Aramco Americas is the latest energy heavyweight to re-up in downtown Houston’s Allen Center.
The Houston-based subsidiary of Saudi Aramco is renewing its 173,800-square-foot headquarters lease at Two Allen Center, the Houston Business Journal reported.
The Saudi-owned petroleum and natural gas giant has been based at the Brookfield Properties-owned complex since 2017, when it relocated its headquarters via a sublease.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Tim Relyea and Joseph Peddie repped the tenant, while Brookfield was represented in-house by Tyler Merritt alongside CBRE’s Bubba Harkins, Kristen Rabel and Jenny Sealy.
The deal is the latest in a string of recent leasing wins for Brookfield at its three-building Allen Center campus, which includes One, Two and Three Allen Center. The complex has racked up nearly 900,000 square feet of leases over the past six months, the landlord said.
Last month, Motiva Enterprises, Aramco’s downstream energy arm, renewed its 221,000-square-foot lease at One Allen Center, where it has naming rights. Plains All American Pipeline and Freeport LNG also extended or expanded their leases earlier this year, bringing further stability to one of the city’s largest downtown office hubs.
Brookfield completed a major renovation of the Allen Center campus between 2017 and 2021, revamping lobbies, retail bays, air systems and skybridges while adding wellness features and outdoor gathering spaces. Restaurants across the site include Guard and Grace, Rosalie Italian Soul and Tikka.
The cluster of large renewals is a bright spot for the downtown market, which is contending with high vacancy and sluggish leasing activity.
Vacancy rose slightly to 26.5 percent in the first quarter, with most of the pain falling on Class B buildings, according to Partners Real Estate.
Motiva’s recent renewal was framed as a vote of confidence in downtown’s long-term appeal despite market headwinds, a signal seemingly echoed by Aramco’s recommitment. The deals together secure roughly 400,000 square feet of energy tenant presence at Allen Center.
— Judah Duke
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