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

[H-Town Man]

22 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Actually it was to JMoselle who seemed more glum than you. My post just happened to come just behind yours, but I'd say you were right behind him in not feeling too good about the downtown market. I agree with you on the design for the Linbeck tower. I don't really care for the design. I don't see any problems with the overhaul of the Humble building(Exxon).

I can't remember if it was SWTSIG or someone else who suggested that because of the age of most of our downtown office stock , being comprised of 45 year old outdated buildings with 20th cent.tech., it makes perfect sense that some of these new potential clients are opting for new construction with 21st century state of the art design and green architecture. It makes perfect sense, and if you apply the same theory to the older class B buildings, at least they're reconfiguring them into hotels, residences and food halls.

 

I couldn't agree more with the moving the perimeter theory. Perfect example is the Caydon development in midtown. It's spreading the downtown footprint. Its more of a trick of the eye but it definitely works.

 

The phrase I used was, "we'll see." It is a new thing for us to have developed this Class AA asset class that is presumably unaffected by Class A vacancy rates. We'll see how many buildings we can build like this. I know of no study which subdivides our downtown tenant class between Class A and Class AA tenants. How many buildings can we fill with tenants who find the 50-70 story towers of the 1980's not good enough? I have no idea.

 

It is a little weird how people get put on trial on this forum for "not feeling too good" or not being excited enough. Like we are all at a Nuremberg rally for the Houston real estate market. My initial post was done in defense of a forumer who got attacked for worrying that we may not get another office tower for awhile, and then I am told that I'm "right behind him in not feeling too good" for my very carefully worded post. 15 years ago on this forum I used to get very excited about projects like Ballpark Place and The Shamrock and the originally-rendered Houston Pavilions and then was in gloom when they didn't work out, and since then I've learned something (not everything) about real estate and try to bring some of this perspective.

 

[bobruss]

I do understand what your saying and I definitely understand how frustrating it can be with these announced and canceled projects. I wasn't trying to put anyone on trial,

I just thought that you and J were saying downtown was pretty much over for a while and I was just trying to point out that stranger things can happen. Like the construction of this new 

Texas Tower.

Another thing that you probably understand if you have been following Houstons economic cycles, is that we tend to be up when the rest of the nation is down, and down when the rest of the nation is up. The energy trends have such a huge bearing on our feast and famine times. Thats why I was really excited and surprised when Hines made the announcement for these two

northern additions. Theres a lot of room in the northeast quadrant and plenty of possible skybridge connections to Houston center available to continue the connections.

I don't always like everything that happens in town and when I don't, I usually say it. If someone takes offense so be it.

[H-Town Man]

20 minutes ago, bobruss said:

I do understand what your saying and I definitely understand how frustrating it can be with these announced and canceled projects. I wasn't trying to put anyone on trial,

I just thought that you and J were saying downtown was pretty much over for a while and I was just trying to point out that stranger things can happen. Like the construction of this new 

Texas Tower.

Another thing that you probably understand if you have been following Houstons economic cycles, is that we tend to be up when the rest of the nation is down, and down when the rest of the nation is up. The energy trends have such a huge bearing on our feast and famine times. Thats why I was really excited and surprised when Hines made the announcement for these two

northern additions. Theres a lot of room in the northeast quadrant and plenty of possible skybridge connections to Houston center available to continue the connections.

I don't always like everything that happens in town and when I don't, I usually say it. If someone takes offense so be it.

 

That's fine, you're fine. Yes Houston can be countercyclical, but right now the energy market is not really up.

 

[Luminare]

The difference I'm seeing is that the current surge in new construction in both commercial and residential is true demand economy rather than speculative as its been in the past. There is a reason why we have such a substantial amount of "Class A" space that are all around 25-45 years old and that was because of speculative market that normally comes about in a boom era. When you read back to that era we were the Dubai of that time. Many projects were built through pure speculation and not actual market demand. This seems completely different and the evidence is the fact that oil is down and has been for a few years now. Downtown, thanks to a good mixture of private and government interests has created an interesting feedback loop that I only see snowballing over the years to come. The more people moving into town is driving the market for more amenities, which then brings more offices that want to identify with being closer to things people want, which then brings in more development for housing, which brings more people, which brings more amenities, etc... etc... Its a wonderful positive feedback loop that now can run itself and evolve. There is no such thing as infinite growth, but the peaks and valleys of the boom/bust years have gone away, and its been replaced with more robust growth that seems independent of the Oil Market.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Luminare

[bobruss]

No it's not. I worked in that industry for eight years in the late 70's though the terrible drop in the mid eighties selling valves and piping related products for refineries and it's definitely not up. It never stays up for very long and is more like a roller coaster. You have incredible highs and death defying plunges. I had to change professions and never looked back, but when it good it makes everything around here buzz. Thats why I was som surprised with Hines.

[H-Town Man]

4 hours ago, Luminare said:

The difference I'm seeing is that the current surge in new construction in both commercial and residential is true demand economy rather than speculative as its been in the past. There is a reason why we have such a substantial amount of "Class A" space that are all around 25-45 years old and that was because of speculative market that normally comes about in a boom era. When you read back to that era we were the Dubai of that time. Many projects were built through pure speculation and not actual market demand. This seems completely different and the evidence is the fact that oil is down and has been for a few years now. Downtown, thanks to a good mixture of private and government interests has created an interesting feedback loop that I only see snowballing over the years to come. The more people moving into town is driving the market for more amenities, which then brings more offices that want to identify with being closer to things people want, which then brings in more development for housing, which brings more people, which brings more amenities, etc... etc... Its a wonderful positive feedback loop that now can run itself and evolve. There is no such thing as infinite growth, but the peaks and valleys of the boom/bust years have gone away, and its been replaced with more robust growth that seems independent of the Oil Market.

 

I agree that Houston's economy as a whole is growing with or without oil and this is a very positive development but I think the office market is still pretty strongly tied to oil. In the Downtown District report that someone posted in that forum, they have a pie chart showing the downtown office market and as I recall it is about 40% energy, 30% legal, 20% FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate), and 10% other. You've essentially got an industry, the energy industry, and then you've got the legal and finance-related institutions that work with that industry. Then there's some other stuff like United Airlines but it's in the minority. This is not a completely bad thing - it's a big part of why our downtown office market has thrived over the years while that of other nearby cities has languished, and why we're one of the few American cities that regularly builds tall office buildings. But I hope we can start attracting other sectors downtown.

 

[Luminare]

34 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I agree that Houston's economy as a whole is growing with or without oil and this is a very positive development but I think the office market is still pretty strongly tied to oil. In the Downtown District report that someone posted in that forum, they have a pie chart showing the downtown office market and as I recall it is about 40% energy, 30% legal, 20% FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate), and 10% other. You've essentially got an industry, the energy industry, and then you've got the legal and finance-related institutions that work with that industry. Then there's some other stuff like United Airlines but it's in the minority. This is not a completely bad thing - it's a big part of why our downtown office market has thrived over the years while that of other nearby cities has languished, and why we're one of the few American cities that regularly builds tall office buildings. But I hope we can start attracting other sectors downtown.

 

 

Definitely agree. Thats an interesting stat though. Where did you get it from? I would like to look for myself. There is no doubt that a big part of the city is still the Energy Sector and everything else second (I mean we have a district called the "Energy Corridor" for crying out loud haha). Every city has a main component of its industry thats the majority. We just don't want the one industry dictating whether the city lives or dies. I think once again we have to go back to what I proposed earlier which is the positive feedback loop that is developing on the whole. The more it feeds into itself the more its going to change and grow as it gradually spits out the negative components that don't keep the positive aspects of the system from functioning. I also think people underestimate what happens when new developments occur. New contemporary space means those big industries will move into them freeing up space for our existing office space. The more contemporary our stock becomes the more our older stock will cease to be Class A and be demoted making it easier for new industries to make there first jump into town. Yes we do have a crap ton of office space, but its only Class A because they haven't had any real competition (in regards to new construction) in many years. All that space will then drop down to Class B which will fill up quicker.

[H-Town Man]

12 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

Definitely agree. Thats an interesting stat though. Where did you get it from? I would like to look for myself. There is no doubt that a big part of the city is still the Energy Sector and everything else second (I mean we have a district called the "Energy Corridor" for crying out loud haha). Every city has a main component of its industry thats the majority. We just don't want the one industry dictating whether the city lives or dies. I think once again we have to go back to what I proposed earlier which is the positive feedback loop that is developing on the whole. The more it feeds into itself the more its going to change and grow as it gradually spits out the negative components that don't keep the positive aspects of the system from functioning. I also think people underestimate what happens when new developments occur. New contemporary space means those big industries will move into them freeing up space for our existing office space. The more contemporary our stock becomes the more our older stock will cease to be Class A and be demoted making it easier for new industries to make there first jump into town. Yes we do have a crap ton of office space, but its only Class A because they haven't had any real competition (in regards to new construction) in many years. All that space will then drop down to Class B which will fill up quicker.

 

http://www.downtowndistrict.org/static/media/uploads/attachments/downtown_market_update_2018_q4_final.pdf

 

The breakdown is more like 30/30/20 Energy/Law/FIRE rather than 40/30/20 like I remembered. Forgot about Government which has 12%.

 

[Highrise Tower]

Friend and I went to downtown for lunch and beers.  He took my photo with Texas Tower in the background.

 

 

[hindesky]

33 minutes ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

Friend and I went to downtown for lunch and beers.  He took my photo with Texas Tower in the background.

 

 

I spy 2 tower crane bases on the southeast wing and the north west wing.

[BeerNut]

1 hour ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

Friend and I went to downtown for lunch and beers.  He took my photo with Texas Tower in the background.

 

 

 

Also my favorite downtown building(Pennzoil Place) in the background

[DrLan34]

I heard concrete pour will start this Friday and go through Sunday. The pour should include about 15,000 cubic yards of concrete and five different cementing companies.

Edited March 4, 2019 by DrLan34

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[HtownWxBoy]

Can't wait for this thing to FINALLY start rising!

[hindesky]

13 hours ago, Timoric said:

To anyone who has been to one, does it smell like anything or odorless? 

I went to the 609 Main mat pour and don't recall any strange odors.

[bobruss]

It's supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday. Will this affect the pour?

Also with that much conrete being poured how much will it affect the temperature on site? 

 

 

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

they smell like diesel exhaust from all the cement trucks 

[tangledwoods]

Quote

To anyone who has been to one, does it smell like anything or odorless? 

 

This might be my favorite question in a long time.  I have been to a lot of concrete pours and had to think for a bit about what is smells like!  Like Tumbleweed_Tx said, it certainly smells like diesel exhaust, each pump has a big diesel engine running and there are typically 4-10 trucks lined up at each pump.  there could be up to 50-60 concrete trucks around the site at any given time.

 

The actual concrete doesn't smell like much, think about wet beach sand or how a road smells right after it starts raining.

 

The concrete curing process is exothermic and does generate heat, but most of that is lost during the evaporation process or held deep within the mat.  There wont be any noticeable temperature changes with the pour.

[Alec]

On 3/5/2019 at 9:32 AM, bobruss said:

It's supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday. Will this affect the pour?

Also with that much conrete being poured how much will it affect the temperature on site? 

 

According to an email today from Downtown Management District, the pour is still on for 3 p.m. Saturday:

 

Good Morning,

 

Just a note: Houston-based real estate firm Hines plans to pour the concrete mat foundation for its latest downtown Houston office tower this weekend. The mat pour for Texas Tower, on the former Houston Chronicle site (800 block of Texas), is scheduled to begin Saturday, March 9 at 3 pm and take between 19 to 21 hours, wrapping up around 11 am Sunday, March 10.  

 

Street closures are as follows:
 

Saturday, March 9 (Noon) - Sunday, March 10 (3 pm) 

- Complete continuous closure of the 500 block of Travis

- Complete continuous closure of the 800 block of Texas

- Complete continuous closure of the 500 block of Milam

 

Thanks!

angie
 

-- 

Angie Bertinot

Houston Downtown Management District

Director of Marketing & Communications | Retail Development Program

909 Fannin, Suite 1650

Houston, Texas 77010

713.650.3022 (o) | 713.650.1484 (f)
www.downtownhouston.org

www.downtowndistrict.org

[Urbannizer]

https://www.hines.com/properties/texas-tower-houston

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cspwal]

I like that wood seems to be coming back into interiors 

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[H-Town Man]

Nice building. Like the clocks.

 

[brijonmang]

44 minutes ago, cspwal said:

I like that wood seems to be coming back into interiors 

Well then you should be really excited to know they are building entire skyscrapers out of wood now.  

 

 

[Luminare]

25 minutes ago, brijonmang said:

Well then you should be really excited to know they are building entire skyscrapers out of wood now.  

 

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of wooden skyscrapers, but more for facades and interior treatments. This idea of a skyscraper being all wood is kind of a "flavor of the month". These are the same people that 10 years ago praised concrete structures because it was cutting back on deforestation and now its the same people asking us to change to wood so we stop taking minerals from the ground. The kind of wood to get in this video or ones that can bear structural loads would need some serious engineering to the point where its not exactly wood anymore, but more of a composite material. We already do this P-Lam. Another problem that might come about, which was the problem we had with steel is that floor plans will begin to get more restrictive as wood can't span as much as concrete without the beams being incredibly deep. Looking forward to interesting uses of wood structurally, but this current push is bordering on obsession.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Luminare

[H-Town Man]

23 minutes ago, brijonmang said:

Well then you should be really excited to know they are building entire skyscrapers out of wood now.  

 

 

 

Hines is apparently doing one in Toronto, an 11 story office with GFR in a mixed-use development. Will be the tallest wooden building in North America. They had to persuade the city to alter their building codes. Could be more difficult in the U.S. where everybody is on the IBC code.

 

 

[mollusk]

Wooden skyscrapers of the future somehow bring this to mind:

 

 

[H-Town Man]

Steel is also susceptible to fire and must always be encased in something unless purely decorative. Apparently thick wooden beams do not catch fire easily. But would I feel safer in steel? Probably.

 

[Timoric]

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Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[keaton]

With apologies to the group for lurking so long: I live in the Rice and am watching this thing slowly come up.

 

We were sent this about the concrete pour slated for this weekend:

 

Quote

The mat foundation for Block 58 is a 12 foot thick steel reinforced concrete foundation that carries the weight of the building tower. The foundation is approximately 14,000 cubic yards of concrete, will weigh over 2,000,000 lbs. and contain approximately 1,500 tons of reinforcing steel. The concrete foundation must be placed in one continuous operation. The concrete pour will utilize six concrete pumps and when all goes well over 800 cubic yards and hour will be put in place. The concrete placement will take between 19 and 21 hours to complete and is scheduled to begin on Saturday Mach 9th at approximately 1:00 AM and will be completed late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Concrete finishing operations will continue all day Sunday long after the concrete placing operation has been completed.

 

To place the volume of concrete required, there will be a concrete truck entering and leaving the project every 45 seconds on average.  As a result, Travis will be reduced to one lane of traffic between Capital and Prairie; Milam will be reduced to one lane of traffic between Preston and Texas; Texas will be reduced to one lane of traffic between Smith and Travis and Prairie will be reduced to one lane of traffic between Main and Travis and closed between Travis and Milam. The lane closures will go up Friday night and all streets will be returned to service Sunday. There will be police officers at each of the intersections to assist with traffic flow.  

 

We will use six concrete pumps – two pumps on Travis, two pumps on Milam, one pump on Texas and one pump on Milam and each are expected to place over a 125 cubic yards of concrete an hour. We will have light plants set up to assure the work site is well illuminated and that the work is performed safely. Because of the time required and the impact to traffic, this work must be done over a Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, the work will be disruptive to residents in adjacent buildings. Vehicular access will be maintained to each of the surrounding buildings, but the reduction in traffic lanes may slow traffic getting to the buildings.

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