Tag: Office Buildings

06/23/08 8:39am

More Discovery Tower Drawings Discovered

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized

Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

New drawings and details appear of Discovery Tower, the 30-story office building now under construction at the northwest corner of Discovery Green Downtown.

The wind turbines at the top of the building are still there. The brochure also mentions solar panels on the south face of the building, a green roof on top of the entrance pavilion, 2 stories of retail, as well as some old Houston favorites: 2 floors of underground parking (151 cars), and a 10-story, 1,350-space parking garage one block north, connected by . . . . an air-conditioned (phew!) skybridge!

After the jump, more green-hot Downtown tower architectural rendering porn!

77010, Commercial Real Estate, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Galleria

06/12/08 6:31pm

3100 Post Oak: Where the Loop, the Lake, the Train, and Richmond Collide

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

2 Comments

Rendering of Proposed Office Tower at 3100 Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

A kind tipster sends us a link to this new ~~17-~~ 26-story (including the parking garage), 452,000-sq.-ft. office tower planned for 3100 Post Oak — near Richmond, just across the Lakes on Post Oak from Randall Davis’s Manhattan fantasy in the Galleria. And right next to the new rail line. The plans show room for a ground-floor restaurant, directly on one of the lakes.

A couple more images after the jump!

77056, Galleria, Metro Rail, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Uptown

Demolitions

06/06/08 11:11am

Secret Hines Tower: Land in Hand

Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Rendering of Proposed North Tower at Main and Texas Downtown Houston

Hines has “finalized the acquisition” of the Main Street block between Texas and Capitol Downtown, Nancy Sarnoff reports. That’s the site of the secret new 742,000-sq.-ft. office tower reported here a week and a half ago.

Apartment abundance could signal trouble [Houston Chronicle]
The Secret New Downtown Tower Hidden on the Web [Swamplot]

77002, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

05/08/08 9:30am

The Secret New Downtown Tower Hidden on the Web

Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

3 Comments

Rendering of New Hines North Tower, Downtown Houston

The L-shaped glass building at the center of this drawing is apparently a new 742,000-square-foot office tower planned by Hines for the northeast corner of Main and Capitol Downtown. But Hines hasn’t officially announced it yet. Houston Architecture Info Forum user ChannelTwoNews found the drawing earlier this week — only a few days after it had been posted on the website of an engineering firm working on the project. Fellow forum user lockmat later spotted it again . . . in a Hines presentation from February posted on the Texas A&M Real Estate Center website. By the end of the day yesterday, the engineering firm’s site had been scrubbed of all information about the building.

The tower is planned for a corner most recently occupied by a languishing sales trailer for the appropriately named Shamrock Tower, and a full-size McDonald’s before that. At the far end of the block is the vacant Texas Tower, which the new Hines building appears to wrap around.

The drawing shows a view looking northwest. The tower looks like 28 or so office stories perched atop a parking garage of . . . maybe 10 levels? After the jump, a closeup . . . and an even closer-up, so you can count the floors for yourself.

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

05/01/08 10:56am

That Nineties Retro Tower Coming to the West Loop

Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

1 Comment

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!

77027, Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Uptown

East Downtown

04/21/08 11:53pm

Pierce Elevated Face Change

Medical Buildings, Midtown, Office Buildings, Renovations

1 Comment

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 faÃ§ade and interior common areas. The renovations are anticipated to be completed within six to nine months.

44-Year-Old Value Add In Line for More Change [Globe St.]

77002, Downtown, Medical Buildings, Midtown, Office Buildings, Office Space, Renovations

Bayou Woods

03/24/08 11:25pm

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

Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Houston Architects, Memorial, Office Buildings, Parking, Proposed Developments

1 Comment

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.

77024, Bayou Woods, Churches, Commercial Real Estate, Ground Leases, Houston Architects, Katy Freeway, Memorial, Office Buildings, Parking, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments

03/17/08 9:54am

New Memorial Hermann Tower: Great Location for a Head Office

Highrises, Medical Buildings, Memorial City, New Construction, Real Estate Marketing

6 Comments

Memorial Hermann Tower at I-10 and Gessner Under Construction Newspaper and radio technology answer guy Jay Lee snaps this photo of the new 30-story Memorial Hermann tower going up along I-10 next to the Memorial City Mall . . . then posts it to the “Look Like a Robot” photo pool on Flickr.

Does he realize offices in that robot-head are available for rent? From a January report in the Houston Business Journal:

Marshall Heins, Memorial Hermann’s real estate guru, says he gets asked about the cone at least four or five times a day by inquiring citizens.

The top three floors of the cylinder will house mechanical systems, but the bottom three floors will house small offices. . . .

The cone’s footprint is 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, while the office floors below in the main building have a 25,000-square-foot floor plate.

Building developer MetroNational Corp. will lease the three small floors to tenants, but Memorial Hermann will not be one of them. No word yet from MetroNational on who might occupy the special space.

After the jump: what the whole thing’s supposed to look like when it’s finished!

77024, Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Medical Buildings, Memorial City, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Real Estate Marketing

02/29/08 3:50pm

Discovery Tower: Yep, They Are Wind Turbines

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

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?

Discovery Tower [LoopNet]
Discovery Tower: Ready for Closeup? [Swamplot]

77010, Commercial Real Estate, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

02/28/08 5:13pm

Discovery Tower: Ready for Closeup?

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Rendering of Discovery Tower by Gensler, Downtown Houston Thanks 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.

77010, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments

02/26/08 4:31pm

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

Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

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 LeÃ³n 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?

Building fills West Loop bill [Houston Business Journal]
New 20 Story Tower on West Loop [HAIF]

77027, Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Uptown

02/18/08 3:45pm

Eldridge Oaks: Turn on the Lights!

Energy Corridor, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

Eldridge Oaks, Proposed Office Building in Houston Energy Corridor A 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!

Eldridge Oaks [Transwestern]
Transwestern plans twin towers in Energy Corridor [Houston Business Journal]
Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo [AIA Houston]

77077, Commercial Real Estate, Energy-Corridor, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

Downtown

02/07/08 4:54pm

Discovery Tower: Ready to Climb

Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings