HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[Trae]

Originally Posted by Complex01

The east side of downtown is so dead, it needs more infill. Hopefully the light rail will spur some stuff. There is plenty of room out there. Houston needs some projects to start. I am waiting.

Not since Discovery Green has been there...

[KevinFromTexas]

Gigapan from the roof of Chase Tower. You can scroll and zoom in on buildings way off in the distance.

http://gigapan.org/gigapans/34909/

[Complex01]

Originally Posted by Trae

Not since Discovery Green has been there...

I know that. I meant on the other side of 59. There are a few things but there is room for so much more. Hopefully the new dynamo stadium will open things up.

I do admit that area is fascinating, such a stark contrast to west side of downtown. It has a very industrious feel to it, and the views of downtown are awesome. I like it...

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Complex01

I know that. I meant on the other side of 59. There are a few things but there is room for so much more. Hopefully the new dynamo stadium will open things up.

I do admit that area is fascinating, such a stark contrast to west side of downtown. It has a very industrious feel to it, and the views of downtown are awesome. I like it...

I wish the eastside (refuse to call it Eado) would continue to maintain an industrious feel while it gentrifies but that's wishful thinking.

[TexasPlaya]

Culture Map:Skyscrapers buck the recession: Hines plans another new office tower for downtown Houston

"The Hines real estate organization, which has built 23 skyscrapers in downtown Houston, is planning another one. The project, if it comes together as planned, would result in a major office building on Main Street, catty-cornered from the historic Rice Hotel building.

Hines would not proceed unless a major office tenant has been signed, but the developer has been in serious discussions with significant corporations looking for downtown space. Some people in the real estate community say this could be the real deal — a big tenant ready to make a commitment and kick off another Hines downtown project — and soon.

The development site is bounded by Main, Texas, Fannin and Capitol..."

"...Hines has just completed the 46-story BG Group Place tower at 811 Main Street, just two blocks south of the site of the proposed new building. The BG Group Place, on top of other prior improvements, validated Main Street as a prime corporate address. A few weeks ago, Hines President and CEO Jeff Hines told CultureMap that Main Street is the preferred location for new office projects today.

“If we do the next building, that’s where we would go,” Hines said."

Fantastic news if this pans out. This location is the parking lot a block north of Flying Saucer. Sweet.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Culture Map:Skyscrapers buck the recession: Hines plans another new office tower for downtown Houston

"The Hines real estate organization, which has built 23 skyscrapers in downtown Houston, is planning another one. The project, if it comes together as planned, would result in a major office building on Main Street, catty-cornered from the historic Rice Hotel building.

Hines would not proceed unless a major office tenant has been signed, but the developer has been in serious discussions with significant corporations looking for downtown space. Some people in the real estate community say this could be the real deal — a big tenant ready to make a commitment and kick off another Hines downtown project — and soon.

The development site is bounded by Main, Texas, Fannin and Capitol..."

"...Hines has just completed the 46-story BG Group Place tower at 811 Main Street, just two blocks south of the site of the proposed new building. The BG Group Place, on top of other prior improvements, validated Main Street as a prime corporate address. A few weeks ago, Hines President and CEO Jeff Hines told CultureMap that Main Street is the preferred location for new office projects today.

“If we do the next building, that’s where we would go,” Hines said."

Fantastic news if this pans out. This location is the parking lot a block north of Flying Saucer. Sweet.

That would be an AWESOME thing indeed! Of course, it would be even more awesome if the only thing alive in the evenings and weekends in downtown Houston WAS the Flying Saucer!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Complex01]

Oh I hope they release something soon, and i hope its at least 700 feet. The taller the better. So Kewl. Woo Hoo...

[photoLith]

So, I guess this tower will be taking up the space of that terrible surface parking lot that has the one remnant art deco tower left in the northeastern section of that block right? I hope if something big goes up there they leave the art deco tower and restore it, thats probably wishful thinking though. But, it might be too tall to implode so maybe theres hope yet for that building.

[KevinFromTexas]

Good to hear. Hopefully it'll be something big and tall. A 7 percent vacancy rate is pretty good. That's better than Austin's right now.

[CALMSP]

glad there is something in the works...........although I wish that condo tower would have been built there to get more people downtown 24 hours a day, but nonetheless...............I do hope its a building that can be seen from outside downtown (i.e. - TALL!!)

[Hillaryrocks]

^^^^ Just read that in Culture Map Houston.... i am excited, and i hope it is mixed use (residential and commercial) and yes something 700+ feet, sleek and photovoltaic glass. Please, GOD, nothing tan/ beige boring...please, please, please.

m.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by photolitherland

So, I guess this tower will be taking up the space of that terrible surface parking lot that has the one remnant art deco tower left in the northeastern section of that block right? I hope if something big goes up there they leave the art deco tower and restore it, thats probably wishful thinking though. But, it might be too tall to implode so maybe theres hope yet for that building.

I believe Hines destroyed a similar type building when it built its newest tower on Main St a few blocks down.

[photoLith]

They tore down a 10 story 1920s hotel, the art deco tower on this block is about 25 stories or so.

[WesternSon]

Gotta love Houston's economy, still kickin'.

Besides Shell and Devon leaving downtown. Won't we see Exxon move out in the next 3 years or so with to their Woodlands Compound? Or is that not confirmed?

Downtown has so much potential that's just about to be realized I think. Critical mass is close I think and after that, you will see it really fill up with residents and a more urban feel.

[weatherguru18]

I'm very excited about Exxon-Mobile. It truly will be a compound and a massive one at that. It's going to be a huge boost for The Woodlands/Spring and all of north Harris and South Montgomery Counties. From what I've read, it is going to be 3 million sq. ft. of offices---some 20 buildings.

As far as downtown goes, it's not like we're shuffling a stagnant population around. Houston is growing by hundreds of people a week. People are constantly moving here and in need of jobs. I don't see downtown emptying out...not with all the planned development around DG and Dynamo. Fingers has mentioned another highrise condo project and hines is talking about a new scraper as well. I think we're just getting started. Not to mention, the high oil prices is making Houston a gold mine.

[skys the limit]

Originally Posted by WesternSon

Gotta love Houston's economy, still kickin'.

Besides Shell and Devon leaving downtown. Won't we see Exxon move out in the next 3 years or so with to their Woodlands Compound? Or is that not confirmed?

Not mentioned in CultureMap's article is that Continental Airlines is in the process of shrinking its downtown footprint as well. Hopefully the job losses will be kept to a minimum but of the 3,000 Continental employees in downtown Houston there has been an announcement already that 500 are being eliminated. That also means office space will not be needed by Continental either.

Last Friday the former CEO of Continental wouldn't talk to the Houston press to answer questions about the next steps with the merger and its direct impact on Houston - he just slipped out of the building to avoid press entirely. I'm not sure what that says but if it were super positive it would seem he would have hung around to spread the good news.


United Continental CEO gets camera shy at CERA week:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/b...cera-week.html

----------------------------------------

CultureMap appears to have jumped the gun on their announcement two days ago for the new Hines tower. Here is the article from today's Houston Business Journal that basically does a 180 degree turn around from what CultureMap was trying to do:


New skyscraper for downtown? Not just yet

Houston Business Journal - by Jennifer Dawson
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2011, 3:03pm CDT - Last Modified: Thursday,
March 17, 2011, 3:15pm CDT.

Some real estate watchers may have been surprised to see a report this week that Hines was planning a new downtown skyscraper — and that it could happen soon.

I certainly was.

It seemed odd that Hines would plan a new tower two blocks away from BG Group Place, which recently celebrated its grand opening at 811 Main and is still lining up tenants.

So I checked in with the developer to get an update.

The subject of speculation is a surface parking lot on nearly a full city block Hines has owned for years. The site bounded by Main, Texas, Fannin and Capitol has long been considered a future development site for the Houston-based developer. The 21-story Texas Tower at 608 Fannin sits on part of the block.

Mark Cover, executive vice president with Hines, said via e-mail that an office tower is envisioned for the site, but development is not imminent.

An unnamed architecture firm has completed a schematic design for an office building to be used for marketing purposes. Creating a design is commonplace when a new building is being shopped to potential tenants, Cover said.

Cover would not share the design with the Houston Business Journal.

The Hines executive also would not say how many potential tenants have been approached, but said the firm is talking to energy, law and service firms.

The ultimate size of the building could vary since “it requires substantial pre-leasing,” Cover said in e-mail.

There’s a possibility that construction could begin later this year, but not without a large tenant, he said.

Still, it would take two years to construct a new tower, so it would not be in competition with the 46-story BG Group Place.

“We will not compete with ourselves, but there is strong interest for the remaining space at BG Group Place,” .....

Full article here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/b...-just-yet.html

[KevinFromTexas]

I would imagine with only a 7 percent vacancy rate there's probably not enough space for a large company to come in, especially if they're looking for enough space that would require them to be on several floors. It's unlikely they could have 3 floors of a building that were close to each other. Companies hate having to send employees up and down a building to another office in their company on another floor say 10 floors up. They'd rather have them close together. So Hines should be looking for major tenants that need say 50K or more of space. That's how they could end up with a larger building. Then the rest could be somewhat spec space and maybe residential on top.

[CALMSP]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I would imagine with only a 7 percent vacancy rate there's probably not enough space for a large company to come in, especially if they're looking for enough space that would require them to be on several floors. It's unlikely they could have 3 floors of a building that were close to each other. Companies hate having to send employees up and down a building to another office in their company on another floor say 10 floors up. They'd rather have them close together. So Hines should be looking for major tenants that need say 50K or more of space. That's how they could end up with a larger building. Then the rest could be somewhat spec space and maybe residential on top.

not entirely true. There's a reason why Continental for example has offices in both their Smith street headquarters and at their other building on Jeffereson. It all has to do with money. The cost for office space is way lower in the Jeffereson building.



On another note, yes, the Continental Airlines office space is going to be dwindled to probably about 5 floors in the combined buildings. Basically everyone is going to be out.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by skys the limit

Not mentioned in CultureMap's article is that Continental Airlines is in the process of shrinking its downtown footprint as well. Hopefully the job losses will be kept to a minimum but of the 3,000 Continental employees in downtown Houston there has been an announcement already that 500 are being eliminated. That also means office space will not be needed by Continental either.

Last Friday the former CEO of Continental wouldn't talk to the Houston press to answer questions about the next steps with the merger and its direct impact on Houston - he just slipped out of the building to avoid press entirely. I'm not sure what that says but if it were super positive it would seem he would have hung around to spread the good news.


United Continental CEO gets camera shy at CERA week:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/b...cera-week.html

----------------------------------------

CultureMap appears to have jumped the gun on their announcement two days ago for the new Hines tower. Here is the article from today's Houston Business Journal that basically does a 180 degree turn around from what CultureMap was trying to do:


New skyscraper for downtown? Not just yet

Houston Business Journal - by Jennifer Dawson
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2011, 3:03pm CDT - Last Modified: Thursday,
March 17, 2011, 3:15pm CDT.

Some real estate watchers may have been surprised to see a report this week that Hines was planning a new downtown skyscraper — and that it could happen soon.

I certainly was.

It seemed odd that Hines would plan a new tower two blocks away from BG Group Place, which recently celebrated its grand opening at 811 Main and is still lining up tenants.

So I checked in with the developer to get an update.

The subject of speculation is a surface parking lot on nearly a full city block Hines has owned for years. The site bounded by Main, Texas, Fannin and Capitol has long been considered a future development site for the Houston-based developer. The 21-story Texas Tower at 608 Fannin sits on part of the block.

Mark Cover, executive vice president with Hines, said via e-mail that an office tower is envisioned for the site, but development is not imminent.

An unnamed architecture firm has completed a schematic design for an office building to be used for marketing purposes. Creating a design is commonplace when a new building is being shopped to potential tenants, Cover said.

Cover would not share the design with the Houston Business Journal.

The Hines executive also would not say how many potential tenants have been approached, but said the firm is talking to energy, law and service firms.

The ultimate size of the building could vary since “it requires substantial pre-leasing,” Cover said in e-mail.

There’s a possibility that construction could begin later this year, but not without a large tenant, he said.

Still, it would take two years to construct a new tower, so it would not be in competition with the 46-story BG Group Place.

“We will not compete with ourselves, but there is strong interest for the remaining space at BG Group Place,” .....

Full article here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/b...-just-yet.html

Lolz thank you for coming into a Houston post to rain on Houston's parade, but it's what you like to do. But Houston's DT will still be nowhere near the vacancy rates of DT Dallas, even with these tenants leaving.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I would imagine with only a 7 percent vacancy rate there's probably not enough space for a large company to come in, especially if they're looking for enough space that would require them to be on several floors. It's unlikely they could have 3 floors of a building that were close to each other. Companies hate having to send employees up and down a building to another office in their company on another floor say 10 floors up. They'd rather have them close together. So Hines should be looking for major tenants that need say 50K or more of space. That's how they could end up with a larger building. Then the rest could be somewhat spec space and maybe residential on top.

And these large companies prefer LEED certified buildings, which are at a premium in DT Houston.