BBVA Compass Announces Construction of New Eco-Efficient Corporate Office Building in Houston

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.

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"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