Dallas law firm Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr is nearly doubling its Downtown Houston space.

The firm will increase its 21K SF lease to 40K SF over two floors in Pennzoil Place at 700 Milam, the Houston Business Journal reported.

Stream Realty Partners represented Munsch Hardt in the deal. Gensler will design the new space, and Miller LaPoint Construction will be the general contractor.

The new space will have offices for 80 attorneys, the Houston Business Journal reported, and will have a café, a bar, an indoor putting green, soundproof workspaces and technology-equipped "Zoom rooms."

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr has had its Houston office at Pennzoil Place since 2012, and it had already expanded twice. It promoted John Cornwell as managing shareholder in Houston in January, after hiring 20 lawyers in Houston since the beginning of the pandemic. In an interview with Law.com, CEO Phil Appenzeller said the firm plans to grow its Houston office to have as many attorneys as its Dallas HQ. Munsch Hardt has about 160 lawyers across Dallas, Houston and Austin.

The expansion runs counter to recent trends: Law firms have been and are largely expected to continue shrinking their footprints. They are often trotted out as the quintessential traditional tenant with a plethora of large private offices, but law firms have been tweaking their office strategy for years, resulting in the reduction of square feet per employee and more efficient, smaller support space.

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