The new deal takes occupancy to 63%, up from 50%, in a 225,704-sf building in the Greenspoint submarket. The Philadelphia-based groups, eyeing a July move-in, will use the office as a testing center. The groups also have testing centers in Chicago and Atlanta. The commission certifies foreign-trained physicians for residency programs in the US.

Chuck Goldstein with Cresa Partners' Houston and John Behm in the brokerage house's Philadelphia office represented the tenants in negotiating the long-term lease. According to Goldstein, the commission picked 400 North Belt for its proximity to George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The 12-story building at the southeast corner of North Sam Houston Parkway at Imperial Valley Drive is owned by the Jackson, MS-based Parkway Properties. The asset's quoted rent is $17.50 per sf.

At the year's start, Burlington emptied 140,000 sf in a move to Calpine Center in the CBD. The owner's interests were brokered by Mark Preston with Houston-based Moody Rambin Interests and Jayson Lipsey with Parkway's Houston office.