Given its great infrastructure and reasonable rates, the question is why more tenants aren't eying Greenspoint as place in which to office.

Shedding a Negative Rap

Transwestern's executive vice president of office services Michelle Wogan notes that a lot of the submarket's negative image is due to the fact that ExxonMobil's depature from Greenspoint to The Woodlands will leave about 2.2 million square feet vacant; 1.6 million square feet are at Greenspoint Plaza on Greenspoint Drive. "Much of this is fear of the unknown," Wogan tells GlobeSt.com. "There are rumors that, when Exxon moves out, the whole place will become a ghost town. People don't know what's happening."

But Wogan is working to quell some of those rumors – in recent months, Transwestern has brokered the recent sale of the 106,000-square-foot 390 Benmar to ACCC Insurance from UNUM Group. The company also represented landlord Hartman in signing BBVA Compass to a 40,000-square-foot lease at the 106,677-square-foot Atrium II and Prince Minerals with a 12,000-square-foot lease at the 118,461-square-foot Atrium I. Both buildings are on Vantage Parkway West; Ron McWherter and Matt Dickson with CBRE represented BBVA Compass in its transaction, while Jonathan Hicks with Davis Commercial represented Prince Minerals.

But locals who know Greenspoint still have issues with the submarket, not the least of which was that it was known for high crime. Though much of that crime took place in the 1980s and 1990s (and has decreased since that time), old thoughts tend to die hard. Many Houstonians, in fact, have been known to refer to the area as "Gunspoint."

Turning Around the Image

In a recent interview with GlobeSt.com, David Tuttle, formerly with CASE Commercial Real Estate Partners, outlined the difficulty he had in marketing and selling the 268,760-square-foot Gateway I & II on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. He noted that it took some work and positioning to overcome some of the submarket's previous perceptions. The southern California investor that acquired it did so through seller financing and as a value-add play – at the time of closing, the 1980s asset had an occupancy in the mid-70s.

From a tenant perspective, however, Wogan points out that those taking space in the submarket are looking for decent-quality office space at a rate that's much less than it is in the north or west. Furthermore, proximity to the airport means "it will be a viable submarket for corporations doing business overseas, and who need to use the airport," she remarks.

And interestingly, despite the somewhat high vacancy rate, Wogan says there hasn't been many blocks of quality space available in the submarket for years. She anticipate that, once the ExxonMobil space formally hits the market, it will be gone before Exxon is.

But until that pending vacancy is filled, don't look for any new development. "That'll happen once the Exxon rumors pass," Wogan predicts. "The unknowns for this market are on who's going where and who's staying. Once vacancies stabilize – after 2015 – that's when we could start seeing developers come."