Skanska’s Downtown Houston Office Tower Attracts Another Tenant

Skanska USA Commercial Development’s office tower in downtown Houston is half full after finding another tenant.

Boston Consulting Group has signed a 12-year, 53,000-square-foot lease at 1550 Lamar Street, a 28-story building that opened earlier this year, the Houston Business Journal reported.

BCG will move from the LyondellBasell Tower to 1221 McKinney Street next year. It’s unclear how much space the company occupies in Houston.

This is the second major lease in the building. In 2021, Norton Rose Fulbright, one of Houston’s largest law firms, signed a 15-year lease for six floors, representing 31% of the building’s square footage, plus naming rights. Norton Rose began moving in earlier this month.

With the addition of BCG, the Lamar Street property is 48 percent leased. The tower offers 375,000 square feet of office space and 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail. It won the Houston Business Journal’s Landmark Award for best new office building or campus earlier this year.

The shift highlights the flight-to-quality trend that has emerged since the pandemic spawned the era of remote work, which was responsible for soaring office vacancies in Houston and the foreigner. Most companies these days favor new or renovated office buildings because they offer the best chance of attracting employees to the office.

Further evidence of this trend, West Houston dominated office leasing activity in the first quarter, largely because companies are flocking to the Energy Corridor, where a number of properties have been redeveloped or built in recent years.

Designed by Copenhagen-based Bjarke Ingels Group, the Lamar Street building provides ample natural light and connectivity with the adjacent Discovery Green park. The lobby features a two-story glass curtain wall overlooking the park. Each floor includes up to 16 glass nooks, floor-to-ceiling windows and views of Discovery Green.

The building, called 1550 sur le Vert, also has three furnished terraces, two of which are reserved for office tenants, while a common terrace on the top floor is available to all occupants. The second-floor fitness center offers park views, state-of-the-art equipment, and spa-style locker rooms.

The property received LEED Platinum, WELL Platinum and WiredScore Platinum pre-certification, recognizing achievements in sustainability, design and technology.

—Quinn Donoghue