KBR/Halliburton Updates

[TheNiche]

I've picked up on some industry buzz about redevelopment of the KBR/Halliburton headquarters site. Seems that now that the spinoff is complete, they're refocusing some effort on their nearly 80-acre Buffalo Bayou tract. Does anybody have information on this? Either what is planned or when they expect to see something come out of the ground?

[Guest danax]

I wouldn't think that Halliburton would be short on cash, with the war going on, so sitting on it would seem like the smart thing to do. They used to have someone on the board of directors of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership so maybe there's some pleading from them to sell. It's a vital piece of the Master Plan as the proposed "Symphony Island" is right across from the site. If it does go to private developers, they'd likely be asked to loan bayou right of way to the Partnership anyway.

[TheNiche]

I wouldn't think that Halliburton would be short on cash, with the war going on, so sitting on it would seem like the smart thing to do. They used to have someone on the board of directors of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership so maybe there's some pleading from them to sell. It's a vital piece of the Master Plan as the proposed "Symphony Island" is right across from the site. If it does go to private developers, they'd likely be asked to loan bayou right of way to the Partnership anyway.

Although they are flush with cash (more from providing oilfield services than from military contracting, btw), they had expressed interest several years ago in redeveloping the site around their corporate headquarters on Clinton Drive and just put it off during the spinoff process. It really doesn't have anything to do with their overall financial position. It just happens to be excess and underutilized land in a strong local real estate market, which to them constitutes an opportunity to make some money from development, increase the value of their office buildings, provide amenities to employees, and get some good publicity.

My expectation is that they'll cooperate to some extent with BBP...in fact, they've already set up a bayou overlook at the end of Bayou Street that provides an excellent view of downtown. It is open to the public and is accessible by car. Great place for a picnic. ...but Symphony Island is a pretty land-intensive concept of a bit of land that would be the most valuable of the whole site for residential uses. So I wouldn't hold my breath.

But then again, I'm the one asking for information here. I could be wrong.

[houstonmacbro]

I've picked up on some industry buzz about redevelopment of the KBR/Halliburton headquarters site. Seems that now that the spinoff is complete, they're refocusing some effort on their nearly 80-acre Buffalo Bayou tract. Does anybody have information on this? Either what is planned or when they expect to see something come out of the ground?

where exactly is this? i know you say buffalo bayou, but what general area?

[TheNiche]

where exactly is this? i know you say buffalo bayou, but what general area?

Approximately 80 acres at the southwest corner of Clinton and Hirsch (a.k.a. Scott or York or Waco). North side of Buffalo Bayou.

[houstonmacbro]

okay, i just GE'd it ... but don't know how to post the link (techno illiterate today).

so it appears to be south of i10 but north of the bayou. not really familiar with that part of town.

[jm1fd]

okay, i just GE'd it ... but don't know how to post the link (techno illiterate today).

Like this?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...mp;t=h&om=1

[houstonmacbro]

how'd you do that?

[jm1fd]

how'd you do that?

Just used Google maps like normal, got to the map view I wanted, and then clicked the little Link to this Page button in the upper right hand corner. It converts the URL in the address bar of the browser to the URL of whatever you're looking at.

[houstonmacbro]

ah ... there's the issue. i was using google earth, not google maps. thanks for that tip!

[NotYetYuppie]

Anyone heard anything on the KBR front lately (whether they were going to sell some/all of the land on Clinton drive)?

[spiderman]

Anyone heard anything on the KBR front lately (whether they were going to sell some/all of the land on Clinton drive)?

I work at the KBR Clinton Drive facility. Since the spin off from HAL, there has been a cost cutting program in place, there have been a few layoffs and more people are leaving to work for competitors. KBR put all of its eggs in one basket (the big gas projects), and these projects have not materialized as gas prices have fallen from about $15 to $6-$8. As other projects wind down, the company does not have enough new projects coming on line to keep everyone employed.

There are rumors floating around the company that KBR is selling the Clinton Drive facility in the near future, and that employees at Clinton Drive will be moving to KBR Tower downtown. The part about everyone moving downtown does not make sense to me, from what I understand there would not be room for everyone there.

KBR is essentially debt free after the spin-off, plus they just sold their interest in a shipyard in the UK, so there is no pressing need for cash. They are even talking about returning some excess cash to the shareholders as a special dividend. There is a big push to get the stock price up, so perhaps it makes sense to sell the Clinton Drive property in its entirety and lease space elsewhere, but as far as timing, it could be this year or 10 years from now, it all depends on what a buyer would be willing to pay..........

As far as I know these are just rumors, if I hear or find out anything more substantial I will post it here.

[NotYetYuppie]

Thanks for the info! I would think KBR could sell half their property now (they barely use any of it) and the other half if they decide to move... (But no one put me in charge)

[bach]

I work at the KBR Clinton Drive facility. Since the spin off from HAL, there has been a cost cutting program in place, there have been a few layoffs and more people are leaving to work for competitors. KBR put all of its eggs in one basket (the big gas projects), and these projects have not materialized as gas prices have fallen from about $15 to $6-$8. As other projects wind down, the company does not have enough new projects coming on line to keep everyone employed.

There are rumors floating around the company that KBR is selling the Clinton Drive facility in the near future, and that employees at Clinton Drive will be moving to KBR Tower downtown. The part about everyone moving downtown does not make sense to me, from what I understand there would not be room for everyone there.

KBR is essentially debt free after the spin-off, plus they just sold their interest in a shipyard in the UK, so there is no pressing need for cash. They are even talking about returning some excess cash to the shareholders as a special dividend. There is a big push to get the stock price up, so perhaps it makes sense to sell the Clinton Drive property in its entirety and lease space elsewhere, but as far as timing, it could be this year or 10 years from now, it all depends on what a buyer would be willing to pay..........

As far as I know these are just rumors, if I hear or find out anything more substantial I will post it here.

Anyone have an update on KBR? I know they're evaluating their options, not sure if they're leaning to selling Clinton Drive and creating a campus out west. This will be a huge deal.

[spiderman]

Anyone have an update on KBR? I know they're evaluating their options, not sure if they're leaning to selling Clinton Drive and creating a campus out west. This will be a huge deal.

The only thing I can add is that our director mentioned she was at a meeting a while back, one of the VPs mentioned that there were environmental liabilities due to light and medium industrial activities in the past, and that it may be in KBR's best interest to do the clean up prior to any sale to gain maximum value from the Clinton Drive property.

The rumors come and go regarding selling Clinton Drive (and possibly moving out of KBR Tower downtown) and moving out west, no idea how imminent any sale and move would be.

[TheNiche]

The only thing I can add is that our director mentioned she was at a meeting a while back, one of the VPs mentioned that there were environmental liabilities due to light and medium industrial activities in the past, and that it may be in KBR's best interest to do the clean up prior to any sale to gain maximum value from the Clinton Drive property.

The rumors come and go regarding selling Clinton Drive (and possibly moving out of KBR Tower downtown) and moving out west, no idea how imminent any sale and move would be.

You know, the Clinton Dr. location just never made sense to me. And although it was my understanding that if they did sell the land, they would not sell the office buildings or parking for them, I wouldn't be surprised if things changed.

And then they'd have something like 110+ contiguous acres, complete with a hard corner at a major intersection and many thousands of feet of bayou frontage.

[bach]

The only thing I can add is that our director mentioned she was at a meeting a while back, one of the VPs mentioned that there were environmental liabilities due to light and medium industrial activities in the past, and that it may be in KBR's best interest to do the clean up prior to any sale to gain maximum value from the Clinton Drive property.

The rumors come and go regarding selling Clinton Drive (and possibly moving out of KBR Tower downtown) and moving out west, no idea how imminent any sale and move would be.

Thanks, Spiderman.

And yes, the environmental issue will be a big one.

[TheNiche]

In the print version of this week's HBJ:

The global engineering and construction firm plans to consolidate 4,500 Houston employees on 80 acres owned by Trammell Crow Co. at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and the Grand Parkway.

A source close to the deal says the Dallas-based developer is planning to build eight low-rise buildings with 900,000 square feet of office space at a cost of roughly $225 million for publicly traded KBR.

This is big news for the Katy area. But it may be bigger news for the East End. You can put a lot of housing on 110+ acres.

[spiderman]

In the print version of this week's HBJ:

This is big news for the Katy area. But it may be bigger news for the East End. You can put a lot of housing on 110+ acres.

KBR CEO just sent out an email to all employees stating

"While KBR is routinely involved in conversations and assessments regarding our space needs, no plans have been finalized regarding a KBR West Houston Campus".

[TheNiche]

KBR CEO just sent out an email to all employees stating

"While KBR is routinely involved in conversations and assessments regarding our space needs, no plans have been finalized regarding a KBR West Houston Campus".

Translation:

"We know that you've structured your lives around working in the center of the city and that a fair chunk of you live in Clear Lake, Kingwood, The Woodlands, and other places so distant relative to Katy that you'd start looking for another job immediately rather than wait for us to get our act together so that we can give you shorter-term notice to which you'd be less responsive."

"Please collectively ignore anything that might give just cause for you to think anything but positive thoughts about KBR."

[GovernorAggie]

Translation:

"We know that you've structured your lives around working in the center of the city and that a fair chunk of you live in Clear Lake, Kingwood, The Woodlands, and other places so distant relative to Katy that you'd start looking for another job immediately rather than wait for us to get our act together so that we can give you shorter-term notice to which you'd be less responsive."

"Please collectively ignore anything that might give just cause for you to think anything but positive thoughts about KBR."

Niche I didn't know you were a translator on the side!

[spiderman]

Translation:

"We know that you've structured your lives around working in the center of the city and that a fair chunk of you live in Clear Lake, Kingwood, The Woodlands, and other places so distant relative to Katy that you'd start looking for another job immediately rather than wait for us to get our act together so that we can give you shorter-term notice to which you'd be less responsive."

"Please collectively ignore anything that might give just cause for you to think anything but positive thoughts about KBR."

Managementspeak at its finest!

Wouldn't surprise me if they announced next week that they had finalized the deal.

Sad thing is there are a lot of the old "bread and butter" Brown & Root legacy people that have been with the company for 20-30 plus years that live and have family in the "far east" places like Baytown, LaPorte, etc and work at Clinton Drive that are basically being kicked to the curb

[UpperEastSideNewbie]

Official Press Release regarding their new West Campus:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080502/20080502005786.html?.v=1

They do mentioned keeping offices in Downtowon.

Sadly no word if they are moving out of the East Side.

[spiderman]

Official Press Release regarding their new West Campus:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080502/20080502005786.html?.v=1

They do mentioned keeping offices in Downtowon.

Sadly no word if they are moving out of the East Side.

KBR CEO just sent out an email to all employees stating that "As part of KBR

[strickn]

Garrison Keillor, whose bread and butter is casting Minnesotans as lovably flawed deferential souls, takes the opportunity to build up that image by casting Texans as their anti-type when the role arises (for instance, Tommy Lee Jones' hatchet man in the Prairie Home Companion movie): unlovably flawed and heedless to the souls of things. It's a real shame KBR's CEO talks in circles and practically forces this relocation to become a metaphor for forgetting what made Brown & Root a significant "company" of people. And that's enough reason to deplore his thought and action - even without grimacing at his being the 'bad [kind of] Texan' - but, come to think of it, $225 million and .9Msf would have done nicely by the Gateway site in Allen Center on downtown's west side, not to mention that site doing well by the Clinton site's employees and their families.

[TheNiche]

Garrison Keillor, whose bread and butter is casting Minnesotans as lovably flawed deferential souls, takes the opportunity to build up that image by casting Texans as their anti-type when the role arises (for instance, Tommy Lee Jones' hatchet man in the Prairie Home Companion movie): unlovably flawed and heedless to the souls of things. It's a real shame KBR's CEO talks in circles and practically forces this relocation to become a metaphor for forgetting what made Brown & Root a significant "company" of people. And that's enough reason to deplore his thought and action - even without grimacing at his being the 'bad [kind of] Texan' - but, come to think of it, $225 million and .9Msf would have done nicely by the Gateway site in Allen Center on downtown's west side, not to mention that site doing well by the Clinton site's employees and their families.

I'm pretty sure he's a Virginian.

But I must admit, even though this move will probably do more harm than good to me, financially, it makes me feel better about it that someone like you is so foolishly and publicly pissed off.

[strickn]

Economists get to manipulate more when they bother being tactfully humane.

Although misty-eyed sentiment and beady-eyed financial priority sometimes appear to be sociologically neck and neck for total casualties incurred in making American life harder to cope with than it already would be, even people who aren't convinced that we the people have done more damage through greed than fear are generally in agreement that Houstonian society has.

[TheNiche]

Economists get to manipulate more when they bother being tactfully humane.

Although misty-eyed sentiment and beady-eyed financial priority sometimes appear to be sociologically neck and neck for total casualties incurred in making American life harder to cope with than it already would be, even people who aren't convinced that we the people have done more damage through greed than fear are generally in agreement that Houstonian society has.

I have no intention of manipulating you. I don't know why you think I'd care so much as to bother.

The rest of it I don't understand. Talk normal, please.

[strickn]

Every time I have driven past Clinton and Hirsch, the office buildings have made me think of the era of rust-orange and brown interiors, off-gassing materials, non-operable windows and low ceilings. Those buildings make KBR a less attractive workplace, but, independent of where the jobs and facilities go, better than to cash out would be to arrange land leases on the site and then take another look in 30 years.

[TheNiche]

Every time I have driven past Clinton and Hirsch, the office buildings have made me think of the era of rust-orange and brown interiors, off-gassing materials, non-operable windows and low ceilings. Those buildings make KBR a less attractive workplace, but, independent of where the jobs and facilities go, better than to cash out would be to arrange land leases on the site and then take another look in 30 years.

Your recent lessons in English have apparently been paying dividends.