HOUSTON – Myers, Crow & Saviers, a spec specialist, has leased an empty spec office building near Houston to Geico insurance. Next, the developer plans to start another spec office building nearby in Phase II of the Energy Corridor business park.
“We welcome Geico, a world-class company, to Mason Creek,” says Mark Saviers, principal, Myers, Crow & Saviers. “Geico’s lease affirms our decision to build a speculative building in this beautiful business park.”
With Governor Rick Perry in attendance at a ceremony Monday, Geico announced its 135,000-square-foot, full-building lease of Mason Creek Office Center I, 21420 Merchants Way in Katy, near Mason Road.
Geico will occupy the entire office building, completed in late July, by the end of December. The Houston office market is exceptionally strong and the spec building attracted a tenant shortly after it was completed.
Geico will bring 1,000 new jobs to the new facility over the next three years, Perry’s office said.
“Whenever we hear about a major employer expanding or relocating to Texas, it affirms what we’ve been telling people all these years,” Perry said. “When you create a place that rewards innovation and hard work and frees people to do best in pursuit of their dreams, good things happen.”
Myers, Crow & Saviers has developed 14 buildings in Houston, all of them on a spec basis with no space leased before construction begins. The company focuses on office and industrial buildings in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio. Griff Bandy and Jon Silberman of NAI Houston represented Geico in lease negotiations.
Bob Cromwell and Kevin Nolan of Moody Rambin Interests and Mark Saviers of Myers, Crow & Saviers represented the developer.
Moody Rambin will also handle leasing for the next spec office building, to be located in the same business park with Geico. The Phase II building will be a three-story, 129,600-sf structure with 43,200-sf floor plates, energy-efficient construction and systems, and 6 per 1,000 parking ratios. It will be LEED certified. Construction on Phase II begins in next March with completion scheduled for December 2014.
The development is located Mason Creek Corporate Park, a covenant-restricted, master-planned business park owned by Parkside Capital.
“Mason Creek Office Center has both location and Class A construction to attract tenants active in the market. This location just inside the Grand Parkway loop is the equivalent of the Beltway 8 and I-10 intersection, developed 15 years ago,” says Bob Cromwell, managing director, Moody Rambin Interests. “Simply put, this is where growing companies want to be.”
Mason Creek Office Center is immediately accessible to Interstate 10/Katy Freeway and the Grand Parkway/Highway 99. The residential neighborhoods of Katy/Cinco Ranch and Northwest Houston and the highly rated Katy school district are nearby.
The building’s location has the electrical capacity for two 6.5-megawatt circuits to be brought to the building to power call or data center operations. The property also includes backup generator infrastructure and partially covered parking.
GEICO was founded in Fort Worth in 1936 to provide auto insurance to federal employees and members of the military. It currently serves over 830,000 Texas policyholders and is now the fastest-growing major auto insurer in the U.S., with more 29,000 employees in 14 major offices around the country. The company’s southwest regional office is located in Dallas and employs more than 1,900 Texas residents. The Katy expansion will support GEICO claims operations. Moody Rambin is Houston’s largest locally owned, full-service commercial real estate brokerage and management firm.
Established in 1969, Moody Rambin specializes in providing project leasing, tenant representation, disposition, development, consulting and management services to owners and tenants throughout the United States. The firm’s portfolio includes the retail, office and industrial properties.
Established in 1994, Myers, Crow & Saviers has more than 70 completed or current projects totaling 11 million sf. In Houston, Myers, Crow & Saviers has developed 1.5 million sf in the last 14 years.
