Oil and gas firm SM Energy Co. is consolidating into the Wells Fargo Center after merging with a rival company four blocks away.
The Denver company added 50,000 square feet to its existing office space in the tower at 1700 Lincoln St., bringing its total footprint to 124,000 square feet.
The expansion comes on the heels of a $12.1 billion merger with fellow oil and gas firm Civitas Resources Inc. in January. The combined company operates as SM Energy.
“We wanted to have everyone in closer proximity and that helps with all the collaboration and communication postmerger,” said Maureen Doherty O’Shay, spokeswoman for SM Energy.
The company also has 99,000 square feet of office space at 555 17th St., which had belonged to Civitas. It will vacate that space next summer, when the build-out of the new space is completed, O’Shay said. The 17th Street 38-story building is 86% occupied, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s website marketing the property for lease.
SM Energy occupies floors 31 through 33 at 1700 Lincoln, and is adding space on the 36th and 37th floors.
The firm has been in the building only since June 2022 and did a full market review before making the move, so there was no need to go looking for new real estate for the consolidation, according to O’Shay.
“1700 Lincoln was the preferred location. The building has very large floor plates, great parking optionality and some amenities we really valued,” she said. “Thatap where the decision came from.”
The combined SM Energy has 431 employees based in Denver, O’Shay said.
Its lease at 1700 Lincoln runs through May 2035. The 1.2 million-square-foot building is 67% occupied, according to CBRE.
CBRE’s Lee Diamond and Steve Mulhern with Mulhern & Co. represented SM Energy in the Wells Fargo Center lease. Allison Berry and Chris Phenicie of CBRE represented the owner, Brookfield Properties. The property has been in receivership for the past three years, after Brookfield defaulted its loan for the building.
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