invisibletrees

43 minutes ago, UtterlyUrban said:

In this town, demolision does not mean construction.  It only means demolision.  

He never said construction began. Also neither demolision or demolition means construction. in any town.

How many stories?

1 hour ago, Chi-Char-Hou-Dal said:

Renderings?

First post?

moo. Too much "traditional" going on already. We need a new architectural art-piece for Downtown. Something very modern, raises the bar and stands out, yet classy. Hines may stick to Pickard Chilton which is nice, but their recent designs are pretty similar to one another and I'm sure they can do more. Hopefully Hines goes with SOM or Zaza Hadid, even though the latter may be extreme for them. The chronicle block a +50 office tower and the garage block a ~40 story 5-star hotel with condo units above.

i recently got a sneak peak at the rendering for 1616 Post Oak (Dinerstein Property).  Astoria will look like even more of a joke next to the Dinerstein job.

Gives us details! Pleaseee

When?!

Will open Summer 2017. Groundbreaking set for tomorrow. Be there or be square.

GE is leaning heavily towards Altlanta, they've already taken a tour of the city.

Cool.  also noticed their website lists a 20-story building with 303 apartments to be in Montrose.

What website?

Doesn't take a year to redesign something like this.  Any firm would bust their "you know whats" to get a 50-60 floor tower finished and ready to go.  Not like they're reinventing the wheel.

obviously, no one said it did. there's a number of reasons why this and other projects by chevron have been placed on the back burner.

Dude. Pull in Mcdonalds and snap a pic. Please.

yes. haif has been slacking lately in terms of pic updates. 

I actually saw what looked like a truck doing soil samples at the DT site last week. Could be nothing but would be weird to acquire lots of DT real estate only to build a large XOM style campus in the woodlands.

yes, the land and the parking garage at 1400 Louisiana. As fernz said its just 'a rumor on the street'.

It could be that Pennzoil Place has 500,000 square feet for lease.  I believe Hines does have a tenant, hopefully Pennzoil Place will get leased.  This could be why Stream/ Essex is on hold. 

This is not on hold, so don't say it is unless you having info proving so. Again, it's only been a little over a month since the last update and soil testing was done back in July. I'm sure Stream Realty was well aware that Hines would be the first out of the ground. Things take time.

Not any information on 46-story International Tower.  It seems it is cancelled since Hines is moving along.

the last update which was just over a month ago, confirmed that the project is still in-development.

"After the Hines announcement, Stream said the company is “still excited” about its project and is “working on it;” however it was not ready to announce anything."

Heavy equipment is on the site today. It looks like they are about to dig up the asphalt parking lot.

no pics?

The groundbreaking ceremony was held earlier today.

Doesn't tell us anything new

I apologize... I am new to Houston... where is this tower located?

Maybe if you look through this thread, instead of trolling, you would find the answer.

Well I'm sure that there will be many against it, enough that they'll attempt to stop them. Once 800 Bell is extensively renovated, there will be no need for it to go back to the original look 20 to 40 years from now. Unreasonable to lose square footage, and it will cost more $$$.

Don't be so sure.  This is Houston.  I can see some of those towers being renovated if the developers set their mind to it.  Besides, none of them are historic and as such lack any form of protection from being drastically altered.

 

And as for my statement earlier - Its a wait and see.  None of us can predict the future.  In all likelihood it gets demolished rather than updated or renovated to original form in 40 years.  Because... again... Houston

Developers & owners know which towers are icons to Houston, and other cities. If one of those towers are redeveloped significantly, there would be a lot of people against it. You'd see "stop the Penzoil Place redo!" signs all over downtown.

But in 40 or so years this building will be as outdated as the one they're currently "gussying up"

 

Don't doubt it.  Its possible.  And if the re-use is aimed at moving towards hotel or residential then its certainly a possibility.

 

And... you really aren't sharing my optimism.

 

And... you aren't really looking far enough into the future.  The same people who glazzed/re-clad over some of the current crop of historic buildings (at that time they were not historic) are the type of people who push for buildings like 800 Bell and the Allen Center to be changed.  Some preservationist in the future will bemoan those changes and push for a return to the original look.  History repeats itself.

 

It is highly unlikely. The most I expect they would do after the building is redeveloped is refresh the interior, if needed 20 to 40 years from now - and reducing square footage to go back to the original form decades from now may be more unreasonable because there may be a time again in the future where office space will not be greatly available downtown. The building will not only go under a major redo because of new towers proposed, but because of how the building is somewhat isolated today. 20 to 40 years from now, the surrounding area may see more development and become attractive enough to where the owner may not see a need to do anything to the building, or be a factor why a tenant or tenants decides to stay in the building.

Some people may like the current state of 800 Bell, but there are many others that find the building outdated. Some unique buildings here in Houston that will always look how they stand today are Pennzoil Place, Bank of America Plaza, JP Morgan Chase Tower, Williams Tower - icons. Those are buildings people who don't know downtown Houston well can name when thinking of buildings in this city, 800 Bell and One Allen Center are not.

A tower going under similar redevelopment right now is 100 Van Ness in San Francisco. The biggest difference though is that the tower is being converted from office to residential use, but it's also getting the new all-glass look. You won't see Transmerica Pyrmaid in San Fran receiving a new look. Why? Because it's a icon to that city. My point is that many towers receive a new look, and they all don't go back to their "original look". 

So this one has been canceled too????

Yes. It will just be an empty parking lot with a fence around it.  

Chevron is indeed moving forward with this tower. I think you guys will like the design even more once new renderings are released. As to Arche, I would say that you should gather more information from your friend before spreading a rumor that's incorrect. I understand why others here are getting worked up, this is something pretty big for downtown. 

I can't release the consulting firm yet. Nevermind.

Are you allowed to tell us if it's a local architecture firm?