Fluor to upgrade Energy Corridor campus after relocation

Fluor plans to renovate its Energy Corridor office campus amid corporate relocation. 

The Irving-based engineering and construction firm recently moved into the 308,000-square-foot, 13-story Three Eldridge Place office complex off 737 North Eldridge Parkway near its intersection with Memorial Drive. Fluor signed a 12-year lease for the entire office building, according to the complex’s owner Granite Properties, after BP vacated the premises a few years back. 

Chris Oliver, Rick Kaplan and David Guion of Cushman and Wakefield represented Fluor in the transaction while Granite Properties was self-represented. 

The proposed renovations, according to state filing records, will include an interior reconstruction of eight floors, which will span about 189,000 square feet. Renovations are expected to begin next month and carry an estimated price tag of $27 million, though cost estimates are subject to change. 

Renovations come after Granite Properties invested $10 million to modernize the aging office asset after acquiring it in 2019. Fluor has tapped local architecture firm HOK to spearhead the design process, which is slated to be completed by next spring.  

Fluor will relocate more than 1,300 employees to the property next summer, transitioning from their current 1.2 million-square-foot campus located at 1 Fluor Daniel Drive in Sugar Land, which it has occupied for nearly 40 years. The firm initially envisioned constructing a 50-acre campus near Sugar Land’s Smart Financial Centre. However, in line with its global real estate footprint reduction strategy, it opted to sell the land to Sugar Land-based real estate firm, Dhanani Private Equity Group.

Fluor’s full lease of this Energy Corridor office complex marked Greater Houston’s second-largest office transaction in Q2 and helped usher the metro into an office renaissance after an early-year slump—a welcomed addition to the region’s fleeting office supply. According to JLL, the Energy Corridor’s office market had an elevated vacancy rate in Q3 exceeding 28 percent compared to the metro’s 26 percent average. It boasted one of Greater Houston’s highest vacancy rates across the 25 submarkets identified by the real estate research firm. 

Sugar Land, however, has been rocked by a string of major office losses. Recently, the southwest Houston suburb has made considerable efforts, including offering various incentives, to retain large companies within its boundaries.

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