COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW GREENSPOINT COULD TURN OVER A NEW LEAF 
“A 50 percent occupancy rate created because a company moved a slew of employees to a shiny new corporate megacampus is a good thing.  . . . This is just a good composting of office space. The piles of old office space will turn into new low cost space that will hopefully attract some diversification for the Houston economy.” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day: Don’t Try To Lump All That Empty Houston Office Space Together] Illustration: Lulu
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I’m sorry but this is delusional. The energy companies (plural) have left because of several factors 1) the violence of the area (muggings, a drive by shooting of a gas station very close to one oil company), 2) the dangerous driving by the locals (literally just driving around to get a sandwich is dangerous), 3) the lack of any good lunch options. They had a few places to eat but dang if you wanted Taco Bell you had to navigate a see of gang signs. I don’t see this area suddenly becoming low cost office space for startups or something. The grand parkway “investment” pretty much gauarantees that Greenspoint stays Gunspoint for some time. Could not wait to end my stint at Greenspoint and get the heck out of there.
@Former
Your point no. 3 is legitimate but everything else you said is 100% b.s. Greenspoint is not a place I would move or walk around it at night BUT to but to describe it the way you do tells me you do not have the stomach to live and work in the city of Houston overall because Greenspoint is not that much different than large parts of it. Gang signs everywhere in GP? Where?! You thought driving around to get a sandwich was dangerous? Completely laughable! You should have told that to the many (now gone) ExxonMobil workers that I used to see walking along Northchase to go eat at Fuddruckers or to the mall when it had a food court. Dangerous driving by locals? Wow, I’m trying to imagine an area of Houston where the driving habits differ greatly from the rest of city. This comment is flat out stupid.
@protag – Sounds like you haven’t spent much time on the west side of the freeway where Exxon actually had their office. There most certainly were muggings of office workers. There most certainly was a gas station clerk who got killed in a drive by less than a mile from Exxon Mobil’s office. I almost got hit by the locals every time I drove out for lunch. This is all true of my experience.
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Grand parkway means this area will get overlooked. Why re-settle Gunspoint when you can bypass it completely commuting between outer burbs.
West side of the freeway? You mean the east side and yes, my office is literally in the same complex connected to the Hilton as the previous Exxon buildings. I leave the office 3-4 days a week to go lunch in the immediate area: Fuddruckers, Cajun Town, Rocky’s, Zero’s, Luby’s, etc. as do most of my colleagues. I won’t begrudge a company for wanting to leave Greenspoint but you painting the area like as if it’s Chicago’s southside is ludicrous. Let me repeat this (whether you actually believe what you are saying or not): your comments are total nonsense.
My office is about 3/4 a mile from Greenspoint Mall, and I can absolutely attest to Former Greenspoint office worker’s points. I’ve been hit twice near my office . . . both uninsured drivers. And I’ve also had the personal joy of seeing both of these drivers again and again driving recklessly. Our IT dept. has video tape of drag racing in front of our building . . . including one terrible wreck. A co-owner on her way to lunch last week had to call 911 because a guy was in the street harassing passing cars, then decided to get into a fist fight with a tree. We’ve had multiple cars vandalized in our parking lot – in the middle of the day. We’ve had multiple drug busts in our parking lot as well. A few months ago Houston HPD came to the office to give a safety talk. Gunspoint isn’t bad. Gunspoint is awful. Which has to suck hugely for the regular folks who have to live with the criminal element because the cheap rents are all they can afford.
Greenspoint is a bit overblown, but it is still the worst area for that class of office space anywhere in town. It is a lost cause. Maybe in the next boom someone can buy the mall build massive mixed use development and also tear down and replace some of the shady apartment complexes. I feel by then though the nice offices spaces will have already been downgraded too much. Sadly I feel it’s only going to get worse.
Protagoras, spread your wings. Occasionally, rarely, once in a blue moon when any of us feel brave enough to go out for lunch the place to go to is Super Chicken. Try it. I’m betting you’ll like it. But I still stand by Former Greenspoint office worker and my points: Gunspoint is called Gunspoint for a well-deserved reason.
Exxon had an office on the west side. No clue if they also had an office on the east side. I think the east side where the mall is is probably better but west side is real bad. QuesoPlease tells it true. Also, I hate driving on 45 between 610 and the beltway. That whole area has the most reckless drivers in town. The reckless driving is insane on that stretch until you start hitting the burbs.
All nonsense. I’ve been here for 8 years and I’ve seen nothing at all out of the ordinary. I work for the only large company left in the old Exxon complex and nobody I’ve spoken to has ever repeated anything like that (Full disclaimer: I’m only talking during office hours). There have been some car break ins but that happens everywhere in Houston. Sometimes I think white people make stuff up about crime in order to validate their preconceived fears about an area. That’s the only explanation I have for your utter nonsense. Also, I like the use of your term of “locals” as if the only people driving in GP are people who live in GP. Let me guess: you are confidently able to determine whether someone is local or not based on the color of their skin. If you think GP is awful than you think that most of Houston is awful. It’s pretty simple.
It was called Gunspoint I think from the mid/late 1990s when crime actually was particularly bad here. It is not that anymore despite how scared you feel from being around poor people with dark colored skin. It’s not much different than any other depressed part of Houston.
@Former
Based on what you said here I don’t think you’ve spent much time in GP at all. ExxonMobil had its operational HQ on the East side of 45 next to the Hilton. This is pretty basic information. You mentioned going to Taco Bell but that is pretty much an afterthought for lunch even here where there are relatively limited lunch options.
Does anyone know how the Greenspoint area vacanies are effecting the General Motors pension fund that owns some of the buildings? I bet some GM retirees in the Midwest have no idea what’s going on with their pension fund’s assets.
Protagoras, I agree that things may not be that bad anymore. My perspective comes from seeing my first movie (Star Wars) at the mall. It was massive for its time and a safe place. About 2 years ago I went to a school uniform place in there for one of the boys and it was quite a shock. I didn’t bother to see if Wicks and Sticks was still kicking. A drive around the area was eye opening as well. I don’t always feel safe in my hood (the Heights) but it was disappointing to see Greenspoint hit the floor. For those that remember it better the bad things just stand out. Guess that’s just life.
Wow a Protagonist . . .project much? I pretty much know the uninsured driver that hit me is a “local” because I did some digging, and he lives in an apartment complex off Benmar. I can’t wait to tell my fellow vandalized co-workers (and they, their insurance carriers) and HPD that they have nothing to worry about! Protag says it’s all nonsense! Riiiight.
@ Protagoras You are the one who is completely off your rocker. Utterly. It’s 2016 and, Greenspoint Mall is a ghost-town. Worse than ever. All the bad that was posted about it and the area in general is not only true but, the crime has sky-rocketed! I’ve lived in Gunspoint for over twenty years. From the west side of HTR to Northborough. All a ghetto! Northborough was an acceptable area at one time. No more. After Katrina, all the low-lifes moved in and, the apartment management let them. Now? Greenspoint is lost. It’s not going to get better. Businesses have given up. Slum-lords own the complexes. Thugs run rampant. It is a violent, dangerous area. I’m leaving because, I’ve had it with the beggars, prostitutes, dope dealers and, the all around worthless lot that has been allowed to take over. Gone are the days of living quietly and peacefully. Don’t bother locking your stuff up. Just don’t live here! I worked for Sear’s back in the late 90’s. The area had already gone down-hill. It’s only degenerated in the years since. So, you’ve been here for eight years. Again, been here for twenty. Lived in different complexes in the area and worked at different locations. Stop trying to prop up an hideous area. Everyone else can attest to how crappy the area is. You’re just flat out wrong.
P.S. Shootings occur on a regular basis. The bullet holes and dings in my vehicles testify to that.
The Gunspoint moniker stuck with Greenspoint after the shooting death of Sheriff’s Deputy Roxyann Allee. She was kidnapped in the parking lot after walking out of Dillards. Her body was found later that night with gunshot wounds to the head. That occurred in September of 1991 I think. It pretty much sealed the fate of that mall in many people’s minds. The case remains unsolved to this day.
Referring back to articles from the days when ExxonMobil was moving to their campus, they had people in offices in one building on West Greens Road, plus people in the Greenspoint Plaza 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 buildings across the street from the mall.
A quick perusal of the relevant Hines site, https://www.hines.com/properties/greenspoint-place-houston , and HCAD shows most of those buildings were build by Exxon’s Friendswood Development subsidiary before it was sold to Lennar.
@Diggs:
Maybe you didn’t my earlier posts very well but you trying to put words into my mouth will not work. I never claimed GP was necessarily salvageable or that businesses are coming back. I already acknowledged that the mall was a ghost of itself (by the way, lots of malls have gone to waste over time but not necessarily due to crime). My problem was with those claiming it was unsafe to walk (or even DRIVE!) around GP during the days as if it was the Chicago’s Southside. There might be a sliver truth to this at night but by day it has never been problematic area, at least not any more than the many other sketchy parts of town. Nobody I know at work is afraid to leave the office to go out to eat and many used to walk from our offices near the old ExxonMobil buildings to the strip mall with various restaurants. The hyperbole on the dangers of the area are unjustified unless you want to similarly extend it to large areas of Houston. There were businessmen streaming down Northchase every day walking to lunch when the weather was nice. Like I mentioned earlier, I’d rather walk around GP at day than Midtown at any part of the day.
Quesoplease: stay scared.
@Quesoplease
If you don’t think getting hit by an uninsured driver is just as likely in other parts of town you are pretty naive.
@Diggs:
I already said that I wouldn’t live here. TRY TO READ BETTER NEXT TIME.
@j
I grew up half-way in between Willowbrook Mall and GP back in the late 80s and so I used to come here for movies as well.
If you are scared driving through GP by day you should strongly consider leaving Houston altogether, or just make sure you stay within the comfy confines of the Woodlands or wherever you live. You have chosen the wrong city to inhabit.