Houston Spaceport Attracts Massive Office Lease Renewal

Houston’s west side office market typically gets all the attention, but a Houston Spaceport lease is putting the city’s aerospace hub in the spotlight.

Electrical infrastructure company Saber Power expanded its presence at 13100 Space Center Boulevard with a 57,000-square-foot lease renewal, according to Partners Real Estate, which arranged the deal. It is unclear how much space the firm had before the deal.  

The six-story, 175,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1993 and renovated in 2019.The property is about 20 miles southeast of Houston and adjacent to the spaceport. It is owned by Houston-based developer JA Billipp Company, which bought the building from Boeing in 2018, after Boeing consolidated its office into a property in the Clear Lake neighborhood. 

The area is a hub for Third Coast Chemicals, which moved its headquarters to the building in 2023 after signing a lease for 22,000 square feet. 

The first phase of Houston Spaceport was completed in 2019. It is home to campuses for companies such as Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space. A second phase will bring retail and hospitality to the port and more infrastructure development. 

Houston’s office market has been struggling to rebound after the pandemic changed remote work norms. Companies started seeking out offices with high-end amenities and strategic locations for their workforces, leaving older office buildings to fall into obsolescence. 

Vacancy at properties built since 2010 averaged 14.9 percent at the end of the first quarter, compared to 27.5 percent in older properties, according to Partners Real Estate. The overall market vacancy rate was 26.2 percent. 

Saber Power isn’t just growing its physical presence; in May, it acquired InoLECT, an electrical engineering company based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Saber, which was founded in 2010, was purchased by Greenbelt Capital Management in 2023. 

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