Two Briar Lake Plaza to Be Anchored by Samsung Engineering

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

After landing Samsung Engineering as anchor tenant, Behringer Harvard REIT I is now ready to develop the final phase of Houston’s BriarLake Plaza: a 332,000-square-foot, Class A office building.

Two BriarLake Plaza will be constructed on a 1.5-acre site at the corner of W. Sam Houston Parkway and Briar Forest Drive in the heart of the Westchase Management District, one of the strongest office markets in Houston. It will consist of 332,000 rentable square feet in 12 stories of office space, built on top of a seven-level parking pedestal.

Half the space slated for development at Two BriarLake Plaza has been pre-leased to Samsung Engineering America Inc. to serve as its North American headquarters. Based in Seoul, South Korea, Samsung Engineering is a global engineering, procurement, and construction and project management company delivering services to hydrocarbon, industrial and infrastructure customers.

Designs for the construction of Two BriarLake Plaza reflect the goals of achieving a minimum LEED Core and Shell Certified Silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council and operating under the EPA’s Energy Star standards. New development at the complex will be guided by the same outstanding architectural and engineering teams that were directly involved in the construction of One BriarLake Plaza.

Two BriarLake Plaza will add a deli, a fitness center and a conference center to the BriarLake complex, shared by both properties. When construction is completed in the first quarter of 2014, the BriarLake Plaza complex will comprise more than 830,000 rentable square feet of office space.

Behringer Harvard REIT I Inc. acquired the adjacent One BriarLake Plaza in September 2008. One BriarLake Plaza comprises 502,410 rentable square feet of office space built on a 9.3-acre site. With its exceptional location and amenities, One BriarLake Plaza has consistently ranked among the most desirable office properties in Houston, and for several years it has been one of the best-performing office properties owned by the REIT. One BriarLake Plaza is 100 percent leased to tenants including Apache Corp., Samsung Engineering America, Microsoft, PetroChina and Zurich Insurance.

Image: One Briar Lake Plaza via www.onebriarlakeplaza.com

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