Shell Westhollow Campus In The Woodlands

[lockmat]

My elevator guy just told me Shell is planning on building a 35-40 story tower in The Woodlands and that Anadarko wants to build another one too.

Can anyone confirm this?

[lockmat]

He said they responded to an RFP for it.

[swtsig]

anadarko has land and plans for another tower, that much i know. shell building a 35-40 story tower out that way is news to me and would seem strange considering they are already building 800k+ on their woodcreek campus in the Energy Corridor. there were rumors of a different large o&g-related firm building a 20+ story tower on waterway but haven't heard anything on it in several months. i'll believe the shell rumors when i see something substantial.

that said, the shale/o&g revolution we are experiencing is going to keep this facilities arms race going for quite some time... recruitment is a HUGE driver for these companies and with such a limited pool of qualified recruits these firms will continue to use new/state of the art facilities as a tool to lure the best and brightest. another major out west is rumored to be taking down 1M+ sf of new construction on the EC...

[lockmat]

Hopefully that EC plan is in the form if a tower(s) and not a campus.

[Fortune]

WoW another Andarko tower and a Shell tower that would be amazing.

[Houston19514]

Shell seems VERY unlikely, given their current construction in the Energy Corridor and recent long-term renewal of their downtown leases.

[bachanon]

except........that someone has seen a model  in the woodlands development company for 40ish story tower on super block east.  i'm not saying it was shell, no one knows who it is intended for or if it was simply to show that the land would support a floorplate for a 40ish story tower.  still, one wonders.

[lockmat]

Where is the super block east? Where is the wdc office? Gratzi

[bachanon]

http://www.thewoodlands-commercial.com/pdf/UrbanDesignPlan.pdf

 

scroll down to the map of town center.  locate the area south of timberloch place, north of woodlands parkway, east of woodloch forest; there are two towers on either side of an existing building.  they appear to have definite shape, unlike other propose buidlings.  i've noticed that the outline of the proposed buildings receive more detail as the woodlands comes closer to development.

[Fortune]

I'm not sure if I added this picture correctly to the post but this is a old model of the Water Way and it shows a large tower across from the Anadarko tower.

[Fortune]

It didn't work here is the link to the post with the model it's post number 6

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/25981-anadarko-tower-ii/

[wxman]

Another Anadarko Tower? Could he have been referring to the one that is currently under construction or a third building? Seems like The Woodlands area is quickly becoming the "Energy Corridor" with Exxon, Anadarko and now Shell possibly moving in. The Woodlands will have a legitimate, medium size city skyline before long. I revert back to my previous post in another thread: The Woodlands is quickly becoming the Fort Worth of Houston.

[RedScare]

From here on out, when someone asks me to explain "hyperbole", I will refer them to this post. Based on an unsubstantiated rumor of a move, plus the inclusion of a company that does not even fall within the township limits, the Woodlands has now become both the "Energy Corridor" and Fort Worth. Never mind that the real Energy Corridor contains dozens of O&G companies to the Woodlands couple, and never mind the fact that the Woodlands' 93,000 population is about 1/8 the size of Fort Worth's 758,000, in a Woodlander's eyes they are the same!

 

Before the Woodlands gets to call itself "Fort Worth", shouldn't it at least get to the size of Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie, Plano, Garland, Mesquite, McKinney, Frisco, Carrolton, Denton, or Richardson...all DFW cities that are larger than the Woodlands?

[wxman]

I was referring to the height and sq. footage of office space being built in the town center, you dingleberry. Indeed maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration but geez, chill out...

Edited March 28, 2013 by wxman

[Pleak]

Now Red,  you know in a Woodlanders eyes,   they are about equal in size to Fort Worth.   Only about 93,000 of the people in Fort Worth would qualify for inclusion in any kind of a Woodlanders list.    The rest of them just don't matter.

[RedScare]

I was referring to the height and sq. footage of office space being built in the town center, you dingleberry. Indeed maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration but geez, chill out...

 

Let me point out a few numbers that might show just how big of an exaggeration this is...

 

 

Woodlands office space: 7.0 million sf

Westchase office space: 13.2 million sf

Katy Freeway (Energy Corridor): 20.7 million sf

Galleria/West Loop: 22.0 million sf

 

Now, keep in mind that the Woodlands number includes ALL of the Woodlands, not just that area around the mall. Yet, it is still only one third the size of the Energy Corridor, and only 20% the size of the EC plus Westchase next door. And, if we throw in the Galleria, which is as close to the EC as Woodlands Mall is to the hospital district, you have 56 million sf, which is a full 8 times the size of the Woodlands office space.

 

So, yes, this was a bit of an exaggeration on your part. 

[Trae]

Another Anadarko Tower? Could he have been referring to the one that is currently under construction or a third building? Seems like The Woodlands area is quickly becoming the "Energy Corridor" with Exxon, Anadarko and now Shell possibly moving in. The Woodlands will have a legitimate, medium size city skyline before long. I revert back to my previous post in another thread: The Woodlands is quickly becoming the Fort Worth of Houston.

And ill say again, TW is nothing like Fort Worth, which has been a large city for over a century. This is more like Plano. Houston never had to deal with leeching suburbs, but its finally starting to happen. At least Exxon can be annexed into the city.

[livincinco]

And ill say again, TW is nothing like Fort Worth, which has been a large city for over a century. This is more like Plano. Houston never had to deal with leeching suburbs, but its finally starting to happen. At least Exxon can be annexed into the city.

 

I think that LA is a better comparison to Houston than DFW is.  DFW is a true two city metro while LA is a one city metro with a lot of medium sized cities that are attached to it (Long Beach, Burbank, the different cities in Orange County). 

[swtsig]

except........that someone has seen a model  in the woodlands development company for 40ish story tower on super block east.  i'm not saying it was shell, no one knows who it is intended for or if it was simply to show that the land would support a floorplate for a 40ish story tower.  still, one wonders.

now looks to be slightly less than 30 stories - good looking building per the rendering i saw.

[bachanon]

heard a rumor that that of the boy scouts' five offers for camp strake in conroe, just north of 1488, that two of the offers are from shell and chevron.  minor league baseball has been publicly reported as having made an offer as well.  although shell and chevron have popped up in rumors about a woodlands tower, downtown towers, and i think something was in the paper about shell expanding at a current location, they must be reviewing many options.  a second large energy company just north of the woodlands would make the woodlands town center "bookended" and the center of a growing new city center.

 

has anyone else heard the same?

[bachanon]

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/woodlands/news/toll-road-study-gets-go-ahead/article_0f00de5b-2626-5ae8-84ba-1370a007ffce.html

 

toll road extension study approved to connect south montgomery county to conroe.  toll road would go from say, the hardy toll road to loop 336 south, a mile or so east of the camp strake development, and to 105 east in conroe.  is there weight to the rumor that shell or chevron want the camp strake property for a campus?

[lockmat]

Where on the east side of 45 would this go? Between the county line and research forest it seems there'd be a lot of eminent domain.

[bachanon]

there is railroad frontage behind oak ridge north and flood plain snaking from south montgomery county to conroe on the east side of 45.  also, land along 1314 between conroe and porter has thousands of acres owned by energy companies and contain natural gas lines.  i drove from conroe to 242 on 1314 today and nothing is for sale.  there used to be signs everywhere with acreage for sale, now there is nothing for sale.  once you get past the rayford corridor and especially past 242, there is plenty of undeveloped land.

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/23305-hardy-toll-road-extension-to-conroe/  we visited this subject back in 2010, but hctra is "harris county".  i think montgomery county has to create it's own entity, hence the 500,000 dollar study.

 

with this in the works, the woodlands/exxonmobil "effect" will jump 45 east with a vengeance in the coming two decades.

 

i wish they would announce who is awarded the camp strake purchase.  of course, if it's really good (as in an energy company) it could play out like the springwoods village/exxon scenario.  ....not holding my breath.

[swtsig]

you keep throwing shell and chevron out there but i have heard nothing to substantiate those rumors - which isn't to say it isn't true but i find it unlikely given the status of their Houston facilities.

this isn't to say that a very large o&g firm isn't kicking tires on a very substantial office in/near the woodlands, though (allegedly).

[RedScare]

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/23305-hardy-toll-road-extension-to-conroe/  we visited this subject back in 2010, but hctra is "harris county".  i think montgomery county has to create it's own entity, hence the 500,000 dollar study.

 

Not true. HCTRA can take on projects in other counties that benefit Harris County. This was addressed in post #3 of the thread that you linked.

[jt16]

you keep throwing shell and chevron out there but i have heard nothing to substantiate those rumors - which isn't to say it isn't true but i find it unlikely given the status of their Houston facilities.this isn't to say that a very large o&g firm isn't kicking tires on a very substantial office in/near the woodlands, though (allegedly).

What do you do? You are clearly plugged in to the Houston Commercial RE scene.

[Trae]

What do you do? You are clearly plugged in to the Houston Commercial RE scene.

With Chevron's new tower downtown and Shell's new buildings out in the energy corridor, it wouldnt make much sense to build anything significant in TW. Camp Strake will probably become the AAA affiliate for the Astros.

[bachanon]

Not true. HCTRA can take on projects in other counties that benefit Harris County. This was addressed in post #3 of the thread that you linked.

Thanks Red. I can always count on you.

[bachanon]

you keep throwing shell and chevron out there but i have heard nothing to substantiate those rumors - which isn't to say it isn't true but i find it unlikely given the status of their Houston facilities.this isn't to say that a very large o&g firm isn't kicking tires on a very substantial office in/near the woodlands, though (allegedly).

rumors are just ......rumors. I wouldn't post it unless it was from a source usually in the know. if another haifer heard the same rumor from a different source, only then would there be reason for some level of expectation. Chevron's announcement, Shell's progress, and lack of additional chatter makes me think there could be other oil & gas companies. Time will tell. Baseball would be quite nice however...

[Tone2002]

I was talking to a friend who works for an unnamed firm up in The Woodlands, and they are saying that Shell did buy the Camp Strake land and will build there soon enough.