Gulf Cos. signs HQ lease at Energy Corridor office building undergoing multimillion-dollar renovation

 

Another Energy Corridor-based company is leaving one office building for another.

Global engineering company Gulf Cos. last month signed a headquarters lease with Broadshore Capital Partners for two floors totaling 52,148 square feet at Eldridge Oaks, a 14-story office tower at 1080 Eldridge Parkway. The company will be moving from Gulf Plaza, a six-story office building at 16010 Barkers Point Lane, about 2.5 miles away.

Brad Fricks and Matt Asvestas of Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord. Stream is handling leasing and property management and is involved in construction planning for the 350,000-square-foot building, which is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The other leases are:

Two of the new tenants, Ryder and Hanwha, have already moved in, Fricks said. VSMsq and CCL plan to move in later this year, followed by Gulf Cos. in May 2024.

Before that, the building had only one tenant for a while: England-based software company GeoTeric, which is leasing 1,580 square feet, Fricks said.

Los Angeles-based Broadshore purchased the 15-year-old building, which previously housed Houston-based KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR), in 2021 and partnered with Stream, San Francisco-based IA Interior Architects and Houston-based landscape architect OJB to create an improvement plan. After a year and a half of working on that, they are finally enjoying the fruits of their labor, Fricks said.

“We’ve been marketing the whole time, but until we had a design and a plan, we were marketing an idea, but we didn’t have any specifics to sell,” he said. “When we started getting a game plan, we started getting traction with tenants.”

Upgrades include a new fitness center, conference center, food services and tenant lounge as well as an outdoor fitness deck where yoga classes will be offered. The first- and second-floor lobbies are also undergoing renovations. Construction, done by Houston-based O’Donnell/Snider Construction, is slated to be completed this fall.

But the main amenity is right outside the building, Frick said. Tenants have direct access to Terry Hershey Park and its system of hike and bike trails along Buffalo Bayou.

“We’re going to have bike racks, and we’re going to encourage wellness and fitness at the building,” he said. “And really that concept, people have embraced it.”

Stream is talking to several more prospective tenants, and Fricks estimates the building will reach 80% occupancy – up from 27% with the most recent leases – by the end of next year.

By many accounts, the Energy Corridor is currently the top market in the country for office leasing activity, so many landlords are trying to gain an edge over their competitors, as the flight to quality may be more pronounced than ever in the post-pandemic era.

While the Energy Corridor has attracted major companies from other submarkets, there has also been a lot of shifting within the area, usually to buildings with better amenities.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) plans to move its headquarters to 62,584 square feet at Granite Properties’ One Eldridge at 777 N. Eldridge Parkway – half a mile north of Eldridge Oaks. The company cited amenities and the recently renovated building’s collaborative workspace as reasons to move from its offices of 33 years, at 15415 Katy Freeway.

Most of the space Diamond Offshore is vacating has since been leased to Hargrove Engineers & Constructors, which itself will be moving from less than a mile away on the other side of Interstate 45, at 16300 and 16290 Katy Freeway.

In April, Paris-based Technip Energies signed a six-floor lease at Fuller Realty’s West Memorial Place II at 15377 Memorial Drive for its U.S. headquarters. The company is downsizing from its current offices at Energy Tower II at 11720 Katy Freeway.

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