The organization announced it will move into 12,500 sf--the entire fourth floor--of Lake Shore Towers, a 75,000-sf building on the south side of Town Lake, across from the CBD. The chamber will move in November when its lease for 17,000 sf at 111 Congress expires.
The deal, according to the chamber, will reduce rental expenses 33% a year for the 10 years of the lease. The chamber's lease comes with free parking and signage rights that will splash its name across the top of the building. "This is a premier location where we will be easily accessible to members and visitors, but firmly rooted in the Central Business District," Mark Hazelwood, the chamber's president and CEO, said in announcing the move.
The chamber has a knack for timing the real estate market. When it signed at 111 Congress in 1990, the city's vacancy rate was 30%; the current rate is 22%.
The move got another economic assist from the real estate brokers and architects involved. Colliers International brokers Rick Whiteley and Bob Wynn, who scouted more than 60 buildings in the CBD and suburban submarkets, didn't charge a fee while Graeber, Simmons & Cowan, the architectural firm refitting the space for the chamber, donated its services.
The five-story Lake Shore Tower, built in 1972, is owned by the DuPont Group. Randy Beaman, senior vice president who represented DuPont in the deal, says that, with the chamber, the building is 95% occupied with five tenants. Capstone Real Estate Services Inc. is the building's other large tenant.
The chamber noted it had an excellent relationship with Equity Office, the owner of 111 Congress. The move, it said, was driven by changing needs that require more conferencing space and less space for staff offices.
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