Tag: Office Buildings

03/19/13 3:00pm

Does New Hines Highrise Mean Old Texas Tower’s a Goner?

Demolitions, Downtown, Land Development, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments

23 Comments

Hines has confirmed that it will be putting upÂ something new — maybe this glow stick of an office building, maybe not — at 609 Main, just north of the former MainPlace, now BG Group Pipe Wrench. Pickard Chilton, says Hines, will design a 41-story, 815,000-sq.-ft. office tower just as soon as an anchor tenant is signed. This view of the rendering released this week seems to look south toward the Hines-owned downtown block bound by Main, Texas, Fannin, and Capitol. Now, half that block is an $8 a day parking lot. If you look closely at the rendering, you’ll see an Apple logo just to the left of that entrance teepee. Whether that will actually be a new Apple store is not confirmed — and anyway, before anything new can come in, Hines will have to tear down what’s alreadyÂ there: The unoccupied Texas Tower, the former Sterling Building, at 608 Fannin:

77002, Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Geography

03/18/13 10:15am

Where Houston’s Building Offices

Houston Data, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space

13 Comments

Where’s all the new office space in Houston? Here, reports Metrostudy’s David Jarvis. The lemming-like red dots cramming together on the Beltway andÂ Katy Fwy. out toward the Grand Parkway denote locations that are alreadyÂ under construction, totaling 12.5 million square feet of new office space. The green dots denote planned locations that would add 6 million more. The ExxonMobil campus up near the Woodlands, reports Jarvis, accounts for almostÂ half of the new construction.

Boom in office construction [Metrostudy]
Previously on Swamplot: Welcome to the Land of ExxonMobil: A Tour of the Companyâ€™s New North Houston Campus

Map: Metro Study Report

ExxonMobil, Houston Data, Maps, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space

New Construction

02/26/13 3:15pm

The Taller Tower of Petroleum Planned for Uptown

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, Uptown

32 Comments

And here’s what BHP Billiton Petroleum’s new 30-story tower might look like. The company announced yesterday that construction will begin at 1500 Post Oak in November on the fifth skyscraper at Four Oaks Place; the proposed 560,000-sq.-ft. building, going up where a vacant 24-Hour Fitness now sits, will be connected by a skybridge to the company’s existing 1360 Post Oak building. BHP says that the twinnish towers are meant to consolidate the company’s entire workforce in Uptown.

BHP Billiton office tower to rise on Post Oak Boulevard [Prime Property]
BHP Billiton Petroleum unveils plans for Post Oak tower [Houston Business Journal]
Previously on Swamplot: West Loop Nineties Revival Not Getting Enough Love

Rendering: Houston Business Journal

77056, Four Oaks Place, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, Uptown

Apartments

02/15/13 4:08pm

A Museum District Construction Tour

Commercial Real Estate, Construction Materials, Land Development, Medical Buildings, Mixed Use, Museum District, New Construction, Office Buildings, Photography, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail, Senior Living, Streets

11 Comments

Ah, Friday: Why not take a stroll down Binz St. in the Museum District and have a look at what’s going on? Let’s head east from here: the corner of La Branch and Binz, near the Children’s Museum.

Our guide, Swamplot reader David Hollas, provides the photos and the observations:

77004, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Construction Materials, Lots, Medical Buildings, Museum District, New Construction, Office Buildings, Photography, Retail, Senior Living, Street

Comments

02/08/13 12:45pm

Comment of the Day: Recreating Great Moments in Big Box History

by Swamplot

Quicklink, Renovations, Retail, Spring Branch

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: RECREATING GREAT MOMENTS IN BIG BOX HISTORY “Ironically the glass facade is strikingly similar to a designed, but never built Great Indoors store prototype that was slated to open in 2004. The prototype coincided with the merger of Sears with Kmart when all new concept development (and gross profit) for Sears ceased. Pity.” [Hdtex, commenting on Great New Indoors Replacing The Old Great Indoors]

77043, Big Box Stores, Comments, Office Buildings, Renovations, Retail, Spring-Branch

Midtown

02/07/13 1:00pm

DeModifying a Modified Travis St. Mod

Office Buildings, Renovations

9 Comments

A Swamplot reader sends in photos of this Travis St. office building’s — well, stuccover. Gone are the striped awnings and gas light (pictured at the top) likely added during the building’s New Orleans Revival phase. Also gone is a trick-of-the-eye mural continuing those awnings (and window-fronting balcony railings, too) painted on the brick load-bearing wall that faces south toward Francis St. Built in 1959, the 4,741-sq.-ft. Midtown office space was purchased last June.

Want to see more of the stuccover?

77006, Midtown, Mod, Office Buildings, Renovations

Interiors

02/07/13 9:30am

Great New Indoors Replacing The Old Great Indoors

Proposed Developments

1 Comment

If you like intensely cinematic video renderings of former housewares stores set to a really rocking soundtrack, you’re going to love this one: It’s Block 10 West Office Park! This screenshot from the video shows how developer Hicks Ventures plans to maintain fidelity to the original I-10 site near Beltway 8, retaining the parking lot that used to front the former Great Indoors, which Sears sold along with 9 other stores about a year ago.

I-10, Interiors, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renovations

01/24/13 1:30pm

Will Central Square Plaza Look Like . . . This?

Midtown, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations

11 Comments

Squatters and street artists might have to find another bygone building to pick on — but that’s only assuming there’s something really behind the renderings of renovations to Midtown’s Central Square Plaza that Claremont Property has been floating around. Could that demure stone mosaic on the wall facing Webster finally get its comeuppance after years of playing hard to get?

77002, Midtown, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations, Vacant Buildings

01/17/13 4:45pm

You Know What They Say About Social Security

Leasing, Midtown, Office Buildings, Public Services, Quicklink, Redevelopment

4 Comments

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY Has Midtown become too hip even for the federal government? The Social Security Administration is leaving, having lost its lease at the low-slung building at 3100 Smith (shown at right), reports CultureMap’s Whitney Radley: “Once a sort of wasteland, the surrounding neighborhood teems now with development, restaurants, bars, mixed-use complexes and multifamily units . . . . speculation that the building might be prime space for a restaurant or even torn down to make room for a mid-rise, is rampant.” [CultureMap] Photo: Panoramio user Wolfgang Houston

77006, Leasing, Midtown, Office Buildings, Public Services, Redevelopment

01/16/13 2:34pm

Skanska Says First Tenant Signed for Post Oak Highrise

Galleria, Highrises, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Renting, Uptown

1 Comment

Back in 2010, Skanska said it was going to build and finance an office building in the Galleria all on its own. Swamplot showed you the first and second Kirksey-designed renderings. This one’s the third. And there’s another detail to add to the story: Skanska announced today that Datacert will be theÂ first tenant. Though the plannedÂ 20-story, 300,000-sq.-ft. building at 3009 Post Oak is still under construction, Skanska says that Datacert should be able to move in on the 10th and 11th floors later this summer. Right now, the 15-year-old “enterprise legal management solutions” company is headquartered in a building a few doors down at 3040 Post Oak.

Previously on Swamplot: First Sign of Skanska: Where the New Spec Office Tower Near the Galleria Will Go, Skanska Post Oak Tower: We Donâ€™t Need a Bank To Build This

Rendering: Swamplot inbox

77056, Commercial Real Estate, Galleria, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renting, Uptown

Buildings for Sale

01/07/13 4:30pm

Midtown’s Central Square Plaza Wants You To Know It’s Available

For Sale by Owner, Midtown, Office Buildings, Signage

16 Comments

What’s this? Near the intersection of W. Gray and Milam, a for-sale sign has popped up on the Central Square Plaza buildings on a 1-acre lot in Midtown. We’re hoping to get more details soon. The fate of the 12- and 14-story offices and parking garage at 2100 Travis has been tied up in court for years; Swamplot reported last summer that owner Alfred J. Antonini won a skirmish in a ongoing battle against the city, which had in 2011 ordered him to make “a bunch of repairs” to the buildings, vacant now for a real long time.

Previously on Swamplot: City Loses Skirmish in Battle To Repair Central Square

Photo: Swamplot inbox (sign); LoopNet

77002, Buildings for Sale, Lawsuits, Midtown, Office Buildings, Signage, Vacant Buildings

Demolitions

01/02/13 2:09pm

Houston Club Building Will Be Demolished, Say Auctioneers

Downtown, Office Buildings, Quicklink, Redevelopment

7 Comments

HOUSTON CLUB BUILDING WILL BE DEMOLISHED, SAY AUCTIONEERS Going, going . . . gone?: The company auctioning off the contents of the Houston Club ahead of its move to the 49th floor of One Shell Plaza gleefully reports on its website that the Jesse Jones-era 18-story office building at 811 Rusk is “scheduled for demolition!â€ That’s more than Skanska, which owns the building, has officially announced, though the Swedish construction firm’s own website does note that “future redevelopment” is plannedÂ for the Downtown site. [Lewis & Maese via CultureMap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Silberman Properties

77002, Demolitions, Downtown, Office Buildings, Redevelopment

Country Club Place, Mixed Use, Montrose, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing

11/30/12 10:57am

Owner of 3400 Montrose Says It’s in Deep Financial Trouble

by Swamplot

8 Comments

Those of you waiting with bated breath for the renovation, redevelopment, or removal of the 1950s-era office building at 3400 Montrose Blvd. (across Hawthorne St. from the Montrose Kroger): keep on bating. The company that bought the vacant 10-story building last September has told its 500 Israeli investors that its operations in Israel and Houston are both “in dire financial straits,” according to a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.