Bruce Nichols of The Dallas Morning News said that in early 1984 1600 Smith Street "was so vacant it became a symbol for overexpansion in Houston".

[9] By 1987 the Canadian company Trizec Group bought debentures carrying an option to buy portions of the Cullen Center, including 1600 Smith Street.

[17] To make room for the airline and to increase the complex's overall tenancy, Trizec negotiated with the Shell Oil Company to renew a lease of 320,000 square feet (30,000 m2) that was scheduled to expire in 1998.

[17] Tim Reylea, the vice president of Cushman Realty Corp., said that the Continental move "is probably the largest corporate relocation in the central business district of Houston ever".

[16] In September 2000 an electrical component burned out at Continental Center I, and the Houston Fire Department shut off the backup power supply as a precaution.

As a result of the temporary power outage, delays of between 300 and 400 Continental Airlines flights occurred worldwide.

[18] The Texas bureau of Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project opened in office space in Continental Center I in May 2001.

The lease deal filled the building to full occupancy and removed a large portion of available space from the Downtown Houston submarket.

Tim Relyea, the vice chairperson of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., said that Chevron considered other properties before deciding on Continental Center I.

[22] Prior to the signing of the lease agreement, rumors stated that the company was looking for more office space in Downtown Houston.

Steven Biegel, the senior vice president of Studley Inc. and a representative of office building tenants, said that the square footage renewed by Continental is a significant amount of space.

On Wednesday August 2, 2000, the Houston City Council voted 10–4 to stop enforcing the informal agreement and enact a new law that exempts a company from the height restriction if the national headquarters of a company occupies 45 percent or more of a Downtown Houston building of over 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of usable space.

The Mayor of Houston, Lee P. Brown, said that he supported the ordinance change since it was a promise made by Bob Lanier to the airline in exchange for enticing the company to move its headquarters to Continental Center I.