Five Allen Center: Office Tower At 400 Dallas St.

[lockmat]

I guess he means a lack of big blocks available where tenants want them?

[Houston19514]

I guess he means a lack of big blocks available where tenants want them?

Are you saying that there are plenty of big blocks of space downtown? (and we're talking Class A space here)

FWIW, I too think a new downtown tower will likely be announced this year.

[lockmat]

Are you saying that there are plenty of big blocks of space downtown? (and we're talking Class A space here)

FWIW, I too think a new downtown tower will likely be announced this year.

Maybe I have a misunderstanding of what a "big" block is. Are normal downtown blocks 2 acres or less?

[KinkaidAlum]

lockmat- I think you are thinking "a block" as in, there are plenty of blocks of land available to build something on in downtown. However, he is talking about available blocks of office space and that is the main issue with downtown right now. There's simply not a whole lot of rentable space right now for a large lease unless a company doesn't mind being scattered about multiple floors or, even worse, in different buildings within the same complex.

The Hess Tower is 100% leased. So is the Chevron complex. The following buildings have less than 10% vacancy; Continental Center II, JP Morgan Chase Tower, Wells Fargo Plaza, One Houston Center, First City Tower, Houston Data Center, 1100 Louisiana, Devon Energy Tower, Two Shell Plaza, Pennzoil Place South, One Shell Plaza, RRi Energy Tower, Cullen Center, and Amegy Bank Tower.

The only class A properties in downtown with more than 20% vacancy are the Pennzoil North Tower, Continental Center I, One Allen Center, BG Group Place, and Wedge International Tower.

Space is tight. If you're looking for a "block" of 350,000 square feet plus in this market, you're pretty much out of luck unless you don't mind being split up.

[lockmat]

Check this out!

I can't figure out how to copy and paste on an iPad so here is the link. It's lookin sweet!

http://www.jacobwandersee.com/2011/01/5-allen-center-brochure/

[LarryDierker]

Check this out!

I can't figure out how to copy and paste on an iPad so here is the link. It's lookin sweet!

http://www.jacobwand...enter-brochure/

let me help you.

[swtsig]

Brookfield needs 50-60% preleasing so it's likely that their existing vacancies would cannibalize any deal for the foreseeable future.

[wxman]

I hate the placement of this building. It takes away from the other Allen building (the tall brown one, forgot the name, lol). I think if they wanna build they should do it near Discovery Green or in Greenway or Galleria. NOT here.

[ttuchris]

The tower goes where they own the land.

[swtsig]

I hate the placement of this building. It takes away from the other Allen building (the tall brown one, forgot the name, lol). I think if they wanna build they should do it near Discovery Green or in Greenway or Galleria. NOT here.

not to pick on you but i absolutely abhor responses like this... as ttuchris put it, the building goes where they own the land. this isn't simcity.

[intencity77]

This is one bloated, bland looking skyscraper especially to be showcased front and center on our already very symmetrical existing skyline. All it has going for it is height, which is the one thing I really like about it!

[infinite_jim]

This one is a long shot now that Devon is packing for OKC.

I'm a tad curious where they're gonna fit parking for something this tall? The existing Allen Center garage is pretty full as is but the Heritage Plaza garage (across from the Double Tree) is still pretty empty. It could suffer from the same sort of vacancy problems Heritage has b/c of it's lack of close-by tunnel access. For this to be a success it would probably require two sky-bridges and a renovation of the common areas of the Allen Center Complex.

[swtsig]

This one is a long shot now that Devon is packing for OKC.

I'm a tad curious where they're gonna fit parking for something this tall? The existing Allen Center garage is pretty full as is but the Heritage Plaza garage (across from the Double Tree) is still pretty empty. It could suffer from the same sort of vacancy problems Heritage has b/c of it's lack of close-by tunnel access. For this to be a success it would probably require two sky-bridges and a renovation of the common areas of the Allen Center Complex.

it will have two skybridge connections in addition to parking within the building so i don't think parking will be a huge concern. no word on renovations to the common areas but i assume they will cross that bridge if and when they get there. this one is a longshot, at least in the near future, but they're still actively marketing it.

skanska will likely get off the ground on their 700k sf building sooner rather than later and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition.

[Fortune]

Brookfield has about 350k sf they are trying to fill up from Hess vacating the Allen Center and moving into their own building. Once Devon vacates next year there will be about 550k sf available for lease. It will be Devon's responsibility to sub-lease the space since their lease doesn't expire for 7 years. So Brookfield really only has the large 350k sf block of space to lease. They will just be competing with Devon to lease space in Allen Center.

[lockmat]

it will have two skybridge connections in addition to parking within the building so i don't think parking will be a huge concern. no word on renovations to the common areas but i assume they will cross that bridge if and when they get there. this one is a longshot, at least in the near future, but they're still actively marketing it.

skanska will likely get off the ground on their 700k sf building sooner rather than later and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition.

700k? Add another 8 or so floors for parking, so about 36 floors?

[yaga]

it will have two skybridge connections in addition to parking within the building so i don't think parking will be a huge concern. no word on renovations to the common areas but i assume they will cross that bridge if and when they get there. this one is a longshot, at least in the near future, but they're still actively marketing it.

skanska will likely get off the ground on their 700k sf building sooner rather than later and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition.

That cool looking 50 story tower, is this a west downtown or an east downtown proposal? Is this the Hines project that we were hearing about?

[Chi-Char-Hou-Dal]

Is this west or east of Gulf Freeway? - Hope it builds.

[lockmat]

That cool looking 50 story tower, is this a west downtown or an east downtown proposal? Is this the Hines project that we were hearing about?

It's by Brookfield and on the southwest edge of downtown.

[swtsig]

Brookfield has about 350k sf they are trying to fill up from Hess vacating the Allen Center and moving into their own building. Once Devon vacates next year there will be about 550k sf available for lease. It will be Devon's responsibility to sub-lease the space since their lease doesn't expire for 7 years. So Brookfield really only has the large 350k sf block of space to lease. They will just be competing with Devon to lease space in Allen Center.

Devon has 515K

Kinder will be vacating 200K

UA is vacating 140K + an additional 250K in all likelihood

in addition to the 200K or so of Hess space

while a lot of these are not direct vacancies, they will certainly be competing directily w Brookfield for tenants.

[yaga]

It's by Brookfield and on the southwest edge of downtown.

I was referrring to swtsig's comment...

and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition.

I wasn't questioning the location of the Five Allen Center proposal by Brookfield.

[TexasGeneral]

"skanska will likely get off the ground on their 700k sf building sooner rather than later and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition"

swtsig - can you provide any more information on these two projects? Location? Height of the Skanska building? Likelihood of these projects moving forward? Anticipated contruction start?

[Subdude]

it will have two skybridge connections in addition to parking within the building so i don't think parking will be a huge concern. no word on

skanska will likely get off the ground on their 700k sf building sooner rather than later and there's another cool looking 50-story building being proposed so brookfield will have some competition.

Are you referring to the Hines project on the block across from the Rice? I heard they were using the same architect as for the building immediately south, with the idea of making the two look like somewhat of a set.

[LTAWACS]

let me help you.

Where could I obtain one of these? I looked online everywhere to no avail.

[swtsig]

Are you referring to the Hines project on the block across from the Rice? I heard they were using the same architect as for the building immediately south, with the idea of making the two look like somewhat of a set.

no this is different from Hines' project. i've seen the rendering for Hines' new building and it is very geometric for lack of a better word... kinda post-modern, i suppose, in the same vein as pennzoil.

[Mister X]

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but when you say 'same vein as pennzoil' do you mean it will have a slanted roof like the Pennzoil towers? That could be very cool, especially if we are talking about a building that is 50 stories tall.

[wxman]

I am so confused. What building are you guys talking about? I thought this was about 5 Allen Center? Which building are you guys referring to? Maybe start a new thread?

[Texasota]

not to be a pedant, but pennzoil is just plain modern; it is most definitively not postmodern.

[lockmat]

Did we already know Kirksey was the architect?

http://www.kirksey.com/projects/category/commercial/page:1/sort:Project.vProjectName/direction:asc

[HOUCAJUN]

Is this being built?

[ClutchCity]

The only way this one gets off the ground is if they build spec. Hines already demonstrated if you build a high quality(LEED Platinum, Sky Garden, Garden on top of Parking Garage, etc.) office tower then you'll attract tenants from all over. BG Group Place is proof since they are almost full just 2 years after completion.

Getting a single tenant to lease half of it (~600,000 sq ft) or multiple 100,000+ sq ft tenants to sign on is obviously proving difficult after 5 years. They already have a precedent that proves its possible, just hope they get a little more ballsy.