HOUSTON-In an effort to centralize its local operations, BBVA Compass will anchor a new 380,000-square-foot office tower in the Galleria submarket. Redstone Real Estate will develop the build-to-suit property, and the global financial services firm will occupy 150,000 square feet of it.
Redstone Real Estate and BBVA Compass are still working through some details of the deal including the length of the lease, according to Troy Lindsey, executive vice president of real estate procurement and corporate services for BBVA Compass. However, the project will move forward, with groundbreaking scheduled for next month.
BBVA Compass will move into the new class A building by the end of the first quarter 2013. The new digs will house 800 current BBVA Compass employees who are currently located in 280,000 square feet in four different office locations around Houston. The space will unite the bank's local executives, multiple business areas and staff units under a single roof located at 2200 Post Oak Blvd.
Lindsey explains that BBVA Compass’ existing decentralized set up is the result of several mergers and acquisitions. In 2009, BBVA combined its four U.S. subsidiaries – Compass Bank, State National Bank, Texas State Bank and LNB (formerly Laredo National Bank) – under the BBVA Compass banner.
“We wanted to gain synergies from having everybody under one roof,” Lindsey says, adding that BBVA Compass plans to occupy the top six floors of the building. The firm also plans to open a prototype retail banking facility on the ground floor.
Lindsey tells GlobeSt.com that BBVA Compass considered relocating to existing office buildings in downtown and the Galleria submarkets, as well as build-to-suit opportunities. “From a corporate responsibility standpoint, we wanted a LEED Gold building, and we found that the buildings here were not LEED Gold certified,” he notes
The new build-to-suit facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council. In addition, the interior build-out will be LEED Gold certified.
“The new building gives us the image and the signature that we wanted for our brand,” Lindsey explains. In fact, the company is currently evaluating centralization options in Dallas and Birmingham, AL. The Houston build-to-suit is the company’s first step toward centralization in the US.
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