tangledwoods

this property like many others around the downtown freeways (59 and Pierce Elevated) are all in a holding pattern waiting on txDOT to move forward on its downtown freeway circulation plan.  This site is less affected than sites like the post office, but it will still play a major impact on the traffic studies and feasibility for different use cases.

Like the article said, this is a fantastic property and we will see development happen.  When that development comes to fruition is contingent on so many external factors that even the developers involved would be stupid to throw out delivery dates.  Now all we need is for someone to sneak into Gensler's or HOK's office and find one of their site massing models for the site.  You know an intern spent their summer on one...... 

slightly back on topic, i heard the hotel was supposed to open in early October.  They look nowhere near close to done!

project is NOT temporary. I work for a general contractor that thought about bidding on the thing, we had people at the prebid.  This is designed to be a permanent structure.  With that being said, there is a good chance this thing doesnt get built.  Their schedule is too tight and their budget is too small.  It has already been put on the market once and NO ONE bid the stupid thing.

My guess is that they take bids, its over budget and then it goes away for another 6-12 months.

This is a really beautiful building, it is striking to me how reflective they went on the glass.  All the other new towers in the area have see-through facades (3009 Post Oak, BBVA, BHP, etc).  I am curious if we are getting back to the mirror facade trend and if it is being driven by energy performance requirements? 

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Houston First Corporation 2016 Strategic Economic Opportunities Forum

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http://houstonfirst.com/do-business/2016-strategic-economic-opportunities-forum/

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This was such a great comment looking back. Apparently he is that boneheaded.

Or he saw the into his crystal ball that 10 years later someone would be building a garage directly adjacent to his and there was no need to dress up the south facade......

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Really a nice building.  Only thing I can take away from it is how far back it is from the street, making it suburban in nature.  But guess I can't expect too much with it being on a feeder road. 

610 has some pretty deep setbacks in this area, they probably built right up to the setback line. 

Just an FYI, that is a pretty great way to get your friend fired.  Pretty sure there is an NDA associated with all Ritz jobs.

ignoring the crazy car accident for a second....  I have been VERY impressed on the speed at which they have moved on this project.  There is a school across the street that had a year + headstart and these guys might get dryed in first. 

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The guy in a hard hat setting up barriers said it would take a year to demolish. Perhaps the exterior will start coming down this summer, but it appears that they are starting now.

I have worked on a few jobs like this one, here is how it will likely go:

• They will run interior asbestos abatement crews that will likely gut / scrap most of the interior.  
• Then the building will be processed down with high reach demo excavators.

This one should be pretty fun to watch once the get to the facade and structure demo. 

We could always do astro turf!

 

I wonder if Chevron can convince the City to "lease" the grass lawn for a symbolic $1/year to allow the city to use the land as a temporary park. One would think Chevron would reap the benefits of either reduced property tax exposure or perhaps an in-kind donation allowing use of the land would provide a tax break.

 

Perhaps someone more versed in corporate tax law would be able to lay out any tax advantages of a temporary Chevron Green Park. The benefit to the city--more succinctly the people of the city--is rather straightforward.

The problem with turning this into a park is PR.  While it would be a nice gesture, 4 years from now the headlines would read "CHEVRON DESTROYS CITY PARK" and all of the environmental folks would jump on and turn it into a negative for Chevron.  These companies are allergic to any perceived or real environmental incidents and I would be really surprised to see them do anything that encourages the use of this land other than "FUTURE OFFICE BUILDING"

i like it how our example of what could be better is a SKANSKA project in another city when they have the eyesore of a parking garage here.....

demo contractors have bid on the work, i hear it is down to two bidders.  They will NOT be imploding the building, it will be a conventional process down floor by floor.

My guess is that some of this realignment that we are all hoping for will be completed when TxDot reorients the I-45 path and demolishes the pierce elevated. 

Wow, I just noticed that they put the Cooling Tower on the second floor.  That is going to suck for the apartments right above it.  All to save a few hundred LF of pipe and horsepower on CW pumps.

 

 

What is the likelihood of Skanska moving forward with a restructured development concept..? Say.. try to lure one of those fabled high end hotels and residences to the property? It seems they would have an easier time developing this property as something other than office. 

I would say 0%.  They are sitting on a city block in the south side of downtown that they have owned for 5+ years.  I don't see them in much of a hurry.  The only change here is if their global development cash flow got pinched.  

Which seems to be doing fine....

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2016/01/skanska-lands-first-tenant-for-spec-office-project.html

Any idea on what $30 oil is going to do to rental rates for these new swank apartment towers.  Who do they expect to rent all of these 1 bedroom $3-4 per SF units???

here is the plat for the property

if you bring up the lat / long you get the following address: 2132 Welch St, Houston.  This is making very little sense...

There is a sky track buried in the ruble.  My money is that the fork lift driver was loading a square of brick or block on the scaffold and knocked it down.

there is still demand for office space in houston, but the location of this project just doesn't make sense to me.  It's not uptown, or energy corridor, or downtown.  I just dont understand who they would market this to.