TXU intends to open the location in June, creating 420 new jobs for the region. The Aliso Viejo, CA-based Fluor, the master leaseholder for the one-million-sf, four-building complex, is attempting to backfill about 195,000 sf vacated last year when the Hartford, CT-based Aetna Inc. downsized to 55,754 sf at One Fluor Daniel Dr.

Last year, TXU cut 300 to 400 jobs from its call center operations, but then concluded that it "was a mistake," Barbara Curry, TXU Energy senior vice president, said in a press release issued last Friday, "and we were fortunate because our customers were patient with us. But that experience provided us with valuable information in not only how to quickly ramp up our operations, but also how important this level of customer service is." TXU already has backfilled the jobs and is looking to add another 600 positions, of which 420 are headed to Sugar Land.

Alex Jimenez, TXU's vice president of administrative services, tells GlobeSt.com that the search led to Sugar Land because of the immediate availability of office space at Lake Pointe Plaza for the long term, with expansion options, in a suburb where the going rate is $18 per sf to $21 per sf for top-of-the-line office locations. He says all options were under the magnifying glass, including build-to-suit, although the deadline to be up and running by June made it an unlikely choice.