of the gain made prior to any downswing in the national economy. The real softness in the marketplace in my opinion exists more so with the Landlord’s who bought Houston office buildings within the past app. 4 years and that paid too much for those buildings at the time then they were worth. Based from a rental rate standpoint, I believe that Landlord’s of most office building classes purchased prior to 4 years ago have to be happy with the rents they are able to actually command for their office buildings. Tenants are having a difficult time realizing this and feel that they should get a better deal, and these dissapointments over not getting lower rents in a lease negotiation or a renewal are going to quickly turn into nightmares for these tenants when the Landlord’s start standing on their rates and holding their ground.

Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com

“Absorption in the best quality office properties was almost flat. Asking rents were mostly unchanged.”

Absorption was flat in the best quality Houston office buildings and asking rents were mostly unchaged. The rents have maintained most of the gain made prior to any downswing in the national economy. The real softness in the marketplace in my opinion exists more so with the Landlord’s who bought Houston office buildings within the past app. 4 years and that paid too much for those buildings at the time then they were worth. Based from a rental rate standpoint, I believe that Landlord’s of most office building classes purchased prior to 4 years ago have to be happy with the rents they are able to actually command for their office buildings. Tenants are having a difficult time realizing this and feel that they should get a better deal, and these dissapointments over not getting lower rents in a lease negotiation or a renewal are going to quickly turn into nightmares for these tenants when the Landlord’s start standing on their rates and holding their ground.

Houston Site Acquisitions specializes in Houston Commercial Real Estate including Houston Office Space, Houston Industrial Space, Houston Warehouse Space, Houston retail Space, and investment property. For commercial real estate assistance please contact us at 713-789-8700 or fill out the easy to fill out form located at the top right hand corner of this page. http://www.hsacq.com