A spokesman with NRG tells GlobeSt.com that the move to the 250,000-square-foot Pavilions Towers between Fannin and San Jacinto Streets will effectively combine staff currently located at Fulbright Tower at 1301 McKinney Ave. and 1000 Main St. The spokesman adds that the recently completed Pavilions Towers, part of the mixed-use Houston Pavilions, was a perfect fit for a company that has an open-space workplace environment.

"There were absolutely TIs involved with this deal," comments Eric Anderson, senior vice president with Transwestern's Houston office. Anderson, who teamed with Transwestern vice president Greg Tilton to represent owner Houston Pavilions LP, goes on to say that the quoted lease rate for the building is $23.50 per square foot, triple net.

Tenant broker Chris Oliver with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. says the search for new space started in February, approximately a month before New Jersey-based NRG Energy bought the retail portion of Reliant Energy. Oliver, who worked with C&W's Trey Strake on behalf of the tenant, says the search was confined to the downtown area.

In the meantime, Anderson and Tilton had been busy working potential deals with other tenants for Pavilions when NRG showed up and expressed interest. "We had some pretty active deals working we had to walk away from to accommodate them," Anderson explains. "But the good news is once they closed on their acquisition of Reliant Retail, NRG made a quick decision to address the long-term office needs for its division in Houston."

Thanks to the lease, Anderson and Tilton are done working with Houston Pavilions for the time being, as the team was responsible for the office component. Anderson isn't complaining, however. The original goal had been to get the entire building leased up by mid-2009.

"We ultimately met the lease-up schedule expectations," he remarks. "The building was completed during Q4 of last year, but because of deteriorating market conditions, we thought we'd have to move the goal back." Though Anderson and Tilton had many prospects, they were smaller users. "But then NRG showed up and took all the space," he adds.