Schwartz, Junell, Greenberg & Oathout has committed to a 10-year lease for 22,627 sf on the 27th floor. The firm, known as the preeminent litigation practice in the city, has been occupying 13,000 sf on the 20th floor firm for more than five years. The attorneys will get keys to the new space in August.
"When we first started looking there were over 20 alternatives," says Bob Parsley, co-chairman and principal of Colliers International who represented the law firm along with principal and director John Parsley. "We narrowed it down to three buildings including 2 Houston Center. And, at the end of the day, Crescent made it very attractive for this law firm to stay. They really did not want to lose them."
Bob Parsley tells GlobeSt.com that there was enough space on the 20th floor for the firm to expand, but it was more economical to relocate to a new floor rather than try to reconfigure the existing build-out. "The move presented an opportunity to lay out thefloor the way the firm wanted to and make it more efficient and fresh," he says.
A growing law firm, Ashby Whitmire, signed a five-year lease for 3,340 sf on the 14th floor. The firm was looking to upgrade its image and needed just a bit more space to accommodate its growth, John Parsley tells GlobeSt.com. The firm, planning to move in this month, is relocating from less than 3,000 sf in Wedge Tower at 1415 Louisiana St.
Ashby Whitmire was in a month-to-month sublease situation and wanted to do a direct lease, John Parsley explains. "They looked at class A and class B options," he says. He adds that the Downtown market still is still soft enough to allow the firm toget class A space for just a bit more than class B rates.
The 31-year-old high rise at 909 Fannin St. has an average rental rate of $22 per sf. The tower's owner, Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co., used in-house broker Debbie Wilson to negotiate the deals.
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