Jump to content

Republic Square: Mixed-Use Development For ExxonMobil Chemical Campus


fernz

Recommended Posts

Again having a 20 mile skyline is only good for pictures. It kills pedestrian activity, it makes public transportation darn near impossible and it hinders the already dense pockets from improving faster by being in direct competion.

 

Dang, this is definitely worthy of putting in a HAIF signature. Spot on.

 

The rest of the post is right on, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't get me wrong, Houston is home. My home. Coming back from San Antonio and seeing those building I have been crapping on all through this thread puts a smile on my face.

I hate them, then I love them

then I love them, then I hate them.

Theeeeeeeen I love them more.

But whatever they do, I never ever ever want to in any city but youuuuuuuuuuuu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dang, this is definitely worthy of putting in a HAIF signature. Spot on.

 

The rest of the post is right on, too.

 

 

I like your sig quotes, lockmat, and I wonder especially today about the Gerry Hines one.

Maybe the corporation looks like the means to fix the American city not because it's the solution but because it is the problem to begin with.  The renderings are built to attract large lease transplants, not the seeds of future personality.  

 

It may have been the Supreme Court who declared companies to have the rights of persons here (We the corporations of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union...) but in America's cores it was already accomplished fact:  The urban scene becomes a canvas not for individuals, but for their corporate investment interests.  This arms'-length process filters out all but the most mechanical lifelike features en route to finished product.  Artifice, not life, results, like Naviguessor said.  

 

What is to be done?  Well, I think the tactic most to the point would be a really simple overlay:  for every 100 square feet of ground you own, up to a thousand square feet, you pay property tax at a base annual rate.  This rate increases more than linearly at every "space bracket" -- if you own less than ten thousand, about a quarter of an acre, you pay much less for each square foot than if you have a hundred thousand feet of dirt.  In fact you can smoothe these brackets into a continuous, logarithmic curve with perfect transparency.

 

This would uniformly calibrate and restore our urban form to make hands-on intricacy the practical economic norm.  Development would mean replication by division, like a healthy cell, each with its individual imprint, instead of by bloating into socially undesirable gigantisms of ownership, which are the root cause of loss of intricate detail  (of which charm-free retail power centers are just the latest symptom).  The nonsense will no longer be financially sensible.  

 

Right now NIMBYs have it right, I'm sad to say:  a developer's increase in density in modern American neighborhoods usually means a decrease in lovable charm.  The good news:  This is not intrinsic to density itself.

Edited by strickn
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just for readers' convenience, and in case Lockmat up and opts to change his sig quotes anytime soon, here is the quote in question:  

  • "You know, the vehicle to improve the American city is the American corporation-that's where the money is." - Gerald D. Hines

 


slide1.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah yes, because the big American corporations like GM, Lehman Bros, Chase, etc have done wonders for this nation...

 

 

 

Actually a lot!

 

I think what you are really asking is, what have they done for us lately? :P

Edited by Luminare
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone know if a General Contractor has been selected?

 

i want to say yes but can't remember who... harvey maybe?  first phase will be a spec 400,000 SF office (up to 600,000 if they secure a major tenant), garage, some retail and a hotel with BP pushing for a particular major 4-star flag that already has a hotel in town. connectivity to the park will be a major focus and they are working some things out with the city to help that cause. this is an all cash investor so this one is happening - expect construction to begin 1Q16.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i want to say yes but can't remember who... harvey maybe? first phase will be a spec 400,000 SF office (up to 600,000 if they secure a major tenant), garage, some retail and a hotel with BP pushing for a particular major 4-star flag that already has a hotel in town. connectivity to the park will be a major focus and they are working some things out with the city to help that cause. this is an all cash investor so this one is happening - expect construction to begin 1Q16.

Let the battle of the faux urban developments begin. CityCentre vs CityCenterCentre! Who's going to claim to be more center?!?! Only the cars in the garage will tell.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

i want to say yes but can't remember who... harvey maybe?  first phase will be a spec 400,000 SF office (up to 600,000 if they secure a major tenant)

 

With Governor Abbott chatting up General Electric, maybe they should groom this site for them? They do have a major piece of the oil and gas division here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Oil-rout-stalls-mixed-use-project-planned-for-the-8108999.php

 

A mixed-use development slated to break ground this year in the Energy Corridor has been put on hold amid the economic slump that has left millions of square feet of office space unoccupied in area buildings.

 

Bowlin said the company, who owns the land with Atlas U.S.A. Holdings, still plans to develop this site after the price of oil stabilizes.

"We've done a ton. We're ready to go," he said. "We're just waiting for the market to come back to levels where we can move forward."

 

When it was announced, the mixed-use project was expected to have as many as 800 residential units, five office buildings totaling 2.6 million square feet, two hotels and 100,000 square feet of retail space.

 

In the short term, Bowlin said the company will continue to look for tenants to occupy the space in the site's existing office building that Exxon occupied.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

They've leased out some space in the existing buildings. New office space axed from Phase I.

 

http://realtynewsreport.com/2016/11/17/republic-square-and-third-palm-capital-energy-corridor-site-with-long-term-potential/

 

Realty News Report: Republic Square, which was billed as the future “Central Business District of the Energy Corridor” is going to be a large scale project in west Houston, where office occupancy has gone down somewhat in recent months. What’s your timetable?



 

Graham: It’s obviously a long-term deal. It’s not going to be built in one phase. The market will really dictate the pace that it’s constructed and brought to the market. “The thoughts are the hotel, some retail that’s mostly food and beverage, fitness center and some multifamily will go first, with office to follow.

 

Realty News Report: Does PMRG own a stake in Republic Square?

 

 

Graham: There is a possibility that they may in the future. (The PMRG investment in Republic Square never materialized and PMRG is not affiliated with the project today, Third Palm says. )

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/03/15/photos-tour-republic-square-the-reimagining-of-a.html

 

The future of a 35-acre former Exxon Mobil campus in west Houston is starting to be realized.



 

Third Palm Capital, the developer behind Republic Square, shared its plans for the redevelopment of Exxon Mobil Chemical's old headquarters site. The real estate investment company bought the campus in 2013 and is moving forward on developing speculative office space, art studios, a biergarten and more, Third Palm's Executive Manager Randall Tuller told the Houston Business Journal.

 

Work on the current vision for Republic Square, the multitenant, mixed-use development underway at 13501 Katy Freeway, has been in the works since at least July 2016. Dallas-based Third Palm is working alongside Houston-based Boxer Property to redevelop 320,000 square feet of Exxon's former office space into creative art studios, office suites designed for small- to mid-sized tenants, Boxer Property's Workstyle co-working space and more, Tuller said. As of now, no parts of the campus will be demolished, but the Third Palm team is continually assessing the market and that might change, Tuller said in a statement.

 

Third Palm and Boxer will also preserve and lease Mosaic, a 15,000-square-foot prototype office space built in the campus by Exxon Mobil. The Mosaic space resembles Exxon's new headquarters at Springwoods Village. The company treated Mosaic like a beta-version of its new campus, Tuller said, and observed how its employees interacted with the workspace before it moved forward with its massive north Houston campus in 2015.

 

More ideations for Republic Square, including public event space and a beer-focused addition, are in the works. The firm is also in talks with several high-end hotel flags for a property at Republic Square, Tuller said. A decision should be made by the end of 2017, he said.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 years later...
2 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

 

Quote

Renovations at high-profile Energy Corridor site move ahead. But additional development might be on the way

 

Developer Dart Interests is moving forward with plans to reimagine a 35-acre Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) campus in west Houston, which was once to be the site of a $1 billion mixed-use development that promised to bring drastic changes to the city’s Energy Corridor.

 

The renovations underway at the Republic Square property’s existing 324,000-square-foot building are far smaller in scale than what its former owner announced four years ago. But Dart says it is already looking ahead to other mixed-use development opportunities for the property, which is located at 13501 Katy Freeway.

 

“We decided to focus on upgrading the existing building at this stage. But we’re already speaking with our design team about what else we could bring to the property to appeal to tenants in in-demand sectors and those that are going to be in-demand in the future,” said Randall Tuller, senior vice president at Dart (formerly Third Palm Capital).

 

Plans for Republic Square have gone through several iterations since it was purchased from Exxon Mobil in 2013 by Houston-based PM Realty Group and Greenwich, Connecticut-based Atlas USA Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Since then, ownership has transferred to Dart.

 

In 2015, PM Realty Group rolled out a plan for Republic Square that called for the construction of up to five office buildings with 2.6 million square feet of space, two full-service hotels and 800 apartment units. The plan also included 100,000 square feet of retail space, including a 35,000-square-foot high-end gym, a beer garden and restaurants. An existing conference center was to be revamped. That $1 billion project was scheduled to break ground in 2016.

 

But because energy prices took a hit around the same time, the project was scaled back significantly. PMRG and Atlas ended up selling the property to what was then Third Palm Capital, which initially planned to turn the existing building into a coworking space.

 

Tuller declined to disclose how much Third Palm, now Dart, paid for the property. But the adjoining parcels have been appraised at $84.2 million, according to Harris County Appraisal District records.

 

Tuller said plans for Republic Square evolved over time to be more multiuse in nature. It was decided that only the first floor would offer smaller coworking spaces, while the second and third floors would be reserved for larger tenants. The top floor of the building contains parking facilities.

 

The first phase of renovations on the existing building’s first floor is already underway, Tuller said, and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019. The project’s first phase is focusing on the first floor’s lobby, conference rooms, fitness center and restrooms, as well as the landscaping around the building and the nearby lake, Tuller said. Upgrades to the building’s air-conditioning system, as well as its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems have already been completed by Gilbane Construction, Tuller said.

 

Dart hopes to soon begin work on the second and third floors, Tuller said. Plans for those floors are still in the design phase.

 

Dart announced May 20 that it had tapped NAI Partners to provide property and construction management services at Republic Square. NAI Partners was hired to handle leasing at Republic Square in February.

 

Since then, nearly 35,000 square feet at Republic Square has been leased, and Tuller said there are potential deals for another 100,000 square feet in the pipeline.

 

“We’re presenting the property to tenants of all sizes, and we’re getting a lot of positive responses to the amenities it will soon offer,” Tuller said.

 

But Dart has not ruled out further development at Republic Square. Tuller said the company is working with Dallas-based architecture and engineering firm Huitt-Zollars to draft a new master plan for the property.

 

“We see a lot of opportunities for retail and multifamily development,” Tuller said. “Additional office space will also likely happen down the road.”

 

In fact, Tuller said that is part of the reason Dart hired NAI Partners to oversee the property. In June, NAI Partners hired office brokerage veteran Randy Nerren away from MetroNational, where he helped to provide landlord services for Houston’s Memorial City.

 

“We would like Republic Square to see some of the same kind of development as Memorial City on a smaller scale,” Tuller said.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Republic Square: Mixed-Use Development For ExxonMobil Chemical Campus
  • 1 year later...
  • 9 months later...

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/05/09/fugro-headquarters-energy-corridor-lease.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_27&cx_artPos=2#cxrecs_s

"After sitting vacant from 2014 to 2020, the Republic Square building is now 50% occupied and will go up to more than 70% with Fugro, which will take up almost the entire second floor of the double-C-shaped building, he said.

“(Fugro) liked having all their employees on the same floor, which is good for circulation and collaboration,” Virgilio said.

Fugro is moving from its current U.S. headquarters at a seven-story building it owns at 6100 Hillcroft Ave. in Sharpstown.

The company plans to make the move at the end of the year, after building out the new office space, Virgilio said."

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...