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Houston19514

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completely misleading post... nothing is said of the consolidation and campus near the woodlands being scrapped, only that the official XOM HQ would not be moving here. the 4M SF (or whatever # it is now) campus is happening, it just won't be XOM HQ.

What other campus would they be talking about? There was never previous talk of Exxon moving here until the campus near The Woodlands sprang forth. It's interesting that the HBJ publishes an article reading "Exxon changes its mind about Houston."

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Exxon has a MUCH larger presence in Houston than it does in DFW. The headquarters would have been a nice feather in our cap, but unless Exxon releases that its 27,000 Houston employees (out of 82,000 employees worldwide) from the Upstream Division Headquarters (provides about 70% of operating revenue per year for the company) are moving out of town, then this is no big deal.

Absolutely. I'll trade you Rex Tillerson and his 300 flying monkeys for 27,000 jobs.

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completely misleading post... nothing is said of the consolidation and campus near the woodlands being scrapped, only that the official XOM HQ would not be moving here. the 4M SF (or whatever # it is now) campus is happening, it just won't be XOM HQ.

Exactly. All of Fairfax, Virginia is still moving to the new campus, as well as some other offices around Houston.

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I also forgot to mention that Houston is also home to Exxon Chemical.

The Irving Headquarters is really just a shell that houses some execs who appreciate being close to DFW (makes it easy for folks to come to them).

For those of you in the know, is it the same for Texaco's headquarters in New York? Is it really just a bunch of offices for show for the benefit of Wall Street, while the real work is done in Texas?

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For those of you in the know, is it the same for Texaco's headquarters in New York? Is it really just a bunch of offices for show for the benefit of Wall Street, while the real work is done in Texas?

Texaco no longer exists as a separate company. They were bought by Chevron 9 years ago. The office in White Plains was a real office, with the HQ and some other functions. Texaco did move the bulk of the Upstream to Houston, Downstream was in NY. After the Chevron merger, the office in NY was sold to a financial firm, I forget which one.

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The article says that it shut out Houston as a possible headquarters, but what about other cities? The article makes it sound like they are looking for a new headquarters. If they are, I hope its not outside the state of Texas.

The linked HBJ blurb was hideously bad writing and certainly left one with the impression that the HQ is up for a relocation bidding and Houston has been eliminated. Don't be expecting intelligent writing in a newspaper. Other than having earlier left the impression that the HQ was part of the current study (which impression may have been the result of bad journalism) there has been absolutely no indication that they are considering relocating their headquarters.

I'm still hoping that the mayor and downtown developers (Hines) are doing everything imaginable to try to get Exxon Mobil to build downtown rather than a new campus in Spring. Imagine an urban "campus" around the Exxon Tower downtown. Could fill up those vacant blocks surrounding their current tower with an amazing complex.

Edited by Houston19514
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The linked HBJ blurb was hideously bad writing and certainly left one with the impression that the HQ is up for a relocation bidding and Houston has been eliminated. Don't be expecting intelligent writing in a newspaper. Other than having earlier left the impression that the HQ was part of the current study (which impression may have been the result of bad journalism) there has been absolutely no indication that they are considering relocating their headquarters.

I'm still hoping that the mayor and downtown developers (Hines) are doing everything imaginable to try to get Exxon Mobil to build downtown rather than a new campus in Spring. Imagine an urban "campus" around the Exxon Tower downtown. Could fill up those vacant blocks surrounding their current tower with an amazing complex.

But would the City want that?

If XOM blesses Springwoods Village with their presence, they can induce a new edge city that the City can selectively annex and tax. Induced residential growth beyond Springwoods Village (which might entail the provision of City services) would mostly occur outside of the City but still largely within its ETJ, meaning that secondary growth of neighborhood retail and other commercial properties could still be annexed and taxed.

And then there's the question of whether XOM would want that. Such a move would be pretty disruptive to the lives of their thousands of Greenspoint employees.

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While ExxonMobil does have a large presence in the Greenspoint area, the majority of employees work elsewhere in the region. These are the following offices that I could find;

DOWNTOWN

800 Bell St- Main Office for ExxonMobil Pipeline

800 Bell St- Main office for Exploration and Producing Operations

800 Bell St- large concentration of in-house legal counsel

1200 Smith St- Main Office for Seariver Maritime Financial Holdings division

UPTOWN

5555 San Felipe- Main Office for Univation Technologies division

GREENWAY/UPPER KIRBY

3120 Buffalo Speedway- Main Office for Upstream Research Company

ENERGY CORRIDOR

13501 Katy Freeway- Main Office for ExxonMobil Chemical

BAYTOWN

branch offices of ExxonMobil Chemical, and home of Technology and Engineering Complex

Other offices are located at 4500 Dacoma and 233 Benmar.

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The linked HBJ blurb was hideously bad writing and certainly left one with the impression that the HQ is up for a relocation bidding and Houston has been eliminated. Don't be expecting intelligent writing in a newspaper. Other than having earlier left the impression that the HQ was part of the current study (which impression may have been the result of bad journalism) there has been absolutely no indication that they are considering relocating their headquarters.

I'm still hoping that the mayor and downtown developers (Hines) are doing everything imaginable to try to get Exxon Mobil to build downtown rather than a new campus in Spring. Imagine an urban "campus" around the Exxon Tower downtown. Could fill up those vacant blocks surrounding their current tower with an amazing complex.

highly unlikely for the reasons niche posted as well as security reasons... a suburban XOM campus provides them with significantly more control and thus security that a CBD location couldn't.

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  • 2 months later...

Nothing ground breaking here, but I got to talking to this guy on our bowling league the other night and found out that he just moved to The Woodlands from Michigan. Anyway, he works for Exxon and he said that the development at the Hardy and 45 is on the fast track and will break ground sooner than later. He said it is DEFINITELY happening and that all offices from Denver, Fairfax and some from Dallas and Houston are all moving to the Spring/Woodlands location. So there ya go. At least it's not 'dead' or on a 'hiatus.'

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Nothing ground breaking here, but I got to talking to this guy on our bowling league the other night and found out that he just moved to The Woodlands from Michigan. Anyway, he works for Exxon and he said that the development at the Hardy and 45 is on the fast track and will break ground sooner than later. He said it is DEFINITELY happening and that all offices from Denver, Fairfax and some from Dallas and Houston are all moving to the Spring/Woodlands location. So there ya go. At least it's not 'dead' or on a 'hiatus.'

Don't think anyone thought it was, since the study wasn't even suppose to be complete until this year anyway. As far as Dallas offices moving here, I doubt Exxon is moving their corporate HQ to Houston (already said they won't). But, Exxon strangely picked Irving randomly for their HQ years ago, so maybe they change their mind at the last minute again and relocate to Houston.

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It was not strange or random at all. The move from New York was expected, and the bigshots wanted to live in Dallas as opposed to Houston. The stated reason was that having the HQ in the same city made supervision more difficult, as well as proximity to DFW Airport, but everyone at Exxon knew that the bigs simply preferred Dallas to Houston. The choice of Las Colinas is also not surprising, as Las Colinas in the late 80s was the next big thing and downtown Dallas was still the dregs, following the real estate collapse of the mid 80s.

EDIT: I should also point out that NOTHING Exxon-Mobil does is ever done at the last minute. Exxon-Mobil has a virtual military approach to running its business. Nothing happens by accident. Mobil flew by the seat of their pants, but Exxon never does.

Edited by RedScare
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Construction will begin this year (very soon). Contracts are being written to sub-contractors already.

Should there be some "smoke signals" indicating the beginning of construction like calls for bids, city permits etc? Who in the know knows what we can look for?

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Should there be some "smoke signals" indicating the beginning of construction like calls for bids, city permits etc? Who in the know knows what we can look for?

That tract isn't in the City, so permits wouldn't be filed there. Does Harris County require permits? Requests for bids will probably go to the short list XOM has already identified.

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That tract isn't in the City, so permits wouldn't be filed there. Does Harris County require permits? Requests for bids will probably go to the short list XOM has already identified.

It's not Houston but I'd be very surprised if they didn't have to go through Houston to get certain permits. The Woodlands and other areas outside of the Houston city limits have to do it all the time.

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I know that they are trying their best to keep this project a secret. They had everyone sign papers stating they wouldn't talk about it. They even refer to it as "Project Delta". Gilbane is the CM and Gensler is the architect. And no, I didn't have to sign a confidentiality clause. I'm not working on the project. They are working on the below grade tunnel right now (among other things). I believe it is over a mile long, maybe longer.

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oh

I know that they are trying their best to keep this project a secret. They had everyone sign papers stating they wouldn't talk about it. They even refer to it as "Project Delta". Gilbane is the CM and Gensler is the architect. And no, I didn't have to sign a confidentiality clause. I'm not working on the project. They are working on the below grade tunnel right now (among other things). I believe it is over a mile long, maybe longer.

Who is everyone? Exxon, Gilbane and Gensler employees? Who else?

Who do you work for that you don't have to sign an agreement?

What kind of tunnel, for employees to walk from building to building or some kind of sewage???

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  • 3 weeks later...

Posted this in the Springwoods Village which no one seems to be interested in:

A surveying company called CL Davis & Company is an applicant for Springwoods Village ENERGY DRIVE and Reserve in last weeks planning commission agenda . Not sure exactly what thats for but the energy part seems a little coincidental, wink, wink Exxon.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/23921-coventry-builds-suspense-for-mixed-use-plan/page__view__findpost__p__379666

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I know that they are trying their best to keep this project a secret. They had everyone sign papers stating they wouldn't talk about it. They even refer to it as "Project Delta". Gilbane is the CM and Gensler is the architect. And no, I didn't have to sign a confidentiality clause. I'm not working on the project. They are working on the below grade tunnel right now (among other things). I believe it is over a mile long, maybe longer.

Anyone have any clues as to why they would spend the money for below grade tunnels? And why so hush-hush? Is this going to be their doomsday facility? :ph34r:

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Additional info from Purva:

Houston Tomorrow reports that Grand Parkway President Billy Burge told the Texas Transportation Commission, at a January 27, 2011 meeting, that Exxon Mobil would soon announce its plans for a North American headquarters south of the Woodlands..

"Exxon has designated and will go on record some time in April that this will be their home campus there at 45 and Grand Parkway and obviously they need that in place and moving that way by 2015," Grand Parkway Association President William F. "Billy" Burge told the Texas Transportation Commission at their January 27, 2011 meeting.

Houston/Spring will be the NA headquarters. World headquarters will stay in Dallas.

more info from the blog entry here: http://blogs.chron.c..._soon_anno.html

Edited by lockmat
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Additional info from Purva:

Houston/Spring will be the NA headquarters. World headquarters will stay in Dallas.

more info from the blog entry here: http://blogs.chron.c..._soon_anno.html

For the record, contrary to what Nancy Sarnoff reported, Mr. Burge did NOT say that the Spring campus will be the North American HQ. Her quote is correct - Burge said that "this will be their home campus". But her statement that Burge said Exxon will announce plans for its North American headquarters south of the Woodlands is false.

"Home campus" is obviously open to interpretation, but it could just as easily mean world HQ as North American HQ. Earlier information from ExxonMobil told us that the downtown tower operations will not be relocated. So it seems likely that North American HQ will stay in downtown Houston.

One thing we know for sure is that nobody, including Billy Burge, has said that the Spring campus will be headquarters, either North American or world.

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