Brookfield Completes Upgrades at Houston Center

Brookfield Properties has completed upgrades to two buildings at the Houston Center.

The Highlight at Houston Center, a 196,000-square-foot retail complex at 1200 McKinney Street, and 3 Houston Center, a 51-story office building at 1301 McKinney Street, are expected to lure new tenants and customers, the Houston Chronicle reported. Upgrades to the buildings conclude a multimillion dollar plan dating back to 2019; the exact costs were not disclosed.

The recent renovations are part of Brookfield’s strategy to modernize the Houston Center, which opened in the early 1980s. Other buildings at the complex, such as 2 Houston Center, 4 Houston Center and LyondellBasell Tower, also received upgrades in recent years, including new facades, renovated lobbies and improved conference centers and tenant amenities, the outlet said.

“Houston Center’s premier, central location provides Brookfield Properties with the unique opportunity to create a vibrant hub in the heart of downtown Houston to be enjoyed by tenants, residents and tourists alike,” Brookfield’s Travis Overall said in a news release. “Through this significant investment to revitalize Houston Center, we have unlocked a new chapter for our central business district and set it up for a successful future for years to come.”

Collaborators for the project consisted of design firm Gensler, landscape architecture firm Clark Condon & Associates, and construction firm Harvey Builders. Upgrades at 3 Houston Center include a new lobby with white porcelain floors, modern furniture and contemporary artwork. For The Highlight, a new multi-story entrance facing Discovery Green was added to draw park visitors to the remodeled food court, the outlet said.

While Brookfield is revitalizing downtown Houston, it is facing distress in California. The firm defaulted on $784 million in loans connected to office buildings in downtown Los Angeles in February. And last week, it wrote down the value of a trophy office building in downtown L.A.

Houston’s office vacancy rate hovered around 30 percent in the first quarter of this year. Many landlords who own older buildings are revamping their properties to attract tenants and compete with newer buildings, similar to NewForm’s recent expansion of the Main & Co section of downtown.

—Quinn Donoghue