The funeral service operator will get an extra 5,000 sf of office space when it moves in the fourth quarter to 3040 Post Oak Blvd., says Garrold Parratt, executive vice president and principal in Houston for the Dallas-based Staubach Co. Carriage Services now offices at 1900 St. James Place.

Parratt tells GlobeSt.com that the firm's sublease was ready to expire. "They have been in sublease space for the past eight years," he says. "Before the death-care services industry tanked, they were in class A space, but downgraded into sublease. With the economics in the Galleria, they wanted to get back into class A space."

Parratt, who teamed with Staubach's Ronald Deyo, says Carriage Services had at least 10 options in the Galleria area. "They picked the Lakes on Post Oak because they liked the access and the look and the feel of the building as well as the economics of the deal," he explains, adding the 421,339-sf building recently underwent extensive renovations. The deal nudges occupancy to 98% in a 23-year-old building with a quoted rate of $19 per sf.