HOUSTON | Republic Square | 7 Towers | ~14-16 FLOORS

[Urbannizer]

Developer: PM Realty Group
Architect: Elkus Manfredi & Pickard Chilton
Type: Mixed-use
Location: 13501 Katy Fwy. - Energy Corridor
Construction Timeline -2015 Start Date - 2018 Completion (Phase 1)

*5 office buildings totaling 2.6 million sq ft.
*800 residential units
*two hotels
*100,000 sq ft or retail



http://www.houstonchronicle.com/busi...gy-6290852.php

Originally Posted by Houston Chronicle

Developer plans urban-style enclave in Energy Corridor

A Houston developer wants to bring a bit of urban sensibility to the Energy Corridor, a section of west Houston known for its suburban office campuses, chain-filled strip malls and outsized apartment buildings.

The developer, PM Realty Group, is committing $1 billion to building a bustling mixed-use community of upscale apartments, outdoor restaurants, hotels and high-rise office towers housing companies seeking to recruit a younger generation of workers who value the outdoors, collaboration with colleagues and an abundance of amenities.

Construction is scheduled to begin next year, and the first office building could break ground before the company finds a tenant to occupy it.

The developer is taking an urban approach to the site by combining as many as 800 residential units with five office buildings totaling 2.6 million square feet, two full-service hotels with connected conference space and 100,000 square feet of retail space including a fitness facility. The scale of the buildings will be in the 14- to 16-story range, though some could be shorter or taller.

The first phase, to include an office building, parking garage, hotel and conference center, fitness facility and additional retail, as well as the public square, is scheduled for completion by early 2018, the company said.

[Urbannizer]

From swstig on HAIF:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...mpus/?p=503315

first phase will be a spec 400,000 SF office (up to 600,000 if they secure a major tenant), garage, some retail and a hotel with BP pushing for a particular major 4-star flag that already has a hotel in town. connectivity to the park will be a major focus and they are working some things out with the city to help that cause. this is an all cash investor so this one is happening - expect construction to begin 1Q16.

[chris08876]

Houston's on fire Urbannizer. How many high rises do you estimate are in the pipeline? Seems like every other day something new is being added. Pretty impressed.

[skys the limit]

Oil Rout Stalls Republic Square Development
Houston Chronicle, Nancy Sarnoff, 06-13-16

A mixed-use development slated to break ground this year in the Energy Corridor has been put on hold amid the economic slump that has left millions of square feet of office space unoccupied in area buildings.

The project, announced about a year ago by Houston-based PM Realty Group, was set to be one of Houston's largest developments of its kind. The 35-acre development, named Republic Square, was designed by a slate of national consultants, architects and planners to include hundreds of upscale apartments, restaurants, hotels and high-rise office towers.

Since the price of oil dropped to a low of $26 earlier this year, the companies that dominate this part of west Houston have been piling gobs of space onto the sublease market and demand for new space is virtually nonexistent.

"Where the economy is right now, it doesn't make sense to build 2 million square feet of office space in west Houston," said Wade Bowlin, executive vice president and managing director of PM Realty's central division.

Some 10 million square feet of sublease space is on the market across the Houston area, though the largest blocks are concentrated in the Energy Corridor and downtown.

Oil volatility has sent "shockwaves" through the commercial property market, with, on average, 500,000 square feet of subleases coming online each month since early last year, according a report from JLL, a real estate firm.

By 2017, sublease space availability could grow to more than 11 million square feet.

The latest example came earlier this month when ConocoPhillips said it was putting an entire building up for sublease. The company had never occupied the 22-story building on Interstate 10 at North Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor.

The 15-year average for sublease space in Houston is 3.8 million square feet, according to CBRE, another commercial property firm.
....

The project is slated for the former home of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s chemical operations between Interstate 10 and Memorial Drive, bordering the 500-acre Terry Hershey Park.
....

When it was announced, the mixed-use project was expected to have as many as 800 residential units, five office buildings totaling 2.6 million square feet, two hotels and 100,000 square feet of retail space.
....

Full article: http://www.chron.com/business/real-e...he-8108999.php

[Urbannizer]

Third Palm Capital Shares Updated Republic Square Plans

The future of a 35-acre former Exxon Mobil campus in west Houston is starting to be realized.

Third Palm Capital, the developer behind Republic Square, shared its plans for the redevelopment of Exxon Mobil Chemical's old headquarters site. The real estate investment company bought the campus in 2013 and is moving forward on developing speculative office space, art studios, a biergarten and more, Third Palm's Executive Manager Randall Tuller told the Houston Business Journal.

Work on the current vision for Republic Square, the multitenant, mixed-use development underway at 13501 Katy Freeway, has been in the works since at least July 2016. Dallas-based Third Palm is working alongside Houston-based Boxer Property to redevelop 320,000 square feet of Exxon's former office space into creative art studios, office suites designed for small- to mid-sized tenants, Boxer Property's Workstyle co-working space and more, Tuller said. As of now, no parts of the campus will be demolished, but the Third Palm team is continually assessing the market and that might change, Tuller said in a statement.

Third Palm and Boxer will also preserve and lease Mosaic, a 15,000-square-foot prototype office space built in the campus by Exxon Mobil. The Mosaic space resembles Exxon's new headquarters at Springwoods Village. The company treated Mosaic like a beta-version of its new campus, Tuller said, and observed how its employees interacted with the workspace before it moved forward with its massive north Houston campus in 2015.

More ideations for Republic Square, including public event space and a beer-focused addition, are in the works. The firm is also in talks with several high-end hotel flags for a property at Republic Square, Tuller said. A decision should be made by the end of 2017, he said.

[Urbannizer]

Renovations at high-profile Energy Corridor site move ahead. But additional development might be on the way

Developer Dart Interests is moving forward with plans to reimagine a 35-acre Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) campus in west Houston, which was once to be the site of a $1 billion mixed-use development that promised to bring drastic changes to the city’s Energy Corridor.

The renovations underway at the Republic Square property’s existing 324,000-square-foot building are far smaller in scale than what its former owner announced four years ago. But Dart says it is already looking ahead to other mixed-use development opportunities for the property, which is located at 13501 Katy Freeway.

“We decided to focus on upgrading the existing building at this stage. But we’re already speaking with our design team about what else we could bring to the property to appeal to tenants in in-demand sectors and those that are going to be in-demand in the future,” said Randall Tuller, senior vice president at Dart (formerly Third Palm Capital).

Plans for Republic Square have gone through several iterations since it was purchased from Exxon Mobil in 2013 by Houston-based PM Realty Group and Greenwich, Connecticut-based Atlas USA Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Since then, ownership has transferred to Dart.

In 2015, PM Realty Group rolled out a plan for Republic Square that called for the construction of up to five office buildings with 2.6 million square feet of space, two full-service hotels and 800 apartment units. The plan also included 100,000 square feet of retail space, including a 35,000-square-foot high-end gym, a beer garden and restaurants. An existing conference center was to be revamped. That $1 billion project was scheduled to break ground in 2016.

But because energy prices took a hit around the same time, the project was scaled back significantly. PMRG and Atlas ended up selling the property to what was then Third Palm Capital, which initially planned to turn the existing building into a coworking space.

But Dart has not ruled out further development at Republic Square. Tuller said the company is working with Dallas-based architecture and engineering firm Huitt-Zollars to draft a new master plan for the property.

“We see a lot of opportunities for retail and multifamily development,” Tuller said. “Additional office space will also likely happen down the road.”

[Wattleigh]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=2#cxrecs_s

Fugro leaving its longtime Sharpstown building for former Exxon campus in Energy Corridor

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
May 9, 2023

The Energy Corridor is gaining another headquarters.

Dutch geo data company Fugro is moving its U.S. headquarters to Republic Square, a 35-acre office campus at 13501 Katy Freeway next to Terry Hershey Park.

Bill Insull and Blake Virgilio of Lee & Associates represented the landlord, Houston EC Development LLC, a limited liability company affiliated with Dallas-based Dart Interests. Bob Cromwell and Bob Gulley with Moody Rambin and Zack Taylor with Colliers International represented Fugro. The 75,000-square-foot lease was signed on April 4, Virgilio said.

Dart Interests, formerly Third Palm Capital, has owned the campus since 2014 after Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) sold the property as it was consolidating into its new 385-acre City Place campus near Spring.

The four-story, 325,000-square-foot building finished two years of renovations in 2020. As part of the project, the building added two conference rooms and a fitness center. That's also when the first tenants were signed since Exxon's departure, including Samsung and Gate Energy.

The property owner developed a $1 billion master plan for the 35 acres in 2015, but those plans were scaled back significantly as the market took a hit from the oil downturn.

However, the plan again includes a mixed-use development, including office and life science space, apartments, retail and a boutique hotel. Virgilio expects another conference center and a restaurant to be developed within the next year or so.

After sitting vacant from 2014 to 2020, the Republic Square building is now 50% occupied and will go up to more than 70% with Fugro, which will take up almost the entire second floor of the double-C-shaped building, he said.

“(Fugro) liked having all their employees on the same floor, which is good for circulation and collaboration,” Virgilio said.

Fugro is moving from its current U.S. headquarters at a seven-story building it owns at 6100 Hillcroft Ave. in Sharpstown.

The company plans to make the move at the end of the year, after building out the new office space, Virgilio said.