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There are seven major office projects proposed for the Downtown business district. But only two are currently under construction – Hilcorp Energy Tower and 609 Main Street.
“I would expect to see proposals for new buildings to slow down until more of these buildings have secured their anchor tenants,” says Bruce Rutherford, international director in the Houston office of commercial real estate firm JLL.
Rutherford says the rapid pace of construction west of downtown – where strong hiring in the energy sector has driven demand — may not be sustainable much longer.
“We do think that we’re going to see higher vacancy rates in the Energy Corridor and in the Westchase market, in the West Houston markets, in particular,” he says.
Roughly a dozen new office buildings are slated to go up in the Energy Corridor and Westchase over the next year to 15 months, adding about 7.5 million square feet of office space.
