Briarwood Group purchases the Energy Center - September 17, 1997 By JEFF TOMICH (Staff Writer) The Briarwood Group, a Tyler real estate investment firm, has purchased the three-story, 45,000 square-foot Energy Center at 719 W. Front St. Martin Heines, a principal in the group, said the good condition of the two upper levels, the mix of small and midsize tenants and ample parking made the office building an attractive investment. The seller was Lucy Corp., a Las Vegas investment firm. A purchase price was not disclosed. Energy Center's top two floors are 75 percent occupied, Heines said. Petroleum engineering firm James Smith & Associates is the largest tenant, occupying more than 4,500 square feet. Other tenants range from 140 to more than 1,000 square feet. Heines said Briarwood Group intends to continue to use of the building's top two levels as office space. And, beginning in several weeks, parts of the ground level will be leased as controlled climate storage units of various sizes to be used as document archives for downtown law firms and other businesses. "This building has a rear entrance, so it's real accessible for that purpose," he said. "And it's already divided into smaller spaces that would be amenable to that." Though Energy Center's top floors are in good condition, Briarwood plans some remodeling work and cut some of the trees to make the building more visible from the road, Heines said. "We're going to open the building up," he said. "It's a very attractive building." As the building's name suggests, the building is closely tied to East Texas' oil and gas industry. Energy Center was originally constructed in 1939. For decades, the building was home to Humble Oil & Refinery Co., which became Exxon U.S.A. Exxon moved to Shelley Drive in the 1980s and eventually left Tyler. Heines, of Martin Heines Properties, is moving his office to the building and provide on-site management. The other principal in the Briarwood Group is a closely held entity that prefers to stay anonymous, Heines said. Briarwood Group formed about two years ago and also owns the former Kmart building at Fifth Street and Beckham Avenue. Written in the Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph. << Archive