UBS Wealth Management to move its Galleria office to west Houston
UBS Wealth Management USA Houston plans to move its Galleria Financial Center office to Town Centre I in March.
“We are excited to expand our footprint to the west side of Houston,” UBS Wealth Management USA Houston market head Craig Vandegrift said in an announcement. “It is a vibrant part of the city that is growing at a rapid pace, and our new office in Town Centre I shows our strong long-term commitment to the area.”
The company will occupy 19,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the 10-story building at 750 Town & Country Blvd. The building is next to scores of shops and restaurants in both Town & Country Village and the CityCentre mixed-use development near Memorial Drive and Beltway 8.
The office, under the management of Brad Bishop, will house 60 UBS employees in an open working environment. The branch, one of several in the Houston market, is responsible for nearly $6 billion in client assets.
The UBS deal brings the 250,000-square-foot Town Centre I to nearly 90 percent leased, said Bob Cromwell, managing director of Moody Rambin. Cromwell, along with Kevin Nolan, represented Moody Rambin in the lease, while Trey Strake and Courtney Walker of Cushman & Wakefield represented UBS.
Town Centre is within walking distance of 34 restaurants, Cromwell said. Tenants also have access to a 220-seat auditorium at the nearby Queensbury Theatre for company events and town hall meetings.
Houston-based Moody Rambin completed Town Centre I in 2015 after first landing Microsoft as a tenant for the top two floors. Phase two, an eight-story building totaling 170,000 square feet, will break ground in April on a speculative basis, Cromwell said.
While there’s still a surplus of empty office space in the Energy Corridor following the crash in oil prices in 2014, companies want to be in new buildings in walkable environments such as Memorial City, The Woodlands and CityCentre, Cromwell said. Nearby CityCentre, a project of Midway, has five office buildings in addition to restaurants, stores, apartments and a hotel.
The Energy Corridor submarket recorded a 29 percent vacancy rate including sublease space in the third quarter, according to commercial real estate firm JLL.
While a lot of that space is sitting vacant, it’s not always around amenities, Cromwell said.
“We just feel like the office environment will have corrected a little more and wanted to deliver in the latter part of 2020.”