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Bank Of America Tower: Office Building For Downtown


barracuda

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Boards up on the Chase building and Esperson too, but those might have gone up prior.

 

The sidewalk level boards at Esperson were put up Friday evening.  I was a bit surprised to see that 801 Travis popped a pane or two.

 

And the broken office windows in Pennzoil are already replaced - I'm guessing that the ones over the lobby won't take much longer; they probably just want to have the area clear of people when they do those.

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Maybe Swamplot knows something everyone else doesn't? They're probably rushing to assumptions, but it would be nice if it had a quick turn around like Hilcorp's tower. I do agree with Monarch that I love Nate though, his downtown updates are wonderful!

 

 

http://swamplot.com/twists-and-shouts-on-the-houston-club-buildings-short-way-down/2014-10-20/

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I'm kind of sad to see the Houston Club Building gone.  Probably not many people feel this way, but I always thought it was a really urbane design.  The garage was well-integrated, the whole structure wasn't just some glass box, and it worked well with the neighboring Gulf and Esperson buildings.  The 700 block of Travis, faced with the Gulf Building and the Houston Club, was always one of my favorite downtown blocks.  

 

 

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Just checked the windows.  Pennzoil Place still has 11 boarded up windows, JP Morgan Chase Building has 2, and Esperson has 1.  And not only does the Houston Club garage have a giant gash in the top, but it has some caving in of the cinder block wall on lower levels, too.  Guess they decided to have it fall towards the garage that is about to be scrapped than the other nearby buildings where damage would be more of a problem.

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Garage that is about to be scrapped? The same garage they just likely spent millions to reconstruct?

I think I've figured it out.. Theyll use this garage while demo/clean up work takes place, then build the capital tower garage on the demo'd plot. Then demo this temporary garage once there is other parking for chase or whoever they have the contract with, and finally start building the capital tower on this temporary garage site?

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Is that little building next the temp garage going down too? 

 

My understanding is that everything on that block (save perhaps some stray utility infrastructure) is going to be gone and/or replaced by some time or another.

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Garage that is about to be scrapped? The same garage they just likely spent millions to reconstruct?

I think I've figured it out.. Theyll use this garage while demo/clean up work takes place, then build the capital tower garage on the demo'd plot. Then demo this temporary garage once there is other parking for chase or whoever they have the contract with, and finally start building the capital tower on this temporary garage site?

 

Wasn't that the known plan all along?

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There's a staircase and IIRC a short run elevator in what used to be the entry hall facing Capitol, now probably not far inside where the temporary CMU wall is.  I suspect it's still open so that the Privileged Ones at Chase can still enter the garage without having to muck about with the plebes on the street.

 

I wonder if, when the parking structure opens ahead of the rest of the building being built, the tunnel system connections to Pennzoil and Esperson (and the southern tunnel to 712 Main) will also then be resurrected.  Judging by the plans they have out there, I don't  see why not.

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I hear the priviliged ones are pretty perturbed they have to park two blocks away.....they may actually have to interact with the masses. Although they are getting shuttled by bus to their building. Heaven forbid they dirty their shoes having to walk the pavement.

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Thrown away?!? Do you have any clue that scrap is recycled and worth money to the Demolition Contractor? All that concrete will be recycled. I venture to say 90% of that pile will not be thrown away.

 

Yeah dude chill lol. No need to jump all over him :P

 

It's a LEED Platinum building meaning that of course the vast majority of these materials have to be recycled so they can get the points (also for those that don't know the reason :P ).

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Random cool story time on Recycling:

 

Houston is one of the few cities in which crushed concrete is viewed as a commodity.  In many places it is taken to landfills, but here in H-Town it is almost always recycled.  Some of it is even placed in shipping containers and sent to countries like India and China.

 

Steel in this condition is separated from the concrete debris and sold back to the steel mills. Typical steel from companies like Nucor will contain 60-90% recycled content.  It is pretty cool to think that the steel in that pile will all be taken and turned into steel for another building.  Some of it could even end up back in Capitol Tower by the time all things are said and done. 

 

/LEED Rant

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This is actually how you get additional LEED credits as well, is by making sure that some of these materials gets recycled into the new building. It's a headache all around lol, but if you get a well organized contractor then it can be done. What's more unique about Houston than in other cities as you have mentioned is that we have a very strong palette of trades that are able to use these materials. Most people think that everyone can use concrete or steel, but we are lucky to be living in such a big city that has all these trades particularly for concrete. I mean why do you think it's used so much here. It's probably the strongest trade here.

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The demolition company is literally sorting out all the different types of materials at this moment.  I was out there for an hour, and I only saw them collecting/ hauling off the major pieces of steel beam today.  I also got to talk to one of the foremen.  Most of the debris is being recycled. He also said they do not have any dates as to when the garage is coming down. They are going to keep it up for as long as possible.

 

15498905287_56e3133693_b.jpg

 

Steel beams being collected and chopped up. Those "jaws" on that excavator can chop those steel beams up at a rate of about 2-3 seconds each cut.

 

15498245479_44193e0d1b_b.jpg

Edited by mlyoung83
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The demolition company is literally sorting out all the different types of materials at this moment. I was out there for an hour, and I only saw them collecting/ hauling off the major pieces of steel beam today. I also got to talk to one of the foremen. Most of the debris is being recycled. He also said they do not have any dates as to when the garage is coming down. They are going to keep it up for as long as possible.

15498905287_56e3133693_b.jpg

Steel beams being collected and chopped up. Those "jaws" on that excavator can chop those steel beams up at a rate of about 2-3 seconds each cut.

15498245479_44193e0d1b_b.jpg

They were removing a lot of material today. A LOT.

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this building wont really have a impact on the skyline will it?

 

an impact? no

of all the buildings proposed downtown, this is the least interesting to me. Plus it will obstruct views of far superior buildings.

 

this is the only project in the entire metro, that I kinda hope gets canned.

 

Edited by LarryDierker
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  • 2 weeks later...

So I was at Imagine this past saturday at GRB which is the TSA (Texas Society of Architects) Design Expo. Went to a lecture of sorts which talked about the building in some detail particularly about it's design intent as well as it's incredible LEED Platinum pre-certification. I want y'all to know that this building is going to be awesome! They really made this the Cadillac of spec buildings lol, but at the same time it should be very much affordable for tenets. It's also leading the charge nationally in terms of how people persue the newest version of LEED which is LEED v4. It will be one of only 3 buildings in America that will be classified as LEED Platinum under this new version which is only in Beta trails. That's a pretty big deal. Those distinctions alone will set it miles apart from other buildings downtown which will make it very attractive to tenets. It's presence at street level is going to be fabulous. I'm sure all of you have seen the renders of the two level open space that is at street level down to the tunnels. That's something that no building in downtown has approached the tunnel system in that way. It also has retail on street level. This one will be awesome to see when it's finished!

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  • The title was changed to Bank Of America Tower: Office Building For Downtown

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