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Bank Of America Tower: Office Building For Downtown


barracuda

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In reference to Spanish Steps, I think the architect was trying to communicate how the stairwells will become an integral sectional aspect of the sunken lobby/tunnel entrance. A more apt reference would be the Prada store in NYC. 

 

Overall I think this is most exciting major development in downtown and once it's done I'm sure many will be in awe (not by it's height but by it's lighting effects, voyeuristic street face, and lobby design). 

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Ill just post what i did on swamplot:

Even though Skanska’s tower is the least sexy of the three major ones proposed for downtown, I hope it gets built because I would really love for this street level interaction with the tunnels thinking to catch fire. Hopefully they can lead the way in this area.

Skylines are nice but when people actually visit downtown I think they're experience at the street level is more important than what the building looks like.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Three dudes in Skanska hardhats were out by the corner of Milam and Capitol around lunch today.

 

I walked by to eavesdrop, but all I could make out was something to the effect that the city rent-a-bike rck right there would have to stay due to a 30 day notice requirement. From that I would guess that they are about to start clearing out the area.

 

There were guys clearing out some interior stuff too.

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Interior demolition is definitely going on. They are filling up and switching out dumpsters on the Capitol side with what looked like metal bits.

 

Many upper floor windows are open as well.



Interior demolition is definitely going on. They are filling up and switching out dumpsters on the Capitol side with what looked like metal bits.

 

Many upper floor windows are open as well.

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Hope they save facades, etc. Knowing Houston, that's a SWAW ( silly wild ass wish).

 

For this building, I can’t really think of anything that would be worth any extraordinary effort to save for aesthetic reasons, apart from the mural, but that’s just my opinion. It seemed like a perfectly usable building, but rather plain externally.  I figured that it must need some fairly heavy retrofits in the infrastructure in the near term for it not to bring in good money as it sat, as compared to what the cost of a complete tear down and Class AA rebuild would net back to a developer like Skanska, but I have no more insight in to the particular economics of this project than my dog does, so take all that for what it’s worth.

 

I’ll take pics once they get going, I walk by there fairly regularly.

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Three dudes in Skanska hardhats were out by the corner of Milam and Capitol around lunch today.

 

I walked by to eavesdrop, but all I could make out was something to the effect that the city rent-a-bike rck right there would have to stay due to a 30 day notice requirement. From that I would guess that they are about to start clearing out the area.

 

There were guys clearing out some interior stuff too.

 

That was some high quality snoopage nate, if I do say so myself.

 

de71jd.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress! That building really wasn't worth saving architecturally. I kinda like what they've proposed with the whole light box effect. I know there are a lot of "glass box" designs around or on the drawing boards but something tells me this will stand out a little more than the rest.

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Three dudes in Skanska hardhats were out by the corner of Milam and Capitol around lunch today.

I walked by to eavesdrop, but all I could make out was something to the effect that the city rent-a-bike rck right there would have to stay due to a 30 day notice requirement. From that I would guess that they are about to start clearing out the area.

There were guys clearing out some interior stuff too.

That was some high quality snoopage nate, if I do say so myself.

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  • 4 weeks later...

"Capitol Tower, the former Houston Club building, is on schedule and is currently undergoing interior abatement and demolition. For those wondering, the tower’s design officially calls for 35 stories and will have a direct linkage to the tunnel system."

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2013/09/three-top-real-estate-professionals.html?page=2

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"Capitol Tower, the former Houston Club building, is on schedule and is currently undergoing interior abatement and demolition. For those wondering, the tower’s design officially calls for 35 stories and will have a direct linkage to the tunnel system."

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2013/09/three-top-real-estate-professionals.html?page=2

 

Yay 2 more floors.  :P

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  • 2 weeks later...
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lol. In a way I kind of hope it stays shorter so Hines and international tower are more likely to get built to their full size. A tower on that plot won't have any impact on the skyline unless it's 50+ stories anyways, so 35, 37, 40+, doesn't matter.

Edited by cloud713
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lol. In a way I kind of hope it stays shorter so Hines and international tower are more likely to get built to their full size. A tower on that plot won't have any impact on the skyline unless it's 50+ stories anyways, so 35, 37, 40+, doesn't matter.

I don't think the height of another building makes the chances for the others to be scaled down.

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I don't think the height of another building makes the chances for the others to be scaled down.

 

I think he's referring to the height because a taller building generally equals (dependent on floor to ceiling height) more floors which means more office space that would have to be absorbed. 

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^^ exactly. only so much space can be absorbed into the market at once and with all of these new towers IMO we have more than enough space available for at least a few years (unless some big time corporate headquarter relocations happen demanding whole new towers).. remember when international tower shrunk after Hines increased their building? may have just been a coincidence but who knows..

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The trucks and Bobcats hauling stuff out by the Milam/Capitol corner has slowed signifiicantly. I walked by the Travis side this morning, and they pretty much have the interior down to bare concrete at this point, at least in that part. There is a fair amount of neat looking maroonish marble around the entrance and into the lobby there that still needs to be salvaged (and I'm sure it will be, if only in the back of pickup trucks driven by the demo crews).

 

The parking garage is still operating, not sure when they will start tearing down the structure.

 

The plans announced for the site had 35-ish stories IIRC. With 609 Main getting the jump and the Market Square office tower, there is a lot of space yet to sell in the area before everything is a go.

 

Hope it all happens and they all stay full.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The upper portion looks dated.  Like 1000 Main.  Oh well.  Not everything is a masterpiece.

 

I am interested to see how they address the tunnel connections - that could be potentially big.

 

Yeah, my guess is that there will be a substantial tunnel footprint here. The block has good connections to the Gulf Building, Pennzoil, and the main north-south tunnel.  The tower lobby on the north side has broad steps going down to the tunnel level, so my guess is that the steps will lead down to a large food court/retail area, not unlike the concept at the Reliant Building on Main.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • The title was changed to Bank Of America Tower: Office Building For Downtown

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