HOUSTON, TX, (August 2, 2010) – Greenway Plaza became the first Houston and largest suburban office park to ever win an international TOBY award, capturing the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) 2010 outstanding suburban office park of the year honors.
The coveted TOBY award is the highest achievement in the commercial office management industry and distinguishes Greenway Plaza as the best managed and operated office park in its class. BOMA officials claim Greenway Plaza’s 55-acre office park with 4.2 million square feet of office and retail space is the largest portfolio to win any TOBY award in the competition’s 25-year history. Bob Carlen, vice president of property management for Crescent Real Estate and Greenway Plaza, and Jim Wilson, managing director of asset management for Crescent Real Estate, attended BOMA’s international conference and accepted the award for Greenway Plaza. “Crescent is honored to be recognized for our efficient office design, our customer service and for the amenities that we provide our customers, such as Energy Star certified energy efficient buildings,” said Carlen. “We felt very privileged to have won the local and regional awards but to be distinguished on the international level is beyond tremendous.”
Carlen added the significance of the TOBY award is that it recognizes Greenway Plaza as the most professionally managed and operated office property in its class on an international level. “Greenway Plaza is a premier master planned business development offering an environment uniquely tailored to the needs of today’s businesses and our customers,” Carlen said. According to Tammy Betancourt, executive vice president of BOMA Houston, the Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) award honors the best-of-the-best in commercial buildings and the 2009-2010 awards cycle saw a record 94 regional winners competing for the international award in 14 categories.
BOMA’s international TOBY award competition is open to commercial office properties in BOMA’s international affiliate organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico and Australia. “Greenway Plaza is the largest portfolio to ever enter in any category,” said Betancourt. She added a qualifier that BOMA official records go back just ten years, however, the staff goes back more than 20 years and no one remembers a larger portfolio ever being entered.
Houston BOMA is a network of more than 600 commercial real estate professionals representing over 250 million square feet of commercial real estate in the Houston area and a tax base of $17 billion. In addition to being the largest property to win the competition, Greenway Plaza was the oldest property competing in its category. “It is testimony to the vision of the original developer, Kenneth Schnitzer, as well as to the upgrades and improvements made over the past 42 years that Greenway Plaza remains best-of-class,” Carlen said. “Mr. Schnitzer’s plan to establish a suburban business park the size of a 95-city block business center on the edge of downtown was visionary at the time,” Carlen added. “The addition of a transportation center with the only direct mass transportation access to an office park, the retail, hospitality and entertainment options, as well as many other amenities that have been added allowed Greenway Plaza to grow as a distinctive neighborhood and a Houston icon.” Also during the BOMA international conference, Greenway Plaza received its second consecutive BOMA 360 Performance Building designation for all 10 Greenway Plaza buildings.
The 360 Program was inaugurated in 2009 to recognize commercial properties that demonstrate the highest standards of excellence and best practices in all major areas of building operations and management. Of 23 buildings recognized nationally in 2009, Greenway Plaza received 10 wards.
ABOUT GREENWAY PLAZA
Greenway Plaza, Houston’s premier master planned business development, is a 10-building complex featuring 4,250,641 square feet of Class A office space. The campus is also home to The Shops at Greenway, which include a unique selection of retail options and a full service food court. Located just five miles southwest of downtown Houston, the 55-acre business park and mix-use community includes residential condominiums, a luxury hotel and comprehensive athletic/social club, and provides easy access to major thoroughfares and convenient transportation alternatives. For more information, visit Greenway Plaza’s web site at www.greenwayplaza.com.
ABOUT CRESCENT
Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Through its subsidiaries and joint ventures, Crescent owns and manages a portfolio of 35 premier office buildings totaling over 17 million square feet located in select markets across the United States with major concentrations in Dallas, Houston, Denver and Las Vegas. Crescent also holds investments in resort residential developments in locations such as Scottsdale, Vail Valley, and Lake Tahoe; luxury hotels; and the wellness lifestyle leader, Canyon Ranch®. For more information, visit Crescent’s web site at www.crescent.com.
Back to All News