HOUSTON-Perhaps the most obvious symbol defining the officemarket this past year can be summed up in two words: HessTower. The 844,763-square-foot energy company’sheadquarters recently sold to a Canadian REIT for a record-breaking$442.5 million, with experts telling Globest.comthat this transaction was a strong indication of huge investorinterest.

“The Hess deal, on its own, is a credit long-term lease; but asignificant commitment to Houston on a price per square footbasis,” comments Ken Page, managing director withTranswestern. “But we’re seeing investors comeback into the market to buy multitenant buildings, not on adistressed basis, but because real estate fundamentals are so goodhere.” Such activity, Page adds, is being seen among all classes ofbuildings, with investors ranging from national and internationalinstitutional funds to private buyers backed by equity.

The reason for the growth, comments Jones LangLaSalle research manager Omar Nasser, isattributed to the energy companies. “Obviously office demandincreases as energy companies ramp up operations,” he says. During 2011, he goes on to say, Houston added around 80,000jobs – in 2012, 84,000 more jobs are likely to come online.