HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Halliburton Co., one of the largest oilfield service companies in the world, has hired an auctioneer to sell its 49-acre Oak Park campus in the Westchase District of west Houston.
The sale will be conducted by the Williams & Williams auction firm on April 27 at 1:00 pm.
The Halliburton campus, 10200 Bellaire Boulevard near the Sam Houston Tollway, includes a vacant 568,458-SF office building, a 17,500-SF fitness center, a daycare center, central plant and a five-level parking garage. The building was constructed in 1979.
The auction will be conducted in conjunction with JLL. In the fall of 2016, Halliburton hired Rudy Hubbard and Kevin McConn of JLL to market the property. However, the Houston office market went into a nosedive and a number of oil companies laid off personnel and placed huge blocks of excess office space on the sublease market.
Halliburton laid off thousands of employees as oil drilling activity declined and oil prices fell, dipping below $30 a barrel about two years ago. Oil prices have recovered and have been above $60 a barrel recently.
When JLL received the listing to sell the Halliburton campus, JLL said the Halliburton campus “has high potential as a redevelopment play for users and developers.” At that time, industry insiders expected the Halliburton property to sell for $30 million. That expectation may have been overly optimistic.
About a year ago, a Chinese development firm was negotiating to buy Halliburton’s campus for a major redevelopment with a retail component, but that deal never materialized.
The auction will be open to the public and bids may be placed in person, or online at AuctionNetwork.com, a sister company to Williams & Williams. Public inspections will be held from 11-2 pm Friday March 23 and 30 and April 13 and 20. The high-bidder will be required to make a non-refundable 10 percent down payment immediately after the auction.
An additional 3.3-acre development tract near Beltway 8 will be sold in a separate auction.
Fontana Fitzwilson, Executive Vice President of Williams & Williams, says both Oak Park properties are opportunities to expand or redevelop. “Assembling 48.9 contiguous acres for redevelopment would be a challenge,” she said. “Conversely, there’s room to grow here. The original plan was to build a midrise office tower on the southwest corner of the property. If you are looking for a property of this size, you have options.”
