The $22.5 Billion Fallout: 5 Shocking Facts About The ConocoPhillips And Marathon Oil Houston Headquarters Sales
The Houston commercial real estate market has been rocked by a series of high-stakes transactions involving two of the energy sector's biggest names: ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil. As of December 14, 2025, the dust has largely settled on the property divestitures that followed ConocoPhillips' monumental $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil, but the details of the sales—both the Marathon HQ and the previous ConocoPhillips campus—reveal a dramatic, multi-billion-dollar shift in the city's corporate landscape.
The story of the "conocophillips marathon houston headquarters sale" is not one single event, but a fascinating, two-part saga of corporate consolidation, massive asset shedding, and the dramatic repurposing of prime Houston real estate. These deals underscore the profound changes facing the Energy Corridor and CityCentre districts as oil and gas giants streamline their operations and monetize non-core assets.
The Marathon Oil Headquarters Sale: A Post-Merger Divestiture
The most direct answer to the query involves the sale of Marathon Oil’s corporate home. Following the announcement of the definitive merger agreement in May 2024 and its completion on November 22, 2024, ConocoPhillips moved swiftly to divest non-essential assets, including the former Marathon Oil headquarters.
1. ConocoPhillips Immediately Offloaded the CityCentre Tower to a Local Titan
The gleaming, 15-story office tower at 990 Town and Country Boulevard, which served as Marathon Oil's corporate headquarters, was quickly put on the market and sold by ConocoPhillips to MetroNational. This transaction, completed just months after the $22.5 billion merger, was a clear signal of ConocoPhillips’ strategy to consolidate operations and streamline its real estate footprint. The sale price was not publicly disclosed, but the building was a significant asset, appraised by Harris County at $164.7 million as of January.
- Property: Former Marathon Oil Headquarters
- Address: 990 Town and Country Boulevard, CityCentre, Houston
- Size: 442,000 square feet
- Seller: ConocoPhillips (acquired via Marathon Oil merger)
- Buyer: MetroNational
- Significance: The purchase was MetroNational's largest acquisition in more than a decade, cementing its dominance in the Memorial City/CityCentre area.
2. The Tower is Being Transformed into a Multi-Tenant Class-AA Hub
The sale to MetroNational was not merely an exchange of ownership; it was a strategic move to integrate the property into one of Houston's most successful mixed-use developments. MetroNational, the principal developer of the adjacent CityCentre and Memorial City areas, has announced plans to convert the nearly vacant Marathon tower into a premier multi-tenant Class-AA office building. This transformation aims to attract a diverse array of businesses, moving the property away from its single-tenant energy identity and integrating it fully into the vibrant CityCentre lifestyle district.
The Former ConocoPhillips Campus Sale: A Multi-Year, Multi-Million Dollar Saga
The second, and equally dramatic, property sale involving ConocoPhillips was the divestiture of its massive former corporate campus in the Energy Corridor. This sprawling, 1.4 million square-foot property was a major piece of Houston real estate history, and its sale involved a complex chain of ownership changes.
3. The Original Campus Sale Involved Multiple Energy Giants and a $565M Mega-Deal
The ConocoPhillips Energy Center, a 68-acre, 17-building campus at I-10 and Eldridge, was first sold by ConocoPhillips to Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) in January 2019 for $90 million. This was a key step in ConocoPhillips' move to a smaller, new headquarters across Interstate 10. The property changed hands again quickly when The Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC) purchased it from Oxy in December 2019 as part of a much larger $565 million deal that also included former Anadarko towers in The Woodlands.
4. The Howard Hughes Corporation Took a Shocking $7 Million Loss
The most startling detail of the former ConocoPhillips campus saga was the subsequent sale by The Howard Hughes Corp. to local developer Midway. HHC sold the 68-acre site for just $25 million—a figure reported to be $7 million below its market value. This massive loss highlighted the challenging market conditions for large, single-user corporate campuses in the Houston area, especially as companies downsize their physical footprints. The significant price drop from the initial $90 million in 2019 to $25 million in the subsequent sale underscores the rapid depreciation of specialized office assets in the wake of the pandemic and the energy downturn.
- Property: Former ConocoPhillips Energy Center Campus
- Location: I-10 and Eldridge, Energy Corridor District
- Size: 68 acres, 1.4 million square feet
- Final Seller: The Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC)
- Final Buyer: Midway Development
- Final Sale Price: $25 million
5. A New Mixed-Use District, 'Watermark,' Rises from the Energy Corridor Ashes
The $25 million acquisition by Midway was not the end of the story, but the beginning of a massive redevelopment project. Midway, a Houston-based real estate development and investment firm, is transforming the sprawling former ConocoPhillips campus into a premier mixed-use destination called Watermark. This project represents a major shift for the Energy Corridor, moving away from its monolithic corporate identity toward a sustainable, lifestyle-focused destination.
The Watermark development is set to feature a mix of residential, retail, and office space, effectively creating a new urban center within the Energy Corridor District. The repurposing of this immense corporate campus into a diverse mixed-use hub is a powerful example of how Houston's commercial real estate is adapting to the post-pandemic, post-merger reality of the energy sector. The two sales—the Marathon HQ to MetroNational and the former ConocoPhillips campus to Midway—are landmark deals that define the new era of Houston's corporate landscape, moving assets from the balance sheets of energy giants to the hands of local developers focused on community-integrated, multi-use environments.
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