Dealmakers Bless 10-Year Office Lease for CBD

Tudor, Pickering & Co. LLC was created a month ago when Tudor Capital Partners and Pickering Energy Partners combined forces. The energy investment and merchant banking firm is taking the top two floors in the 51-story high rise at 1111 Bagby St.

Steve DeVinney, principal with Goddard Investment Group LLC in Atlanta, says the space will require extensive build-out. He says Goddard and the tenant are both pitching in for the tenant-improvement costs. Tudor, Pickering & Co. will be moving from 1800 W. Loop South in the Galleria submarket.

The Goddard team says the market has been so active that it's not quoting rates, but instead negotiating on a per-tenant basis. The average class A rate for Downtown space is $26.23 per sf.

The new deal puts Heritage Plaza at 77% occupancy, which includes the exit of Chevron Corp. at the end of this year. When Goddard bought the building in the middle of 2005, occupancy was expected to dip as low as 31% in the wake of Chevron's move. The Tudor Pickering lease comes within weeks of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP signing for 300,000 sf in the building.

DeVinney tells GlobeSt.com that Goddard has seen a lot of traffic at Heritage Plaza in recent months. "I'm not sure whether it was completing the renovations, signing the Deloitte lease or the general economy, but we're seeing a lot more interest," he adds.

DeVinney's colleague, Goddard principal Bill Deyo acknowledges that part of Heritage's strategy was to wait on renovations before aggressively marketing it. "We didn't want to lease space based on a promise, but actually wanted to show tenants what it would look like," he says. "I think the strategy is starting to pay off. But it hasn't hurt that the market has been strengthening."

Matt Schendle and Mark Dickenson, both in Dallas for Atlanta-headquartered Cousins Properties Services LP, represented Goddard in the transaction. Louie Crapitto and David Bale of Staubach Co.'s Houston office represented Tudor Pickering.