MetroNational Buys Houston Tower

MetroNational has acquired the former Marathon Oil headquarters in Houston, the buyer announced Wednesday. The 15-story, 442,000-square-foot Class A office tower in the CityCentre district reportedly is MetroNational’s largest acquisition in a decade.

A MetroNational spokesperson confirmed to Commercial Property Executive that the company is not disclosing the purchase price.

The building’s seller was ConocoPhillips, which is also based in Houston and which acquired and absorbed Marathon Oil in November 2024.

990 Town and Country was completed in 2022, on a 3.4-acre site and was designed by Houston-based architects Munoz + Albin. It features an amenities floor with a conference center with breakout rooms, a grab-and-go cafe, outdoor dining spaces, a resort-style courtyard, lounge and rooftop terrace.

---

READ ALSO: Office Tenants Closer to Getting Hybrid Right

---

In a company statement, MetroNational President Scooter Hicks noted that the building’s near-total vacancy provides “a unique value-add opportunity.”

The building’s location, at 990 Town and Country Blvd., at the I-10 and Beltway 8 intersection, puts it in the Katy Freeway East submarket, adjacent to CityCentre and less than a mile from Memorial City. The latter is a 300-acre, mixed-use development, entirely owned and managed by MetroNational, that encompasses more than 10 million square feet of Class A office, multiple retail centers including Memorial City Mall, more than 1,700 multifamily units, two upscale hotels (Hotel ZaZa Memorial City and The Westin Memorial City) and Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center.

MetroNational represented itself in the acquisition. JLL’s Brandon Clarke, Kevin McConn, Rick Goings, Sanford Criner and Jeff Cairns represented ConocoPhillips.

Houston’s office market sees gradual improvements

Houston’s office market turned around noticeably in the second quarter, racking up 213,912 square feet of positive net absorption, though year-to-date absorption is still a negative 74,178 square feet, according to a recent report from JLL. Sizable moves by Chevron Phillips Chemical and Blue Cross Blue Shield helped to animate the sector.

Overall, vacancy ended the second quarter at 26.2 percent, which was down 90 basis points year-over-year. In the flight to quality seen in so many markets, however, newer Class A office properties (those completed since 2015) saw a record-low vacancy of 11.1 percent.

Further good news is that five office buildings now underway across four submarkets are 83 percent preleased, also according to JLL.