Texas Tower: 47-Story Office Tower At 845 Texas Ave.

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[htownbro]

5 hours ago, Avossos said:

Serious question:

 

What do they do in NYC or DC or Chicago with old, out of date office buildings? I imagine if they are in the city core, they will be re-purposed or torn down.

 

Any light on this would be great for comparison.

Make them residential?

[Brooklyn173]

In NYC (which here is all Manhattan, but as a Brooklyn boy I must add that the other boroughs are also going through significant development changes), it is a mixed bag. Older buildings with small floor footprints in areas like downtown are often repurposed to residential. FiDi (Financial District) is now a real neighborhood where 20 years ago it was an area where no one lived. New and bigger developments are going ahead in older rail and industrial areas. The Westside Yards, over an active rail yard, is probably the biggest, but there are others. The city just re-zoned East Midtown (roughly north and east of  Grand Central Terminal) to allow bigger as-of-right buildings. Many of the older office buildings predate the 1959 zoning resolution and are larger than what would be allowed by zoning. The recent change in zoning to a greater FAR will likely spur the complete knockdown and reconstruction for newer, more modern (hi-tech) buildings. (Btw, these new building will be required to pay into a transit fund to increase/improve pedestrian and public transit in the area). This was a major focus for the Bloomberg Administration before they left office. The EIS and approvals were finalized about a year ago. The zoning changes are now in place. There is a large building (1,400 ft tall) going up close to GCT (started before the zoning changes but requiring variances now codified in the new zoning regs, and has been required to fund $200+ Million to pedestrian and public transit improvements at GCT and the surrounding area) and I think that will be finished in a couple of years (https://www.onevanderbilt.com/). Expect similar smarter, newer and shinier buildings in that mode for Midtown.

 

I don't think Houston has a neighborhood that is a Midtown or even Downtown Manhattan counterpart. Maybe older automobile-oriented cities like LA and similar would be a better comparison.

 

I know almost nothing about LA.

 

I know almost nothing about a lot of things.

[H-Town Man]

43 minutes ago, Brooklyn173 said:

In NYC (which here is all Manhattan, but as a Brooklyn boy I must add that the other boroughs are also going through significant development changes), it is a mixed bag. Older buildings with small floor footprints in areas like downtown are often repurposed to residential. FiDi (Financial District) is now a real neighborhood where 20 years ago it was an area where no one lived. New and bigger developments are going ahead in older rail and industrial areas. The Westside Yards, over an active rail yard, is probably the biggest, but there are others. The city just re-zoned East Midtown (roughly north and east of  Grand Central Terminal) to allow bigger as-of-right buildings. Many of the older office buildings predate the 1959 zoning resolution and are larger than what would be allowed by zoning. The recent change in zoning to a greater FAR will likely spur the complete knockdown and reconstruction for newer, more modern (hi-tech) buildings. (Btw, these new building will be required to pay into a transit fund to increase/improve pedestrian and public transit in the area). This was a major focus for the Bloomberg Administration before they left office. The EIS and approvals were finalized about a year ago. The zoning changes are now in place. There is a large building (1,400 ft tall) going up close to GCT (started before the zoning changes but requiring variances now codified in the new zoning regs, and has been required to fund $200+ Million to pedestrian and public transit improvements at GCT and the surrounding area) and I think that will be finished in a couple of years (https://www.onevanderbilt.com/). Expect similar smarter, newer and shinier buildings in that mode for Midtown.

 

I don't think Houston has a neighborhood that is a Midtown or even Downtown Manhattan counterpart. Maybe older automobile-oriented cities like LA and similar would be a better comparison.

 

I know almost nothing about LA.

 

I know almost nothing about a lot of things.

 

Depends what you mean by counterpart. Downtown Houston is in the same ballpark as Lower Manhattan in terms of office space, at 40+ million SF vs 70-80 million. After that the similarities end. There is no counterpart to Midtown Manhattan except maybe Hong Kong, no point in comparing.

 

 

[Highrise Tower]

News spreads fast. Lady at the bar was speaking about "the old chronicle” site. She was under the assumption this will be a hotel. 

 

Did not want to speak up and mention Hines’ plans. She’ll find out

[Nate99]

[Twinsanity02]

19 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

Wonderful

[phillip_white]

25 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

"heart emoji"

[Reporter]

It's hard to believe that there was a parking lot there just ≈ last week.

 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Reporter

[H-Town Man]

2 hours ago, Reporter said:

It's hard to believe that there was a parking lot there just ≈ last week.

 

 

Haha love that story.

 

[Reporter]

Me too. I think about those illustrations every time I see the shovels starting to dig a big hole to plant a new tower in. 

[MarathonMan]

This is starting at lightning speed!  It begs the question:  In general, is it more cost-effective to put more people on the job and expedite it, or keep head count low and draw it out?  There is such a wide range of paces on the various projects around town, I’ve often wondered this.

[Purdueenginerd]

On 8/6/2018 at 6:28 PM, MarathonMan said:

This is starting at lightning speed!  It begs the question:  In general, is it more cost-effective to put more people on the job and expedite it, or keep head count low and draw it out?  There is such a wide range of paces on the various projects around town, I’ve often wondered this.

 

 

Labor is generally a lot bigger portion size of total construction budget than materials. Allocating 3 shifts a day, 7 days a week will for sure lead to a good chunk of the workers get OT pay, which drives up labor costs a lot. 

 

As for whether thats offset by the sooner profitability of the land owner is dependent on their loan, what theyre making money on, and how many tenants they have in waiting. 

[UtterlyUrban]

I am very surprised that Hines spent all that money on paving this lot, what?, six months ago?  Only to dig it up now.  It seems that something important must have popped to change the speed of this development.  Perhaps they got a great loan, or a specific tenant commitment, or they were concerned about interest rates or.... or..... or......  but, to me, something happened to jump start this project.

[LBC2HTX]

3 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

I am very surprised that Hines spent all that money on paving this lot, what?, six months ago?  Only to dig it up now.  It seems that something important must have popped to change the speed of this development.  Perhaps they got a great loan, or a specific tenant commitment, or they were concerned about interest rates or.... or..... or......  but, to me, something happened to jump start this project.

Well, yeah.. they got Vinson and Elkins to sign on as an anchor tenant (+200,000 sqft of 1 million) and their current lease is up in 2021.  

[UtterlyUrban]

9 hours ago, LBC2HTX said:

Well, yeah.. they got Vinson and Elkins to sign on as an anchor tenant (+200,000 sqft of 1 million) and their current lease is up in 2021.  

Oh, i remember that now....  I forgot which tenants were moving to what buildings......hard to keep up!

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[Highrise Tower]

Fence got taller? There is also red liner around the fence making it harder to see in.

[Nate99]

Two weeks later...

 

[MarathonMan]

Visible progress is going to slow down for awhile.  They’ve got a big foundation to chisel apart.

[TexasGeneral]

On 8/8/2018 at 7:07 PM, Timoric said:

I hope Hines Texas-Sizes this like he did the other tower and makes it a Hines 57.  I think he added more floors to the last one.

Maybe even throw in some French fried potatoes. 

[jmitch94]

Does anyone know if there is a webcam for this one yet? 

[samagon]

16 hours ago, MarathonMan said:

Visible progress is going to slow down for awhile.  They’ve got a big foundation to chisel apart.

 

archaeological dig site:

 

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by samagon

[Nate99]

17 hours ago, MarathonMan said:

Visible progress is going to slow down for awhile.  They’ve got a big foundation to chisel apart.

 

It looks pretty serious down there. Residents in the Rice, Aris and MST are going to need to get used to the sound of jackhammers for a while. 

[AmyP]

On 8/21/2018 at 2:34 PM, Nate99 said:

 

It looks pretty serious down there. Residents in the Rice, Aris and MST are going to need to get used to the sound of jackhammers for a while. 

Um, yeah, somebody kill me... never experienced anything like this in NYC. My neighbors have joked we never loved a surface parking lot more... but that silly transition was a respite between the sanity loss of the Chronicle demolition and the next several years of this buildup. 609 Main was no picnic either for Rice's east/south residents. But this? Along with block 42? And maybe 43? I think it will take a residential occupancy hit. Hearing a jackhammer for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for years is not worth the overly priced rents and all the views about to be lost. Anyone on here with much more knowledge of foundation chiseling length, please tell me how many months of jackhammering we're looking at...

 

 

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[Luminare]

4 hours ago, AmyP said:

Um, yeah, somebody kill me... never experienced anything like this in NYC. My neighbors have joked we never loved a surface parking lot more... but that silly transition was a respite between the sanity loss of the Chronicle demolition and the next several years of this buildup. 609 Main was no picnic either for Rice's east/south residents. But this? Along with block 42? And maybe 43? I think it will take a residential occupancy hit. Hearing a jackhammer for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for years is not worth the overly priced rents and all the views about to be lost. Anyone on here with much more knowledge of foundation chiseling length, please tell me how many months of jackhammering we're looking at...

 

 

 

That my friend is the sound of progress!

[Luminare]

On 8/24/2018 at 5:54 PM, AmyP said:

Um, yeah, somebody kill me... never experienced anything like this in NYC. My neighbors have joked we never loved a surface parking lot more... but that silly transition was a respite between the sanity loss of the Chronicle demolition and the next several years of this buildup. 609 Main was no picnic either for Rice's east/south residents. But this? Along with block 42? And maybe 43? I think it will take a residential occupancy hit. Hearing a jackhammer for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for years is not worth the overly priced rents and all the views about to be lost. Anyone on here with much more knowledge of foundation chiseling length, please tell me how many months of jackhammering we're looking at...

 

 

 

EDIT: *double post*

Edited August 26, 2018 by Luminare

[AmyP]

12 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

That my friend is the sound of progress!

Oh I love progress. I've been downtown for almost 10 years and seen it – still a long way to go. Folks always think new buildings and construction is cool, until they live next door to it or have their business affected by it. "I think I'll like Houston if they ever get it finished," said Oveta Culp Hobby in 1946 (former publisher of the Houston Post.) 

[Urbannizer]

2 hours ago, AmyP said:

Oh I love progress. I've been downtown for almost 10 years and seen it – still a long way to go. Folks always think new buildings and construction is cool, until they live next door to it or have their business affected by it. "I think I'll like Houston if they ever get it finished," said Oveta Culp Hobby in 1946 (former publisher of the Houston Post.) 

 

In the long run, said business will gain from the new construction thanks to more employees; residents in Downtown.