HOUSTON | BHP Billiton Tower | 477 FT / 145 M | 30 FLOORS | U/C

[Wattleigh]

Tower Five at Four Oaks Place

In brief: A 30 story (22 Office floors + 8 floors of parking) , 525k square foot office tower located at 1550 Post Oak Boulevard, adjacent to the Four Oaks Place office complex. The building would be included as part of the complex when complete.

The location is currently the site of a 24 Hour Fitness location, which is owned by TIAA-CREF, who in turn own Four Oaks Place. If built, it will be the first Class-A office building built in the district in 25 years.

Developers: TIAA-CREF + Transwestern
Architect: Pickard Chilton

Planned start of construction: Q1, 2009



From a HBJ article at the beginning of September on the state of three office projects uptown...

FUNDING NO PROBLEM

Houston-based Transwestern, development manager and leasing representative for the proposed TIAA-CREF building, is expected to release final details on the project within a month.

Preliminary plans revealed nearly a year ago called for a 400,000-square-foot, 17-story office building with a development cost of $100 million to $120 million. The structure at 1550 Post Oak would replace the building in the Four Oaks Place office complex leased by 24 Hour Fitness from owner TIAA-CREF.

The proposed building being called Tower Five at Four Oaks Place is now set to be 30 stories tall, with 525,000 square feet of office space on 22 floors atop a parking garage with roughly 1,500 spaces, says Carleton Riser, head of Transwestern’s development group.

He says the building designed by architectural firm Pickard Chilton could break ground in the first quarter of 2009.

The fact that no tenants have committed to the new building won’t delay construction, Riser says.

The typical pre-leasing requirements aren’t in play because funding isn’t a problem for TIAA-CREF. The Fortune 100 financial services firm with more than $435 billion in combined assets under management is the leading retirement system for people in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

A significant amount of money has already been spent planning the building, reflecting TIAA-CREF’s intent to move forward.

Says Riser: “People don’t generally spend the money to take a building through construction drawings unless they’re very serious. We wouldn’t be spending the money if they weren’t bullish on the prospects of the investment.”