Kiewit Engineering Group expanded its lease in Energy Center I by more than 100K SF, bringing its total space to 277K SF and showing continued movement for West Houston’s office market.

Kiewit, a construction and engineering organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, first leased 171K SF in the building in 2020, GlobeSt reported. The new lease will accommodate the company’s growth, according to a news release.

The expansion means Kiewit will occupy the majority of Energy Center I, a 334K SF Class-A building at 585 North Dairy Ashford Road in the Energy Corridor.

The Westchase and Energy Corridor/Katy Freeway West submarkets captured 26% of Houston’s 10K SF-plus office leases in the 12 months prior to Q1 2023, according to data Avison Young provided to Bisnow this week. Katy Freeway East/Memorial City captured another 7%.

Kiewit’s expansion brings Energy Center I to 86% leased and leaves two floors vacant, Transwestern Real Estate Services said in a press release.

Energy Center I was built in 2007. Spear Street Capital bought the building in 2017 and put in $3.5M worth of capital improvements, GlobeSt reported.

The lease is the largest in the Energy Corridor in the past year, according to Avison Young data. While Houston’s overall office market has about 25% vacancy, Class-A is performing much better. The direct vacancy for the category known as trophy assets stands at 16%, Avison Young data shows, while Class-A built since 2010 has 11.6% vacancy.

“Energy Center I is an excellent facility that provides Kiewit’s employees with a productive and attractive work environment,” Transwestern Executive Managing Director Eric Anderson said in the release. “This is yet again another example of the trend of flight-to-quality that we are seeing across Houston.”

Building amenities include a full-scale cafeteria, a lobby coffee bar, a fitness center and locker rooms, and on-site security.

Anderson and Transwestern Senior Vice President Katy Gragg represented the landlord, Spear Street Capital, in the transaction. Louie Crapitto of JLL and David Kimball of SquareFoot represented the tenant.