Howard Hughes Corp. sells Energy Corridor campus to local developer

By Olivia Pulsinelli, Houston Business Journal

The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC) has sold a 63-acre campus in the Energy Corridor once home to the headquarters of ConocoPhillips to Houston-based Midway.

The sale was completed Dec. 22, 2021, the Howard Hughes Corp. said in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings Feb. 28. The property was valued at approximately $32 million, per a filing, but it sold for $25 million.

“Midway has purchased the approximately 70-acre property located at I-10 and Eldridge. In line with Midway’s track record of developing uniquely transformational real estate projects, plans are underway to create a sustainable environment, connecting and energizing the area through innovative design. Additional details will be announced at a later date.”

The Howard Hughes Corp. acquired the campus from Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. in December 2019 as part of a $565 million deal, which also included the former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. towers and a couple of smaller properties in The Woodlands. Occidental (NYSE: OXY) had purchased the 1.4 million-square-foot campus earlier in 2019 but never moved in. Just after Occidental closed its $55 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in August 2019, then-CFO Cedric Burgher said the campus was not big enough for the combined company and would be sold.

When the campus went up for sale in the fall of 2019, a website for the property said it represented “an ideal corporate headquarters campus as well as an opportunity for a large-scale, mixed-use development.” Midway is known for large mixed-use developments such as CityCentre, also in west Houston, and East River near downtown.

The Howard Hughes Corp. also announced in October 2019 it would move its headquarters from Dallas to The Woodlands, and it now occupies part of the former Anadarko towers.