Office Buildings | Swamplot

09/27/13 10:00am

A New Office Building on the Old HP Campus in Northwest Houston

Construction started yesterday on this Kirksey-designed office building for Noble Energy. The 450,000-sq.-ft. Energy Center Two, located on the site of the former Hewlett-Packard and current Lone Star Community College campus at Hwy. 249 and Louetta Rd., will pair with an existing 497,000-sq.-ft. building that Noble Energy had had renovated.

Noble Energy to break ground on phase II of new campus today [Houston Business Journal]
Previously on Swamplot: HP Go Boom: Watch These Former Compaq Buildings Disappear in a Cloud of Dust,Â The Coming Local HP Implosion, The Lone Star College System of Real Estate Deals: 70 Percent Off Hewlett-Packard Surplus!, Hewlett Packard Goes to School, Compaq to HP to College, Another Buyer for HP Parts

Rendering: Kirksey Architecture

77070, New Construction, Northwest Houston, Office Buildings

Construction Materials

09/24/13 11:00am

Building Trivia in The Woodlands

by Allyn West

Office Buildings, Quicklink, The Woodlands

3 Comments

BUILDING TRIVIA IN THE WOODLANDS Real Estate Bisnow’s Catie Dixon reports a remarkable factoid about this 6-story, 154,213-sq.-ft office building that Stream Realty started construction on in August at 1585 Sawdust Rd. in the The Woodlands: When it’s done, writes Dixon, the so-called Reserve at Sierra Pines II, which is being built with 30-ft. panels swung into place by 300-ton cranes, will be the tallest tilt-wall building in Texas. [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Stream Realty Partners

77380, Construction Materials, New Construction, Office Buildings, The Woodlands

Mixed Use

09/12/13 10:00am

A Look at Midway’s Mixed-Use Plans in Upper Kirby?

by Allyn West

Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby

30 Comments

Update, 5:45 p.m.: A rep from Midway tells Swamplot that these plans are “nearly a year old” and “conceptual in nature” and writes in an email: “We should have a better idea in the next 60 days of what the project will actually entail.”

Marketing materials on the website of Midway Cos. — developers of CityCentre and GreenStreet — include this rendering of a 16-story office building standing at the corner of Richmond and Wakeforest in Upper Kirby. The materials show the building as part of a “mixed-use pedestrian-focused transit node,” with additional restaurants and retail, that Midway appears to be planning with the Upper Kirby Redevelopment Authority here to jazz upÂ Levy Park. An application to reduce the setback on this site along Richmond was approved in July.

AlsoÂ included in the materials are renderings of a 300-unit loft building facing the Southwest Fwy. and flanking aÂ greenspace:

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77098, Lofts, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby

Downtown

09/09/13 10:00am

Louisiana Elevated: A Peek at the See-Through Skybridge of Chevron’s New 50-Story Skyscraper

by Allyn West

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, Streetscapes

25 Comments

A reader sends this rendering of the skybridge that would hook up the existingÂ Chevron buildings Downtown with the new 50-story big blue tower planned to rise at 1600 Louisiana and Pease, on the site of Kenneth Franzheim’s torn-down Downtown Y. The reader says that the new HOK-designed tower could rise as high as 830 ft., “making it the third tallest building downtown.” (Which, this rendering suggests, would invite backpack-wearing tourists to gawk and take photos.) A few other details: “The 4th floor will have an outdoor cafeteria and event space while the recently purchased parking garage will have two new floors added to house a new fitness center.”

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77002, Downtown, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, Streetscapes

Highrises

09/05/13 11:00am

Hines Not Stopping San Felipe Skyscraper

by Allyn West

Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Vermont Commons

26 Comments

HINES NOT STOPPING SAN FELIPE SKYSCRAPER Speeches? Yard signs? Websites? Alarming maps portraying the inevitability of equally tall Petco and Red Lion Pub towers popping up nearby? Apparently, Hines has been unmoved by the various media deployed by concerned neighbors, telling the Houston Chronicle that it will start construction before Thanksgiving on that 17-story office building at the corner of Spann and San Felipe, just outside the boundaries of River Oaks. Erin Mulvaney reports that John Mooz, senior managing director, says that Hines plans to get going on the 167,000-sq.-ft. tower “in the next 60 days.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Hines

77019, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Vermont Commons

Energy Corridor

09/05/13 10:00am

Skanska Starts In On Parkside Office Building in Energy Corridor

by Allyn West

New Construction, Office Buildings

3 Comments

Note: Story updated with an additional rendering.

More action from Skanska: Now, the Swedish development and construction company has begun work on West Memorial Place, which for now will comprise a single 12-story, 325,000-sq.-ft. office building on the site of the demolished ARCO building in the Energy Corridor. It’ll be accompanied by a 9-story parking garage. Though the rendering above shows a pair, only one building is going up; the second, a PR rep tells Swamplot, depends on the market. The HOK-designed building will stand on 12 acres at 15375 Memorial Dr., between Westlake Park Blvd. and Southmayde Creek Dr., bumping up against the hike and bike in Terry Hershey Park. Petroleum Geo-Services has already signed on to occupy about 122,000 sq. ft.

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77079, Energy-Corridor, New Construction, Office Buildings

Office Buildings

08/28/13 10:00am

Some People Have To Work: An Office Building Among the Bars on Washington Ave

by Allyn West

Old Sixth Ward, Proposed Developments, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor

22 Comments

So much for thatÂ walkable plaza with bike stations and jugglers and food trucks: It appears that an office building is going to go up instead on this underusedÂ triangular slice o’ land along Washington Ave. The variance is to reduce the setback from 25 ft. to 5 ft. in order to make room for parking and a 3,517-sq.-ft. office building. The 0.26-acre triangle is bound by Henderson, White, Union, and Washington. A site plan included in the variance request shows that the office would go up on the Henderson side, across the street from Liberty Station.

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77007, Office Buildings, Old-Sixth-Ward, Proposed Developments, Washington Ave., Washington Corridor

Office Buildings

08/27/13 2:00pm

A Real Big Data Center Coming to Northwest Houston

by Allyn West

Office Space, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Westbranch

1 Comment

A REAL BIG DATA CENTER COMING TO NORTHWEST HOUSTON Real Estate Bisnow’s Catie Dixon reports thatÂ CyrusOne is going to addÂ 2 more buildings early next year to its 45-acre data-dealing-with campus in Westbranch near the Beltway: “The new developments include a 600k SF data center with 100 megawatt capacity and a 200k SF Class-A office” designed by Kirksey and depicted in the rendering shown here. Apparently, adds Dixon, theÂ new data center, which will support primarily the oil and gas industries, will be nothing to sneeze at: “[It] will be one of the largest in the country, and [CyrusOne CEO Kevin Timmons] says it should sate demand in Houston for years to come.” [Real Estate Bisnow] Rendering: Kirksey Architecture

77041, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Westbranch

Commercial Real Estate

08/27/13 10:00am

Another Office Building in the Pines in The Woodlands

by Allyn West

New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, The Woodlands

6 Comments

This week, Stream Realty will start adding this 6-story building to its all-natural, LEED-aspiringÂ office park in The Woodlands. The spec 154,213-sq.-ft Reserve at Sierra Pines II, to be located at 1585 Sawdust Rd., will join its larger predecessor, the 175,000-sq.-ft. building sold more than a year ago for about $40 million to the REITÂ CapLease. Houston Business Journalâ€™s Shaina Zucker adds that this new building, a brisk 1.5-mile walk north of the ExxonMobil campus, is planned to include “a jogging trail” and a “heavily landscaped Zen garden.”

Stream has a few other projects in the hopper: There’s that curvaceous 41-story International Tower that Stream (along with Essex) has proposed to build on that block south of Market Square Park, and there’s that more straightforward 25-story office building just off Washington and Waugh.

Stream Realty to break ground on Woodlands-area office building [Houston Business Journal]
Previously on Swamplot: Is This the 41-Story Office Tower Planned Beside Market Square Park Downtown?, A 25-Story Office Tower Aimed for Washington and Waugh

Rendering: Stream Realty Partners

77380, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Parks, The Woodlands

Energy Corridor

08/23/13 10:00am

Ponds, Paths, and Office Space in the Energy Corridor

by Allyn West

New Construction, Office Buildings

8 Comments

Kirksey designed both of these 7-story, 175,000-sq.-ft. office buildings for PM Realty, which expects construction to begin on the first of them — dubbed Jacobs Plaza — here at 12140 Wickchester Ln.Â this month. They’re part of a proposed office park north of the Katy Fwy. and east of N. Dairy Ashford that, as this rendering shows, will comprise a manmade pond and pedestrian paths that lead out to the nearby Addicks Reservoir. Houston Business Journal reports that the primary tenant and namesake for the first building will be Jacobs Engineering.

PM Realty to break ground on Energy Corridor office complex [Houston Business Journal]

Rendering: Kirksey Architecture

77079, Energy-Corridor, New Construction, Office Buildings

Highrises

08/16/13 12:15pm

If Hines Builds That 17-Story Tower on San Felipe, Everyone’s Gonna Wanna Build One

by Allyn West

Maps, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Vermont Commons

39 Comments

Seems the concerned neighbors around that 17-story office building that Hines is considering building on San Felipe aren’t worried only about traffic. This map, created by a member of the recently formed nonprofit East San Felipe Association — which says it is committed to supporting “reasonable development” in this area around S. Shepherd, Kirby, and San Felipe — suggests another threat to the â€™hood: copycatting.

Clearly speculative, the map takes pains to show those sites where other unreasonable highrises could pop up in response to the precedent that Hines is setting with 2229 San Felipe. On S. Shepherd, for ex., you might see the Red Lion Pub forgo its street-level scale, or Petco abandon the confines of its big box. (But wouldn’t that long elevator ride down give you some quality time to bond with your recently adopted pup?) If this map is to be trusted, it seems like it would be only a matter of time before the bug spreads north and Chipotle throws up a tower of burritos.Â The last thing the neighbors want, says just one of the messages on that oppositional website that they set up, is for this residential area to become “the next Greenway Plaza.”

What is it? [Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper]
A New Boutique Office Address for the River Oaks Community [2229 San Felipe]
Previously on Swamplot: Hines Develops Website To Explain 17-Story San Felipe Development, â€œStopâ€ Signs Oppose 17-Story Hines Office Building on San Felipe, A Look Around San Felipe at the Randall Davis Condos and Planned Hines Office Building Site, Hines Plans a Shiny New 18-Story Office Building Across San Felipe from River Oaks

Image: Swamplot inbox

77019, Highrises, Maps, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Vermont Commons

Downtown

08/08/13 11:15am

Chevron Gets a Chevron-Sized Tax Zone Downtown

by Allyn West

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Skyscrapers, Taxes

32 Comments

CHEVRON GETS A CHEVRON-SIZED TAX ZONE DOWNTOWN To further persuade Chevron to build that 50-story tower that it told everyone back in July that it was gonna go ahead and build,Â city council voted unanimously yesterday to create a tax abatement reinvestment zone for the 2 acres on which the tower would stand at 1600 Louisiana. The resulting cash should help Chevron replace a sewer line on the former Downtown YMCA property, the Houston Chronicle reports. And the Houston Business Journalâ€™s Shaina Zucker adds up all the incentives that might be coming to help out the energy giant: “[The zone] could mean $2.7 million to $3 million for the company . . . . That money would be in addition to the $12 million it could receive from the Texas Enterprise Fund, which Gov. Rick Perry’s office announced in July.” [Houston Chronicle; Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: HOK

77002, Downtown, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, Tax Incentives

Museum Park

08/05/13 11:30am

Quittin’ Time for Museum Park Coworking Space

by Allyn West

Office Buildings, Office Space, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

5 Comments

QUITTIN’ TIME FOR MUSEUM PARK COWORKING SPACE Culturemap reports that Caroline Collective, the coworking complex with that friendly fake zebra, is closing, after 5 years behind these gates in Museum Park: “The . . . site at Caroline and Rosedale is under contract to make way for Museum District’s current rush of development,” writes Tyler Rudick. It has not been reported yet what that development might be; Urban Deal, explains Rudick, has the deed to the 8,000-sq.-ft. property here at 4820 Caroline for at least a few more months. [Culturemap] Photo: Ed Schipul [license]