Hess It Is: Discovery Tower All Leased Up

Hot off the Swamplot tipline: Discovery Tower, going up across McKinney St. from Discovery Green Downtown, has its first tenant — and it’ll be taking the whole building.

Beginning in late 2011 — about the time Hess’s current lease at One Allen Center expires — the 30-story tower with the wind turbines on top will be renamed Hess Tower.

After the jump, details from an email announcing the move — sent out to Hess Corporation employees late this morning:

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A key priority is to continue to invest in our people and maintain an organization with strong technical capability to grow our reserves and production on a sustainable basis. To support this priority, we have made a commitment to lease Discovery Tower that is under construction in downtown Houston as our global headquarters for E&P starting in late 2011. Since our lease on One Allen Center is scheduled to expire at that time, it was necessary for us to assess our needs going forward. We evaluated many alternatives, including staying in our current building, and decided Discovery Tower was the best economic and strategic fit for our company.

This new building, to be renamed Hess Tower, will be the first energy efficient Gold LEED design in downtown Houston. It will be located on Discovery Green Park adjacent to the cityâ€™s entertainment center at McKinney and La Branch, where there will be ample onsite parking, easy access to freeways and close proximity to hotels and the convention center. Our new facility, in which we will be the sole tenant, will create an exciting work environment that will enhance collaboration. It will also afford us the opportunity to upgrade our technology resources in a cost-efficient manner and provide the room we need to grow in strategically important areas.

To learn more about our new building, visit the developerâ€™s Web site at http://www.discoverytowerhouston.com.

John B. Hess
Chairman and CEO