Office Buildings

Commercial Real Estate
05/01/08 10:56am

That Nineties Retro Tower Coming to the West Loop

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Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Proposed Office Tower at 1600 West Loop South, Uptown, Houston

From Ziegler Cooper Architects’ website: Renderings of a 20-story office tower the firm designed back in the early 1990s.

As we reported in February, the Novati Group plans to build the 500,000-square-foot spec tower, along with an 8-level parking garage, at 1600 West Loop South — next to Post Oak Motor Cars, on land purchased from Landry’s. The only changes from the original design will be adjustments so the building can qualify for LEED Silver certification.

So what if the design is old? Worrying that your brand new building already looks dated is so . . . last decade!

After the jump: the marble in the lobby will be old, too!

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East Downtown
04/21/08 11:53pm

Pierce Elevated Face Change

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Medical Buildings, Midtown, Office Buildings, Renovations
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View Larger Map

The St. Joseph Professional Building, which looms over the Pierce Elevated, will be getting some sort of face lift soon, reports Amy Wolff Sorter in Globe St.:

The building, which underwent a $10-million renovation in the past year, will get an additional $7.8 million of upgrades from its new owners.

Alex Brown Realty of Baltimore and locally based Mission Equities GP LLC are taking on the 44-year-old building at 2000 Crawford St. St. Joseph Professional Building has a mix of retail and medical office space. . . .

Upgrades to the 18-story building will include replacements of the HVAC and sprinkler systems. Also on tap are upgrades to the elevator, life-safety system, exterior façade and interior common areas. The renovations are anticipated to be completed within six to nine months.

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Bayou Woods
03/24/08 11:25pm

Sanctioned by the Congregation: The Office Building Next to First Baptist

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Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Houston Architects, Memorial, Office Buildings, Parking, Proposed Developments
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Rendering of Proposed Hines Office Building Adjacent to First Baptist Church, Houston

A reader directs our attention to this proposed 16-story office building facing the south side of the Katy Freeway, just outside the Loop — on the current site of a Houston’s First Baptist Church parking lot.

Hines plans to build the office building and an 11-level, 1,500-car parking garage on the lot, which the developer would lease from the church. The congregation has already voted to authorize church representatives to finalize and sign a 99-year ground lease for the property.

The garage would help solve the church’s chronic parking problems: According to the HFBC website, 300 cars currently park off-site on weekends. With the Hines development, the church would lose the 480 spaces in the lot now available during the week, but gain 1,500 spaces for church use on weekends and after office hours.

Below the fold, lots more images of the proposed office building and garage on HFBC property.

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Apartments
03/11/08 11:21am

High Street: Under Way

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Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Rendering of Building in Trademark Properties’ Proposed High Street Development

The square footages appear to have adjusted a bit since our last report, but Trademark Properties says it has its financing, and that High Street is a go. From a report in Globe St.:

The Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. and Coventry [Real Estate Advisors Ltd. of New York City] are redeveloping a seven-acre site of the former Central Ford dealership at 4410 Westheimer Rd. In turn, the JV signed a partnership pact with Indianapolis-based Kosene & Kosene Development Co. for the residential component of High Street. The redevelopment will have 233 apartments atop 100,000 sf of retail and 80,000 sf of office in a separate structure. The foundation’s been poured for the office building, with residential and retail to go vertical in 60 to 90 days.

After the jump, another pretty picture!

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Commercial Real Estate
02/29/08 3:50pm

Discovery Tower: Yep, They Are Wind Turbines

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Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing
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Top of Proposed Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

From our email comes a message from a reader who has heard from someone involved in the project that the white poles shown at the top of the new Discovery Tower drawing are . . . indeed, wind turbines.

So . . . if they do end up being put in, how much energy will they bring to the building? And . . . how many tenants?

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Commercial Real Estate
02/28/08 5:13pm

Discovery Tower: Ready for Closeup?

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Downtown, Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Rendering of Discovery Tower by Gensler, Downtown HoustonThanks to an alert poster on HAIF, we now have a more up-to-date and better view of Discovery Tower, Trammel Crow’s 30-story office building — designed by Gensler and planned for a perch on the north side of Discovery Green Downtown.

Other HAIF participants have been speculating whether the shorter white poles at the top of the image are supposed to be . . . wind turbines!

Well, are they? Scrutinize a larger version of the rendering and judge for yourself . . . below the fold.

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Commercial Real Estate
02/26/08 4:31pm

New West Loop Tower: Keeping the Uptown Office Market Up to Date

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Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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According to a report by Jennifer Dawson in the Houston Business Journal,, the first new spec office building built in the Galleria area in more than 25 years will be . . . a 20-story tower that was designed 15 years ago!

In the early 1990s, [Novati Group CEO Ken] Moczulski ran Transworld Properties, a developer of office, industrial and multifamily properties. Transworld owned the land at 1600 West Loop South at that time, and commissioned Ziegler Cooper Architects to design an office for the site.

“We had planned a building,” recalls Moczulski. “It was all designed.”

The economy turned south, he says, so the facility did not get built. . . .

Last year, Novati co-founders Moczulski and Fernando De León start looking in the Galleria area for an office development site. Moczulski approached Landry’s about buying the West Loop land because, as in the 1990s, he still thinks the location and high visibility make it a good site for an office building.

To top it off, Novati is saving months of development time by dusting off the original plans from Ziegler Cooper. The only design changes needed are those to make the 475,000-square-foot structure eligible for certification as a green building.

Hey, maybe it’s one of those towers that kinda looks like a tall glass cylinder is bulging out from the center? That was a hot nineties look, wasn’t it?

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Commercial Real Estate
02/18/08 3:45pm

Eldridge Oaks: Turn on the Lights!

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Energy Corridor, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings
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Eldridge Oaks, Proposed Office Building in Houston Energy CorridorA reader who works in the Energy Corridor reports that a sign has just appeared at the Northwest corner of Enclave Parkway and Eldridge Parkway announcing Eldridge Oaks, a 350,000-sq.-ft. 14-story office tower being developed by Transwestern.

Transwestern is apparently taking energy issues in this Energy Corridor building seriously: It will pursue an unspecified LEED rating, and has signed the project up as a sponsor of this spring’s Gulf Coast Green conference. Plus, this drawing from the project website shows what the building will look like when the lights go on . . . then off . . . then on!

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Downtown
02/07/08 4:54pm

Discovery Tower: Ready to Climb

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Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings
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Drawing of Discovery Tower, Downtown HoustonHere’s a small discovery from today’s permit report: Work on the site and foundation of Discovery Tower — a 30-story office tower developed by Trammell Crow and designed by Gensler — has been approved by the city. The tower is planned for a block next to Discovery Green downtown, at 1501 McKinney St.

The tower will have retail space at street level and will reportedly tie into the tunnel system . . . by skybridge. A new parking garage will go up one block north.

The tiny image above shows the view from Discovery Green. Discovery Tower is at the far right. (The hazy image in the background to the left is the Finger Companies’ One Park Place, which is now under construction.)

Got any better images of Discovery Tower you’d like to share? Send them in!

Photo: CBRE, via HAIF user lockmat

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Commercial Real Estate
01/24/08 8:11am

Dismembering and Remembering the Tinseltown Westchase Theater

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Demolitions, New Construction, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Westchase
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A reader writes in with a question about the movie theater that appeared in Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report earlier this week:

Do we happen to know the reason for the demolition of the Tinseltown Westchase location? If I can remember right, this theater has only been here for not even 10 years yet.

Actually, the Cinemark Tinseltown USA Westchase movie theater had reached the ripe old age of 12. According to the Houston Business Journal, Simmons Vedder Partners is tearing it down to build twin 6-story spec office buildings with a parking garage between them and a “signature water feature” fronting the Beltway — all designed by Ambrose, McEnany and House Architects. It’ll be called Westchase Park.

After the jump, a few fond memories of the theater in its “Hey!” day.

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Apartments
01/17/08 5:52pm

River Oaks District Development Reaches Advanced Watercolor Stage

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Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail, River Oaks, Shopping Centers
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Watercolor of Proposed River Oaks District Mixed Use Development Planned for Westheimer by OliverMcMillan

With new bold, rich watercolor renderings now posted to its website, OliverMcMillan shows its mixed-use proposal for Westheimer is serious. The River Oaks District won’t be in River Oaks exactly, but it would mark a serious upgrade for this portion of Westheimer just inside the Loop, on a portion of the site of the Westcreek Apartments.

What’s planned here: 300,000 square feet of retail space, 300 fancy apartments, 250,000 square feet of office space, plus two hotels — rumored to be a W and a Le Meridien. The W Hotel will house 150 condos on its top floors.

After the jump: those shiny watercolors, plus plans and an aerial view!

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Buying and Selling
12/20/07 11:25pm

Younan Building Empire: Buy Low, Stack High?

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Highrises, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing
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Younan Tower, the former Northbelt Corporate Center, Houston

He boasted back in July that he would build the world’s tallest building — a 200- to 300-story tower in either Houston or Chicago. Meanwhile, Zaya Younan has been continuing his Houston-area office-building buying spree. Back in May, Younan told the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson that he’d own 5 million square feet of office space in this city by the end of this year.

So how much has he been able to buy?

Just 2.2 million square feet, according to a company press release dated December 18th — which ain’t bad. Even better: by confusing his Houston and statewide numbers, he’s been able to convince Globe St. that he’s bought much more — and actually exceeded his goals for the year. Plus, Younan tells that publication’s Amy Wolff Sorter, he plans to buy an additional 5 million square feet in Houston next year, which will help his company achieve the goal of being the largest office landlord in both the city and the state:

“Since the subprime and credit crunch happened in August, building contracts fell through,” he says. “We were suddenly inundated with calls from owners and brokers, so we bought a significant amount of assets.”

After the jump, some of the properties Younan’s snapped up lately, plus Younan Tower, revealed!

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Apartments
11/08/07 1:49pm

High on Westheimer?

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Commercial Real Estate, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Drawing of Proposed High Street Development at 4410 Westheimer, Houston, near Highland Village

Trademark Property has released this new image of its High Street development, slated for the site of the demolished Central Ford dealership at 4410 Westheimer, just west of Highland Village. So . . . is it really gonna happen?

The project had been on hold. It’s now described as “a 6-acre, pedestrian-oriented urban village featuring 93,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space combined with Class A offices and urban residences.” The Fort Worth developer — who also developed Market Street in the Woodlands — had planned to break ground this past spring. Instead, the company has leased part of the site to the sales trailer for the Highland Tower, and politely thrown a picture of that condo building into the background of the new drawing as well.

Don’t confuse High Street with the River Oaks District, a similar but larger project planned for next door.

Continue reading for a site plan and lots more images!

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Buying and Selling
10/30/07 10:03am

Sugar Land: New O.J. H.Q.

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Commercial Real Estate, Fort Bend County, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Sugar Land
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Minute Maid is moving to Sugar Land. The Minute Maid Building near the Galleria has been sold.

Should we expect added sweeteners in our O.J.?

Cameron Management, Wachovia Bank and a group of local investors recently purchased the 351,000-square-foot office building at 2000 St. James Place for an undisclosed amount.

Minute Maid, a Houston-based division of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, will lease back 150,000 square feet of space until its new home is ready in late 2008. Coca-Cola is negotiating a lease for 120,000 square feet in an office building that Planned Community Developers Ltd. began constructing last July in Sugar Land Town Square at U.S. Highway 59 and State Highway 6.

Why not . . . Pearland? Probably less appealing.

And what will happen to the empty building on St. James after the juice is gone?

In preparation for Minute Maid’s move-out, Cameron is marketing the 12-story building, located between Westheimer and San Felipe, as the largest block of contiguous office space in the Galleria area.

Sweet.

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Downtown
10/11/07 11:28am

Downtown’s New Tower of Parking

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Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Parking
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Heritage Plaza, Downtown Houston, TexasA new multistory parking structure is about to go up at the northeast edge of downtown, across the street from Heritage Plaza. A building permit for the parking garage at 1200 Bagby, which is classified as a “high rise” itself, was approved by the city yesterday.

“We’re going to offer suburban parking ratios in downtown Houston,” Russell F. Read, a principal at Goddard Investment Group, told the CoStar group two years ago. “That will be hard to beat.”

Photo: flickr user Corrine Martin

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