BP Renovating North American HQ Amid Switch to Hybrid Work

BP is planning a $20 million renovation to five floors of its North American headquarters in Houston’s Energy Corridor.

The London-based oil company plans renovations to the 10th through 14th floors of the 28-story Westlake One office at 501 Westlake Park Boulevard, according to plans filed with the state of Texas.

The project will span approximately 113,000 square feet of the nearly 1 million-square-foot building.

Construction will begin in January and finish up next fall. Chicago-based firm Perkins+Will will spearhead design. Additional plans for an $8 million renovation of the building’s 8th and 9th floors, totaling another 45,000 square feet, were registered this past summer, with construction expected to wrap up in December.

BP did not immediately return requests for comment.

The oil company’s 64-acre Houston campus underwent a $100 million renovation in 2019, following damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. It received updates to a conference room, fitness center and restaurant spaces.

Westlake One is BP’s largest Houston location, sitting within an expansive office complex.

The campus houses approximately 5,600 employees, its largest single-city employee base, according to BP’s website. The company is adopting flexible work schedules, which allow employees to adopt hybrid work options.

BP’s onshore business, U.S. Lower 48, vacated Four Westlake Park, across the street at 200 Westlake Park Boulevard, in 2016 when it relocated to Denver. BP subleased the property until its lease expired in June, which has caused financial woes for Four Westlake Park.

Lender Pacific Life Insurance bought that 20-story building for $30 million earlier this month, as the only bidder in its foreclosure. Pacific Life is renovating Four Westlake Park.

Houston’s Energy Corridor has seen a flurry of lease agreements this year. The availability of sublease space in Greater Houston has dropped to 1.6 million, down from 6.3 million, largely because of leases signed in the Energy Corridor.

Subleasing activity was up 32 percent last quarter year-over-year, according to JLL.

The Energy Corridor also accounted for 60 percent of the city’s top office sales transactions last quarter, according to Savills. The Energy Corridor comprised 33 percent of Greater Houston’s office deals in the third quarter.