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Will Houston Ever Get A Supertall Again?


marc

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I don't think that's true.  After all, we already have a supertall. 

 

Houston has 2 supertalls... Wells Fargo is 302 meters.

but to answer your question. i really hope so. we discussed it in the Hines thread when we were speculating the new height, and determined that if we do get a supertall it is likely to be due to a major corporate headquarters relocation or a foreign company statement tower.

Edited by cloud713
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Houston has 2 supertalls... Wells Fargo is 302 meters.

but to answer your question. i really hope so. we discussed it in the Hines thread when we were speculating the new height, and determined that if we do get a supertall it is likely to be due to a major corporate headquarters relocation or a foreign company statement tower.

 

I agree and I wouldn't be surprised if the next supertall gets built in Uptown for that very reason.  Assuming that the reason for building it would be to make a statement, you could argue that it would be a bigger statement by building it there.

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  • 5 months later...

Hello fellow HAIF-ers I have recently noticed (I know extremely late and ridiculous) that a few places in good ol' U.S of A are getting a supertall (aside from New York and Chicago) places like L.A., San Francisco, Philadelphia, and even Miami so with all these supertalls being built in dreadful places like those (Forgive me if I offend, I naturally hate any city other than Houston and Paris)... where is Houston's new supertall? I mean a city with above average prosperity or so they say should certainly have a piece of the supertall pie!

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As in other threads by several people, I think this fun topic has been addressed. Another supertall in Houston may be way down the road. Think about it. Any oil based energy company is not going to flout their colossal profits by erecting an iconic tower until attitudes change regarding said companies gouging the US consumer per gallon. Alternative energy companies, as was pointed out to me in other posts, wouldn't necessarily be headquartered in HTown. More than likely Austin or even SA. Banks? Ummmm, who? So what are we left with? Technology companies and medical based companies. Well, the trend for both seems to not transcend 40 or 50 storeys, and actually most corporate expansion seems to point to mid rise buildings in a giant complex of sorts. So, much to my disappointment, I don't see anything over 60 storeys in DT for at least a decade. Then we could talk about residential towers, hotel or otherwise. Again, a 30 something storey tower for that purpose seems feasible, but not so much a 50 or more storey tower. Don't mean to be a negative Nancy, just others have pointed out certain facts to me, and I tend to believe them. Having said that, I will most assuredly eat every word when a 1000+ footer is announced in a year or so. ;)

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  • 2 months later...

The tallest building currently under construction in Chicago is actually shorter in height than the tallest building under construction here.

609 Main: 47-floors / 757' ft.

609_Main_Day_small.jpg

River Point: 52-floors / 732' ft.

27zb3v4.jpg

Same developer; same architect.

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Ok. You all win. Chicago doesn't have only 70 plus story buildings going up. It just seemed like it when I was there last. Certainly NYC's new builds seem taller than 50. My point is that we used to have the tallest building west of the Mississippi and I believe LA has that now. We need to grab that title back. If we can't do it now, in this economy, it isn't ever likely.

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Ok. You all win. Chicago doesn't have only 70 plus story buildings going up. It just seemed like it when I was there last. Certainly NYC's new builds seem taller than 50. My point is that we used to have the tallest building west of the Mississippi and I believe LA has that now. We need to grab that title back. If we can't do it now, in this economy, it isn't ever likely.

Well we've heard rumors about a couple a super talls, one for Uptown and one for downtown. There's also Chevron's Tower 3, and the height for that one is in flux so with just another 100 feet or so that one could also be a super tall. Then finally there's the rumored $2B project downtown which may contain a super tall but we don't have that much info on it. Either way that's 4 big projects we've been hearing about for a little while now. I'm optimistic that we will hear more details about at least one of them pretty soon!

Edited by ClutchCity
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Is it me or is Downtown Houston's number of blocks pretty darn small, something like 200 blocks.  Where Manhattan might have like 5,000. In addition, if a bunch of cheapish 5 story buildings that age badly get built and we only have 20 blocks left, then what?

 

Then you tear down a badly-built 5 story building.  Or tear down an obsolete 20 story building.  Or build in Eado or Midtown or Hardy Yards.  All the same things they do in Manhattan.

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Is it me or is Downtown Houston's number of blocks pretty darn small, something like 200 blocks.  Where Manhattan might have like 5,000. In addition, if a bunch of cheapish 5 story buildings that age badly get built and we only have 20 blocks left, then what?

 

closer to 400 blocks

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  • 4 months later...

I'm still pulling for a super tall on the old Southwest tower competition site where an 82 story was to be erected. I think that location would be the perfect location centrally located and between the two super talls we currently have downtown.

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With the new proposed legislation by the FAA - we can expect a lot fewer supertalls in the future I would wager.

 

I think the FAA is greatly exaggerating the hazards of building a supertall in downtown Houston (bigger than what we have now).  I don't know the stats but I don't remember ever hearing about planes hitting buildings by accident or due to bad weather.  I hope the proposed legislation never passes.

 

Anyways, I hope Houston gets another supertall someday, the skyline needs more of the wow factor and building tall gives you that.

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After reading in todays Chronicle about the new super sized Kinder Morgan, with its recent acquisitions, making it the third largest company behind Exxon Mobil and someone else and just in front of Chevron, perhaps they will decide to build a new supertall. Of course I would want them to build it on the BOSW vacant lot in the center of town.

 

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I'm still pulling for a super tall on the old Southwest tower competition site where an 82 story was to be erected. I think that location would be the perfect location centrally located and between the two super talls we currently have downtown.

 

I agree with the location, but I wonder if any supertalls will ever be built in Houston.  There's not much of that type of construction in the US outside of New York and Comcast in Philadelphia, is there?  Maybe the economics don't really work.

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After reading in todays Chronicle about the new super sized Kinder Morgan, with its recent acquisitions, making it the third largest company behind Exxon Mobil and someone else and just in front of Chevron, perhaps they will decide to build a new supertall. Of course I would want them to build it on the BOSW vacant lot in the center of town.

 

They weren't even very happy about taking over the remodeled El Paso building after that acquisition (as it was too fancy and didn't align with their low cost culture/image), so unfortunately, no matter how big they get, I can't see them ever building a super tall.  Just not in that company's DNA.

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They weren't even very happy about taking over the remodeled El Paso building after that acquisition (as it was too fancy and didn't align with their low cost culture/image), so unfortunately, no matter how big they get, I can't see them ever building a super tall.  Just not in that company's DNA.

 

Excellent point.   And they don't even occupy the entire Kinder Morgan (nee El Paso) Building.  My impression is they run a very lean operation.

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Well that's too bad. I thought they would be a natural. Sounds like you guys have a better handle on their culture than I do.

I just tHought with the new divisions they might want to consolidate all into one downtown superTALL.

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