The new lease for floors five through 10 at 909 Fannin St. keeps a leading tenant intact and delivers contiguous office space in a one-million-sf office building that's now 96% occupied. The offices, new and old, house Shell Trading US Co., a crude oil products trader, and Coral Energy, a seller of wholesale natural gas and power.

Debbie Wilson, vice president of leasing for Fort Worth's Crescent Real Estate Equities LP, tells GlobeSt.com that Shell will absorb about 18,000 sf vacated by Fibbich & Hampton and Davis Hamilton when they moved into the newly completed 5 Houston Center. The balance of the contiguous office space was released by two existing tenants who relocated to another part of 2 Houston Center so Shell's expansion could be neatly packaged.

Shell, a tenant since September 1996, will use the extra space for an expansion of its existing trading business as well as a consolidation address for several Houston offices. Wilson says construction will begin soon with phased move-ins through next summer.

Although it is known that Shell shopped around before striking the renewal with Crescent, the details of the search and what bargain was struck between the two heavyweights has been kept under wraps. Steve Burkett, Paul Tingley and Garrold Parratt, a Houston team for Dallas-based Staubach Co., did the shopping and the talking for Shell. The brokers did not return telephone calls by press time for comment on the deal.