hoothrewpoo

Gensler and Pickard Chilton worked together for the ExxonMobil Campus, so it's possible they're working together for this one too. I really like the design as well.

Pickard Chilton works with most major commercial architects in town. You'll see them teamed with Kendall Heaton quite a bit too. 

As for the Exxon campus, I think most of the major commercial architects in town had a piece of it. Kirksey built a lab or two, and PDR was involved in the interior design of the office buildings. They all seemed to play well together.

same project. Vitol is the anchor of the Levey Park development. Vitol will occupy two floors... hardly a campus.

pretty sure Chevron is only 1.3M sf...

it would almost have to be. I'm not sure what the zoning requirements are, but everything else in the area is mid-rise at most. I'd imagine the buildings will be similar to Southwestern Energy (and BMC), where the floor plates are large (35k ft), but the overall height is low.

and the new Cameron HQ off of the beltway, FMC at Generation Park, Conoco's new tower in the Energy Corridor.

full disclosure, I saw it on clutchfans originally.Thought it fit well here.

rumor confirmed - checked several sources. New campus designed by Gensler and developed by Patrinelli. 

Rumor on the street is that Cameron acquired 25 acres from Apache.  I believe this location is the former Dow Chemical HQ at 400 West Sam Houston Parkway.  They have real estate all over the city, particularly in Westway Park.  This must be a large consolidation for them.  Apparently going to include over 1 million square feet of office.  Patrinely will develop it for Cameron...you have to believe the architect will be Gensler.  Same team currently developing Southwestern Energy's new HQ in Springwoods Village.

 

How many energy companies are left to build new campuses for?

Cameron is indeed spread out all over town. Only problem I see with a new campus - they're in multiple long-term leases in their current buildings.... two new leases this year alone. BUT, they have had a couple of decent sized projects on the drawing board recently that have been stopped rather abruptly. Could mean something.

A lot. There are a half dozen smaller energy companies (people size, not revenue size) that will build in the next 12-18 months. There are two large companies that will build in the next 24 months.

the rumor has been floated forever. they recently expanded and extended their lease at greenway for 10 yrs i believe so i don't think they'd be actively looking right now.

agreed - downtown is an unlikely destination for them. I think they'll be back in the market well before their lease is up though... they'll get a new building in Greenway Plaza someday, possibly on the site that Amegy Bank was rumored to be building a new tower on.

Oxy is rumored to be in the market for 1M sf in Houston, but that rumor has been floating around for the better part of a year. 

Lockmat is not the only one having trouble understanding all of this.  Are you saying you know of 2 Million square feet of CBD leases that are going to be signed (in big chunks) in the coming 6-12 months, but you just don't know who any of the signing tenants are?

To clarify, all of the major absorption I know of is going to happen in the EC (somewhere in the neighborhood of 2M sf). I assume there is demand in the CBD, because developers have plans to build there (CBD). I can't get my head around who the possible tenants are in the CBD, because most of the major blocks of space have been earmarked for the EC.

any better?

Pretty sure if you reread the comments hoothrewpoo is saying the the large tenants in the market for space right now would rather look in the Energy Corridor or the Woodlands instead of downtown. Since she said previously that the next 1-2 Mil Sq Ft of absorption would probably be in the EC. 

Bingo.

I'm just assuming there's demand in the CBD because developers are building (or planning on building) there. I can't think of any tenants that are looking for more than 50-60k sf in downtown, BUT, that doesn't mean there aren't any. Just means I don't know about them. 

What happened to all the demand that supposedly brought about all these downtown proposals and renderings?

there's a ton of demand. Off of the top of my head, I can think of 2 million square feet of space that WILL be taken in the next 6-12 months (in big chunks). There's probably a whole lot more than that. Developers wouldn't build if the demand weren't there (CBD)... I just don't know currently who's demanding it. My guess is Linn Energy make a play for one of the new buildings downtown as an anchor in the next couple of years. Pure speculation though.

Realistically, I don't think that is going to happen. Developers are more conservative now and the city has developed too many other areas, the Galleria, Energy Corridor, the Woodlands, to name a few, that have taken up much of the sq. ftage. and the excitement of building everything downtown.

Agreed. I think the next 1.5 - 2 million square feet of absorption (in addition to those already announced/speculated on this forum) will come in the Energy Corridor. Downtown is a great place to be... if you want/can afford to pay $35/ft NNN, and $200/month for parking. Energy corridor offers the same shiny Class A space, admittedly without all that downtown has to offer, for closer to $28/ft NNN - with free parking. Makes too much sense for corporations looking to absorb MAJOR square footage to look in markets outside of downtown. 

Back on topic - who's going to occupy this building? There's probably 3-4 major tenants looking for space, and as far as I know, none of them are looking downtown.

Also FMC Technologies purchased 173 acres within the Generation Park development this year so hopefully they will break ground on something soon. I imagine it will be some type of HQ or corporate campus since its such a large purchase.

Bingo. By the time they're done, it'll be similar in complexion to Exxon's development in the Woodlands.

It's a when, not if. They already have tenants lined up for the office portion.

No, it had something to do with the structure (again, going by memory), or column footings. I don't remember. 

to clarify, the interior geometry was the issue, not the exterior.

exterior of the building is changing... I think. I recall a discussion about the geometry not being ideal for tenants.

I think Kirby Grove has been on the planning commission agenda for a while now so hopefully they're pretty close to ground breaking.

I don't think they are on the office portion... I can't find my notes currently, but I think I remember a Q2-2014 ground breaking. 

Interesting.  Seems like a pretty economical price tag.

considering the amenities, and scope, I'd agree. 

From ConstructionWire:

Plans call for the construction of a 1.7 million-square-foot, 50-story office tower for Chevron Corp. to expand the existing two-building campus. The development is to include common areas, parking facilities and a fitness center.

price tag - $238.8 Million

nothing new really, except they've published the project cost.

It's Apache. Pickard Chilton is the Design Architect, KHA is the Architect of Record.

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Any chance they will tear it down to build a 4th tower?

Nope, they've already earmarked the land for a future 4th tower.