HOUSTON — CBRE has secured a long-term sublease of 35,000 square feet on behalf of Costello Engineering at CityWestPlace in Houston’s Westchase submarket. The Houston-based engineering and surveying firm will relocate its approximately 140 employees from 9990 Richmond in April 2018.
The space was previously part of a single-tenant corporate campus occupied by Statoil, the Norwegian energy company that placed several floors of surplus office space on the sublease market after the energy sector experienced a pronounced downturn.
“The timing of this transaction worked in our client’s favor given the growing availability of sublease space,” said Kevin Saxe, first vice president at CBRE. “We secured one of the nicest suburban office campuses in Houston, offering significantly more amenities at a cost comparable to what Costello was paying in Class B space.”
The availability of the Statoil space gave Costello Engineering the chance to upgrade its work environment without dramatically increasing occupancy costs.
“We have always made decisions with our employees’ wellbeing in mind, but premium office locations were typically out of reach because of cost,” said Dustin O’Neal, President of Costello. “When we discovered that CityWestPlace was attainable at nearly the same cost as our existing lease, the choice was clear. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up for our people.”
The larger Statoil sublease, which has been reported at about 190,000 square feet, has now been reduced by this transaction, making the available space more manageable for the market.