Boeing Finds 157,000-SF Home for Space Center Program

HOUSTON-Toronto-based real estate giant, TrizecHahn Corp., has snagged Seattle-based Boeing Co. as a tenant in 157,000 sf of its 3700 Bay Area Blvd. office building in Clear Lake, a southeast suburb of Houston.

Boeing will be moving into a building near NASA’s Johnson Space Center that will serve as the headquarters for the International Space Station Program. Boeing is the prime contractor charged with the design, development, manufacturing and assembly of the International Space Station. A Boeing source tells GlobeSt.com that the contract is valued at $9 billion.

Boeing has signed a seven-year lease for the Bay Area Boulevard office. The Boeing source explains the space station’s assembly won’t be done until 2006 and the station has a life span of at least 15 years.

Boeing’s building of choice totals 399,000 sf and is a six-story design situated on 21 acres. Boeing is planning to office 840 employees at the site, making it the second largest Boeing office in the Houston area. The office lease brings a consolidation of Boeing’s six sites to four, the source says.

“We needed a first-rate facility to meet our current needs,” says Bill Richard, Boeing’s senior manager of facilities, “with the flexibility to allow for future growth, while still being strategically located near the Johnson Space Center. TrizecHahn learned of our needs and approached us with the perfect solution–their Bay Area Boulevard property.”Paul Layne, TrizecHahn’s senior vice president for office properties, hopes to hold onto the aerospace giant as a tenant for many years.

TrizecHahn Office Properties is the North American arm of the Canadian-based real estate firm. TrizecHahn owns 6.6 million sf in the greater Houston area, including the 3.2 million-sf Allen Center and Cullen Center, totaling three million sf. The Houston portfolio is 97% occupied. “This agreement exemplifies TrizecHahn’s solution-oriented approach to finding the right fit for potential tenants in each of our markets,” emphasizes Layne.