"Over the years, Emerson has bought so many companies theyinherited all these locations across Houston," says Jon Silbermanof NAI Houston, who represented Emerson along with Rachel Quintero."Cost savings is the motivator for consolidation. You can have onereceptionist instead of many; one IT person and one network."

Silberman tells GlobeSt.com that it took nearly 18 months to getall of the geographically dispersed business units on the samepage. "Space wasn't hard to find, but getting all the companies tomake a decision was a challenge," he says.

Emerson will have roughly 15,000 sf on the first floor and theremaining space will be on the fourth floor. Merrill Lynch movedout of the first floor space about eight months ago, says KurtKistler, a leasing associate with RM Crowe Co. He and Crowe'ssenior vice president Joel Dalak represented the building owner'sinterests.