Downtown Brokers Added at Cushman & Wakefield

HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Cushman & Wakefield, one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world, has hired three office leasing specialists for its new downtown office.

Late last year, Cushman & Wakefield announced it was leasing 6,500 SF for its new office on the fortieth floor of Houston’s newest skyscraper, the 47-story Texas Tower on Texas Avenue.

Construction of the Texas Tower was started long before Covid hit. But by the time the building opened in late 2021, the economy had been battered and office tenants were in shrinkage mode. However, companies were striving to encourage employees to return to the office so they leased space in higher quality buildings – a trend that benefitted the brand- new Texas Tower. Hines and Ivanhoe Cambridge developed the building.

Cushman & Wakefield’s new downtown brokers, Robert LaCoure, Jill Nesloney and Bryce Adams, will work out of the firm’s downtown Houston office in Texas Tower as part of the office agency leasing team. LaCoure joins as Senior Director, Nesloney joins as Director and Adams joins as an Associate.

“This team of professionals is top-notch and will bring significant value to the firm and our platform. Their industry knowledge and expertise will allow us to continue to our growth,” said Chip Colvill, Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice Chairman.

The three brokers joined Cushman & Wakefield from Lee & Associates – Houston. Although the team will focus on agency leasing, LaCoure and Nesloney bring multifaceted experience to Cushman & Wakefield, including tenant representation and sales transaction history. “These professionals are some of the best that Houston has to offer and will be a tremendous asset for our clients,” said Michael Anderson, Executive Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield.

In addition to its downtown office, Cushman & Wakefield has a 30,000-SF office at Four Oaks Place in the Galleria area.

“We are committed to continually adding top talent who can help us better serve our clients and add to the culture of collaboration we seek to foster,” said Clint Bawcom, Managing Principal of Cushman & Wakefield in Houston.

The Texas Tower was recently constructed on the site of the former Houston Chronicle, 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. Hines closed on the property and began planning the office tower and a multifamily tower on an adjacent block.

The old, ink-stained newspaper building was demolished, clearing the way for Hines and Ivanhoe Cambridge to develop Houston’s newest high-rise office tower – a 1 million-SF tower designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, a notable architecture firm founded by Cesar Pelli.

Michael Anderson of Cushman & Wakefield has represented Hines in leasing the Texas Tower, which opened late in 2021 and has achieved a significant amount of occupancy.

Hines itself moved its own headquarters into the new tower, relocating from the 64-story Williams Tower (formerly known as Transco Tower) in the Galleria area. Hines, with its 180,000 SF global headquarters, joins Vinson and Elkins (200,000 SF), McGuireWoods and DLA Piper law firms in the Texas Tower, 845 Texas Avenue. Other Texas Tower tenants include Cheniere Energy, Chicago Title, Charter Title Company, and others.

In response to significant leasing demand for move-in-ready, top-tier office space, plans are underway to build out an additional 40,000 SF of spec suites at Texas Tower. Designed by Gensler, these fully furnished offices provide a turnkey solution for companies seeking magnetic, collaborative office environments. The new inventory of move-in-ready office suites range in size from 4,600 to 12,000 SF.

(Click here to hear Gensler’s Dean Strombom in the latest episode of The Ralph Bivins Project podcast.)

Hines, which was founded in Houston in 1957 by Mr. Gerald Hines, has developed hundreds of towers around the world, many of them in downtown Houston, including the new, 46-story Brava apartments, which Hines built on the half-block site of the former Houston Chronicle parking garage.

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