HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Apache Corp. has signed an extension to its 524,342 SF-lease in Post Oak Central, an Uptown Houston office complex where its headquarters has been for years.
The new agreement, spanning 60 months, means that Apache’s lease won’t expire until December 31, 2024.
Apache’s headquarters location has been in question for several years. In 2012, the Houston-based energy firm bought 6.4 acres of land on Post Oak Boulevard next to Ed Wulfe’s BLVD Place development. Apache filed a building permit detailing plans for a 34-story tower on the site. But those plans never materialized, the energy industry struggled, and the Apache land, just south of San Felipe Road, remains vacant.
In this new deal, Apache was represented in the lease renewal and extension negotiations by Tim Relyea and Scott Wegmann of Cushman & Wakefield. Eric Siegrist and Amanda Nebel represented Parkway Property Investments.
“This extension anchors Apache at Post Oak Central for nearly seven years, enhancing the campus’ stability for the foreseeable future and validating the capital investment made to improve the user experience in and around the campus,” said James R. Heistand, president and CEO of Parkway, which is owned by a Canadian pension group.
Apache has been making headlines in recent months for its major energy discovery, called Alpine High, in West Texas. The firm’s lease renewal, which is not the first time Apache has extended the term of its lease, represents one of the largest office space transactions in Houston in recent years.
Post Oak Central recently went under new ownership as the Canada Pension Fund Plan Investment Board acquired Parkway Inc., in a $1.2 billion transaction that closed last October. Parkway controls 8.7 million SF of office space in Houston. In addition to Post Oak Central, Parkway’s sizable portfolio includes Greenway Plaza, San Felipe Plaza and CityWest Place.
Post Oak Central, located just a few blocks north of the Galleria, is comprised of three office buildings totaling 1.2 million SF on a 17-acre site on the west side of Post Oak Boulevard.
