Energy Tower III & IV: Energy Corridor Tower

[Pleak]

This one at 17 Stories. It's a different one than Trammell Crow announced last month at Eldredge and I-10.

If all the proposed Energy Corridor buildings get started - there are going to be more cranes than in the Galleria.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/05/18/new-tower-to-energize-west-houston/

[lockmat]

I'm happy for the energy corridor but I wish downtown was getting some action.

[tangledwoods]

I'm happy for the energy corridor but I wish downtown was getting some action.

Don't worry I think we will see 3-5 highrise jobs in the CBD in 2013.

[ChannelTwoNews]

It's actually Energy Tower III, which had been planned during the last 'boom', several years ago. It's the final tower in the original plan for the complex.

Here's the old thread for the project. Note that the rendering on the first page of that thread shows the same building in the Chron's post... minus the Technip signage at top.

[swtsig]

Don't worry I think we will see 3-5 highrise jobs in the CBD in 2013.

Hmmm.... You basing that on something? I'd be shocked if we got 3, never mind 5. office highrises, I mean.

[tangledwoods]

Hmmm.... You basing that on something? I'd be shocked if we got 3, never mind 5. office highrises, I mean.

I am hearing 2 spec office towers and 2-3 hotel towers. I think we will see the hotel stuff go up before the office towers.

[swtsig]

I am hearing 2 spec office towers and 2-3 hotel towers. I think we will see the hotel stuff go up before the office towers.

I guess if the convention hotel is going to include an office component that would def be one... i just don't think hines, skanska nor esprcially brookfield will be going spec on an office tower and i don't know of too many major tenants in the market. doesn't help that there are some major blocks of space available or coming available to weaken the cbd market.

we shall see, though... a couple new towers would be nice.

[Houston19514]

I guess if the convention hotel is going to include an office component that would def be one... i just don't think hines, skanska nor esprcially brookfield will be going spec on an office tower and i don't know of too many major tenants in the market. doesn't help that there are some major blocks of space available or coming available to weaken the cbd market.

we shall see, though... a couple new towers would be nice.

There are not very many major blocks of space available downtown. That is exactly why a lot of observers expect new construction. What major blocks are coming available in the near future?

[KinkaidAlum]

The Pennzoil's North Tower has a ton of available space. That's the biggest chunk available.

However, there was some good news last week. Rosetta signed on for nearly 109,000 square feet @ The Heritage Plaza and Chevron added another 164,000 square feet @ 1600 Smith Street (formerly Continental Center).

In some what positive mixed news, while Hess gobbled up an entire tower, they left behind about 400,000 square feet that I don't think has been accounted for. So, that's another chunk available.

[woolie]

< standard rant about I10 being an awful place to put office buildings >

[LTAWACS]

< standard rant about I10 being an awful place to put office buildings >

Excellent.

[lockmat]

< standard rant about I10 being an awful place to put office buildings >

This means little in the grand scheme, but at least it's somewhat impressive for travelers coming into town on I-10.

[Pleak]

And since Houston is expanding westward at ridiculous speed - it reduces commuting time/cost/pollutions/etc for a chunch of Katy-ites.

And that should make a lot of people happy as it keeps those blood-sucking surburbanite leeches from coming inside the loop and free-loading on all of City of Houston's services.

[Houston19514]

The Pennzoil's North Tower has a ton of available space. That's the biggest chunk available.

However, there was some good news last week. Rosetta signed on for nearly 109,000 square feet @ The Heritage Plaza and Chevron added another 164,000 square feet @ 1600 Smith Street (formerly Continental Center).

In some what positive mixed news, while Hess gobbled up an entire tower, they left behind about 400,000 square feet that I don't think has been accounted for. So, that's another chunk available.

A good post dated March 21, 2012 from another thread:

The Hess Tower is 100% leased. So is the Chevron complex. The following buildings have less than 10% vacancy; Continental Center II, JP Morgan Chase Tower, Wells Fargo Plaza, One Houston Center, First City Tower, Houston Data Center, 1100 Louisiana, Devon Energy Tower, Two Shell Plaza, Pennzoil Place South, One Shell Plaza, RRi Energy Tower, Cullen Center, and Amegy Bank Tower.

The only class A properties in downtown with more than 20% vacancy are the Pennzoil North Tower, Continental Center I, One Allen Center, BG Group Place, and Wedge International Tower.

Space is tight. If you're looking for a "block" of 350,000 square feet plus in this market, you're pretty much out of luck unless you don't mind being split up.

[Houston19514]

Jones Lang LaSalle reports that as of the end of the 1st quarter, 2012, there were only 3 blocks of space larger than 200,000 square feet available in downtown Houston, and only 7 blocks of space in the 100,000-200,000 square foot range. That is very little in a market the size of downtown Houston.

Further, as Kinkaid reported above, since that time we know of two blocks of space larger than 100,000 square feet that have been leased. So, at best (or worst, depending if you are a tenant or a landlord), we now have 3 blocks of space larger than 200,000 square feet and 5 in the 100,000-200,000 square foot range.

[Gary]

And since Houston is expanding westward at ridiculous speed - it reduces commuting time/cost/pollutions/etc for a chunch of Katy-ites.

And that should make a lot of people happy as it keeps those blood-sucking surburbanite leeches from coming inside the loop and free-loading on all of City of Houston's services.

Wow! sounds like an Ltawacs comment... Nevermind all of those "leeches" that spend multiple millions in Houston every year. Not quite sure how they're sucking up free services either. Maybe you could explain.

[Pleak]

Wow! sounds like an Ltawacs comment... Nevermind all of those "leeches" that spend multiple millions in Houston every year. Not quite sure how they're sucking up free services either. Maybe you could explain.

I was being sarcastic - left out the smiley. Just typing a response to the pervasive attitude on HAIF that if you don't live/work inside the loop and more specifically, in the Heights, Mid-Town or DT, than you are inconsequential and and should not seen in the city limits, let alone breathe the rarefied air.

[woolie]

I was being sarcastic - left out the smiley. Just typing a response to the pervasive attitude on HAIF that if you don't live/work inside the loop and more specifically, in the Heights, Mid-Town or DT, than you are inconsequential and and should not seen in the city limits, let alone breathe the rarefied air.

Yes, this is HAIF. The "A" is for Architecture. Are you surprised that people who like architecture find the suburbs boring and soulless?

Anyway -- there are some online communities filled with people who love the suburbs and hate everything inside the beltway. Enjoy chron.com comment sections -- especially threads about "illegals" and "urban youths."

[Gary]

I was being sarcastic - left out the smiley. Just typing a response to the pervasive attitude on HAIF that if you don't live/work inside the loop and more specifically, in the Heights, Mid-Town or DT, than you are inconsequential and and should not seen in the city limits, let alone breathe the rarefied air.

Oh, my bad. Sorry about that.

[Gary]

Yes, this is HAIF. The "A" is for Architecture. Are you surprised that people who like architecture find the suburbs boring and soulless?

Anyway -- there are some online communities filled with people who love the suburbs and hate everything inside the beltway. Enjoy chron.com comment sections -- especially threads about "illegals" and "urban youths."

Thanks for the advice, especially seeing that I've been a member of HAIF for years now.

All of this suburban hate crap is boring and useless. Of course the city is more exciting, but many can't afford it. Not to mention the makeup of Houston's metro area makes it impossible for all 6 million residence to live inside the loop, which, and as Pleak mentioned, you would have to eliminate The Heights, etc to make your point stick.

Next time you brag about Houston and it's metro standing, you might consider that it takes all of us to make the city what it is. Suburbs will always be less exciting than the city. It's the nature of the beast and always has been, but that doesn't mean that a logical person can't see it's value, especially in a city like Houston.

[swtsig]

Pennzoil is a huge block; Chevron isn't a true expansion, honestly. the old Hess space is still 1/2 vacant. united is giving back 250-300K, Shell is in the process of giving back 200k at 2HC, Kinder Morgan is leaving a big chunk at Allen Center and el paso will be giving back 150k and there's still 300k or so at BG Group.

Dynegy's old space is getting back-filled with extraordinary speed, so that's positive... i just haven't heard of that many 250-350k tenants out in the market that would get multiple highrises kickstarted in the near future. i hope i'm wrong though.

[SpringShadows]

< standard rant about I10 being an awful place to put office buildings >

Sheikh Zayed Road is a freeway lined with Office Buildings and it's pretty badass. I've spent alot of time there.

[woolie]

All of this suburban hate crap is boring and useless. Of course the city is more exciting, but many can't afford it. Not to mention the makeup of Houston's metro area makes it impossible for all 6 million residence to live inside the loop, which, and as Pleak mentioned, you would have to eliminate The Heights, etc to make your point stick.

Actually, I think the loop is vastly underpopulated for a city the size of Houston. I'm a density and transit advocate. It doesn't bother me at all that millions of people live in the suburbs -- it's just not my style. However, I think that as the core of a huge metro area with 6m and growing people, the loop will have to dramatically fill in. Only a few census tracts inside 610 reach 10k people per square mile. I would like to see all of the transit corridors that are served by LRT (...or fixed route BRT) to hit 10-15k, or higher. Even then, we're talking a fraction of the *average* density of NYC, Paris, London, Tokyo, etc. which are 25-50k for hundreds of square miles with many areas 100-200k.

And yes, it will always be impossible to touch large swaths of rich, powerful single family residential inside 610... but we're only going to see more and more 6-10 story apartment block infill as we start building out our transit system.

[Houston19514]

Pennzoil is a huge block; Chevron isn't a true expansion, honestly. the old Hess space is still 1/2 vacant. united is giving back 250-300K, Shell is in the process of giving back 200k at 2HC, Kinder Morgan is leaving a big chunk at Allen Center and el paso will be giving back 150k and there's still 300k or so at BG Group.

Dynegy's old space is getting back-filled with extraordinary speed, so that's positive... i just haven't heard of that many 250-350k tenants out in the market that would get multiple highrises kickstarted in the near future. i hope i'm wrong though.

The space available in Pennzoil is not new space coming available - already included in the limited large blocks reported by Jones Lang LaSalle.

How is Chevron's lease not a true expansion?

The old Hess space also was already included in the limited large blocks of space reported. That it is already 1/2 filled is really great news!

United's space (at least a big chunk of it) is already on the market and included in the reports.

I think Shell's sublease space has probably already been included in the real estate reports.

The Kinder Morgan space is one new block that will be coming up. As is the apparent excess space in the Kinder Morgan Building.

Space in BG Group Place, of course is not something new and is already counted in the various real estate market reports.

So since the reports of very tight supplies of large blocks of space, we have apparently added only the Kinder Morgan/El Paso space that will be coming to market some time in the next year or so. Against that, two medium-large blocks of space have been leased and taken off the market.

[LTAWACS]

Wow! sounds like an awesome Ltawacs comment... Nevermind all of those "leeches" that spend multiple millions in Houston every year. Not quite sure how they're sucking up free services either. Maybe you could explain.

You rang?

[Pleak]

Yes, this is HAIF. The "A" is for Architecture. Are you surprised that people who like architecture find the suburbs boring and soulless?

Anyway -- there are some online communities filled with people who love the suburbs and hate everything inside the beltway. Enjoy chron.com comment sections -- especially threads about "illegals" and "urban youths."

Thank you - I'm well aware of where I am posting. I am also well aware that people with look down upon what they do not know. A lot of so-called architecture experts fall into this category.

On one side there is the group who espouses that If there is not enough neon in downtown, underground mass transit, all freeways turned into bike paths, then Houston will fall into ruin and never be a "world-class" city. If the great unwashed masses would just all move into the prescribed apartment blocks that will be built inside the loop, then they can walk everywhere and shop at Whole Foods with their money that was previously budgeted for gas. All the other heathens that don't submit would then be excluded or charged to visit. Houston would then become the shining beacon on the hill and far supass Atlanta and Dallas and approach the nirvana of Paris and London, San Francisco and Sim-City.

Then the other half of HAIF is the rabid suburbanites who live in master-planned communities who never set foot outside their pre-planned Truman Show world. I tend to like to poke at them also - have been having a little bit of fun on the Pearland thread where they are afraid of the rif-raf caused by a hospital being constructed. My work building is next door to the Galleria and I cannot stand the time of year from Halloween - New Year because you get all the people who make their once-a-year trek to the big city coming in and they can't figure out the one-way streets and parking garages and generally cause a massive cf. But they are sure that their neighborhood is the best in the world and if you don't move there you are going to short-change your child's education and if anyone of the wrong color or socio-economic class happens to step foot on their street, it needs to be steam-cleaned pronto to avoid lowering the property values.

But in between all this, there are a few posters who actually know what is going on in Houston, and this is what HAIF really is and the part I try to find. The trick is discerning the difference and ignoring the rest (or playing with them) who think they are God's gift to architecture.

[Pleak]

Actually, I think the loop is vastly underpopulated for a city the size of Houston. I'm a density and transit advocate. It doesn't bother me at all that millions of people live in the suburbs -- it's just not my style. However, I think that as the core of a huge metro area with 6m and growing people, the loop will have to dramatically fill in. Only a few census tracts inside 610 reach 10k people per square mile. I would like to see all of the transit corridors that are served by LRT (...or fixed route BRT) to hit 10-15k, or higher. Even then, we're talking a fraction of the *average* density of NYC, Paris, London, Tokyo, etc. which are 25-50k for hundreds of square miles with many areas 100-200k.

And yes, it will always be impossible to touch large swaths of rich, powerful single family residential inside 610... but we're only going to see more and more 6-10 story apartment block infill as we start building out our transit system.

I agree, and I've posted in two or three threads that this is one reason we haven't had a surge of tower-building in the downtown core. We are still too spread out. I think Houston is "catching it's breath" from the tower-building of the 70's -early 80's then the crash into nothing-ness that lasted till the mid-90's. Now it is starting to go back and slowly infill - and I hope it picks up steam. West Ave is a great start, Post Midtown Square too - aren't we on Phase III now? Even though I wish it were a little taller. But as more of these develop along the major corridors - Kirby, Westheimer, Main, hopefully they will spread out from there over the next few years. I think that if there is not a major crash in the price of oil, in 10 years time, there will be a lot of these developments complete inside the loop. This should help increase the density of Houston's core enough that we will see more building in downtown.

But by the same token, if oil does not crash, the surrounding suburbs and cities should also experience growth - so these suburban concentrations of office buildings are also good for Houston. If Katy grows by 50% over the next decade due to Energy Corridor employment growth, it is not going to be a loss for Houston metropolitan region.

[Houston19514]

Swtsig, if I may ask again.... Why do you say the Chevron lease at 1600 Smith is not a true expansion?

[swtsig]

my understanding is that they essentially renewed space that they had initially planned on giving back; while technically an expansion the space never really came on the market. regarding downtown activity, i will say that i very recently heard a helluva rumor that could lend some creedence to another large tower being built downtown...

[Pleak]

One thing I am hoping for is someday Chevron will be fed up with CA's taxes/work environment and move headquarters here. Since they have such a large presence downtown already and it being the energy capital - blah, blah. This might produce another downtown tower sooner than later.