Gary Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 The campus has a very large (about 2 acres) green space with pond on it's Western side. They've planted about 100 trees around the pond. While it's a nice space, the rest of the campus is almost entirely concrete. There a few small areas to plant, but very little. I echo my sentiments from before about this being a very ugly campus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC186720 Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 On 2/12/2014 at 2:04 PM, cloud713 said: i understand, and i should of reworded my post, because frankly i wouldnt care if they built a tower on this plot in the energy corridor, it would just be more visually striking to see a skyscraper out there than a cluster of 12 story boxes that blend in with everything else.. even a couple neat 20 something story buildings with a few skybridges, but i guess they didnt want to make a statement. ah well, the walk across campus is better for the employees rather than taking an elevator in a tower. sorry, i let my skyscraper aficionado mentality take over in my posts sometimes.. i realize we cant have skyscrapers everywhere. I don’t know about current Houston city ordinances or local deed restrictions, but I’m pretty sure there are height requirements against building skyscrapers in the Houston suburbs (outside of DT Houston), where you can legally erect skyscrapers. I do know that Galleria area where Hines created the original Transco Tower (later renamed to Williams) probably received special consideration to erect the first such tall building there; but Shell Woodcreek is far off West on the Katy Freeway with residential Hwy. 6 homes, parks and the Addicks and Barker Cypress Reservoirs not too far behind. In light of the recent home floodings when Corps of Engineers opened up the dam floodgates to prevent total collapse, I’m sure that they had other reasons more environmental for a decision to not build a high rise there. Namely, the former wetlands that had to be drained and permitted just to build the existing buildings that already sit there at Shell Woodcreek right now - let alone any new building and garage expansions that have since gone up there since they started their first and second building expansions. You cannot just erect a high-rise building anywhere in the city of Houston. There have been a few ambitious developers that have tried for years to expand the edge of DT Houston trying further and further to creep into long established, old money neighborhoods like River Oaks, Upper Kirby, West University and the Rice Village areas by trying to build more mid-rise and even high-rise properties. But in some areas they have succeeded where in other places; luckily, the people who value their older residential homes have banded together to fight off turning more and more residential neighborhoods into commercially zoned property ripe for high-rise and mid-rise office tower pickings. I guess time will tell if they prove successful or not. Personally there are a lot of beautiful old homes that are getting razed for office high tower developments that I think are sad when plopped right next to residential neighborhoods. I mean, would you like to work your entire life for wealth to afford a lovely residential property only to see it rezoned to commercial so you could be staring at a huge high-rise office building every time you went outside your front doors? I don’t think so. Shell Woodcreek was designed years ago to originally be a more earth-friendly office building laid out in a thoughtful way as to minimize the impact on the environment around it. Today, while it is not quite the cluster of office buildings it once was, a business decision was likely made under extremely critical short timeframes to move a massive amount of Shell staff and contractors to the most economically feasible design to house the fallout from their quick departure from DT Houston to consolidate a massive amount of people that were divided up between the Technology Center off Hwy. 6 and Shell Woodcreek Offices as the Energy industry has continued to suffer in the wake of a global pandemic that has further crippled it. If you were one of those remaining Shell staff or contractors that managed to hang onto their jobs, I am sure you would be very grateful to continue to still have a place to go to work every day and not worry so much about having to walk some distances between buildings and not have the luxury of an elevator as you mentioned. With the price of a barrel of oil to just barely breaking even these days and the whole Houston business economy and real estate market in a flux due to massive job layoffs due to COVID-19, I am sure you would much prefer having a job right now to being permanently unemployed, am I right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC186720 Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 On 10/20/2014 at 4:49 PM, Gary said: The campus has a very large (about 2 acres) green space with pond on it's Western side. They've planted about 100 trees around the pond. While it's a nice space, the rest of the campus is almost entirely concrete. There a few small areas to plant, but very little. I echo my sentiments from before about this being a very ugly campus. Hey Gary: Be grateful you are still employed with Shell. After almost 13+ years there working on some very high-profile Onshore E&P projects; and even now with two teen sons who are half American/English and Half Dutch/Irish/Canadian, even prior marriage to a retired Shell EVP’s son didn’t save me from an early special severance retirement package and six months’ later marriage abandonment from him at age 50. Seriously, I would give anything to be working back in the Houston Energy Industry as a long-time single divorced older 58 year old UT business degreed mom who came from my own family generation of long-term Energy industry successful male role models; but these days, my immediate family is short on surviving males. So for the moment, we do the best we can “just surviving” in nearby Oklahoma as we await news that hopefully Houston and Texas will strongly rebound soon again in the Energy industry once this COVID-19 virus has started to drop in numbers. It really would be nice to one day return back to my Energy Industry roots and I am sure my former Senior Ensley oil consultant ex-husband (who has since relocated to Rockport, TX barely surviving at a large Boat/RV dealership) would heartily agree and welcome the quick rebound of more energy related oil project work to help subsidize his current house mortgage, his new marriage of a few years now, and the ongoing child support requirements as much as we would appreciate it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 6 hours ago, BC186720 said: I don’t know about current Houston city ordinances or local deed restrictions, but I’m pretty sure there are height requirements against building skyscrapers in the Houston suburbs (outside of DT Houston), where you can legally erect skyscrapers. I do know that Galleria area where Hines created the original Transco Tower (later renamed to Williams) probably received special consideration to erect the first such tall building there The only place in Houston in which there are any height limitations (other than those imposed by the FAA) are neighborhoods that have enforceable and enforced deed restrictions. Hines required no special considerations to build Williams (nee Transco) Tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Yeah... no offense, but, have you been to Houston, BC186720? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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