ChevronTexaco to Buy 1.2 Million SF Enron HQ in Houston, TX

HoustonChronicle.com - February 26, 2004

The opulent 40-story tower completed by Enron shortly after its collapse will finally be filled. ChevronTexaco Corp. will buy the empty downtown tower as the home for 3,700 Houston employees. The investors who bought it for $102 million at a bankruptcy auction, New York-based Intell Management & Investment Co., said the sale price was not disclosed, but Intell President Gary Barnett said in a release, "Kudos to them for acquiring a trophy building at a fraction of its cost." The gleaming tower was completed shortly after Enron filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2, 2001.

At the time of the Intell purchase, many said $102 million was less than half of what it would cost Enron to complete the unfinished tower. ChevronTexaco also will get a break from the city: It will pay taxes on the building's $80 million base value, the mayor said. The company is expected to add $45 million in improvements.
When that transfer of jobs is complete, ChevronTexaco will have 5,200 workers in Houston. The purchase is expected to close on March 15.

The buy will allow the company to consolidate many of the different office locations in Houston to downtown. Employees in five buildings throughout the city will move into the tower, company officials said. ChevronTexaco has two other buildings in Houston, on Fournace Place and on Briarpark Drive, which it will continue to use. The new acquisition will provide 1.2 million square feet, which is twice the downtown space ChevronTexaco now occupies. The company plans to sell its Chevron Tower at 1301 McKinney.

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