wxman

That is SWEET looking. Too bad it's way off in the woods and can't be seen from 45.

I passed by this on the freeway and there are definitely some big cranes popping up over the trees....like 5 or more.

I just downloaded the latest version of google earth on my mac and I zoomed into The Woodlands area to scope out my neck of the woods when I discovered a HUGE gaping hole in the middle of the forest---the Exxon Campus. I'm surprised they did not make an announcement in April like they promised they'd do. But the pics we've recently seen, including those from google earth clearly verifies that this project is going forth.

It is very unlikely, imo, that any of these buildings will be more than 3 or 4 stories. If there are 20 buildings on site with 3 million sq. feet, that means all the buildings will average 150,000 sq. ft. Hardly enough sq. footage for a building of significant height.

SAME HERE! I was just logging on to say that. lol...

I had the privilege of speaking with an Exxon media relations guy and I informed him of the arial photographs we had of the area. I asked him straight up if indeed Exxon was moving forward with an elaborate corporate campus. The gentleman said "I can tell you that site work continues at that location and all options are still on the table---that's anything from leaving things as is on one end to building a new corporate campus on the other. I replied to him, "but sir, there have been thousands of trees cleared from the area and clearly this is in the exact location of the planned corporate campus according to Springwoods Village. Site work requires the removal of thousands of trees?" He replied, a statement on the campus would be released "very soon" and that all he could confirm is that site work continues at that location. When I asked what "very soon" mean, whether it was days or week, he would not comment. So that's the latest from the horses mouth.

I think it's all about the location of the post. Personally speaking, I rarely look at the other threads on here except 'The Woodlands and North side" being that that is where I am located. Outside of that, I always look for big projects in the 'going up' section.

You make a valid point about the zoning. Makes sense. I just wish there was a way to improve Houston's image as a clean, fun, cosmopolitan town. When people think of Houston, IMO, they think dirty, trashy, boring, congested and the delicate flower step child. When people think Dallas, IMO, they think glitzy, trendy and relatively clean. Anyway back to the building, I think it's okay, just nothing spectacular.

It's nothing out of the ordinary. A 20 story building will be less than spectacular in a sea of skyscrapers on Post Oak. I think the forum is 'dying' simply because we are all tired of these fabulous renderings that come out and ultimately the project gets cancelled or the rendering is scaled down considerably. As much as I like Dallas, I hate that when they propose something, 90% of the time, they break ground and build it. Their uptown is booming right now---evidence by the numerous of cranes on their skyline.

Breaking News: THIS IS HAPPENING! On my way home tonight (I like to drive with the windows down) and upon getting to the 45/toll road interchange, the strongest odor of pine you can imagine hit me like a wall. I looked to my left and saw that thousands of trees have been cleared to the left of the freeway and you could see dust and dirt being moved around by heavy equipment. Now they left a wall of trees up along the frwy, but you can clearly see a massive area being cleared out. I think we are underway.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I don't know when people are going to realize that The Woodlands is NOT that far out and that it IS a nice place to live and there is a LOT to offer here. I see jealousy written all over some of these posts. Bachanon, what is Waterway 2 and how many floors/sq. ft is it? Where will it's location be?

I called Hines' Interest and spoke with the media relations lady. She confirmed for me what was in the biz journal. There is no tower imminant at this time. There is no timeline. There are no set renderings. No official height. No floor count. She just said that at this time, there is a tower that may go there in the distant future. Not anytime soon.

Doesn't look much taller than about 35 stories. The design is pretty cool but I have yet to see a building turn out exactly like the rendering....especially the first rendering that came out about 3 years ago.

Exxon has designated and will go on record some time in April that this will be their home campus there at 45 and Grand Parkway and obviously they need that in place and moving that way by 2015,” Grand Parkway President William F. “Billy” Burge told the Texas Transportation Commission at their January 27, 2011 meeting.Burge urged the Commission to quickly begin construction of the Grand Parkway now that Harris County has withdrawn from the project and turned it back to the Texas Department of Transportation. Following testimony from Burge, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, and Grand Parkway Association executive director David Gornet, the Commission voted unanimously and without public comment to move forward with the project, beginning with Segment E in the Katy Prairie. Burge began by telling the Commission, “We now have one quarterback, one process that we think will work all the way from 59 to 59. We’ve acquired almost all the right of way and environmental, which has taken us some 26 years since the inception of the Grand Parkway. “It’s compelling that it needs to be done for a couple of reasons,” he said, citing the new Exxon project and then said “All of the other areas that we’re going through we have really been able to come up with enough right of way and environmental to really get, I think, the right contractors and a program that can finance. “If we don’t do it, though, in the next 60-90 days, this is the month that will make us or break us, because, you know, timing is everything. And we’ve gone through a perfect storm and we do have the advantage the next 90 days to be looking into a perfect rainbow, a rainbow going from 59 to 59.” Burge noted that the money issue need to be addressed and said Commissioner Ned Holmes, chairman of Parkway Investments, “has worked to try to come up with 400-500 million, which we hope would seed the project, get it going up to 290 and from there look at other financial delivery systems but we feel like if we can put them all together that will be a project that, when traffic’s up there it will not only open up that area, but more importantly it will loosen up areas around Houston that have never seen this type of coming together.” Commissioner Holmes later noted that the “Exxon headquarters” Burge had spoken about is in fact the North American headquarters and the world headquarters would stay in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Grand Parkway executive director Gornet said the Exxon/Mobil move is a consolidation of some 11,000 employees they have in the Houston region now and some 4,000 employees that would move here primarily from Virginia. Other sources say the number will be 17,000. “They’ve bought a 400-acre tract of land just west of I-45 and just north of the Grand Parkway. I-45 cannot be the only point of access to this, they need the Grand Parkway there, those 15,000 jobs will be individuals that will have a strong opportunity to use a toll facility and I think this will be a great benefit to the project,” said Gornet. Holmes indicated that the Parkway is a must for the Exxon project. “Exxon representatives have stated very clearly to me that TxDOT moving forward on the Grand Parkway is essential and that if that did not happen they would not select this site,” Holmes said. “And I think they’d move their North American headquarters, so that’s kind of a dealbreaker for them.” Gornet agreed. “Yes, sir, that’s my understanding as well,” he said.
 Many of those employees currently office in the Greenspoint District at I-45 and the Beltway. “We would be sad to see them go, they’ve been a great partner,” said Jack Drake, president of the District. “But If Exxon decides to consolidate and move some employees from our market, Greenspoint will survive and thrive. We are happy they are planning to expand in the north Houston market, which is experiencing tremendous growth. There is a misperception that our market is dominated by ExxonMobil. In fact, they make up 12 percent of space in our market.” A Brazilian company has offered to provide the equity capital for building the Grand Parkway segment in Montgomery County, according to a story in yourConroe.com. Estimated costs to build Segment “G” of the Grand Parkway – a 14-mile segment to be connected from Interstate 45 just south of the Harris County line to U.S. 59 in the Porter/New Caney area – are upward of half a billion dollars. Segment “G” is part of the 180-mile Grand Parkway designed to encircle the greater Houston area. The Texas Department of Transportation’s original estimate in 2007 of $184 million to build Segment “G” has since skyrocketed to around $500 million. County officials have received inquiries from construction companies across the nation and within Texas since issuing unsolicited requests for proposal in November. Now, Odebrecht International, based in Brazil, has offered to put up the risk capital and build Segment “G,” County Judge Alan B. Sadler said. Recent Coverage: TxDOT takes on Grand Parkway ‘in its entirety’ Video is available from TXDOT in .wmv format. [This will require installing a converter like Flip4Mac if you are using a Macintosh computer and in that case, you will not be able to fast forward until the movie has loaded in real time. We do not know if this is the same on a windows machine. Discussion of the proposed Grand Parkway begins at 01:12:55.] TXDOT has not yet posted minutes of the meeting. Houston Tomorrow compiled the following partial transcript of sections pertaining to the proposed Grand Parkway, beginning with Judge Emmett’s comments: Harris County Judge Ed Emmett “Now, 26 years later, it is a desperately needed economic engine for not only Harris County, but also the region. It is assumed that this project will be maintained as a project that the entire Grand Parkway will be eventually built and that revenues off the segments in Harris County will be used on other segments of the Grand Parkway.” Commissioner Ned Holmes “My understanding [is that] one of the challenges that Harris County faced in developing the Grand Parkway is the fact that you would be required to develop it in seven counties – six of which were not Harris County and that presented really significant financial challenges, as well as general development challenges.” Emmett “Yeah, that’s generally correct. Harris County would not necessarily have developed it in those other counties, but there’s no question that the revenue generating segments of the Grand Parkway are in Harris County and that revenue then would have had to have been committed to the other segments, the same as we hope will occur when TXDOT takes I over. This does free us up in a true partnership situation – without mentioning any specific corridors. It frees us up then perhaps to develop other projects at the same time you’re developing the Grand Parkway, and so we get more transportation projects in the region if we work together and let you do this and we do something else.” Holmes “The agreement to retain the economics of any one section for the benefit of all sections was memorialized in the Market Valuation Waiver Agreement, and so I feel comfortable in saying the requirements that were placed on the counties when they exercised primacy also apply to TXDOT. Its an agreement that was signed by both TXDOT and the counties and so its clearly appropriate that the economics are retained in the Grand Parkway in order to build all segments.” ... William Burge “Pleased to be here for several reasons. Number one, I think with hearing from Judge Emmett and their position on the Grand Parkway. We now have one quarterback, one process that we think will work all the way from 59 to 59. We have acquired almost all of the Right of Way and environmental which has taken us some 26 years since the inception of the Grand Parkway, and you know I have a list of things that tell you why this needs to be done. I’m gonna let David do it because really its compelling that it needs to be done and for a couple of reasons I think we’ve outlined that Exxon designated and will go on the record some time in April that this will be their home campus there at 45 and the Grand Parkway and obviously they need that in place and moving that way by the 19 and 15 [Ed note: It appears he meant to say 2015]. All of the other areas we’re going through we have really been able to come up with enough right of way and environmental to really get I think the right contractors and a program that can finance. If we don’t do it though in the next sixty to ninety days, this is the month that’ll make us or break us cuz you know timing’s everything and we’ve gone through a perfect storm, and we do have the advantage the next ninety days of looking into a perfect rainbow going from 59 to 59, and there are 2 or 3 benchmarks along the way that need to be met, need to be put together and hard decision need to happen in order for this thing to facilitate. I think that with TXDOT now having the project back and what work Grand Parkway [Association] has done for 26 years, I think there is a comfort level of being able to not only identify the property, get comfortable with it, but move forward on a delivery position. The other half of the equation is the money and I know Ned has worked to try to come up with four to five hundred million which we hope would seed the project, get it going up to 290 and from there look at other financial delivery systems but we feel like if we can put em all together that that will be a project that when the traffic’s up there it will not only open up that area but more importantly it will loosen up areas around Houston that have never seen this type of coming together. So it should be the impetus that Houston has needed for a real long time. I’m gonna let David outline some of his points, but I’d like to say on something like this when timing is everything we really can’t afford to hiccup and we’ve got to look at a system in a in control one person has to be in control or this stuff gets away. I had been past chairman of the Harris County Sports Authority which we undertook over a seven year period to build our 3 downtown stadiums: Minute Maid, Reliant, and Toyota and the Rodeo shared with Reliant. The project was a little over a million two and we tried to fast track them and it was critical for many reasons, but the biggest thing that we learned that would keep it on schedule is to have the right people on the ground working with the subs. And when I say TXDOT needs to have a designated entity; a group that’s there you know they’re not drawing the plans but they’re in there keeping everything honest and they know how to make the quick decisions if something changes and David Gornet, our Executive Director, has been out there like I said twenty-seven years. He knows the property owners. He knows the elected officials. He is I think a strong ongoing source for TXDOT to use as now you start to pull out the plug and I think he should be in some role as your project director to keep not only sanity but understand what’s important and how phases should go.” [At this point, Burge begins to present Commissioner Holmes with a series of gifts, and it is difficult to hear everything that is said] “…it’s twenty five years in the making …we think it’s the way of the future …and just what we’ve done on the Katy Freeway from downtown out to Katy and how much a difference that has made for our city” ... Holmes “How long have you been chairman of the Grand Parkway Association?” Burge “Well you know you had one – who was the guy that was on there 4 to 5 years and couldn’t get along with everybody? I’ve been on it about twenty years and I tell you the funny story. We were. This was pre-Grand Parkway. We were developing Cinco Ranch and we had Mason Road and the fellow that rand Friendswood called and said would you all consider adding another 40 feet of Right of way to you 100 and then we’ll call it the Grand Parkway and we’d already filed our plats and we said no, move it over to somebody else’s property, it’ll never be built and that was the origin. That was ’82. …I guarantee you the movement of the city in that direction.”

Don't tell anybody, but Exxon Mobil really does have a big Houston campus in mind Houston Business Journal - by Jennifer Dawson Date: Friday, February 11, 2011, 4:44pm CST Related: Houston, Oil & gas Jennifer Dawson Reporter Email: jdawson@bizjournals.com Houston Tomorrow has reported that Grand Parkway President Billy Burge confirmed Exxon Mobil Corp.’s new campus on Interstate 45 north of Houston. Speaking to the Texas Transportation Commission at a Jan. 27 meeting, Burge said, “Exxon has designated and will go on record some time in April that this will be their home campus there at 45 and Grand Parkway and obviously they need that in place and moving that way by 2015.” Houston Tomorrow is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 to explore urban issues and to inform the discussion of growth in the Houston region. I have been trying to get to the bottom of Exxon’s real estate plans for more than a year. Last month I got to talk to the developer of the Springwoods Village master-planned community, which is going up next to Exxon’s proposed site. But he was not much help in shedding light on the mystery. The wait continues... Read more: Don't tell anybody, but Exxon Mobil really does have a big Houston campus in mind | Houston Business Journal

Well he said that SOME jobs from Dallas would move here. He said nothing about the headquarters. However he did say that from what he understands, ALL jobs from Denver and Fairfax are headed to Houston. Of course, we already knew this.

Nothing ground breaking here, but I got to talking to this guy on our bowling league the other night and found out that he just moved to The Woodlands from Michigan. Anyway, he works for Exxon and he said that the development at the Hardy and 45 is on the fast track and will break ground sooner than later. He said it is DEFINITELY happening and that all offices from Denver, Fairfax and some from Dallas and Houston are all moving to the Spring/Woodlands location. So there ya go. At least it's not 'dead' or on a 'hiatus.'

I work for a local tv station here. I'm on it. I'll see what I can find out.

Fair enough. Sorry.

38-story tower once again scrapped? http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2010/12/24/high-rise-set-for-blvd-place-never.html

Well to think that this is one of SEVERAL highrises about to go up on the west loop. If the tower(s) at BLVD place are in the 30-50 story range, you can just imagine how bad it will be then!

I suspect it'll be in the 20-30 story range. I can't imagine anything much taller in such an unstable economy...but then again, it may be 50 stories. Who knows. Does anybody remember how tall the original towers were proposed to be (the 'Ritz' and the condo tower?'

I like the buildings. Too bad they will be largely hidden from view.

Just curious if this thing ever went anywhere. I was plundering around on HBJ and came across the article from 2008. Is there any hope alive of this project? http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/02/18/story1.html What is the status of all the other proposed projects? It seems that MANY new highrises have been proposed over the past year or two and few have gone anywhere. Some that come to mind are 'the Titan', Deyaar, the W, Ritz, High Street, the 40 story condo tower in the med center, City-Centre downtown, Turnberry, and others.

BTW, it won't let me edit the topic. I looked for the edit button and can't find it....and yes, I'm logged in.