Update, 5pm: In an email sent to the Houston Business Journal, a spokesperson for the airline confirms that 609 Main will become United’s Houston headquarters. This story has been updated.
A source tells Swamplot that United Airlines is about to announce an upcoming flight to the new tower rising at 609 Main St. Employees were briefed this morning on plans to move into Hines’s 41-plus-7-more-story skyscraper going up on the former site of the 1931 Texas Tower. The source says that United’s operations at 1600 Smith and 600 Jefferson streets (formerly known as Continental Center I and II, in the days before the 2010 merger of the 2 air giants) will be consolidated into the new space.
United employees may get a little lift from the underfloor air system incorporated into the tower’s design. The Chicago-based company should also feel at home moving in with fellow northern exports Kirkland & Ellis; the law firm announced its tenancy in the building back in December.
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Work on the tower started in November 2013, and building is expected to be ready in early 2017:
- Behind the deal: How 609 Main nabbed its first tenant [HBJ]
- Major portion of 609 Main construction set for this weekend [HBJ]
- Previously on Swamplot: How the End Is Coming for Downtown’s Texas Tower; Bigger? Taller? Hines To Redesign Proposed 609 Main St. Office Tower; Does New Hines Highrise Mean Old Texas Tower’s a Goner?
Photos: Coy Davidson (top), Katherine Feser (bottom)
Interesting that the Chronicle’s article on this seems to have been pulled. It showed up in my RSS feed and it’s googleable, but it leads to a dead link. But given the emailed statement to HBJ, I assume that it’s true.