Year-End 2019 Downtown Houston Market Report Central Houston, Inc. and Houston Downtown Management District From street level to skyline, Downtown Houston had a strong year. A number of 2019’s Downtown highlights include the completion of the 35-story Class A Bank of America Tower in June and Brookfield Properties’, Downtown’s largest office building owner, October announcement of an extensive renovation of its 53-story Heritage Plaza. By year-end, more than 12.6 million square feet of office space is under renovation throughout 13 buildings, including Allen and Houston Centers. Downtown Houston Market Report Year-End 2019 1 EXECUTIVE SUmmARY (coNTINUED) The AC Hotel by Marriott opened in July in the and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority’s Launch 105-year-old renovated Houston Bar Center and the Pad, an inclusive space for entrepreneurs and startups Cambria Hotel Houston Downtown Convention Center that will house MassChallenge Houston and gener8tor. shortly afterwards in early-August (earning AAA’s Four Diamond designation this fall), followed by the Meanwhile, during the fourth quarter several signifi- C. Baldwin Hotel debuting its property-wide remake cant announcements and developments became news. in October. Skanska USA Commercial Development acquired four parcels of land totaling 3.5 acres near Discovery Green Two groundbreaking food halls opened for business, for $55 million with plans to develop a mix of office, including Bravery Chef Hall located on the ground level multifamily and retail while selling a 90 percent stake of the 32-story Aris Market Square, which was preceded in the Bank of America Tower. Beacon Capital Partners by Understory operating as an experienced-focused has agreed to aquire the building for $373 million. food hall and community gathering space at the tunnel Other investor activity include Hines and an affiliate level of the Bank of America Tower. While Downtown’s of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management residential population saw occupancy climb to LP, purchasing Downtown Houston’s tallest skyscraper, nearly 90 percent, The Preston, a 373-unit Downtown commonly referred to as the JPMorgan Chase Tower, 46-story multifamily high-rise under construction by located at 600 Travis, as well as the adjacent build- Houston-based Hines, began its vertical climb and is ing formerly known as JPMorgan Chase Center, for expected to be completed in 2022. Downtown’s green a reported $627 million total with plans for renova- spaces all had news: Discovery Green was named one tions. Two highly awaited restaurant openings this of America’s Great Places 2019 by the American final quarter included the debut of Rosalie Italian Soul, Planning Association and plans were unveiled for the chef Chris Cosentino’se chic, American-Italian restau- new Southern Downtown Park with construction set rant inside Downtown’s C. Baldwin Hotel and chef to start in spring/summer 2020 with an opening the Troy Guard’s Guard and Grace, the spacious 15,000 following year. square foot steakhouse in Allen Center designed by BOSS.architecture. Also taking place this year, Downtown’s Innovation Hub saw two nationally ranked, top-15 programs come Capping off a year of new growth and contin- to Houston’s urban core, Boston-based MassChallenge ued expansion for Houston’s urban core, the 2020 Inc. and Milwaukee-based gener8tor. WeWork opened Downtown outlook is bright: Camden Downtown, the its second location in 609 Main at Texas; The Squared, newest Class A multifamily project, will open in the the new cow-working concept by Hines commenced spring, the renovation of Allen and Houston Centers operations in 717 Texas; and The Cannon launched The will have made significant progress and Common Bond Cannon Tower at Amegy on Main, the company's third Café and Bakery will open in Understory. Keep your in a growing network of spaces across the city. Amegy shades handy. on Main will also soon be the home to Central Houston’s Downtown Houston Market Report Year-End 2019 2 Market Overview OFFICE OfficE Prime office space prevailed in leasing and inves- feet. Meanwhile, the construction pipeline closes the HIGHLIGHTS tor activity this year. Downtown’s expanding Class A year as robustly it began it. The largest office project sector outperformed the broader market with more underway includes the 47-story, 1.1 million square than a half a million square feet in direct net absorption foot Texas Tower being developed by Hines, slated to during 2019, more than twice last year’s absorption deliver in late 2021. Texas Tower is currently 38 per- 51,469,131 sf total, and the bulk of the year-to-date gains taking cent pre-leased with recent transactions inked by law place in newly built projects. For example, the deliv- firm Vinson & Elkins in 214,000 square feet and Hines office inventory ery of the 780,000 square foot Bank of America Tower taking down 155,000 square feet with plans to relo- during the second quarter of 2019 came online 86 per- cate its global headquarters from the Williams Tower cent pre-leased including leases by Waste Management in Uptown upon the tower’s completion. Another proj- 1,273,699 sf in 284,000 square feet, law firms Winston & Strawn ect to watch is Lovett Commercial’s redevelopment and Shearman & Sterling in nearly 100,000 square feet, to transform the former post office at 401 Franklin, under construction Quantum Energy Partners in 32,000 square feet and renamed Post Houston, into a 550,000 square foot Bank of America consolidating its Downtown locations multiuse development that broke ground in mid-2019. in 210,000 square feet—capturing naming rights in the This project on Downtown’s northwest side is planned process. The notable transactions topped off what has to contain 130,000 square feet of office space, 60,000 602,578 sf been a remarkable decade for Downtown’s office leas- square feet for retail, a 45,000 square foot market hall ing market. and 20,000 square feet of coworking space. planned At the beginning of 2010, Downtown contained 31.3 Downtown development and investor activity were million square feet of Class A office space throughout evenly spread in the final half of the year. As 2019 came 34 buildings; fast forward to the close of 2019 and to a close, Skanska USA Commercial Development had Downtown counted 40 total Class A buildings and two major announcements: the prolific developer an inventory increase to nearly 35.5 million square purchased four land parcels totaling 3.5 acres near Discovery Green for $55 million with plans to develop a mix of office, multifamily and retail that could trans- form the axis of Downtown commercial and residential activity in the decade ahead. Conversely, Skanska also sold a 90 percent stake in the Bank of America Tower shortly after acquiring the Downtown land sites. Beacon Capital Partners agreed to acquire the building for $373 million. Reflecting leasing demand for prime space, global investor interest followed suit: Houston- based Midway and Lionstone Investments, and parent company, Boston-based Columbia Threadneedle Investments, secured the $140 million refinancing for Downtown’s GreenStreet, the 11-story, 617,000 square foot office, entertainment and retail devel- opment spanning from Downtown’s Main to Caroline Streets. Capping off recent investor activity, Hines and an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, bought the Downtown Houston sky- scraper commonly referred to as the JPMorgan Chase Tower, located at 600 Travis, as well as the adjacent building formerly known as JPMorgan Chase Center for a reported $627 million total. Renovations are planned for 600 Travis, which is the tallest building in Texas at 75 stories and contains more than 1.7 million square feet of office space. 600 Travis Downtown Houston Market Report Year-End 2019 3 Market officE (coNTINUED) Overview Consequently, Downtown’s office sector saw sharp- ened leasing and investor activity in 2019—including new coworking spaces that now total more than 400,000 square feet of space. During this year alone, these include WeWork opening its second Downtown location in 56,000 square feet at 609 Main at Texas, 28,000 square feet for The Square was unveiled by Hines in 717 Texas and The Cannon opened its new Downtown coworking site which will include Central Houston’s and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority's 17,000 SF entrepreneurial working space, the Launch Pad, opening in early summer 2020 and will serve as the home for global innovation accelerators Boston-based MassChallenge and Milwaukee-based Gener8or. Key take-aways for the office sector this year—and the decade, for that matter—illustrate how Houston’s largest office submarket grows with the times and adopts new Bayou City work environ- ment trends. Downtown’s sublease space availability, which peaked in late 2016 at 2.8 million square feet, is in line to put the conundrum behind the office leasing sector according TC Energy Center to the discussion at Bisnow’s Future of Downtown event held in October. “One thing that's not known Chicago-based international law firmWinston & yet, we’re working on [lease] documents which will Strawn began building out the two floors leased definitely help the actual market but also the psychol- during December 2018 in Bank of America Tower (800 ogy behind it,” Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice Capitol). Building permits issued by the city of Houston Chairman Tim Relyea said. Relyea projects that by the show the firm expects to spend $8.1 million in order to end of the year, all the ‘sublease hangover’ will have renovate the 60,223 square feet it will occupy on floors either been leased, had terms expire converting it to 23 and 24 of the building.