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Bank Of America Tower At 800 Capitol St.


barracuda

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The worst part, there's a very real chance that they take the building down and then don't land financing or a tenant and we end up with another empty parcel downtown.

How many things have we lost in this city only to watch as NOTHING replaces it?

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The worst part, there's a very real chance that they take the building down and then don't land financing or a tenant and we end up with another empty parcel downtown.

I don't think financing is an issue for these guys. They use their own money and are perfectly happy building completely spec.

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Yet another historic and perfectly salvagable Houston building bites the dust.

What do you see that is historic about it? It may be perfectly usable/salvageable, but from the outside it is a plain brown box. I'm guessing Skanska thinks that they can get more money out of something new and shiny and/or a teardown/rebuild is cheaper than a meaningful refurb.

With the Esperson buildings and others in the immediate vicinity not hurting for available space to sell, but new stuff filling quickly, their move makes sense.

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What do you see that is historic about it? It may be perfectly usable/salvageable, but from the outside it is a plain brown box. I'm guessing Skanska thinks that they can get more money out of something new and shiny and/or a teardown/rebuild is cheaper than a meaningful refurb.

With the Esperson buildings and others in the immediate vicinity not hurting for available space to sell, but new stuff filling quickly, their move makes sense.

It's age makes it historic.

I would definitely not be opposed to them building something new on the site that is better. That would be optimal.

I would be a little pissed off if they just sat on the land and put a parking lot there for now.

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It's age makes it historic.

I would definitely not be opposed to them building something new on the site that is better. That would be optimal.

I would be a little pissed off if they just sat on the land and put a parking lot there for now.

It would be a shame if a parking lot was more commercially viable than a building that seemed to be perfectly serviceable, but I can't say I heard of any tenants, other than the club themselves and the few retail shops.

Seems not worth the bother and possibly unlikely given that they have disclosed that they already hired Gensler.

Hoping for the best, but it's not my money.

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That building could have made a nice condo/apartment/hotel conversion. It's location is excellent, which is why it's likely biting the dust.

That said, there is absolutely NO guarantee that something will replace it. Skanska is building their Galleria area tower but their energy corridor tower needs a lead tenant first. That's the hottest office market in town. While downtown's market is strong, Skanska will likely be fighting other, more established developers (Hines, Brookfield, Crescent) in a race to get out of the ground.

Again, I would hate to see a building that still has life left and could potentially make an excellent apartment or hotel conversion bite the dust for a speculative office tower that may or may not happen.

How long have we been waiting for the West side of market square to be rebuilt or for things to fill in around Minute Maid Park?

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What do you see that is historic about it? It may be perfectly usable/salvageable, but from the outside it is a plain brown box. I'm guessing Skanska thinks that they can get more money out of something new and shiny and/or a teardown/rebuild is cheaper than a meaningful refurb.

Well, not every building can - or should - be a shiny glass tower. Plain brown box or not, I've always thought that it is a pretty elegant structure. That corner of Travis with the Houston Club on one side and the Gulf Building on the other is one of the more urbane stretches of downtown.

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That building could have made a nice condo/apartment/hotel conversion. It's location is excellent, which is why it's likely biting the dust.

That said, there is absolutely NO guarantee that something will replace it. Skanska is building their Galleria area tower but their energy corridor tower needs a lead tenant first. That's the hottest office market in town. While downtown's market is strong, Skanska will likely be fighting other, more established developers (Hines, Brookfield, Crescent) in a race to get out of the ground.

Again, I would hate to see a building that still has life left and could potentially make an excellent apartment or hotel conversion bite the dust for a speculative office tower that may or may not happen.

How long have we been waiting for the West side of market square to be rebuilt or for things to fill in around Minute Maid Park?

Your wait is over.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/Apartments-by-ballpark-could-be-grand-slam-3703726.php

Real estate developer Marvy Finger is buying two prime downtown blocks for a seven-story apartment project to be built across from Minute Maid Park.

...

Finger is planning 380 apartments on adjacent blocks bounded by Preston, Crawford, Texas and La Branch. His contract to buy the property is expected to close next month. Trammell Crow and Texas Avenue Properties LP each own one block.

...

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Well, not every building can - or should - be a shiny glass tower. Plain brown box or not, I've always thought that it is a pretty elegant structure. That corner of Travis with the Houston Club on one side and the Gulf Building on the other is one of the more urbane stretches of downtown.

There was nothing at all wrong with it, that I could see. I'm just trying to guess Skanska's motives. An interesting thing to me is how it occupies virtually the entire block with its footprint. That's actually pretty rare downtown.

How are the Gulf and Esperson buildings doing for tenants? I agree that that block of Travis looks very clean and classic.

Edited by Nate99
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Our business just rented a full floor in the Gulf Building (712 Main) a few months ago. The building was sold by Chase to a REIT a few years ago, and the new ownership is pumping money into amenities, elevators, etc. I would say it was a Class "B+" office building when we first looked at it, and they're working to get it to "A-". Working with our architect, we went with a modern, bright, clean look to counterbalance the lower ceiling heights and smaller windows, and I think we succeeded. I love the beginning and end of work days getting to walk through the grand bank lobby -- 30 seconds of beauty to start and end my day. Building management is constantly parading potential tenants through our space, so I'm guessing it's starting to lease up.

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The parking garage, like many built during that era, has (or had) an employee lift. This single person device is an open air shaft between floors that has a step for the parking attendant to step onto as it takes them to an upper or lower floor. Think of it as a giant rubber band stretched from bottom floor to top that runs continuosly. Stepping on and off at each floor required little effort, but I'm sure became a safety nightmare as OSHA and lawsuit happy lawyers came along.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really believe this developer is going to build something nice in place of this historic structure. Skanska I think is trying build a bit of a good reputation with the community by develpoing that new day care center. This is such a prime lot, it wouldn't suprise me if he built something big enough to add to the skyline.

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Walked through the building in the tunnels today. They already took down the descriptive plaques for the pictures of the various Skanska projects that are on the wallpaper in the tunnel.

They were only up for maybe a month.

Never mind. The plaques were back up this morning.

For a minute there I thought this was the fastest track to demolition ever envisioned. It will be interesting to see if they do anything to accomodate the tunnels.

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I googled and found that they've developed lots of parking garages.

Can you give us examples of parking garages they have developed? To be clear, we are talking here about a free-standing parking garage, not a parking garage developed in conjunction with an office building or other development. And, don't confuse parking garages they have constructed for others (they also have a construction company) with parking garages they have developed.

Edited by Houston19514
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  • 2 months later...

Nobody has Caught this?

Skanska, which is part of a large Swedish multi-national corporation, also is planning a major office tower in downtown Houston. Skanska will demolish the old Houston Club building at 811 Rusk and start a new office tower shortly. Mondshine said the Skanska downtown tower is in the design stage.

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-27-12-foodie-tower-new-bbva-compass-plaza-will-feature-new-restaurants-from-two-big-name-celeb-chefs/

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Nobody has Caught this?

Skanska, which is part of a large Swedish multi-national corporation, also is planning a major office tower in downtown Houston. Skanska will demolish the old Houston Club building at 811 Rusk and start a new office tower shortly. Mondshine said the Skanska downtown tower is in the design stage.

http://houston.cultu...me-celeb-chefs/

News to me.

Last I read, Skanska had Gensler working on "something" but it wasn't specific enough to be able to call it a "major office tower".

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News to me.

Last I reas, Skanska had Gensler working on "something" but it wasn't specific enough to be able to call it a "major office tower".

I wouldn't read too much into this. I suspect it's nothing more than a throw-away line based on an assumption that the new building will be an office tower ( which does seem likely, given Skanska's history).

Edited by Houston19514
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I wouldn't read too much into this. I suspect it's nothing more than a throw-away line based on an assumption that the new building will be an office tower ( which does seem likely, given Skanska's history). (and FWIW, the linked article did not say "major" office tower.)

I would imagine that you are correct. There are probably only four or five of us on the planet that would parse the language thoroughly enough to notice a difference.

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I wouldn't read too much into this. I suspect it's nothing more than a throw-away line based on an assumption that the new building will be an office tower ( which does seem likely, given Skanska's history). (and FWIW, the linked article did not say "major" office tower.)

You might be right it being a throw away line, but i copied and pasted the quote so "major" is actually acurate.

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