Skanska’s downtown Houston office development lures another tenant

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

Boston Consulting Group 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 relocate next year from LyondellBasell Tower at 1221 McKinney Street. It’s unclear how much space the company occupies in Houston. 

It’s 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, accounting for 31 percent of the building’s space, plus naming rights. Norton Rose started 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 development sheds light on the flight-to-quality trend that’s emerged since the pandemic spawned the remote-work era, which has been at the root of soaring office vacancies in  Houston and abroad. Most companies these days favor new or renovated office properties, as they offer the best chance of luring employees back to the office. 

Further demonstrating 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’s Bjarke Ingels Group, the Lamar Street building offers ample natural light and connectivity to the adjacent Discovery Green park. The lobby features a two-story glass curtain wall overlooking the park. Each floor includes up to 16 glass-encased corners, floor-to-ceiling windows and views of Discovery Green.

The building, called 1550 on the Green, also has three landscaped terraces, two of which are reserved for office tenants, while a communal 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 has received pre-certification for WiredScore Platinum and is targeting LEED Platinum, WELL Platinum and Fitwel Three Star, acknowledging achievements in sustainability, design and technology.

—Quinn Donoghue 

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