Novel Office acquires Upper Kirby office building, plans improvements

The Dallas-based commercial real estate firm Novel Office has acquired a Class A office building in the Upper Kirby area with plans to make renovations, according to Jan. 8 news release from Transwestern Real Estate Services, which was tapped by Novel to handle leasing at the building.

The overview

The 15-story building located at 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston, was formerly owned by Unilev Management and features 225,895 square feet of Class A office space. In a statement, Novel's Senior Vice President Abhishek Kumar said the company planned to work with Transwestern to implement new lease offerings, including new speculative suites; move-in-ready suites; and turnkey build-outs, agreements in which the tenant provides specifications and cost estimates to the landlord, who handles the build-out of the office.

Novel will also renovate the building's lobby, and plans are in place to provide move-in allowances as well as complimentary two-dimensional and three-dimensional space planning services to tenants.

The details

Building amenities include 24/7 security, a conference center, a tenant lounge, a training room, food service and on-site property management, according to the release.

One more thing

Available space in the building largely lies on the higher floors, according to the release.

Class A office vacancy rates in the Greenway Plaza submarket, where the building is located, clocked in at 24.8% in the third quarter of 2023 office market report from professional services company Colliers International. By comparison, Class A vacancy rates were at 26% in Houston's central business district and 22.3% in the Greater Houston area.

Class A vacancy rates in Greenway Plaza are down slightly from the 27% mark reported by Colliers in its third quarter of 2022 report.