Apache Corp. Renews, Adds to Lease for Total of 497,000 SF

HOUSTON-Apache Corp., one of the main tenants at Post Oak Central in the uptown submarket, opted to stay in its current office building for a few years longer. To that end, the oil company signed a lease renewal of 497,592 square feet for five years beyond the expiration of its current lease, which originally ended in late 2012.

According to online energy publication energydigger.com, Apache Corp. was already in 365,000 square feet at the complex on Post Oak Boulevard, and additional square footage totaling approximately 132,000 square feet was rolled into the lease renewal. Energydigger.com also reported that Apache had been considering a variety of real estate options, including pre-leasing space in a yet-to-be-built commercial development. A press release from landlord Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC detailing the lease noted that Apache secured the additional space at Post Oak Central during negotiations taking place throughout 2011.

Eric Siegrist, vice president of leasing for Crescent at Post Oak Central said, in the press release, that, to his knowledge, the Apache lease renewal is the commercial real estate deal concerning an office renewal so far this year in Houston. The transaction follows on the heels of Noble Energy’s takedown in early January of the 497,000-square-foot former Compaq headquarters in northwest Houston.  In early December, 2011, Shell Oil Co. renewed its 1.2-million-square-foot lease at its downtown One Shell Plaza and Two Shell Plaza.

Tim Relyea and Scott Wegmann with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. represented Apache in the lease negotiations. Siegrist teamed with Bob Boykin, Crescent’s managing director of leasing, to represent the building owner. Those involved with the transaction were not available for comment at deadline.