"Over the years, Emerson has bought so many companies they inherited all these locations across Houston," says Jon Silberman of NAI Houston, who represented Emerson along with Rachel Quintero. "Cost savings is the motivator for consolidation. You can have one receptionist instead of many; one IT person and one network."

Silberman tells GlobeSt.com that it took nearly 18 months to get all of the geographically dispersed business units on the same page. "Space wasn't hard to find, but getting all the companies to make a decision was a challenge," he says.

Emerson will have roughly 15,000 sf on the first floor and the remaining space will be on the fourth floor. Merrill Lynch moved out of the first floor space about eight months ago, says Kurt Kistler, a leasing associate with RM Crowe Co. He and Crowe's senior vice president Joel Dalak represented the building owner's interests.