New Chevron Tower for Downtown Houston - 58 stories at 1600 Louisiana

[bachanon 409]

Me neither. 

[Urbannizer 39842]

5 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

I can’t see this image...

 

Is there reason to be hopeful?

 

Just a rendering we haven't seen before. Switched the image over to a link.

[houstontexasjack 1844]

Is it just me, or does the tower appear to have a slimmer profile in this most recently shared rendering?

[Sic'EmBears 2234]

Looks the same.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Sic'EmBears

[lockmat 2106]

One day we will have a western view.

[Twinsanity02 1013]

According to Emporis this building will be 859 feet tall, the fourth tallest downtown. Two more feet and it would be the third tallest.  I guess they are not interested in bragging rights. 

[Urbannizer 39842]

54 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

According to Emporis this building will be 859 feet tall, the fourth tallest downtown. Two more feet and it would be the third tallest.  I guess they are not interested in bragging rights. 

 

? At 859' it would be the third tallest downtown, fourth in the city. It would take more than two feet to surpass the second tallest, Wells Fargo Plaza (stands at 992').

[Twinsanity02 1013]

You right. I misread the "four" Houston center entry. 

[bobruss 4538]

I don't think Chevron has any interest in starting a new tower in Houston right now. The oil industry has not reached its comfort zone yet and they are still 

just treading water.

The downtown market needs to absorb some of this sublease space thats available in the millions of sq. ft.

We have one new tower built out and one under construction with lots of empty space in them. 

I'd be surprised if Linbeck starts construction up near market square until they have a couple of players ready to take multi floors.

 

[Avossos 1516]

7 minutes ago, bobruss said:

I don't think Chevron has any interest in starting a new tower in Houston right now. The oil industry has not reached its comfort zone yet and they are still 

just treading water.

The downtown market needs to absorb some of this sublease space thats available in the millions of sq. ft.

We have one new tower built out and one under construction with lots of empty space in them. 

I'd be surprised if Linbeck starts construction up near market square until they have a couple of players ready to take multi floors.

 

 

Our next best shot at a tower is the 1 Market Square tower. All it takes is 1 company to sign on for 15 floors to make assurances to the developer. The activity in Class A space downtown is pretty good considering.

[ADCS 376]

Not quite sure why they portrayed Buffalo Bayou at flood stage

[wxman 696]

Well seeing a new rendering can't be a bad thing although I don't see anything happening with this for a long while to come but it definitely causes me to raise an eyebrow. Somewhere in a corner office in Houston is a Clark W. Griswold looking at the rending of his pool just waiting for the ground to thaw so-to-speak...

[houstontexasjack 1844]

1 hour ago, wxman said:

Well seeing a new rendering can't be a bad thing although I don't see anything happening with this for a long while to come but it definitely causes me to raise an eyebrow. Somewhere in a corner office in Houston is a Clark W. Griswold looking at the rending of his pool just waiting for the ground to thaw so-to-speak...

Hopefully, he didn't float a check on a bonus he didn't yet receive......

[mollusk 2053]

7 hours ago, ADCS said:

Not quite sure why they portrayed Buffalo Bayou at flood stage

To demonstrate that it's on high ground? 

[kbates2 1018]

Knowing what a POS I am for even bumping this, the news below could be a pretty good sign for this building:

 

https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Chevron-to-buy-Anadarko-in-33B-mega-deal-13762129.php

 

[CaptainJilliams 732]

Let's hope! The eastern end of the skyline is getting its fair share of development while the western end has been quiet for a while now.

[Nate99 7198]

Anyone know how many sq. ft. Anadarko takes up in The Woodlands towers? 

 

If they moved more people DT leaving those towers available, I could see someone else sliding right in behind them. That's an attractive location too. 

[jmitch94 1518]

Someone in the thread over in the Houston subreddit on reddit commented saying that Chevron's towers in downtown are full and were mentioning this tower too. 

[Twinsanity02 1013]

Didn't Chevron receive some money from the city several years back? Was it for them to stay or for the proposed skyscraper?

[intencity77 243]

It was in 2013 from the state by the inept Perry administration for $12 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Six years later Chevron has yet to fulfill their part of the bargain. Besides, who’s to say they won’t pull an Exxon and move to the burbs, in this case The Woodlands? 

[Timoric 1449]

-

Edited July 12 by Timoric

[Triton 10436]

Wonder what this means for the Woodlands. Could take a serious hit if you layoff and/or send all those workers downtown. I imagine Chevron will probably keep those offices in the Woodlands?

[cloud713 3722]

9 minutes ago, Triton said:

Wonder what this means for the Woodlands. Could take a serious hit if you layoff and/or send all those workers downtown.

 

That was my initial wonder, as well. Vacating those 2 towers would dump over a million square feet of office space onto that sub market.

[wxman 696]

Not to mention, I guess that shelves the other two high-rises they were going to build in The Woodlands that would have made it a complex for four 30-story buildings.

LATE BREAKING: Given the industry I'm in, I'm hearing from a co-worker that employees will remain at the two office buildings. "Chevron wants to maintain a presence in The Woodlands." That's a direct quote from an official at the company. 

[houstontexasjack 1844]

I wondered about the third tower when I saw that news this morning.  From I'd previously heard, one of the reasons why Chevron has declined to move its headquarters to Houston is that the bulk of its employee presence in San Ramon don't have energy-specific skills--their skills are more general corporate (e.g. accounting) and could be transferred to other industries.  Chevron feared substantial employee losses if there was a move.  Now, there would presumably be some Anadarko employees who could fill those roles.  Additionally, Chevron's prior CEO, John Watson, was a California guy through-and-through as he was born in and went to college in California.  I think the current CEO, Mike Wirth, may not have the same loyalties to California.

 

In short, some of the barriers that may have previously precluded an HQ move by Chevron have been removed.

[Ross 963]

Quote from the Chevron CEO today:

 

"We're not intending to make any changes on real estate and that kind of thing," Wirth said in a phone interview, assuring that Chevron will have major hubs in both downtown Houston and The Woodlands for the foreseeable future.

 

Much cheaper to keep the buildings you own, assuming they have enough space, than to build something new.

[Triton 10436]

27 minutes ago, houstontexasjack said:

I wondered about the third tower when I saw that news this morning.  From I'd previously heard, one of the reasons why Chevron has declined to move its headquarters to Houston is that the bulk of its employee presence in San Ramon don't have energy-specific skills--their skills are more general corporate (e.g. accounting) and could be transferred to other industries.  Chevron feared substantial employee losses if there was a move.  Now, there would presumably be some Anadarko employees who could fill those roles.  Additionally, Chevron's prior CEO, John Watson, was a California guy through-and-through as he was born in and went to college in California.  I think the current CEO, Mike Wirth, may not have the same loyalties to California.

 

In short, some of the barriers that may have previously precluded an HQ move by Chevron have been removed.

But being in a corporate merger myself between CBRE and GE Capital Markets, there are inevitably layoffs. There will be people who play the same role in both companies and you'll have to figure out which one to let go. The article says Anadarko has 4,700 companywide... now even if all of those are office jobs (which is unlikely) and you still cut that workforce in half... does that still warrant building a brand new tower or keeping those people in the existing ones in the Woodlands? It will be quite interesting to see where Chevron goes with this.

[Timoric 1449]

-

Edited July 12 by Timoric

[kbates2 1018]

There will be layoffs for the reasons Triton suggested.  There will also be a few years at the least where they keep the two offices.  At some point, I believe it is likely that they will want to consolidate.  I only say that because that has tended to be the trend with the major E&P companies of late.  The building would take a couple of years to build and would probably get some new design/engineering done anyway.  I doubt that even if consolidation were the plan that we would hear anything for another year and then they would be 2 - 3 years out from moving anyway.

[LBC2HTX 287]

19 minutes ago, kbates2 said:

There will be layoffs for the reasons Triton suggested.  There will also be a few years at the least where they keep the two offices.  At some point, I believe it is likely that they will want to consolidate.  I only say that because that has tended to be the trend with the major E&P companies of late.  The building would take a couple of years to build and would probably get some new design/engineering done anyway.  I doubt that even if consolidation were the plan that we would hear anything for another year and then they would be 2 - 3 years out from moving anyway.

Agreed. Given the timetable of integrating the merger and planning divestitures, construction design/lead times, etc. its no surprise that there are no plans "in the foreseeable future". Even if they do want to maintain a presence in the woodlands, its unlikely they'd keep both anadarko buildings. 

 

Keep in mind that Chevron not only owns the lot on which the third tower is planned, but also two catty corner lots off milam. So consolidation downtown makes a lot of sense. 

[nate4l1f3 773]

1 hour ago, LBC2HTX said:

Agreed. Given the timetable of integrating the merger and planning divestitures, construction design/lead times, etc. its no surprise that there are no plans "in the foreseeable future". Even if they do want to maintain a presence in the woodlands, its unlikely they'd keep both anadarko buildings. 

 

Keep in mind that Chevron not only owns the lot on which the third tower is planned, but also two catty corner lots off milam. So consolidation downtown makes a lot of sense. 

Nice tidbit on the lots they own that just sparked up an idea. I’m always wondering who or what companies own certain empty lots DT (mainly around TC & MMP). Is there or has there been a downtown map with this info? 

[toxtethogrady 726]

6 hours ago, kbates2 said:

Knowing what a POS I am for even bumping this, the news below could be a pretty good sign for this building:

 

https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Chevron-to-buy-Anadarko-in-33B-mega-deal-13762129.php

 

I actually am pessimistic. One of the early paragraphs in the story is that the merge will result in some job layoffs (as these things usually do). To make this building happen, they would have had to suggest a thousand new hires or something like that.

 

Another interesting tidbit is that Chevron doesn't appear to be the only bidder circling. Rumor has it Occidental is interested and actually outbid Chevron.

[Ross 963]

5 hours ago, Nate99 said:

Anyone know how many sq. ft. Anadarko takes up in The Woodlands towers? 

 

If they moved more people DT leaving those towers available, I could see someone else sliding right in behind them. That's an attractive location too. 

One is about 910,000 sq ft, the other is about 620,000.

[kbates2 1018]

I thought it was announced as a done deal?  It says they went with the Chevron offer over Occidental.

[htownbro 523]

This deal could be thrown out according to latest reports.

[toxtethogrady 726]

Someone's looking for a sweeter offer...

[Triton 10436]

Meant to say this earlier on the last page, but if we are going to see this new Chevron tower, I don't see this being the reason why. Remember, they planned to build this long before any merger talk until prices collapsed in 2014. Sure, it can certainly play a role, but I see the larger shale boom and the return of higher prices as the reason Chevron expands.

[jgriff 627]

I’m in the middle of an energy business merger right now. We don’t anticipate large layoffs due to the merger. Right now the energy business is desperate for talent. I would see Chevron keeping the offices in the Woodlands just to keep their employees who live up there happy. Chevron just bought a lot of acreage and TALENT. They’re not going to want to lose that talent. The people who are most likely to be let go are management and they are not a large number.

 

A dollar or two difference in the price of oil would have more affect on staffing levels than this merger.

 

[cloud713 3722]

1 hour ago, Triton said:

Meant to say this earlier on the last page, but if we are going to see this new Chevron tower, I don't see this being the reason why. Remember, they planned to build this long before any merger talk until prices collapsed in 2014. Sure, it can certainly play a role, but I see the larger shale boom and the return of higher prices as the reason Chevron expands.

 

Agreed. Unfortunately, the economy will crash before oil gets back to those highs, so a new tower probably won’t happen for a while..

[kbates2 1018]

5 hours ago, cloud713 said:

 

Agreed. Unfortunately, the economy will crash before oil gets back to those highs, so a new tower probably won’t happen for a while..

 

Yeah but the nuance man.

[Sparrow 305]

Jointly owned Chevron Phillips Chemical is already headquartered in The Woodlands down the street from Anadarko. The two towers up in Town Center are recently built and I believe Anadarko also owns additional land in Town Center. If anything, The Woodlands has much to gain from this acquisition. Surely if Chevron ever wanted to move HQ from California, The Woodlands' golf course-suburb feel would appeal more to the corporate types than a bustling-urban-Downtown location. The Woodlands is similar to San Ramon, just missing the topography.

 

 

[Houston19514 3214]

1 hour ago, Sparrow said:

Jointly owned Chevron Phillips Chemical is already headquartered in The Woodlands down the street from Anadarko. The two towers up in Town Center are recently built and I believe Anadarko also owns additional land in Town Center. If anything, The Woodlands has much to gain from this acquisition. Surely if Chevron ever wanted to move HQ from California, The Woodlands' golf course-suburb feel would appeal more to the corporate types than a bustling-urban-Downtown location. The Woodlands is similar to San Ramon, just missing the topography.

 

 

 

We'll see what happens, but Anadarko's investment in The Woodlands pales in comparison to Chevron's investment in downtown Houston.  And Chevron Phillips Chemical is in The Woodlands at least in part so that it would be completely separate from its parent companies, so that motivates against expansion in The Woodlands. My expectation is that, while The Woodlands will probably suffer a net loss, and almost certainly will not see any gains as a result of this buyout.

Edited April 16 by Houston19514

[Naviguessor 1822]

Seems to me that Chevron just gained the Suburban campus which appeals to their other big competitors.  I think Sparrow is on point regarding his speculation about an HQ location. Oftentimes large companies separate the HQ from their primary employment centers, however. So, moving some Anadarko might happen if HQ were to be placed in the Woodlands. All just pure speculation about on my part. 

[LBC2HTX 287]

5 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

We'll wee what happens, but Anadarko's investment in The Woodlands pales in comparison to Chevron's investment in downtown Houston.  And Chevron Phillips Chemical is in The Woodlands at least in part so that it would be completely separate from its parent companies, so that motivates against expansion in The Woodlands. My expectation is that, while The Woodlands will probably suffer a net loss, and almost certainly will not see any gains as a result of this buyout.

I agree. According to HBJ, Chevron has 8,000 employees downtown, which is over 3,000 more than Anadarko's company-wide headcount. Anadarko has 1,500 employees in Hackett Tower, the newer of the two. 

 

1400 Smith (1.2m sqft) and 1500 Louisiana (1.3m sqft) are almost double the size of Allison Tower (800k sqft) and Hackett Tower (665k sqft). The third Chevron tower is planned to be 1.7m sqft and have room for 4,200 employees. So even if they kept all Anadarko HQ employees (they wont), they could all be absorbed into the new Chevron tower. In order for downtown employees to be accommodated in the Woodlands, they would have to reduce headcount (by thousands) and build at least 1 massive office tower. 

[TBooze 20]

And then there's this from ABC News.

Quote

Chevron moving 800 workers from San Ramon to TX

More to follow?

[LBC2HTX 287]

11 minutes ago, TBooze said:

And then there's this from ABC News.

More to follow?

Unless that's today's news, its several years old. 

[Triton 10436]

Sounds like the chances of a new tower maybe just went up. Unless this will be replacing some of the people in the Woodlands.

[Luminare 4549]

My brother works for Anadarko in The Woodlands. I'll have to ask what is happening next as this develops.

[mattyt36 372]

42 minutes ago, LBC2HTX said:

Unless that's today's news, its several years old. 

 

December 2012

[Triton 10436]

1 hour ago, mattyt36 said:

 

December 2012