HOUSTON, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BBVA Compass today
announced plans for the construction of a new eco-efficient
corporate office building in Houston located at 2200 Post Oak Blvd. The new
BBVA Compass corporate office building is designed to meet all
LEED® gold standard requirements, the second highest certification
in the rating system. The new facility will allow BBVA Compass to
centralize operations that are currently spread across four
different offices throughout the Greater
Houston area. In addition to the corporate office building,
BBVA Compass will also be relocating its Op and Tech center located
in Port West to a new facility that is being renovated to meet
LEED® gold interior certification.
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110413/DA82638)
"Combining our corporate offices into centralized locations in
key markets such as Houston,
Dallas and Birmingham is a natural
evolution in the integration of our U.S. banking franchise," said
Manolo Sanchez, BBVA U.S. Country
Manager and President and CEO of BBVA Compass. "In addition to the
eco-friendly design and state-of-the-art technology of the new
building, bringing together our employees into a single location
will foster a more open communication channel and sharing of ideas
amongst our team."
The 380,000 square-foot Houston
building, of which BBVA Compass will occupy approximately 150,000
square feet, will unite the bank's local executives, multiple
business areas and staff units under a single roof. The move is
designed to streamline BBVA Compass' widely dispersed real estate
facilities established in 2009 when BBVA combined its four U.S.
subsidiaries – Compass Bank, State National Bank, Texas State Bank
and LNB (formerly Laredo National Bank) – under the BBVA Compass
banner.
The addition of this new office comes on the heels of similar
corporate announcements made by the BBVA Group. BBVA headquarters
in Mexico City and Madrid were recently upgraded to include
state-of-the-art technology systems and sustainable design
elements. BBVA Compass operations in both Birmingham and
Dallas, which are also spread
throughout each of the communities, are on tap to undergo similar
building upgrades, with location scouting and research already
underway.
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an
internationally recognized green building certification system,
providing third-party verification that a building or community was
designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance
in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions
reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship
of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED is intended to provide
building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying
and implementing practical and measurable green building design,
construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
Redstone Real Estate, a Houston-based diversified company that
specializes in private equity, hospitality and real estate, will be
the developer of the project. Manhattan Construction has been
brought on to manage the overall build, with work on the project to
begin immediately. BBVA Compass expects to begin occupancy of the
building by the end of the first quarter of 2013. The official
ground breaking for the space is scheduled to take place in
May 2011.
ABOUT BBVA COMPASS
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that
operates more than 716 branches including 380 in Texas, 93 in Alabama, 65 in California, 77 in Arizona, 45 in Florida, 36 in Colorado and 20 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top
20 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and
ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (3rd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (5th). BBVA Compass has been
recognized as one of the nation's leading Small Business
Administration (SBA) lenders, earning 'Lender of the Year' honors
in 2009 and 2010. Additional information concerning BBVA Compass
can be found on our website www.bbvacompass.com.
BBVA Compass is a subsidiary of Compass Bancshares, Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA). BBVA is a
financial services group with approximately $740 billion in total assets, 47 million clients,
7,400 branches and approximately 107,000 employees in more than 30
countries. BBVA ranks among the top 20 largest financial
institutions in the world based on market capitalization and 21st
in Global Finance magazine's list of the "World's 50 Safest
Banks" for 2010. BBVA provides its customers around the world with
a full range of financial services, including commercial and
wholesale banking, retail banking services, consumer loans,
mortgages, credit cards, securities brokerage, wealth management,
pension plan management and insurance. The BBVA Group maintains a
leadership position in Spain,
Mexico, Latin America and the Sunbelt Region of
the United States, as well as
operations in China, France, Germany, Hong
Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. More information about the
BBVA Group can be found at www.bbva.com.
SOURCE BBVA Compass