One Hughes Landing Gets First Major Tenant, Construction Financing

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

One Hughes Landing, the first office building to be constructed at the Hughes Landing community that The Howard Hughes Corp. is planning for The Woodlands, now has a major new tenant, as well as construction financing.

Layne Christensen Co. has signed a 51,152-square-foot lease for the top two floors of the still-to-be-completed One Hughes Landing. The global solutions provider will move 210 employees from its current Mission City, Kan., location in September 2013.

“We are delighted by the opportunity to join The Woodlands community and the amenities it provides,” said Rene Robichaud, president & CEO of Layne Christensen. “The Woodlands is a wonderful location to live and to conduct business. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of The Woodlands Development Co. to collaborate on our new building. We look forward to a successful partnership in the years to come.”

The developer was represented in the deal by Robert Parsley and Norman Munoz of Colliers International. Tenant Layne Christensen was represented by Colliers International brokers Sven Sykes (of Chicago), Brian Johnson (Kansas City) and Jay Kyle (Houston).

The Howard Hughes Corp. secured $38 million in non-recourse financing from Texas Capital Bank and Woodforest National Bank for the construction of the building.

Designed by Gensler of Houston to be LEED Silver certified, the 197,000-square-foot, Class A, eight-story building is now underway and is expected to be completed by September 2013. It will be the first of as many as eight office buildings at the 66-acre Hughes Landing on Lake Woodlands, a dynamic destination within The Woodlands that is set to include a boutique hotel and several retail and entertainment venues with high-end specialty stores, as well as upscale multifamily housing.

Image courtesy of The Howard Hughes Corp.