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Energy firm Williams Companies has acquired its namesake office tower in Houston, marking a new chapter for the 64-story skyscraper that has defined the Uptown skyline for 40 years.
The transaction, which closed July 20, includes the 1.4-million-square-foot office tower and a parking garage, said Glen Jasek, a senior vice president at Williams' Houston office, in an interview. Jasek declined to disclose the sale price.
Williams agreed to pay more than $300 million for the property, in one of the area's largest single-property office trades since 2019, according to industry news site Green Street News.
The investment underscores Williams' commitment to Houston, Jasek said. The Tulsa-based pipeline company has had a presence in Williams Tower since acquiring Transco in 1995. Williams transports about a third of the nation's natural gas, he said, and it recently expanded into the power generation business.
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"We really want to have more control over our destiny because we do see ourselves growing in the Houston market, and this just gives us that ability to do that while providing a very positive employee experience," Jasek said.
Williams already has about 700 employees operating out of Williams Tower and another 100 working in downtown Houston, he said. The company plans to hire another 100 people in the city by the end of the year, Jasek said.
The seller, Williams Tower LP, an entity tied to Invesco Real Estate, has been pushing Harris County to lower the appraised value of the property, which the county originally pegged at $290 million in May 2026, according to Harris County Court documents. Invesco did not immediately return requests for comment.
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Invesco Real Estate paid $412 million to purchase Williams Tower in 2013, near the height of Houston's oil boom when energy firms were rapidly expanding their office footprints, fueling a surge in investor confidence in Houston's office market. Then the oil bust in 2015 roiled Houston's real estate industry, sending office values tumbling.
Although the office market later stabilized, the pandemic and higher interest rates have continued to hamper the market. So far this year, weighted average prices for Houston office buildings are about $123 per a square foot – about 57% below their peak in 2015, according to Avison Young.
Despite the market swings over the past 15 years, Williams Tower still attracts and retains big name tenants, such as LyondellBasell, Camden Property Trust, CBRE and Morgan Stanlely. The tower is about 83% occupied, according to Williams.
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