Doug Agarwal’s Firm Lands Massive Lease in Energy Corridor

Doug Agarwal’s Austin-based investment firm has secured a substantial lease at its five-story office building in one of the city’s hottest office submarkets.

DNV USA, the American division of Norwegian industrial services company DNV, inked a deal for 62,800 square feet in the Offices at Greenhouse, a 203,000-square-foot Class A office building at 19219 Katy Freeway in the Energy Corridor, the Houston Business Journal reported.

DNV USA will relocate from its space at 1400 Ravello Drive, near the Grand Parkway and Interstate 10 in Katy. The company is building out its new space and expects to move in by summer.

JLL’s Collin Grimes represented DNV USA in the lease negotiations, while Transwestern’s Jack Scharnberg, Doug Little and Kelli Gault represented the landlord, Capital Commercial Investments.

When AECOM ended its lease in the Offices at Greenhouse to relocate operations to One Memorial City Plaza at 800 Gessner Roade, it left the Capital Commercial with a significant vacancy. The move brought the building’s occupancy down to 45 percent.

However, the DNV USA lease raises the building’s occupancy back up to 74 percent, with just 52,300 square feet available, including a full-floor 43,000-square-foot suite.

The building offers amenities including a conference center, tenant lounge, bike storage and on-site security.

Capital Commercial purchased the building from a real estate investment trust linked to KBS Realty Advisors for $17.6 million. The deal closed last year for $87 per square.

The landlord plans to add a fitness center, a shaded patio and cooling outdoor misters. As part of the lease agreement, Capital Commercial is also installing electric vehicle charging stations.

The firm has been expanding its presence in Houston, recently acquiring Energy Crossing II, an eight-story office building at 15011 Katy Freeway.

The Energy Corridor office market has shown improvement, with JLL reporting a drop in vacancy rates across the Katy Freeway West, Katy Freeway East and Westchase submarkets from 23.8 percent to 22.5 percent between the fourth quarters of 2023 and 2024.

— Andrew Terrell