Chevron Tower For Downtown At 1600 Louisiana St.

[Avossos]

2 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Correction.  It's the Travis (not Main), Leeland, Milam, Pease block.

Just to refresh everyone's memory, Chevron bought this block in 2013.

 

37 minutes ago, sapo2367 said:

HCAD has part of this block owned by Holiday Inn (HDT Hotels LLC)

So, before I get too riled up... is this the block that Chevron tore down the beautiful old building, and then did nothing with it... and perhaps they sold it after they tore it down???

[kbates2]

10 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

So, before I get too riled up... is this the block that Chevron tore down the beautiful old building, and then did nothing with it... and perhaps they sold it after they tore it down???

Yep that's my understanding.

[Triton]

If someone gives me confirmation Chevron owns this, I'll move it to that thread.

[Ross]

1 hour ago, Triton said:

If someone gives me confirmation Chevron owns this, I'll move it to that thread.

Yes, Chevron owns this. 1621 Milam.  The block South of 800 Bell.

[Triton]

Topics merged.

[houstontexasjack]

This does not appear to be the block on which the tower was proposed. Just an additional block Chevron bought later on.

 

 

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

This does not appear to be the block on which the tower was proposed. Just an additional block Chevron bought later on.

 

Correct 

[Ross]

13 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

This does not appear to be the block on which the tower was proposed. Just an additional block Chevron bought later on.

 

 

That is correct. The tower was proposed for the now vacant lot two blocks West, bounded by Smith, Louisiana, Pease, and a Chevron building.

[hindesky]

4 hours ago, Ross said:

That is correct. The tower was proposed for the now vacant lot two blocks West, bounded by Smith, Louisiana, Pease, and a Chevron building.

Where the old YMCA was, I was a member at the time right before they tore it down.

[Triton]

I'll leave this in the chevron thread for now.

[por favor gracias]

23 hours ago, hindesky said:

Where the old YMCA was, I was a member at the time right before they tore it down.

I used to hit up that Smoothie King pretty often down there.

[Big E]

Question: Who owns the parking garage between the two properties?

[Houston19514]

32 minutes ago, Big E said:

Question: Who owns the parking garage between the two properties?

The former Exxon garage is owned by Shorenstein.

[CREguy13]

Nothing new to report, but figured it was appropriate to bump this thread on the heels of Chevron's announcement to acquire Hess.  To me this all but assures the combined "Mega Major" will be headquartered in Houston given the longgggg list of reasons for such an obvious, strategic move.  Which begs the question: Do we see a new design of 1600 Louisiana or a new tower on one of Chevron's other downtown sites?  I'm pretty sure the lease in Hess Tower expires in 2026... they'll certainly consolidate all employees to one campus.

 

So unless their recent Bridgeland land grab in Cypress changes to a corporate campus, I think we can safely assume the combined workforce will be downtown and new construction is likely 😎

[strickn]

I was thinking the same thing today when I heard it: except more along the lines of, “Well, sounds like ChevronTexacoHess has its new office block, without ever building 1600 Louisiana, after all.”  
Others had noted in the Hess Tower thread that Hess leased, and did not own, that office space and its associated parking.  
One forumer is now speculating that headcount reductions and offshoring are coming, in which case a new tower’s floor space is not necessary.

OK, but even if they are correct, and even if you are correct that a HQ relo is finally inevitable, Bridgeland demonstrates that Chevron bureaucracy obviously still think that R&D and laboratory experimentation benefits from a separate environment.

Therefore these same senior execs could still think this way about their own HQ culture as well (à la the former Exxon God Pod up by DFW), opting for a physical plant in which management, engineering, and back office are all kept separate from the “high-ups.”

• One scenario is that they move the HQ to Austin to hang out with their Californian c-suite golf buddies from Oracle, Tesla, et cetera — maybe even bail Google out of its empty riverfront “sail” office tower, finished but not moved into yet.
• One scenario is a pod close to the airport — either IAH or AUS or another Texas airport one with better connections than AUS (meaning most likely DFW again).
• However, a third scenario would be to use newer leased space by Discovery Green for that purpose, staying close to their big campus downtown but still not on campus.  That would be a good middle ground, no matter whether they use Hess Tower itself or the new Skanska spec spaces nearby.

Edited October 24, 2023 by strickn

[strickn]

Of course, the sassiest move would be to renovate 800 Bell 🤤

but I don’t think it’s in the cards 

[strickn]

even if owning 800 Bell would pwn ChevronTexaco’s main domestic E&P rival,

and demonstrate their commitment to quote carbon footprint sensitivity unquote vs killing the planet building new construction, 

and accentuate both the 1400 Smith and 1500 Louisiana towers Chevron owns outright, whose sleek blue and white bands both pay discreet homage to their architectural forebear 800 Bell

Edited October 24, 2023 by strickn
So maybe we won’t all certainly assume they will be consolidating everything to one campus downtown with brand new tower(s)

[Skyboxdweller]

13 hours ago, strickn said:

even if owning 800 Bell would pwn ChevronTexaco’s main domestic E&P rival,

and demonstrate their commitment to quote carbon footprint sensitivity unquote vs killing the planet building new construction, 

and accentuate both the 1400 Smith and 1500 Louisiana towers Chevron owns outright, whose sleek blue and white bands both pay discreet homage to their architectural forebear 800 Bell

 

[Skyboxdweller]

Given the size disparities and the price paid, by the time the Hess lease is up there will be limited need for a new building or additional space, especially given the work from home situation.  Hess' value relies in their share of the Guyana oil field in which they are a minority partner with Exxon controlling the show and their operations in North Dakota.  Staff functions will be consolidated - finance, hr, legal , shareholder relations, etc. and I assume the Hess folks have their resumes on the street.  M and A and land acquisition as well, except for the locals in the frozen north.  Still a plus for Houston, but not in terms of office space demand. 

[Houston19514]

The good news on the Hess acquisition is that their (Hess's) HQ was still in NYC.  I don't know how many people work at HQ, but those central office jobs are pretty likely the most duplicative. Reduces the likely job losses for Houston.

16 hours ago, strickn said:

I was thinking the same thing today when I heard it: except more along the lines of, “Well, sounds like ChevronTexacoHess has its new office block, without ever building 1600 Louisiana, after all.”  
Others had noted in the Hess Tower thread that Hess leased, and did not own, that office space and its associated parking.  
One forumer is now speculating that headcount reductions and offshoring are coming, in which case a new tower’s floor space is not necessary.

OK, but even if they are correct, and even if you are correct that a HQ relo is finally inevitable, Bridgeland demonstrates that Chevron bureaucracy obviously still think that R&D and laboratory experimentation benefits from a separate environment.

Therefore these same senior execs could still think this way about their own HQ culture as well (à la the former Exxon God Pod up by DFW), opting for a physical plant in which management, engineering, and back office are all kept separate from the “high-ups.”

• One scenario is that they move the HQ to Austin to hang out with their Californian c-suite golf buddies from Oracle, Tesla, et cetera — maybe even bail Google out of its empty riverfront “sail” office tower, finished but not moved into yet.
• One scenario is a pod close to the airport — either IAH or AUS or another Texas airport one with better connections than AUS (meaning most likely DFW again).
• However, a third scenario would be to use newer leased space by Discovery Green for that purpose, staying close to their big campus downtown but still not on campus.  That would be a good middle ground, no matter whether they use Hess Tower itself or the new Skanska spec spaces nearby.

I don't think Chevron has ever given any indication that keeping the execs away from the worker bees is part of their strategy.

[Houston19514]

I have no idea what Chevron's current office space situation is. With the Hess acquisition, and IF they need more space than they currently have in the downtown Chevron buildings, I think by far the three most-likely moves would be:

• Retain leased space in Hess Tower
• Lease other vacant space in Allen Center and/or 1600 Smith
• Build 1600 Louisiana

I think retaining the space in Hess Tower is probably the least likely of the three, because it would make team integration more difficult.

My hunch is that, in the current market, leasing additional space in Allen Center and/or 1600 Smith is more likely than building 1600 Louisiana.  They should be able to get very friendly lease terms right now (and they'll still own the land on which to build later if that becomes more financially attractive down the road).

Edited October 24, 2023 by Houston19514

[downtownian]

On 10/24/2023 at 2:26 PM, Houston19514 said:

I have no idea what Chevron's current office space situation is. With the Hess acquisition, and IF they need more space than they currently have in the downtown Chevron buildings, I think by far the three most-likely moves would be:

• Retain leased space in Hess Tower
• Lease other vacant space in Allen Center and/or 1600 Smith
• Build 1600 Louisiana

I think retaining the space in Hess Tower is probably the least likely of the three, because it would make team integration more difficult.

My hunch is that, in the current market, leasing additional space in Allen Center and/or 1600 Smith is more likely than building 1600 Louisiana.  They should be able to get very friendly lease terms right now (and they'll still own the land on which to build later if that becomes more financially attractive down the road).

Least likely is building 1600 Louisiana. There is a 30% vacancy rate in downtown. I doubt they would add to supply.

[CREguy13]

7 hours ago, downtownian said:

Least likely is building 1600 Louisiana. There is a 30% vacancy rate in downtown. I doubt they would add to supply.

Respectfully, this is the wrong take.  One of the largest and most profitable companies in the US is not concerned about contributing to a downtown's vacancy.  Attraction and Retention of talent is #1 and a state-of-the-art corporate campus helps with recruiting top talent.  This is the crux of my argument for new construction.

[shasta]

According to this article, the Houston metro population is going to balloon to 31.5 million by 2100 easily passing NYC ....so we are going to need many more 58+ story tall buildings...and soon!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/texas/article-12637061/Is-future-America-Texas-Dallas-Houston-Austin-poised-replace-New-York-City-Los-Angeles-Chicago-largest-cities-not-77-years.html

Edited October 26, 2023 by shasta

[downtownian]

18 hours ago, CREguy13 said:

Respectfully, this is the wrong take.  One of the largest and most profitable companies in the US is not concerned about contributing to a downtown's vacancy.  Attraction and Retention of talent is #1 and a state-of-the-art corporate campus helps with recruiting top talent.  This is the crux of my argument for new construction.

Want to place a bet on whether or not they construct a new tower? I am extremely, extremely confident they will not. There is a lot of available Class A (or A+) space downtown for cheap. 

[MidCenturyMoldy]

20 hours ago, shasta said:

According to this article, the Houston metro population is going to balloon to 31.5 million by 2100 easily passing NYC ....so we are going to need many more 58+ story tall buildings...and soon!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/texas/article-12637061/Is-future-America-Texas-Dallas-Houston-Austin-poised-replace-New-York-City-Los-Angeles-Chicago-largest-cities-not-77-years.html

We old-timers have heard this kind of nonsense before. I think it was 1974 when Houston (The city of the future!) was “on track to becoming the largest city in the world” in the not-so-distant future. 🙄

Edited October 27, 2023 by MidCenturyMoldy

[CREguy13]

On 10/27/2023 at 9:55 AM, downtownian said:

Want to place a bet on whether or not they construct a new tower? I am extremely, extremely confident they will not. There is a lot of available Class A (or A+) space downtown for cheap. 

Ha sure. *IF the HQ is moved here, I'm betting they will opt for new construction opposed to leasing nearby space on a long-term basis. Short-term leases are irrelevant, as there may be an immediate desire to consolidate employees in same area, time to plan long term strategy, and/or being patient for the building market to become more favorable.

We may all be a bit longer in the tooth by this time, but my friendly wager is new construction will commence prior to mid-2026, I believe that is roughly when the current Hess lease is set to expire.

Edited October 28, 2023 by CREguy13

[Big E]

On 10/27/2023 at 9:55 AM, downtownian said:

There is a lot of available Class A (or A+) space downtown for cheap. 

Most of that is older office space, a lot which probably hasn't been renovated recently. Big companies like Chevron tend to build their own spaces for their workers, because they want newer, top of the line office space for their employees to draw top talent. Older buildings built in the 80s won't cut it.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

On 10/27/2023 at 1:10 PM, MidCenturyMoldy said:

We old-timers have heard this kind of nonsense before. I think it was 1974 when Houston (The city of the future!) was “on track to becoming the largest city in the world” in the not-so-distant future. 🙄

yes, then right after they scaled back plans for the "city of tomorrow," half of the Rust Belt moved to Houston.

I used to have a bumper sticker that said, "Will the last person leaving Michigan please turn off the light?"

[mkultra25]

7 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

yes, then right after they scaled back plans for the "city of tomorrow," half of the Rust Belt moved to Houston.

I used to have a bumper sticker that said, "Will the last person leaving Michigan please turn off the light?"

That, and the ever-popular "Drive 70 and freeze a Yankee."