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3009 Post Oak: Office Building At 3009 Post Oak Blvd.


swtsig

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But CityCentre is about to build two more office buildings, so maybe things are getting better?

I don't think they're getting better. The CBD is about to add an almost completely vacant building. This Skanska project is a huge roll of the dice.

CityCentre is a unique concept that the developers truly hit a homerun with. The demand for 2 buildings in that complex is real, but that is not indicative of the rest of the Houston market.

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I believe they're taking advantage of could be a variety of factors (niche, of course, will correct me), including lower building material costs, and maybe even a slight dip in the land price. They are also betting that the economy will recover relatively soon after construction.

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I believe they're taking advantage of could be a variety of factors (niche, of course, will correct me), including lower building material costs, and maybe even a slight dip in the land price. They are also betting that the economy will recover relatively soon after construction.

As for CityCenter, they already own the land, and that hurts them. Both labor and material costs are down, so that's part of it. But the big thing is that this is a small investment-grade property that's part of a proven concept.

As for Skanska, it sounds like they weren't going to use debt financing. That will enable them to offer one of the very few new office buildings in the market when it delivers, fulfilling a niche market for new office space. Once it is built and leased, debt will be available and affordable, anyway, and that's a barrier to entry that few other developers could ever hope to overcome.

If I were them, however, I'd be looking at the jobs situation carefully. I don't think that any big new office projects are going to make sense to start on for at least another few years, even in Texas.

Edited by TheNiche
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90% plus occupancy in the Galleria area and all other planned projects for the area have been cancelled. Seems like a roll of the dice but one that I would play if I had the cash on hand to build it. This will be the first office high rise to be built in the Galleria submarket since the 1980s. It'll fill...

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  • 3 weeks later...

New Renderings:

3009postoakrendering.jpg

autocourt.jpg

Skanska’s Mike Mair, Greg Mondshine, Donald McCormick, and John Kirk took a break from planning the 300k SF, 19-story office building to chat. Mike tells us the site on 3009 Post Oak is ideal because of the Galleria's traditionally stable occupancy and pent-up demand for new product. Greg, who’s handling leasing, adds that many tenants in the area have leases expiring in the next three years, providing great opportunities for lease up. But Greg says pre-leasing is tough in Houston, and they’re going ahead with the $60 to $90M, 20-month construction with or without a tenant locked in. It’ll be 100% self-financed, so Skanska can react whenever timing is best. Although no groundbreaking is set, opening is slated for 2012.

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Looks like a really, really nice building, I like the architecture and how the glass varies. Nitpicking a little, but I would have hoped it to be closer to the street and more pedestrian friendly (retail). Of course maybe they're building away from the street because of the future light rail, who knows.

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  • 1 month later...

Looks like the design has changed.

...date for the start of construction has not been set. But the company is projecting the building will open in 2012, which means construction will probably be underway in the first quarter of next year.

http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/12-06-10-the-galleria-lands-a-new-office-tower-houston-fbi-turns-to-bomb-proof-digs-tea-nursey-goes-green/

Ralph_Skanska_rendering_Galleria_West.800w_600h.jpg

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​You know what the Galleria area needs? More traffic. Luckily, that need is being addressed by developers...

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/12/new_galleria_tower.php

This gave me a hearty chuckle when I read it.

I like me an office tower pretty much anywhere, but the Houston Press is right...West Loop and Galleria area traffic in general pretty much does stink like no other. This will be a nice addition to the look of the area, but i feel sorry for the people who have to drive in that area.

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http://blogs.houston...leria_tower.php

This gave me a hearty chuckle when I read it.

I like me an office tower pretty much anywhere, but the Houston Press is right...West Loop and Galleria area traffic in general pretty much does stink like no other. This will be a nice addition to the look of the area, but i feel sorry for the people who have to drive in that area.

I have to drive from Williams Tower down Post Oak to my kid's day care each evening, and it's a 20 minute exercise to go through three lights (Alabama, Galleria crosswalk, Westheimer). Even worse during the holidays or when the 610 SB feeder is backing Alabama up. Adding a garage full of traffic coming out of this building onto Post Oak (right turn only?) will just add to it. At least downtown has a nice grid for alternative routes. I can't even imagine how light rail will impact this (well, I can), nor what traffic engineers can do to improve it, outside of creating more paths to the 610/59 feeders.

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I like me an office tower pretty much anywhere, but the Houston Press is right...West Loop and Galleria area traffic in general pretty much does stink like no other. This will be a nice addition to the look of the area, but i feel sorry for the people who have to drive in that area.

But, in a city with no zoning, isn't the 'right' order... 1. Build buildings, then 2. Build infrastructure (including roads)?

If we (through the city government) want to allay concerns of traffic, then we either need to be proactive about the development of such infrastructure - and impose either regulations or incentives to drive developers to build in designated areas - or we need to be more efficient in addressing infrastructure concerns upon the declaration of developers to build... or, we can just sit around and wait until traffic and other problems reach crisis levels. Hmm... now THERE'S an idea...

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I see nothing wrong with building an office tower in that area. Where would you all suggest they build it? If the traffic is a problem that is just something the city will have to deal with. They chose not to have zoning, a street grid, and rail transit. Uptown is a business district and that is where businesses should locate. Maybe the occupants of the building will offer its employees incentives to ride the bus.

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Looks like the Sam Houston National Forest has jumped south and taken over Afton Oaks, and by 2012, the chrome, halo type street signs in the Galleria area will hover in place? Ah, renderings...

Edited by JLWM8609
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Looks like the Sam Houston National Forest has jumped south and taken over Afton Oaks, and by 2012, the chrome, halo type street signs in the Galleria area will hover in place? Ah, renderings...

I like how you can see completely through the building. Unless the vantage point is on a huge hill, otherwise the reflection tree-line would never line up with the background one.

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Looks like the Sam Houston National Forest has jumped south and taken over Afton Oaks, and by 2012, the chrome, halo type street signs in the Galleria area will hover in place? Ah, renderings...

Oh God... I can picture the Haify bitching and moaning in a few years...

" BUT the RENDERINGS promised us a forest and floating halos "

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It boggles my mind trying to figure out why in the world they wouldn't try to put something like this in midtown. There is way too many empty lots in and around midtown to not be able to find a suitable area for this to go up. It's time midtown gets more dense by adding midrise structures for residential/office use.

I think that they should use the money to purchase and totally restore the old Appraisal Stores building on Wingate Street near the turning basin to its original grandeur, and then build a mid-rise community on the mostly-brownfield land around it, complete with waterfront boardwalks and marinas. It's not my money, but I know how I would prefer that it be spent and my pet projects are more important than profitability, so there.

Suck on that, you insolent Scandinavian investors, whom have boggled my mind.

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It boggles my mind trying to figure out why in the world they wouldn't try to put something like this in midtown. There is way too many empty lots in and around midtown to not be able to find a suitable area for this to go up. It's time midtown gets more dense by adding midrise structures for residential/office use.

Same here.

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