Transocean took the last two floors in the 11-story, 241,294-sf Four Greenway Plaza and picked up floors three and four in the 31-story, 912,011-sf Five Greenway Plaza. The plan is to move into the extra space in August or September, according to Jay Bonano, senior managing director in Houston for Studley Inc.
Bonano says the search began at the end of 2007. "We considered other alternatives, but Greenway Plaza was the best fit," he says. "Location and quality of the project were key." He tells GlobeSt.com that last year the tenant's nine floors were totally revamped and its offices restacked with a renewal so the plan is to finish out the remaining space in the same high-end fashion. The newly tagged single-tenant building boasts three levels of underground parking.
Transocean's four new floors will house an inbound team from last year's takeover of Global Santa Fe Inc., which is vacating 15375 Memorial Dr. Bonano says the to-be-vacated office space will be available for direct lease in 2009.
Because Greenway Plaza is more often filled than not, the building owner, Crescent Real Estate Equities LP had to terminate a full-floor lease with Pogo Producing Co., involved in a $3.6-billion merger last year, to get room for Transocean's expansion, says Preston Young, co-managing partner in Houston for Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners LP. Transocean's second floor came from the 200,000-sf bank of WorleyParsons, which is headed to 6330 W. Loop South at year's end. Parker Drilling Co. recently took 75,000 sf of the block, leaving the leasing team with 110,000 sf on floors eight through 11 to fill.
"This is the first time that space of any significance has been available at Five Greenway," Young says. For now, the 4.25-million-sf complex's largest building is completely full. The quoted rate is $20 per sf to $21 per sf, triple net, a pricing trend that started to surface last year to replace full-service quotes after the metro set new records on the leasing front.
Transocean's stair-stepped lease is a sign of the times in Houston. "It's a testament to how strong the oil and gas industry is," says Young, who teamed with Stream vice president Brad Fricks to represent the owner of record, Crescent Real Estate Funding III, IV and V LP.
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