Houston-based Powers Brown Architecture LLC is the first office tenant in a 280,000-square-foot building undergoing a massive renovation at 2100 Travis St. in Midtown.
Powers Brown signed an 11,637-square-foot lease at Central Square, which occupies the entire city block bordered by Travis, Milam, Gray and Webster streets.
David Baker and Evelyn Ward with Transwestern represented the landlord, Claremont Properties. Drew Lewis and Robert LaCoure with Lee & Associates represented the tenant.
Powers Brown, the 10th-largest architectural firm in Houston, relocated from 1314 Texas Ave. Powers Brown said in a statement it will pursue a wellness certification and LEED certification, which will be made possible by extremely competitive rent rates.
“We chose the Central Square project because we saw an opportunity to yet again be pioneers in an emerging urban location,” Jeffrey Brown, principal of Powers Brown, said in a statement. “We did so 15 years ago in 1999 on the eastern edge of downtown, and we see many of the same opportunities in the Midtown border location.”
Powers Brown designed its own space, and the construction is being done in-house with the landlord.
Central Square includes 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. HBJ previously reported that Malawi’s Pizza signed on as a retail tenant.
Houston-based Estudio Architects designed the renovation of the building that was built in 1957 by legendary Texas oilman Glenn McCarthy. The original Central Square Plaza consisted of a connected 12-floor and 14-floor office building and a parking garage. It was formerly the Central Bank building. The building was also home to McCarthy’s reboot of the famous Cork Club after he sold the Shamrock Hotel to Hilton.
Emily Wilkinson
Managing Editor
Houston Business Journal
