Old office space is a millstone around the neck of Houston, and investors spent 2025 trying to break free.
Fittingly, the biggest office sale of 2025 in Bayou City was the return of Houston’s largest office complex to its lender. There’s a bright side to the city’s glum office market for owner-occupiers, or buyers who would rather use the space they own rather than leasing. Such buyers took more than 2 million square feet of vacant space off the Houston office market in 2025, Partners Real Estate concluded.
Here are Houston’s biggest office trades of 2025 based on data provided by Cushman & Wakefield.
Houston Center | 1221 & 1301 McKinney Street & 909 Fannin Street | 4.6 million square feet
In the biggest office transaction of the year, Brookfield Properties handed Houston Center over to its mezzanine lender in April. A joint venture between pension fund AustralianSuper and Stream Realty took control of the sprawling four-building, 4.6 million-square-foot office campus that Brookfield bought in 2017. Despite Brookfield’s efforts to modernize the property, it’s still been bleeding tenants in recent years, including LyondellBasell, which left 358,000 square feet, and Norton Rose Fulbright, which left a 350,000-square-foot block.
5555 San Felipe Street | 1.19 million square feet
The city’s second-largest office sale reflected the rising trend of owner occupants taking advantage of old office buildings’ low valuations. Dallas-based midstream energy giant Energy Transfer bought the building formerly known as Marathon Oil Tower, at 5555 San Felipe Street, from Starwood Property Trust in April. Starwood floated a possible residential conversion at the 41-story building, but nothing materialized. Starwood took control of the tower in 2022 after prior owner M-M Properties defaulted on an $88 million loan. The 1.2 million-square-foot tower, built in 1983 as the headquarters for Marathon Oil, underwent a $15 million renovation completed in 2022.
Lake Pointe Plaza | 1 Fluor Daniel Drive | 1.17 million square feet
The next building on the list is being eyed for demolition. Lovett Commercial is moving forward with plans to transform the former Fluor campus in Sugar Land into a $1 billion mixed-use community. The Houston-based firm bought the property, which includes a nearly 1.2 million-square-foot office campus, in the second quarter of the year and proposed plans for the 53-acre redevelopment project in April. Lovett secured approval from the local zoning commission in the fall for Lake Pointe Green, a 53-acre community that could feature up to 720 multifamily units. This isn’t the first time a developer tried to reimagine the campus Fluor vacated in 2023. Sugar Land-based Planned Community Developers took a stab at the project, but plans fell through.
Brookhollow Central I, II & III | 2800, 2900 & 2950 North Loop Freeway | 810,091 square feet
The sale of Brookhollow Central is also a distress story. A British Virgin Islands court ordered the owner Hertz Investment Group to liquidate its U.S. assets in 2024 to repay $145 million owed to Israeli bondholders. A joint venture of Dominus Commercial of Irving and Houston-based Meneses Holdings reportedly paid a bargain basement price for the three-building, 810,000-square-foot office complex: $58.4 million, or $72 a square foot. Hertz paid $70.5 million ($87 per square foot) for the property in 2018.
717 Texas | 717 Texas Avenue | 697,195 square feet
Hines offloaded 717 Texas, its downtown theater district office building that’s anchored by electricity company Calpine. Hines and Prime Asset Management developed the building in 2003 and renovated it in 2019. The buyer was New York Life.
One City Center | 1021 Main Street | 594,595 square feet
3L Real Estate envisions a second act for One City Center. The Chicago-based developer bought the downtown office tower, at 1021 Main Street, from Accesso Partners after special servicer Midland took over the property. It’s been in a downward spiral since 2020 when its largest tenant, Waste Management, left, leaving it about 90 percent empty. 3L plans to convert the property into 93 corporate suites for visiting employees and 460 traditional apartments.
Thirty Forty Post Oak | 3040 Post Oak Boulevard | 425,199 square feet
Braun Enterprises picked up the 426,000-square-foot office building, at 3040 Post Oak Boulevard with plans for an extensive renovation. The 22-story tower was about 82 percent leased at the time. Planned upgrades include a fitness center, coffee bar, lobby refresh and exterior enhancements.
Clear Lake Central | 600 Gemini Street | 363,050 square feet
Jet Lending took control of Gemini Office Park near Houston’s Space Port after owner JMK5 Holdings defaulted on a $4.95 million loan tied to the property. The two-story, 363,000-square-foot office complex was built in 1986 and renovated in 2021. It’s home to Houston-based spacesuit maker Axiom Aerospace, which has a 180,000-square-foot lease at the property.
Energy Center I | 585 North Dairy Ashford | 339,764 square feet
Al Khor Holding picked up an office property in Houston’s coveted Energy Corridor, a submarket squarely at the top of corporate tenants’ office wishlists. Energy Center I, at 585 North Dairy Ashford, was previously owned by Spear Street Capital. The 13-story property built in 2008 and renovated in 2020 is home to Omaha, Nebraska-based Kiewit Engineering, which added 106,000 square feet to its lease in 2023 for a total of 277,105 square feet.
Kirkwood Tower | 11757 Katy Freeway | 280,436 square feet
A final distress sale to wrap up the list: Apollo Global Management ownership of Kirkwood Tower after owner Gemini Rosemont defaulted on a $30.9 million loan from Voya Insurance. The 15-story office property sheathed in black glass was built in 1984 and renovated in 2015.