JLL to Lease, Manage Houston Office Tower

Four Westlake. Image courtesy of JLL

JLL’s Houston leasing and property management team has been selected as the exclusive property manager and leasing agent for Four Westlake, a 20-story, 560,888 square-foot office tower located in the city’s Energy Corridor.

The firm’s new roles follow the property’s September foreclosure and subsequent trade to Pacific Life Insurance, according to reporting from Bisnow.

Four Westlake’s previous owner, Treeview Real Estate Advisors, defaulted on a $70 million loan for the property’s purchase, leaving it in the hands of the lender, Pacific Life Insurance Co., the article states. The property went up for auction in early October following a Notice of Acceleration, but the firm failed to find a buyer, even at a 50 percent price discount.

Presently, the California-based insurance firm and institutional investor remains the owner, and has committed to renovate the distressed asset’s lobby, conference spaces and fitness facilities, according to JLL.

Leasing at the building will be overseen by Managing Director of Houston Agency Leasing Tyler Garrett and Vice President Matt Pruitt, while Managing Director Connie O’Murray will lead property management.

A profile of Westlake Park

Four Westlake was built in 1992 as the largest component of Westlake Park, a 58-acre, four-building office campus that totals more than 2.3 million square feet of space. Oil and gas giant BP was the fourth building’s former anchor tenant, leasing space adjacent to its U.S. headquarters at 501 Westlake Blvd.

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According to CommercialEdge, the Four Westlake Park is sectioned into 28,000 square-foot floorplates, and includes a covered multi-level parking structure. Located at 200 Westlake Park Blvd., the building’s immediate neighbors include offices from BP, alongside the Houston office of Korean compressor manufacturer Hanwha Power Systems. The world headquarters of ConocoPhillips and McDermott International sit within a mile to the east, while downtown Houston lies 16 miles away, accessible through the Interstate 10.

Recharging the Energy Corridor

Houston’s Energy Corridor remains one of the nation’s top performing submarkets, despite the city market’s overall lukewarm fundamentals. Office leasing activity here, which was up 40 percent as of the second quarter, is getting a boost from employers such as BP mandating a three-day in-person workweek.

According to data from JLL Research, Class A assets in Houston saw a positive absorption of approximately 125,000 square feet in the third quarter, while the whole market presented a negative absorption of more than 600,000 square feet, driven by Class B’s significant move-outs.

The beating heart of the nation’s oil and gas industry remains active on the investment and leasing front. Earlier this month, Interra Capital Group bought Memorial Pointe, a 226,586 square-foot office building along Katy Freeway. Over the summer, engineering giant Gulf Cos. signed off on a 52,148-square-foot lease at Eldridge Oaks, a 349,190-square-foot property owned by Broadshore Capital Partners.