HOUSTON | The Watt | 260 FT | 19 FLOORS (REDEVELOPMENT)

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Height figure from CTBUH


Image from LoopNet

Once part of BP's Westlake Park campus in the Energy Corridor, the building has been vacant since ConocoPhillips moved to their new HQ a mile east of this site in 2019. While other properties in the area found success in landing relocations, this particular building struggled and was sold at a sizeable loss in 2022.

Per Bisnow

Office Building That Housed Energy Giants Sells At Massive Loss

February 14, 2022
Lane Gillespie,
Bisnow Houston

Three Westlake Park, which once housed BP Corp. and Conoco Phillips, has sold at a $67.4M loss after sitting vacant through the pandemic.

The 420K SF office at 550 Westlake Park was built in 1983, and has been empty since 2019, when ConocoPhillips' lease expired and it completed its move to a new headquarters facility a few miles away. BP, which occupied more than 40% of the property when it was securitized, vacated in 2015.

Facing imminent default, Three Westlake Park was transferred to special servicing in October 2018 and became real estate owned in July 2019, according to Fitch Ratings, which downgraded the property last year, citing "further certainty of losses" of an estimated 10.1% to 18.6%.

According to the Harris County appraiser, the building had been owned by Goldman Sachs Mortgage Securities Trust with Miami-based LNR Partners acting as special servicer. No immediate sales information was available, although TreppWire reported resolution proceeds on the property's loan ended at $20.6M, according to TreppWire, lower than its $25.2M appraised value.

The property was valued as high as $121.2M in 2014. By 2018, it was listed as one of the largest properties in Houston under special servicing, Bisnow reported previously.

The asset had an outstanding balance of $76.3M as of January, according to TreppWire. With liquidation expenses of $11.7M, CMBS investors were left with losses exceeding $67.4M.

It was an expected loss, according to TreppWire commentary. In 2017, Kroll Bond Rating Agency had eyed a $27M loss for the property, with its loan being $80M at the time. But the oil slump worsened its predicament, as vacant and underperforming office properties are typical for energy downturns. The coronavirus pandemic added yet another drag, one the property struggled to get out from under.

Later that year John Quinlan, a local investor, purchased this tower at auction and sold it last year to form a JV with DeBartolo Development. This is similar to what occurred with Elev8 - the former 1801 Smith Street, which is nearing the end of its conversion to residential.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines...office-conversion-apartment-18638222.php

Former BP, ConocoPhillips office tower transforming into apartments in Houston's Energy Corridor

By Marissa Luck,
Staff writer
Feb 6, 2024

Developers have started to transform a former ConocoPhillips and BP office tower in Houston’s Energy Corridor into a 311-unit apartment building, adding to a growing trend of office to residential conversions taking place across the country.

Florida firm DeBartolo Development is teaming up with local investor John Quinlan to convert Three Westlake, a 19-story office tower known as 550 Westlake Park Boulevard. Quinlan bought the vacant tower in 2022 at an online auction for $21 million and in 2023 sold the tower to a joint venture he struck between his firm and DeBartolo.

Work on the project began late last year, and crews were demolishing parts of the interior this month, a spokesperson for DeBartolo said.

When complete, the apartments are expected to have finishes and amenities similar to those in a residential high-rise in downtown Houston. There will be coworking spaces, a gameroom, a yoga and fitness center, a bike storage room, plus a rooftop pool with grills and cabanas, said Edward Kobel, president of DeBartolo.

“It will feel like a combination of a luxury hotel and a luxury condominium,” Kobel said. “There will be cool amenities like you’d have in a high-rise downtown, but for the rent prices of a low-rise building. It’s an incredible value proposition.”

Proposed rents would be a few cents per square foot above the average for Class A apartments in the Energy Corridor, Kobel said.

Construction would likely take about 18 months, wrapping up likely by late 2025, said Eddie A. Mastalerz, principal at ARC3 Architecture, the architect on the project.

Renderings from the article...

Parts of the glass would be replaced and elements of the concrete would be stained to give the 1980s-era office tower a more modern and residential look as part of DeBartolo Development's conversion of 550 Westlake Park into an apartment community.

ARC3 Architecture

Work has started on converting a 19-story office tower in the Energy Corridor into an upscale apartment community.

ARC3 Architecture

A rooftop pool and club house is planned at future apartment community at 550 Westlake Park.

ARC3 Architecture

Work has started on converting a 19-story office tower in the Energy Corridor into an upscale apartment community.

ARC3 Architecture

The fitness center and yoga room would overlook a detention pond outside.

ARC3 Architecture

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/project...tial-development-tracker/#Three-Westlake

Three Westlake

19-story office-to-residential conversion

DeBartolo Development and investor John Quinlan are converting the Energy Corridor office tower at 550 Westlake Park Boulevard into 311 apartments. The 19-story building — previously home to BP and ConocoPhillips — is expected to have finishes and amenities similar to Class A residential high-rise in downtown Houston.

Photos from the piece

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Now known as The Watt

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines...-energy-corridor-apartments-21016794.php

Exclusive: Inside the $93M transformation of a former BP and ConocoPhillips tower into luxury apartments


By Marissa Luck,
Staff Writer
Aug 30, 2025


Where oil office workers once streamed into corporate cubicles, residents will soon move into one of Houston’s most unique new apartment towers: a $93.3 million office-to-residential conversion of a former BP and ConocoPhillips tower in the Energy Corridor.

Called The Watt, the 311-unit community represents the district’s first office-to-residential conversion project, and a test of whether the trend can work in a 1980s-era building outside downtown. Construction is ongoing on the 19-story community, but the first residents are expected to start moving in early September at the site off Interstate 10 near Terry Hershey Park.

It’s the latest project from DeBartolo Development, Houston investor John Quinlan and ARC3 Architecture — a team that has now completed two conversions in Houston without subsidies. That’s a rare feat in a region where many developers have struggled to make such projects work despite widespread office vacancies.

Houston has 625 office buildings that are less than half occupied, including 318 that are entirely empty, according to CoStar. Yet the complexities and costs of conversions have left many landlords unwilling to attempt them, particularly in towers built in the 1980s and later. This Energy Corridor project breaks the mold, showing how a corporate campus can be reimagined as a residential community.

The Watt also adds new housing to a growing district long dominated by office campuses. Although about 71,000 people work in the Energy Corridor, the housing stock there totals about 17,550 units, according to Homes.com. In recent years, relocations by companies such as Fluor, Baker Hughes and Enbridge have added thousands more workers.

“That means almost 50,000 people are driving in and out of the corridor every day, and many of them would be happy to have housing options closer to their place of employment,” said Zak Miller, manager of the Energy Corridor District.

That could be part of the appeal of The Watt. “To be able to walk out the door (of your office) and across the street to your apartment building is going to be a huge benefit," said Scott Waddington, senior vice president at DeBartolo.

Images from article