MIDLAND | Energy Tower at City Center | 869 FT | 53 FLOORS

[tgannaway89]

Chevron Corp. this year unveiled plans to build a $100 million office-space campus on Midland's western edge for 800 employees. Despite rapidly rising rents, Midland's downtown has a vacancy rate under 2%, compared with 21% in Dallas, says Forshey Hoobler, a vice president at commercial real-estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. "There are no other cities like it," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...953872620.html

[ltsmotorsport]

Really wish Chevron would follow this example and invest in Midland's downtown instead of a suburban campus.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by Design-mind

I love the look of this tower. It is aesthetically pleasing. I just don't know about the context. But it being in the early stages of planning design and height might change.

The context is going to make Midland look like Waco.

[Roadcruiser1]

The site seems big enough to build two towers. Why not build Twins and make one of the have some sort of mast to bring up the height to just over 1,000 feet? It doesn't seem impossible.

[markson33]

Don't know if anybody has posted this yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H75mYDI7-lw

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

Chevron Corp. this year unveiled plans to build a $100 million office-space campus on Midland's western edge for 800 employees. Despite rapidly rising rents, Midland's downtown has a vacancy rate under 2%, compared with 21% in Dallas, says Forshey Hoobler, a vice president at commercial real-estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. "There are no other cities like it," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...953872620.html

Maybe that's only counting the one or two towers that are actually occupied and not the three or more that are nearly entirely vacant?

Look, I know full well that Midland-Odessa is booming because of the Permian Basin oil development, but I also know full well that the vast majority of the energy companies are building campuses along the main loop road around Midland and NOT in downtown. This will never happen, period.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[tgannaway89]

I can tell you haven't been to downtown Midland recently. There is a ton of construction and renovation downtown right now. Plus a lot of projects planned for downtown.

Originally Posted by glowrock

Maybe that's only counting the one or two towers that are actually occupied and not the three or more that are nearly entirely vacant?

Look, I know full well that Midland-Odessa is booming because of the Permian Basin oil development, but I also know full well that the vast majority of the energy companies are building campuses along the main loop road around Midland and NOT in downtown. This will never happen, period.

Aaron (Glowrock)

"Jacobs, the president of Wexford Capital LP, with $5 billion in assets, views the $350 million Energy Tower office- hotel-condominium project as the centerpiece of the Permian Basin, the source of almost 60 percent of Texas’s oil last year. Midland County, with a population of about 147,000, was the fastest-growing metropolitan area as of July, the U.S. Census Bureau said last month.

“This is a very important part of America that isn’t well understood,” said Jacobs, 60, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Wexford is based. “My friends have told me, ‘You can’t be serious,’ but when you look at the facts and the potential here, it’s perfectly logical that this building gets built.”

Since 2010, Wexford has invested $45 million in four of Midland’s downtown office buildings, totaling about 800,000 square feet, said William Meyer, a partner in Energy Related Properties, a Midland company working with Wexford. The hedge fund, which specializes in energy and real estate investments, also owns 44 percent of Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG), a Midland oil- exploration company that first sold shares to the public in October."

“The real estate market has been slow to react to what’s happening in Midland,” said Jacobs, who complained about paying more than $300 on a weeknight at the local Holiday Inn Express. “The market will ultimately decide, but we think our timing is right.”

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/04/12/m...n-buoys-texas/

[dc_denizen]

^^ photo thread??

[tgannaway89]

Midland's Changing Downtown


Image provided at Midland Reporter-Telegram

And while there has been some public sector involvement in projects — such as money given to Basin PBS to set up shop in the old Ritz Theater location, or funds for Basin Burger to become a new favorite for those downtown — that public sector involvement will be what complements the real work being done by private markets and free enterprise. That, most of us, would agree is the way it should be.

So yes, like many, we celebrate Susie’s South Forty coming downtown. Like the new residential complex planned for Main and Wall streets, renovations to West Wall Towers and the Bank of America building — other planned changes — Midland’s downtown face is changing. And, yes, there is a fine line where we get maximum benefit of public funds used. You don’t have to walk through the Centennial Plaza fountain project to see that. But we see good things are happening and we welcome more successes.


Read more: Editorial: Sweetness -- Midland’s downtown is changing for the better - Mywesttexas.com: Top Stories http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stori...#ixzz2UTg0KFGf
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

[JoninATX]

I remember reading that article yesterday, so much going on out there in the Permian Basin.

[tgannaway89]

Image provided by Colliers International

Here is a brochure with more details on the building.

http://www.midlandchronicle.com/uplo...nergytower.pdf

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

That, most of us, would agree is the way it should be.

Not to be too picky, but this sentence should read:

"That, most of us would agree, is the way it should be".

Thankfully, I do agree and concur that most here would also agree.

It looks like this project is going to happen and cannot wait to see it pop up into the sky.

[tgannaway89]

The tower has a new website... and social media accounts.

http://oilcapitalofamerica.com/

[Yackemflaber69]

http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stori...9bb2963f4.html

sorry the pic is small

[AviationGuy]

Somehow I missed this until today. Midland is a surprising place. First time I went there about 10 years ago, I was surprised at the wealthy and leafy neighborhoods, very good restaurants, the expressway around the city, and other things you'd never expect of a city of just over 100,000 people. It didn't have a really small feel to me (sort of a nice size, actually). People who bought homes in the past few years are making a killing now. I was going to move out there to be with a friend about 5 years ago, but backed out because I couldn't handle the Permian Basin landscape, being used to the hills, rivers/lakes and greenery of the Austin area. I still wouldn't live there, but I'm glad to see the city prosper, as I would be no matter what city in the county.

Bottom line...I don't think this proposal is unrealistic given the type of city Midland is, and if the energy sector of the economy holds up, it could get built.

[KevinFromTexas]

The building's website has all the heights at the bottom of the page.

http://www.energytower.co/

They are:

869.30 feet - tip height. I'm thinking this is the mechanical screen height.

836.62 feet - roof height

810.00 feet - top floor height

826.77 feet - observation deck/rooftop terrace height

I think the "roof height" is the mechanical roof height, while the observation deck/rooftop terrace height is also technically the main roof height.

[eleven=11]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

The tower has a new website... and social media accounts.

http://oilcapitalofamerica.com/

nice tower ...
can not stand web sites with no info
and link to Facebook for more info .... WTF
is not the web page THE page for more info

also anybody know what map is better/best
the google map or bing or wiki map
also the 45 angle stuff
never used the new apple map.....

[Onward]

Wow great project, hope this one happens.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by eleven=11

nice tower ...
can not stand web sites with no info
and link to Facebook for more info .... WTF
is not the web page THE page for more info

also anybody know what map is better/best
the google map or bing or wiki map
also the 45 angle stuff
never used the new apple map.....

http://www.energytower.co/

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Texan101

Wow great project, hope this one happens.

I think it is a terrible proposal. Trophy buildings in relatively small downtowns tend to get all of the best tenants and retail, at the expense of the rest of the downtown. Cities have tried promoting such development but they have generally not been successful in reviving most downtowns. Instead, the rest of the downtown area languishes at the expense of the new area. Renaissance Center in Detroit is one example of a failure, but so was the original World Trade Center in NYC.