Foster Wheeler Takes Down 332,000-SF Building

HOUSTON-Less than a year after breaking ground on the 332,000-sf Energy Center I, developer Trammell Crow Co. and development partner Principal Real Estate Investors have leased the entire spec project to Foster Wheeler USA Corp. The tenant, which supplies construction services and equipment to the energy industry, will take possession of the building upon its completion in February 2008.

Though specific financial considerations of the long-term lease were not made available, quoted asking rates in the Energy Corridor submarket are above $26 per sf. Foster Wheeler will be doing the bulk of its own improvements to the building at 585 N. Dairy Ashford Rd., and is using the building for consolidation and expansion. Foster Wheeler is currently located at 2020 Dairy Ashford Rd.

“The building is topped out now, and they’re starting to skin it with glass,” says Aaron Thielhorn, Trammell Crow principal. He says Foster Wheeler had approached Trammell Crow and its leasing arm, CB Richard Ellis Inc., right after construction began. Additionally, “we had a number of other prospects we were in various stages of discussion with. But this worked out the best, as Foster Wheeler needed to consolidate its multiple area locations, and they were able to take the entire building,” Thielhorn tells GlobeSt.com.