Tag: Office Buildings

11/20/09 2:52pm

The Surrender of Greenway Plaza: Morgan Stanley’s Great Houston Office Building Investment Flop

Downtown, Galleria, Greenway Plaza, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing

4 Comments

What do all these Houston office towers have in common?

That’s right — they’re all part of the vast Crescent Real Estate Equities empire, which at the peak of the market 2 years ago comprised 54 properties in all, stretching from Texas to the California coast. That’s when Morgan Stanley snatched up the whole thing for a mere $6.5 billion, thanks in part to a little $2 billion loan from Barclays Capital.

Today, Morgan Stanley announced it is giving up on the whole thing. Back to the bank all those properties go. All of them. (Okay, minus a few that were jettisoned along the way.)

77002, 77046, 77056, Commercial Real Estate, Defaults, Downtown, Financing, Galleria, Greenway Plaza, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing

11/16/09 1:03pm

Kiddie Party on the Plaza: A Discovery Tower Construction Update

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

No Comments

A reader sends in photos of the new Hess Tower, formerly known as Discovery Tower, under construction adjacent to Discovery Green Downtown.

You can see the tower isn’t quite finished yet but it sure looks like that plaza in front of it already is! Though really, all those office workers look a little young, don’t you think?

More pics:

77010, Commercial Real Estate, Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

Houston Architects

10/26/09 4:01pm

The Westchase Spec Office Building That Ate Tinseltown

New Construction, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Westchase

15 Comments

Not a fan of the “ugly uninspired office parks” that line Beltway 8 on the west side of town, radio geek and computer answer guy Jay Lee finds he has a few nice things to say — and photograph — about the recently completed first phase of Westchase Park, a Simmons Vedder office development that’s replaced the Cinemark Tinseltown Westchase just north of Westpark:

Thereâ€™s a water feature in the front of the building that sports a metallic sculpture which sort of reminds me of the contraption from the movie â€œContact.â€ Itâ€™s by far the most interesting piece of architecture I have seen out here on the west beltway.

The building itself is glass and chrome and glints in the daylight. I was kind of hoping the sculpture was a corporate logo of some kind and that this was going to be to world headquarters of some up and coming conglomerate or something. Alas, it is simply a business park and will soon be selling office space to those looking to setup shop in the Westchase District.

On the plus side, it looks pretty cool at night:

77042, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Westchase

Downtown

10/12/09 10:40pm

The View from AIG: This Time We’re Sure Houston’s Never Gonna Flood Again

Economic Conditions, Flooding, Highrises, North Montrose, Office Buildings, Weather

4 Comments

From his perch high in the (formerly AIG) America Tower on Allen Parkway, Swamplot reader Stephen Cullar-Ledford forwards this latest dramatic scene, which aches for suitably metaphorical captioning.

A few months ago it was fog, this afternoon it’s a rainbow over downtown . . .

Previously on Swamplot: More AIG Bonus Photos: Right Back Atcha!, AIG Surrounded by Fog in Houston, Too

Photo: Stephen Cullar-Ledford

77002, 77019, AIG, Downtown, Economic Conditions, Flooding, Highrises, Montrose, Office Buildings, Weather

09/18/09 11:56am

All Those New Energy Corridor Office Buildings

Green Design and Development

Energy Corridor, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

2 Comments

ALL THOSE NEW ENERGY CORRIDOR OFFICE BUILDINGS “Among projects slated to begin construction soon are the 477,000-square-foot Energy Tower III from Mac Haik Realty Ltd. on the Katy Freeway, the 170,000-square-foot Enclave Corporate Center and the 230,000-square-foot Energy Crossing II, developed by Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. on the Katy Freeway. Currently, 13 new office buildings are being constructed in the Energy Corridor, according to the Energy Corridor Management District. Major developments coming online in the near future include the 300,000-square-foot Three Eldridge Place at 737 North Eldridge Parkway being developed by Dallas-based Behringer Harvard; the 447,000-square-foot Energy Tower II, which is expected to be completed this fall and will be occupied primarily by Technip; and Eldridge Oaks I, a 350,000-square-foot building at 1080 Eldridge Parkway being developed by Transwestern. In all, the market will gain an estimated 1.25 million square feet of new space, of which about 33 percent is pre-leased. Class A vacancy is expected to increase by about 50 percent this year, its highest rate in five years, according to market experts.” [Houston Business Journal]

77079, Commercial Real Estate, Energy-Corridor, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

09/14/09 10:33am

West Dallas Royal Norwegian

North Montrose, Office Buildings, Renovations

3 Comments

What’s happening to this brick office building on West Dallas, just east of Dunlavy? The Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson reports it’s getting an energy-conscious renovation — overseen by Bailey Architects, designer of the original building in the early eighties.

The West Dallas building used to house local advertising firm Sachnowitz & Co. The vacant site of the former Aquarium Lounge is next door.

Early next year, the Royal Norwegian Consulate General will be moving in. The consulate general currently occupies offices in a tower on Allen Parkway.

Consulate recruits original architect to recycle building [Houston Business Journal]

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77019, Green Design and Development, North Montrose, Office Buildings, Renovations

Greenspoint

08/04/09 3:16pm

Charles Gwathmey’s Greenspoint Strip

Houston History, Office Buildings

2 Comments

Diehard Modernist architect Charles Gwathmey, dubbed one of the “New York Five” (along with Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Richard Meier, and John Hejduk) in the early 1970s, passed away yesterday in Manhattan of esophageal cancer. Gwathmey, who was 71, was probably most famous for his addition to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, which his firm, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, completed in 1992.

Gwathmey-Siegel was no stranger to Houston. In the late seventies and early eighties, the firm designed a series of 4 spec office buildings that line the south side of this city’s North Belt, just southeast of the Greenspoint Mall.

Charles Gwathmey, Modernist Architect, Dies at 71 [NY Times]

Photos: LoopNet (400 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E) and Feagins Interests (Damson Oil Bldg., 260 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E)

77060, Architects, Greenspoint, Houston History, Office Buildings

Leasing

06/02/09 5:08pm

That West Gray Tilt-Up Is Up

Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings

16 Comments

A reader sends in a photo of the Arch-Con tilt-up office building going up at 1335 West Gray just west of Waugh, across from The Tavern on Gray — and asks:

This has got to be the first ever tilt up building inside the loop, right?

The 21,000-sq.-ft. building was planned to house the Houston headquarters for general contractor Arch-Con on the third floor, next to the terrace. Scraped bungalows will make room for an adjacent surface parking lot. The architect’s website notes there will be “additional parking on the first floor.” Stream Realty has two 7,466-sq.-ft. floor plates listed for lease.

Renderings of the finished building, from Ziegler Cooper Architects:

77019, General Contractors, Leasing, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings

Demolitions

05/28/09 11:28am

The New Levy Office Park

Parks, Quicklink, Upper Kirby

3 Comments

THE NEW LEVY OFFICE PARK An office building next to the doomed Wakeforest Apartments will soon find itself in a new, almost park-like setting: “Bulldozers razed two old office buildings on Richmond at Wakeforest this week and will tackle apartments nearby later this year. Nothing is planned at this point for what amounts to about 4 acres that were purchased within the past six months by the Upper Kirby Redevelopment Authorityâ€™s TIRZ 19, said its chairman, Buddy Bailey. ‘We didnâ€™t want empty structures,’ he said of the razing. The property, meanwhile, is ‘more than we could have hoped for.’ Immediate plans are to level and sod the estimated 1.2- and 2.8-acre lots, which are adjacent to the five-acre Levy Park. . . . Purchased for a total of $9.7 million, the office and apartment properties are not contiguous. A small office building separates them and remains.” [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot]

77098, Demolitions, Modern Design, Office Buildings, Parks, Upper Kirby

Apartments

03/19/09 1:38pm

More AIG Bonus Photos: Right Back Atcha!

Downtown, Economic Conditions, Highrises, Memorial Heights, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings

4 Comments

The fog cuts both ways: Reader Stephen Cullar-Ledford sends in this view looking back at Downtown, taken from the AIG American General building on Allen Parkway yesterday morning.

. . . Along with yet another economy/fog/building metaphor, ripe for the captioning:

77002, 77007, 77019, AIG, Apartments, Downtown, Economic Conditions, Fog, Highrises, Memorial Heights, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings, Weather

Economic Conditions

03/18/09 12:49pm

Houston AIG Bonus Photos!

Highrises, Montrose, Office Buildings

1 Comment

C’mon, you know you wanted to see more!

77019, AIG, Economic Conditions, Fog, Highrises, Montrose, Office Buildings, Weather

Economic Conditions

03/18/09 12:01pm

AIG Surrounded by Fog in Houston, Too

Highrises, Montrose, Office Buildings

2 Comments

Reader Mary Ellen Arbuckle sends in a few shots of the beleagured AIG American General building on Allen Parkway, which she snapped earlier this morning from a perch on the 36th floor of the KBR Building Downtown. “Could this be forefogging?” she asks.

It might be a bit tough for anyone see a way through this mess. Do things look any better if you take the long view?

77019, AIG, Economic Conditions, Fog, Highrises, Montrose, Office Buildings, Weather

Demolitions

03/13/09 11:45am

This Time with Fair Warning: Galleria Bank Collapse

Galleria, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

5 Comments

This weekend’s Galleria-area bank implosion won’t be televised nationally, but you should be able to watch it happen live if you wake up early enough on Sunday. Preparations for the dynamite-fueled takedown of the Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak are just about complete.

A notice sent out last month to area businesses by Cherry Demolition says the implosion is scheduled for approximately 7:45 am on March 15th — which happens to be the 2,053rd anniversary, give or take a calendar adjustment, of the Julius Caesar demo. A few details:

Adjacent streets will be closed at approximately 6:00 am and re-open at 9:15 am. Streets to be closed are Guilford and Post Oak Boulevard between Westheimer and Ambassador Way.

So where’s the best vantage point for viewing this cathartic form of timely public theater gonna be?

77056, Condos, Demolitions, Galleria, Hotels, Implosions, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Uptown

01/20/09 5:56pm

Beyond the Shroud: New Images of Five Allen Center

Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

10 Comments

A major downturn in the economy tends to make it a bit easier to happen upon images of developments that have been planned in secret — though finding them can be somewhat less exciting than unearthing plans that are actually likely to happen. A tipster reports HAIF user lockmat’s discovery of two images of Brookfield Properties’ planned Five Allen Center office tower Downtown. We saw one hazy picture of this building back in June. But is there any more to it now than just a few pretty pictures?

Five Allen Center is marked “pre-development” on the Brookfield website: a 50-story, 1.2-million-sq.-ft. office tower planned for a 2.5-acre site at the northwest corner of Downtown — at the northeast corner of Houston Ave. and West Dallas. That’s a rather prominent position: