3 Comment

• Robert Boyd January 23, 2013 at 9:06 am

  The story of Western Geco leasing the building at 10001 Richmond is a much longer story than the article implies. This building was built by Western Geophysical in the 1970s around the same time the bridge of Buffalo Bayou at Gessner was built. When 10001 Richmond was built, the area was a bunch of empty fields–it was one of the first buildings out there.

  Western Geophysical merged with Dresser Atlas in 1994, and the merged company was purchased by Baker Hughes in 1998. Baker Hughes sold the building and then leased it for Western Atlas. In 2000, Schlumberger bought Western and merged it with Geco-Prakla to create WesternGeco. (All these mergers were taking place in a low oil-price environment that was decimating the seismic industry.)

  So even though WesternGeco signed a new deal for 10001 Richmond, it actually occupied that building continuously for the past 40 odd years.
• Robert Boyd January 23, 2013 at 9:07 am

  Er…”past 30-odd years”
• tanith27 January 23, 2013 at 1:18 pm

  And dont forget, Western used to own all that land west to the beltway as well. Sold it for a fraction of its worth as I recall, I think in part because some remediation was needed.