Houston: tech companies lease 68,000 SF in Town Centre

HOUSTON – Moody Rambin has attracted two tech-related companies, Microsoft and Altus Group, as the first tenants in its Town Centre development at 700 Town & Country Blvd.

The Houston-based company is putting the finishing touches on the first of two planned office buildings in the development, which is surrounded by stores and restaurants in Town & Country Village and is next to additional retail, office, apartment and hotel space at CityCentre.

Microsoft has leased 40,589 sf to consolidate its regional office and technology center in August.

Altus Group, a commercial real estate consulting and software company, has leased 27,194 sf with a move-in date of November.

The ten-story, 253,714-sf Town Centre I near I-10 West and Beltway 8 is 30 percent preleased. Companies will begin moving in later this year after building out their spaces. The project contains a parking garage that can accommodate four cars per 1,000 sf.

Toronto-based Altus Group chose the new building to consolidate its two Houston offices with a total of 120 employees. About 100 of the employees will move from the Galleria-area headquarters of its Argus Software subsidiary.

Town Centre II, an eight-story office building with 150,000 sf, is planned. The timing will depend on how quickly the first building gets leased and the overall health of the market later in the year, said Dan Moody III, principal and managing director of Moody Rambin.

"If we see that the demand is dropping in the market and the Houston economy softens, then we will carefully evaluate if we go forward with the second building," Moody said.