Shipper Pushes Class A Office Space to Market

HOUSTON-Stolt-Nielsen Transportation is staying in Houston although it’s tossed part of its 60,000-sf, class A office building onto the market. The owner-occupied space in the ship channel has opened up because the Scandinavian firm cut its Houston staff, shipping some workers back to its homeport.

The two-year-old building is situated at 15635 Jacintoport Blvd. in a heavy industrial area, but one more akin to a “forested industrial park,” C.A. Rousser, president of the C.A. Rousser Cos. in Houston, explains to GlobeSt.com. He said the space became available when the firm “made some personnel changes and sent staff to its offices in Rotterdam.” Stolt-Nielsen, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, also owns a large bulk liquid storage terminal in the ship channel.

Stolt-Nieslen has put 15,000 sf on the market. Rousser says preliminary talks have started with some shipping-related firms for the space in a Scandinavian-designed building with amenities such as an on-site cafeteria, health club and day-care center.

The office building is positioned in one of the city’s smallest office submarkets, Gulf Freeway/Pasadena, which has an inventory of about 1.2 million sf. The submarket’s vacancy is 10.2%. The 2002 absorption has been a mere 6,402 sf despite the lowest office rents in the city, about $14 per sf.