HOUSTON – A new office building, built on the site of a former Courtyard at St. James wedding venue in the Galleria/Tanglewood area of Houston, has gained an anchor tenant.
Houston-based construction law firm, Andrews Myers P.C., has leased the top two floors (a total of 30,102 SF) in the 1885 Saint James Place building.
The new building is a 165,000-square-foot boutique office building located just south of the Tanglewood neighborhood. The building features nine floors of office space situated atop six floors of above-grade parking.
The office project was erected on the site of The Courtyard on St. James wedding venue, which was popular for social functions for many years before it was demolished to yield the construction site for the new building.
Houston’s Class A office market has been experiencing rising vacancy rates as new office buildings are being completed, even while energy firms have been shedding office space and dumping excess on the sublease market. Another 4 million SF of office space is currently under construction.
“Securing an anchor tenant substantiates the building’s viability,” said office leasing veteran Chrissy Wilson of JLL. “Despite the general market slowdown and increased level of supply available to tenants today, there is still significant demand for non-commodity office space.”
As the newest Class A office building in the Galleria area, 1885 St. James has provided a fresh infusion of modern office space to an otherwise mature submarket. According to JLL Research, the Galleria’s office inventory is, on average, the oldest in the city, with the vast majority of Class A properties more than 30 years old.
“We have always loved the St. James Place office environment, and the opportunity to redevelop a site there was at the top of our list,” said building developer Dennis Murphree, a principal at Nelson Murphree Legacy Partners, LLC. “We felt St. James Place is an organic office environment and that a classic, traditional stone building would be the right fit.”
In another redevelopment adjacent to Murphree’s building, Houston apartment developer Marvy Finger recently constructed a multifamily project. The area is called San Felipe Green.
Andrews Myers P.C., will relocate from its current office at 3900 Essex Lane to the new building. Craig Hausman and Tony Allen of Pollan Hausman Real Estate Services, LLC represented Andrews Myers in the transaction.
JLL’s Chrissy Wilson and Russell Hodges represented the landlord, 1885 St. James Place Partners L.P., in the transaction. Additionally, a national financial services firm and the offices of a Houston-based family trust have also signed leases, totaling 10,000 square feet, at 1885 St. James. The building is 27 percent leased.
A top destination for professional services firms, the Galleria has continued to be relatively insulated from the effects of Houston’s recent downturn. According to second quarter reports, the submarket’s total vacancy remained below that of the overall Houston office market for the tenth consecutive quarter. The Galleria area has an 84.2 percent pre-leasing rate on new construction.
Sept. 6, 2016 Realty News Report Copyright 2016