TENSCO, the acronym for the the authority's transmission and energy services company,will ink a deal for a five-year, $5.65-million lease at a start-up cost of a little more than $2 million. An agency source tells GlobeSt.com the location is convenient to an existing older service center on Montopolis Road between Ben White and Burleson. TENSCO has bought 20 acres next to the existing service center, so employees will be moved into the leased space when renovation and expansion of the existing facility occurs. Michael Tipps, co-founder and principal of Colliers Oxford Commercial, has brokered the deal on behalf of the property owner while LCRA¹s real estate division has represented itself in the transaction.

The lease is driven by growth in LCRA's transmission line operations. LCRA builds substations and transmission lines for itself, as well as wholesale customers across Central Texas. LCRA is gearing up for electric deregulation in January 2002.