HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – McGuireWoods, an international law firm, has leased a full floor in the Texas Tower, a 47-story downtown tower under development by Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge.
The 30,000-SF lease for the 24thfloor of the building is one of the largest leases this year in downtown Houston, where is office market has been sluggish in the post-Covid era.
“As we welcome our tenants back to the office, we continue to listen to their post-pandemic needs. Experiential, fit-for-purpose real estate is in demand more than ever as tenants look to cultivate collaboration, culture, and brand,” Hines Senior Managing Director John Mooz. “We believe this demand for experiential real estate is exemplified by McGuireWoods signing the first new full-floor lease since the start of the year in the Houston Central Business District. We are pleased to welcome the firm to Texas Tower.”
The law firm, which will relocate to the building in June 2022, signed an 11-year lease in the tower. McGuireWoods is currently located in the JP Morgan Chase Tower in downtown.
McGuireWoods was represented in lease negotiations by Bob Parsley, Darren Gowell and Taylor Wright with Colliers. Michael Anderson with Cushman & Wakefield represented Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge, the building developers and owners. With the signing of this lease, Texas Tower now stands at 42 percent leased.
Hines, which currently has its offices in the Williams Tower next to the Galleria, has also leased 180,000 SF in the new building for its new global headquarters.
Scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year, the Class AA office building will be a revolutionary office development that will redefine space in the heart of Downtown Houston. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, Texas Tower will be built to meet the highest standards for LEED Platinum, WiredScore and WELL Building Standards.
McGuireWoods considered several downtown towers, said Bob Parsley of Colliers. “McGuireWoods considered all the Class A buildings in the CBD, and the decision to relocate to Texas Tower was based on the belief that the building offered the most efficient, modern new building in the CBD. The views and the layout of the building are terrific,” Parsley said. “The building mirrors the global nature of the McGuire Woods law firm and represents McGuire Woods continued growth as a global firm.”
The Texas Tower is being constructed on the site of the former Houston Chronicle building, on a downtown block bounded by Texas, Milam, Travis and Prairie. In 2015, Realty News Report reported in an exclusive story that Hines was working to buy the Chronicle’s downtown property for more than $50 million. The newspaper moved to the old Houston Post building near Loop 610 after selling the downtown property where 18-wheeler tank trucks used to deliver ink for the printing presses.
The Chronicle property included a 10-story office building, and a nearby 560-space parking garage on a half-block at Prairie and Milam. Hines is currently building a 46-story residential tower on the Chronicle parking garage site, catty-cornered from the new office tower..
Editor’s note: Realty News Report editor Ralph Bivins covered real estate for the Houston Chronicle for a number of years.
Aug. 3, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
For more about Hines development, check out the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins. Available on Amazon http://tiny.cc/4a2g6y
File: Law Firm Leases Space
File: (2) McGuireWoods Law Firm Leases Space, Texas Tower. Hines, Cushman & Wakefield. Colliers. Bob Parsley, Darren Gowell, Taylor Wright, Michael Anderson.