HOUSTON-Direct Energy has expanded its global headquarters at Twelve Greenway Plaza to 93,593 square feet, an increase of 21,023 square feet. The company, which is North America’s largest competitive retailer of energy and energy-related services, inked a seven-year renewal for the class A office space.
Direct Energy has been a tenant in Greenway Plaza since 2001, according to Warren Savery, vice president of leasing for Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC. He and Bubba Harkins, also with Crescent, represented the owner, Crescent Crown Greenway Plaza SVP LLC. Sue Rogers and Steven Heal of CresaPartners’ local office represented Direct Energy.
“Direct Energy has been a tremendous success story,” Savery says. “They started off as a 4,000-square-foot subtenant in Eight Greenway Plaza, as they grew, they relocated to Twelve Greenway Plaza and now they’re the largest tenant in that building, occupying more than five floors.”
The 15-story Twelve Greenway Plaza houses two of Direct Energy’s four lines of business: Direct Energy Residential and Direct Energy Upstream & Trading. More than 500 people are located in the 254,920-square-foot building.
Savery tells GlobeSt.com that Direct Energy was not only running out of space, it wanted to redesign its space to have an open concept floorplan. Working with CresaPartners, Direct Energy shopped the market, similar to previous occasions when its lease was up for renewal, he adds.
“Everybody tests the waters,” Savery says, “but my attitude has always been that any time you think you’re the only game in town, you’ve got a good chance of landing on your backside. We recognize that people have choices.”
As part of Direct Energy’s new lease, Crescent will take on some of expense related to redesigning the space. To make the process easier, the owner has arranged for Direct Energy to have access to “swing space” on the 15th floor where it can temporarily relocate employees during renovations. Additionally, Direct Energy will receive monument signage for Twelve Greenway Plaza.
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