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Shell Westhollow Campus In The Woodlands


lockmat

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I never said I knew the location. This whole Camp Strake discussion is something else... And I don't know if they are even moving people from downtown. That's something else entirely.

Edit: read previous page for how I know the campus is being built.

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Highly skeptical that Shell will be making a wholesale move to a new Camp Strake campus... for a variety of reasons.

 

1.  Why would someone, anyone, at Kinder Morgan be privy to confidential Shell information?

2.  As noted above, Shell recently entered into new long-term leases for their HQ space downtown and their trading space downtown.

3. Shell has recently expanded/is currently expanding their large Woodcreek campus.

4. A massive corporate campus does not appear to be in Johnson Development's plans for the Camp Strake property.

5. The Camp Strake site would be a horrible location for a corporate consolidation.  The ExxonMobil site suffers from being far north, but it is/will be at the intersection of three major expressways (I-45, Hardy Tollroad and Grand Parkway) and is 11+ miles closer in than Camp Strake.

6. Shell is moving to Oklahoma City.  ;-)

 

good points all.  with as many different viewpoints as i'm hearing from usually dependable sources (Houston19514 being one of them) i'm very excited to see how this turns out.  one way or the other, the speculation for and against is great fun. 

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Woah.. i really hope this isnt true. 
 

Highly skeptical that Shell will be making a wholesale move to a new Camp Strake campus... for a variety of reasons.

 

1.  Why would someone, anyone, at Kinder Morgan be privy to confidential Shell information?

2.  As noted above, Shell recently entered into new long-term leases for their HQ space downtown and their trading space downtown.

3. Shell has recently expanded/is currently expanding their large Woodcreek campus.

4. A massive corporate campus does not appear to be in Johnson Development's plans for the Camp Strake property.

5. The Camp Strake site would be a horrible location for a corporate consolidation.  The ExxonMobil site suffers from being far north, but it is/will be at the intersection of three major expressways (I-45, Hardy Tollroad and Grand Parkway) and is 11+ miles closer in than Camp Strake.

6. Shell is moving to Oklahoma City.  ;-)

THIS. Especially numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5. (hopefully not 6, haha).. as was previously pointed out, Shell is currently expanding their Woodcreek campus (if im not getting it confused with another project they are almost done with building 3 and recently announced a building 4 addition), and have Shell One and Two through 2025. Unless they plan on consolidating more of their workers here from around the country, or opening a new branch with brand new/additional employee positions spawned from fracking and the new oil/gas revolution, then i dont understand why Shell would have a need for another "campus/hub" up north. 

also, i completely agree traffic is already going to be a nightmare with all of the new development.. something like this would make that even worse, eventually hindering growth. with that said, maybe i45N or the Hardy route should be location of the first commuter rail in Houston.. right along the existing rail lines in the Hardy ROW, adding a third rail line through the median.. (assuming this wont be the route the Houston-Dallas high speed rail line follows.. though i guess even if it is, neither commuter rail nor high speed rail run frequently enough for it to be much of an issue using the same tracks, so long as you timed the trains properly), or running a commuter rail line down the i45 HOV lane into downtown.

i noticed someone else brought up an additional Andarko tower months back, but people were either skeptical or thought he was talking about the recently completed second tower.. i have also heard (from a contractor) that Andarko owns another plot for a third tower in The Woodlands, when the time comes. not sure if hes bid on anything yet or if he just heard about it through his industry buddies.

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If there is a long-term trend to pulling out of downtown in favor of the suburbs, could some of the existing downtown buildings be converted to residential?

I sure as hell hope it's not a long term trend.. And I would say yes, some of the buildings downtown could definitely be converted to residential. The floor heights are generally taller on office towers so the units would likely have the more desirable higher ceilings. Just punch out a few windows and install some balconies in the facades. Unfortunately (if this trend is real), one of the best candidates for residential conversion IMO would of been 800 Bell. Keep the sun shade/awnings and turn them into balconies and viola! Residential tower.. If Shell is vacating downtown we shall see how that effects the plans whoever it was had for renovation.

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I sure as hell hope it's not a longterm trend.. And I would say yes, some of the buildings downtown could definitely be converted to residential. The floor heights are generally taller on office towers so the units would likely have the more desirable higher ceilings. Just punch out a few windows and install some balconies in the facades. Unfortunately (if this trend is real), one of the best candidates for residential conversion IMO would of been 800 Bell. Keep the sun shade/awnings and turn them into balconies and viola! Residential tower.. If Shell is vacating downtown we shall see how that effects the plans whoever it was had for renovation.

The renovations of One Shell were part of the lease extension deal and are already well underway. Shell is very very very unlikely to be abandoning downtown any time soon.

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The renovations of One Shell were part of the lease extension deal and are already well underway. Shell is very very very unlikely to be abandoning downtown any time soon.

Yep, which is why I can't see them leaving downtown.. I was referring to the renovations planned for 800 Bell, the exxon mobile tower, and that tower currently making a great residential candidate.

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Yep, which is why I can't see them leaving downtown.. I was referring to the renovations planned for 800 Bell, the exxon mobile tower, and that tower currently making a great residential candidate.

I see.

Agreed re: 800 Bell. I've always thought it would make a great residential conversion m

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Guess I should probably post this in this thread too:

 

You guys are looking at this all wrong. I have not said headquarters this, headquarters that. That is y'all (I have to add my Texanness to this comment). Is the Exxon campus Exxon's new headquarters? NO. That will remain in Irving. I'm not at liberty to say anything else about Phillips 66 but most of the posters here have already mentioned the site in Westchase. Good! That should give you some idea. Without going into too much detail, you have to realize all the things that Phillips 66 has around the city of Houston. Hell, they even have a hangar at IAH. 

 

Even just to make sure I'm not spewing out hot air, I texted my source today just to completely confirm everything he told me in conversation. And with the permission from my source, without revealing the names of anyone, I'll post one small snip-it of what he said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edit:

 

After this, he went on to name the real estate agency (the agent's name as well) and although it says customer, it may not be the type of "customer" you are thinking of. That's all I can reveal at this moment about both. Hopefully a news report comes out in the not too distant future to back up my claims. Again, I don't know about consolidation. That is your rumors. I don't know the exact location. That is your rumors.

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True true.. I didn't realize there were other Shell workers in the Houston area outside of downtown and wood branch, (though I don't keep track of stuff like that, so they could be all over town for all I know) so that's why I was confused as to why they would be buying land up north.. Glad it's not to vacate either of their other 2 hubs in Houston. Same with Phillips 66. I didn't expect multiple projects coming from the same energy companies with this wave of consolidation.. This is even more exciting. But with all of this, another Andarko tower, and whatever else is planned, traffic is going to suck..

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Did Exxon pick its location because a lot of Exxon employees live there? Really don't know.....?

 

As for timeline and status, I honestly do not know. That's a good question. It would be odd for someone to advise my client not to sell his home in Jacobs Reserve if it was just some general vision in the far flung future.

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Alright everyone lets take the city of Houston and move it a bit north to  The Woodlands seeming that there is such growth over there :P

 

That is more of a reality than you might imagine. Houston has been threating to annex for decades, and The Woodlands keeps writing big checks to stop them:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/The-Woodlands-expected-to-delay-incorporation-vote-3783039.php

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Shell has One and Two Shell Plaza through 2025. They also just moved their trading operations into 1000 Main in 2012. I don't think there is any reason think Shell will be abandoning downtown any time very soon.

They'll be vacating a sizable chunk of their downtown space in the near future.

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They'll be vacating a sizable chunk of their downtown space in the near future.

 

Are you saying they are going to be vacating some or all of One Shell, Two Shell and/or 1000 Main?  Not likely in what I would call the near future.  If you are referring to their spaces in Pennzoil and Houston Center, I believe those space are already vacated.

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That is more of a reality than you might imagine. Houston has been threating to annex for decades, and The Woodlands keeps writing big checks to stop them:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/The-Woodlands-expected-to-delay-incorporation-vote-3783039.php

 

Damn those woodlanders or woodlandites whatever they call themselves! Hopefully the grand parkway's extension makes Houston grow a little northward over there possibly enough to eventually swallow the woodlands.

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Dammit, I hate bad news. Hopefully it's just 1000 main. One shell is being renovated, so I doubt they'll leave that. Is two shell being renovated?

And I thought I heard somewhere Houston would be annexing the Exxon site? That's not quite the woodlands, but if true were almost there...

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Dammit, I hate bad news. Hopefully it's just 1000 main. One shell is being renovated, so I doubt they'll leave that. Is two shell being renovated?

 

 

No cause for panic.  As has already been noted, Shell has their space in One and Two Shell Plazas leased until 2025.  Not likely to vacate that space any time soon.  Likewise, 1000 Main.  While I don't know the term of their lease at 1000 Main, I do know they just moved all of their trading operations in there less than 2 years ago.  Very unlikely to be moving again in the near future

 

Shell formerly had significant space in Pennzoil Place but they have already moved out of there (hence Pennzoil Place's 500,000 square feet of available space).  And they formerly had space in Houston Center, but they already moved those operations to 1000 Main.

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Another Anadarko Tower? Could he have been referring to the one that is currently under construction or a third building? Seems like The Woodlands area is quickly becoming the "Energy Corridor" with Exxon, Anadarko and now Shell possibly moving in. The Woodlands will have a legitimate, medium size city skyline before long. I revert back to my previous post in another thread: The Woodlands is quickly becoming the Fort Worth of Houston.

Hardly. Here's to hoping Houston annexes the wood lands! :)

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First post. Had to jump in! As a "Woodlandite" who drinks the koolaid daily and who was born in The Woodlands, works at Anadarko, and never leaves the zip code, I'm glad I found this site. 

 

Here's my speculation, and it's just that... nothing more than speculation. I heard from 3 different sources that THEY heard (little game of telephone, right?) Shell was going to have office space in the Johnson Development at Camp Strake. That's what drove me to find this site. What if, and this is a huge if, but what if the new CEO is moving the company stateside due to tax reasons / restructuring and the global headquarters for Shell will be north of The Woodlands? I've heard that Chevron wants to pull everyone to Houston but is waiting until the current CEO, who has ties to the west coast, retires. Anytime there's a CEO shift, there's the chance of a big shakeup that could warrant a trans-Atlantic HQ relocation.

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First post. Had to jump in! As a "Woodlandite" who drinks the koolaid daily and who was born in The Woodlands, works at Anadarko, and never leaves the zip code, I'm glad I found this site.

Here's my speculation, and it's just that... nothing more than speculation. I heard from 3 different sources that THEY heard (little game of telephone, right?) Shell was going to have office space in the Johnson Development at Camp Strake. That's what drove me to find this site. What if, and this is a huge if, but what if the new CEO is moving the company stateside due to tax reasons / restructuring and the global headquarters for Shell will be north of The Woodlands? I've heard that Chevron wants to pull everyone to Houston but is waiting until the current CEO, who has ties to the west coast, retires. Anytime there's a CEO shift, there's the chance of a big shakeup that could warrant a trans-Atlantic HQ relocation.

Heh, glad to see I'm not the only one who fantasizes about Exxon, Chevron, ect relocating HQ here. Those 2 seem realistic but I've never even dreamed of Shell relocating HQ from Europe.. That would be huge.

Since you work for Andarko.. What do you know about Andarko Tower 3? I know it's in the pipeline, I'm just not sure when they plan on building it or how tall it will be in relation to the other two...

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Heh, glad to see I'm not the only one who fantasizes about Exxon, Chevron, ect relocating HQ here. Those 2 seem realistic but I've never even dreamed of Shell relocating HQ from Europe.. That would be huge.

Since you work for Andarko.. What do you know about Andarko Tower 3? I know it's in the pipeline, I'm just not sure when they plan on building it or how tall it will be in relation to the other two...

 

 

Here's the history of The Woodlands campus according to general conversation (none of this is listed in a wiki or anything, but it's just what people say). We built the first tower and intended to occupy floors 17-30, and lease out floors 4-16. That never happened; we filled it up before we could even begin to think about leasing. Then, when we announced plans to build tower 2, the thought was that we'd move everyone from the Timberloch building (brown ugly, the old Mobil building across from the towers) into tower 2 and lease out Timberloch. I don't see that happening since we're filling up the new tower so quickly. We lease several floors in the Woodforest buildings just north of Lake Robbins (between the towers and the waterway/Flemings). 

 

I don't definitively know what's going to happen, but I do know we seem to be growing as a company and doing very well and once we're out of space, growth is a headache until we find NEW space. The second tower is only 20ish floors of office space, the rest is the parking garage so it's less than you'd think. We own the land west of the Timberloch parking garage on the south side of the waterway (Woodforest/Timberloch), so I'm guessing that's where the rumors of tower 3 come from.

 

No one has said anything, but once we're full, they have to find/build space somewhere. They've invested a lot in this campus, and I could fathom that they'd build one or two more towers in the future, but that's just speculation. 

 

I'm all for growth, but my question is when are the house prices going to cap out per square feet? They can only go so high, right? I bought my home in October '12, and since then, it's appreciated 30%. I'm looking at buying again in a year or two in Cottage Grove. Those homes have appreciated 100k from '08 to '13. Oy!

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