Heritage Plaza: Office Skyscraper At 1111 Bagby St.

[InnerLoopOnly]

FERC is watching you!  Me, too!

FYI - The new Chevron building has a dedicated private parking garage.

I parked there until they moved in.  Nice big spaces for $6.00.

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I didn't know it was dedicated for the new building. It won't be bad at all then.

[MidtownCoog]

It is now. They have a sign "ChevronTexxaco - Private Parking"

Kinda across from Bouray's.

[editor]

Here's the press release we got yesterday about this:

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Goddard Investment Group Buys Houston Landmark

Addition of Heritage Plaza positions Atlanta firm as major owner in Texas city

ATLANTA, July 21, 2005 - Goddard Investment Group of Atlanta has acquired Heritage Plaza, a landmark office complex in downtown Houston.

Goddard Investment Group purchased the 53-story, 1.15 million-square-foot office complex in Houston\'s \"Skyline District\" from an institutional investor advised by ING Clarion. The sellers were represented by Richard H. Rudd of CB Richard Ellis\' Houston office. The Heritage Plaza complex comprises a tower constructed in 1986 and the Federal Land Bank Building, which was built in 1935.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, although Goddard Investment Group acquired the office property below replacement cost.

The firm, headed by Atlanta real estate veteran Robert C. Goddard III, was selected as the buyer because of its ability to close on the acquisition quickly. \"Because we have excellent access to capital we were able to close on this trophy asset in a very competitive environment in 30 days - on an all-cash basis,\" said Goddard, chairman of Goddard Investment Group.

The addition of Heritage Plaza to Goddard Investment Group\'s portfolio instantly raises the company\'s Houston profile and positions it as a major owner in the Houston real estate market. This is the ninth transaction Goddard Investment Group has completed in Houston.

Goddard Investment Group has been active in the Houston market for five years and currently owns five buildings, including Heritage Plaza, totaling 1.7 million square feet.

Heritage Plaza offers a tremendous opportunity, said William T. Deyo Jr., a principal at Goddard Investment Group. When ChevronTexaco vacates its space later this year to relocate to a building it purchased at 1500 Louisiana, Heritage Plaza will offer the largest contiguous block of Class-A office space in downtown Houston.

\"We plan to reposition Heritage Plaza and make major renovations to the property,\" Deyo said.

The acquisition of Heritage Plaza, which sits on a 1.44-acre site bounded by Brazos Street, Dallas Street, Bagby Street and Lamar Avenue, meshes with Goddard Investment Group\'s business plan.

Goddard Investment Group is an entrepreneurial firm that opportunistically acquires properties in markets it knows well. Once it acquires a property, Goddard Investment Group often works with local partners to improve the properties and works with the local brokerage community to lease up the buildings.

In addition to Heritage Plaza, Goddard Investment Group will buy approximately 2 acres adjacent to the complex, where the firm plans to develop a new parking garage that will increase the parking ratio to more than 2 spaces per 1,000 square feet of rentable space.

\"We\'re going to offer suburban parking ratios in downtown Houston,\" said Russell F. Read, a principal at Goddard Investment Group. \"That will be hard to beat.\"

Leasing and management services are currently being provided by ING Clarion and Lincoln Property Co. Goddard Investment Group will interview the current leasing and management team as well as others for the ongoing leasing and management assignment.

Goddard said his firm understands and appreciates the importance of Heritage Plaza to Houston.

\"Heritage Plaza is a landmark in Houston,\" Goddard said. \"It\'s a building that businesses and residents of Houston know well and are proud to have in their city, and we\'re proud to add it to our portfolio.\"

About Goddard Investment Group

Goddard Investment Group is a privately held real estate investment firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company was formed in 2000 for the purpose of investing private capital in quality real estate assets in larger metropolitan Sunbelt markets. In addition to the direct acquisition of properties, Goddard Investment Group also provides financing for real estate related re-capitalizations, mezzanine debt and traditional first mortgage loans. Goddard Investment Group\'s current portfolio consists of approximately 4.5 million square feet located in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Denver.

[bruce_oneal]

So does anyone know the feasability of this?  I was thinking the same thing that those would be some great views.  Or perhaps the bottom half left office with the upper residential.

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what's up there in the top? the part that looks like an aztec pyramid? or in the lower half that has the same design? i heard there was an indoor parking garage?

[InnerLoopOnly]

The first 12 floors are parking. At the top, where the building begins to taper, the square footage of the floors reduces, but I don't think anything is in the pyramid part.

[bruce_oneal]

seems like a big wastge of space if all that pyramid is empty. i think that part would make some GREAT apartments/condos? think of the views!

[InnerLoopOnly]

The very top that doesn't have windows is not rentable space. Below that is rentable.

[bruce_oneal]

so it's just bricked up? it LOOKS like windows from below, but i have to admit i have never been up in allied (now wells fargo) to see it at eye level.

[InnerLoopOnly]

The very top that has the stepped pyramid does not have windows. The part below that has darker glass and a brown stone facade. That part is rentable. That is the part of the building that is tapered. The floorplans for that part are smaller than the floors below. The floors below are just the plain blue glass facade.

[bruce_oneal]

gotcha. thanks.

is there any sort of observation deck in heritage? i would think the views of the bayou and towards west houston (especially at sunset) would be awesome.

[InnerLoopOnly]

No observation deck. There is a sky lobby at the 13th floor. That's the lowest level of floor space. Most of the building is either tightly controled or vacant.

[bruce_oneal]

that's barely high enough to see over the trees... just kidding.

[torvald]

a few years ago i was at a new year's eve party at the petroleum club.

i have never been there and was AMAZED by the view. as i was looking

out the window, an older gentleman pointed at a few of the buildings and

said some things about a few of them. i was amused that when pointing

at the heritage plaza building:

additional ha-info page

he said, "did you know that someone lives in the top section of that building?"

i said that i did not and he said that it was "a very wealthy arab family". i

didn't believe it and said, "why that's interesting".

well, yesterday a client at work casually mentioned the same thing. the

fella is quite intelligent and i would assume he would know what he was

talking about.

does anyone know the basis for this rumor?

or somehow, is it not a rumor?

[MidtownCoog]

I can see the top of this building from my office across the street in 1100 Louisana.

Not sure if anyone lives there, but I do see a burka out on the clothes line.

[Subdude]

Well, maybe they just adore a penthouse view.

[groovehouse]

the building is owned/was built by Texaco... I mean there could be some truth to that rumour... would love to know for sure.

[groovehouse]

upon further research:

"Texaco Heritage Plaza's granite, stepped pyramid cap was inspired by architect Mohammed Nasr's vacation in the Yucat

[Houston19514]

the building is owned/was built by Texaco... I mean there could be some truth to that rumour... would love to know for sure.

The building was not built by and is not, and has never been, owned by Texaco. Texaco was just a tenant.

[groovehouse]

The building was not built by and is not, and has never been, owned by Texaco. Texaco was just a tenant.

Since you know all that, do you know if someone lives up there or not?

[jm1fd]

Check hcad.org.....they may have some of the square footage itemized as residential.

[MidtownCoog]

This entire structure is proposed residental, correct? And the proposed parking garage.

I used to office at 500 Dallas (Allen Center) on the 11th floor. We all got to watch the granite Big T being removed from the entrance after the merger. It took a week to move it.

I wonder where it ended up?

It would look great in my garden.

[TheNiche]

This entire structure is proposed residental, correct? And the proposed parking garage.

I used to office at 500 Dallas (Allen Center) on the 11th floor. We all got to watch the granite Big T being removed from the entrance after the merger. It took a week to move it.

I wonder where it ended up?

It would look great in my garden.

No. This building will remain office.

The one you are thinking of is on a site that is catty corner to Heritage Plaza and would've been developed by ING Clarion. It'll probably never happen.

[RedScare]

I used to office at 500 Dallas (Allen Center) on the 11th floor. We all got to watch the granite Big T being removed from the entrance after the merger. It took a week to move it.

I wonder where it ended up?

It would look great in my garden.

I think it went on tour with Judge Roy Moore and his granite Commandments.

[MidtownCoog]

We need a new museum.

The Houston Museum of old neon, un-pc and post-merger granite structures. The entrance could be the old Crooked E sign. Put it in the Warehouse District near the great columns.

Speaking of granite. Wells Fargo tower has been sans granite sign since Rita. How long does it take to get another?

[Houston19514]

Since you know all that, do you know if someone lives up there or not?

Nope. I don't know. ;-) But I have never heard that before and would very much doubt it .

[TheNiche]

Nope. I don't know. ;-) But I have never heard that before and would very much doubt it .

Ok. Yes.

[torvald]

We need a new museum.

The Houston Museum of old neon, un-pc and post-merger granite structures. The entrance could be the old Crooked E sign. Put it in the Warehouse District near the great columns.

that would be a neat museum!

i am glad you folks didn't totally ostrasize me for the "arabs living in the crown

of a houston skyscraper" topic. i wanted to post it before because every time

i see that building i think of that old fella in a tux mentioning the wealthy oil

family. after the second fella said it --- i thought ok, this is weird, this rumor

needs to go through the HAIF filter...

Nope. I don't know. ;-) But I have never heard that before and would very much doubt it .

i am not trying to say that someone actually lives there but i am

wondering where such a rumor or misunderstanding originated.

[bachanon]

i, too, heard that the man/family who owned the building lived in the upper floors. the rumor was that he had declared his "homestead" in the building so that he could not lose the property.

i've never heard any reliable source to back it up. funny that similar stories are still around.

[Montrose1100]

I always dreamed that when I made it big, I would buy out the entire "eagle" structure at the top of the building and make it my giant penthouse... seems someone already has my dream.

[Trophy Property]

I always dreamed that when I made it big, I would buy out the entire "eagle" structure at the top of the building and make it my giant penthouse... seems someone already has my dream.

My dreams are smaller than yours. I always wanted to buy one of those old 2-3 story buildings that look like they are built on stilts. Underneath is parking and then there is 10-20k SF of rental space. These are usually class C buildings. My goal was to gut it and turn it into a party house. Plenty of parking for the guest and plenty of open space for Disco dancing, hot tubbing, and break dancing. It would have rocked. Too bad I grew up and never made it rich.