ABS Moving Headquarters to Houston

CityPlace 2, Houston

Houston—American Bureau of Shipping, along with its subsidiary ABS Group, has signed a lease to occupy the entire office component of CityPlace 2, the planned 10-story, 326,800-square-foot mixed-use project in Houston’s Springwoods Village.

CityPlace 2 is part of CityPlace, the mixed-use development that is the commercial engine for SpringWoods Village, integrating working, shopping and living along with hotel accommodations. In total, it’s a 60-acre mixed-use development that will include 4 million square feet of Class A office space, 400,000 square feet of retail space, a full-service hotel and additional luxury multifamily projects being developed by Patrinely Group, USAA Real Estate and CDC Houston.

ABS joins ExxonMobil and Southwestern Energy as future tenants of the full development.

“The appeal of CityPlace Springwoods Village is the unparalleled accessibility from being located along Interstate-45, Grand Parkway, and Hardy Toll Road. This was a driver for Exxon Mobil, Southwestern Energy and now ABS’ decision to locate here,” said Robert Fields, Patrinely Group president & CEO. “We’ve planned CityPlace as an urban center…walkable, vibrant and a mix of uses. We feel it will be as dynamic as any downtown with a more convenient location, closer to high-end housing, and at the nexus of three major thoroughfares, it will be a completely unique business setting.”

The project and building were designed with a headquarters in mind so there wasn’t much that needed to be done to retrofit the space for ABS.

“For example, we increased the floor plate size meeting ABS’ optimum size for efficiency, and added a training academy to the ground floor,” Fields said. “Additionally, to meet ABS’ security needs, we customized the lobby and segregated employee and retail parking.”

Directly across the street from the property will land CityPlace 1, a Class A mixed-use project that will offer 122,700 square feet of office space and 26,900 square feet of ground floor retail. The project is being actively preleased and can be available for occupancy in as little as 12 months.

The proximity to the newly opened connection of the Grand Parkway and I-45 and the Bush Intercontinental Airport are incentives for businesses to move to the area.

According to Fields, the ABS lease is a “game changer” for the development team.

“The decision of another large tenant to make CityPlace its long-term home is further validation of our team’s vision for the development,” he noted. “ABS, like ExxonMobil and Southwestern Energy, has taken the long-term view regarding location. They seemed to be most concerned with location, accessibility, amenities, and sponsorship…CityPlace offered them the best of all of these things.”

CityPlace 2 is scheduled for completion in late 2018 and will also include 23,700 square feet of ground floor retail.

Tim Relyea and Kevin Snodgrass of Cushman & Wakefield represented ABS. Chrissy Wilson of JLL and Dennis Tarro of Patrinely Group represented the landlord.