From today’s Houston Chronicle:
Principal Real Estate Investors has acquired the Westway III office building from DNA. The 182,000-square-foot building was completed in 2008 and has earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification status. CB Richard Ellis will handle management and leasing of the property on behalf of Principal Real Estate Investors.
Based on our research, Westway III has been vacant since it was built. It was previously managed & leased by Transwestern.
Enervest is making one LEED-EB project in downtown Houston, Texas very profitable. Enervest, which is an energy company based in Houston, recently expanded its headquarters offices by 37,000 square feet and renewed its lease for a total of 117,000 square feet at the First City Tower. The property is 95 percent leased with the Enervest lease deal.In this current economic climate, it is unusual to see such a large facility so full. Companies still want to be in the downtown business district despite it’s draw backs:1. More expensive office space2. Little surrounding housing for staff3. Limited parking4. Worse outdoor air qualityLEED helps overcome many of these drawbacks, that’s why we think Enervest chose this property.”First City Tower is a 1.3 million square foot, 49-story office building at 1001 Fannin St. and includes a 1,348-car parking garage. The property is LEED-EB and was the first office building in Texas to achieve this and receive a Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.”Source: Costar
With the start of the Houston Rockets 2010-2011 season upon us, I felt it was important to help them remind the public of their commitment to LEED. Back in July of 2010, the marketing blitz told us all about how Toyota Center was now a LEED certified building. Good for them.Tad Brown, Rockets CEO stated:“This certification serves as validation that our aggressive approach to energy management, recycling and waste reduction programs have made a difference here at Toyota Center and in our community. Toyota Center has a unique opportunity to serve as an industry leader in the future of sustainability. We are operating in a more environmentally conscious manner and educating the millions of patrons that attend Toyota Center events each year regarding ways they can help.”
