Enron Building At 1400 Smith St.

[Subdude]

Quote

arking on the bottom of old Enron building

The old Enron office building is heading toward a major renovation.

Owners of the mostly vacant tower at 1400 Smith are taking steps to convert bottom floors into a parking garage. The 50-story skyscraper's lack of parking spaces has been identified by some brokers as a potential problem in securing tenants for the structure.

Bill Donovan, manager of the 22-year-old building, says a feasibility study shows the parking garage idea makes economic sense and it works from a construction standpoint.

"The structure of office space has a greater load bearing capacity than a parking garage," Donovan says.

Houston Business Journal Link

[kjb434]

So this isn't the blue buildings right? I don't want to think I'm going crazy because I don't think they're that old.

[RedScare]

This would be the original building, not the one that was built and never occupied.

[kjb434]

Ok, makes sense.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Interesting. How bout some retail (I know, I know, we all scream retail at the first site but I'm bloody serious). There is absolutely NO ground floor retail space in any of the structures south of Clay between Smith and Main. Considering the proximity of the original Enron to the Crowne, adding some ground floor retail might actually make better sense right now than trying to pioneer and empty parcel on, say, Texas Ave. near MMP. The daily traffic is much greater, for one.

And, let's face it, just as the Texas School Book Depository site in Dallas has become a national monument, so has (in a much smaller way) the Enron building. Visitors will want to see it just for the trivia. Might as well make a buck off of 'em!

[kjb434]

Good plan. Especially if they are going to be adding a parking garage to the lower floors. At leas carve a piece out for some retail. It would be another source of leasing income.

[editor]

The cover of this month's edition of the Crutchfield catalog features a TV with a picture of a nice blue glass skyscraper. I bet the people who put the catalog together didn't realize that it's the old Enron building. You can see Continental reflected in the glass.

[ferronsfunctionals]

The cover of this month's edition of the Crutchfield catalog features a TV with a picture of a nice blue glass skyscraper.  I bet the people who put the catalog together didn't realize that it's the old Enron building.  You can see Continental reflected in the glass.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you sure that is the old enron building? I believe it is the old Texaco Building. The old enron building are the oval shaped greenish blue glass buidings.

THat building was built in 1987, and I know Texaco/Chevron have been there for at least 10-15 of those years.

[KimberlySayWhat]

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/busine...27bizenron.html

[brucesw]

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/busine...27bizenron.html

I think the Enron tour by itself would be kind of boring. If she combined the Enron tour and the Blood and Money tour that would be worth it.

I wonder if she includes the house where Frank Lorenzo lived and where Dean Corll lived?

[ricco67]

I found it while browsing a site, I figured someone might like to take a look at it.

Ebay Link to Enron

[TheNiche]

According to the headline article from this week's HBJ, the empty 50-story tower at 1400 Smith, built in 1983, has been sold to Brookfield Properties. Chevron is rumored to have then leased the entire building for use in consolidating their Houston operations.

If the lease has been committed to, then Chevron will now have a downtown footprint that includes the newer Enron building at 1500 Louisiana, the older Enron building at 1400 Smith, and a big chunk (465,000sf) of Continental Center I at 1600 Smith. All together, that is 3 million square feet. This reduces downtown's office vacancy from 17.3% to 14.4%.

Anecdotes eminating from the Chevron offices on Wilcrest suggest that a Chevron exodus from the Energy Corridor to the CBD is possible.

[DJ V Lawrence]

According to the headline article from this week's HBJ, the empty 50-story tower at 1400 Smith, built in 1983, has been sold to Brookfield Properties. Chevron is rumored to have then leased the entire building for use in consolidating their Houston operations.

If the lease has been committed to, then Chevron will now have a downtown footprint that includes the newer Enron building at 1500 Louisiana, the older Enron building at 1400 Smith, and a big chunk (465,000sf) of Continental Center I at 1600 Smith. All together, that is 3 million square feet. This reduces downtown's office vacancy from 17.3% to 14.4%.

Anecdotes eminating from the Chevron offices on Wilcrest suggest that a Chevron exodus from the Energy Corridor to the CBD is possible.

DAAMMMNNNN!! Chevron now run's almost 3% of Downtown Houston's office space. How's that for corporate advertisement?!

[TheNiche]

DAAMMMNNNN!! Chevron now run's almost 3% of Downtown Houston's office space. How's that for corporate advertisement?!

That's not quite accurate. In fact, when I looked back at the article, I noticed that some of the numbers didn't agree with the others.

The building in question is 1.2 million square feet, comprising 2.33% of all CBD office space (51.6 million sf), so this transaction alone would only cause vacancy to decline to 15.0%.

Chevron's total footprint downtown is now about 3 million square feet, comprising 5.81% of all CBD office space.

[Houston19514]

Awesome news for downtown!! When do you suppose the Chronicle will hear of this transaction? ;-)

Presumably (and hopefully) this means they will NOT be converting the lower floors of 1400 Smith into parking, as had been discussed by the previous owners. I don't see how that could be done to that building without ruining its elegant design.

[Pumapayam]

I am glad that they are embracing downtown occupancy.

Once the vacancy rate gets smaller, maybe we can finally see a new office building instead of high rise condos for once.

[TheNiche]

I am glad that they are embracing downtown occupancy.

Once the vacancy rate gets smaller, maybe we can finally see a new office building instead of high rise condos for once.

To be clear, Chevron's motives have very very little to do with reducing downtown's vacancy rate. It is a very simple matter of efficiency.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "instead of high rise condos for once," given that downtown has absolutely no high rise condos that were built for the purposes of being high rise condos. On the other hand, downtown has gained the Calpine Building and 5 Houston Center in relatively recent years--new construction, no less.

[Pumapayam]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "instead of high rise condos for once," given that downtown has absolutely no high rise condos that were built for the purposes of being high rise condos. On the other hand, downtown has gained the Calpine Building and 5 Houston Center in relatively recent years--new construction, no less.

I am not sure how tall the Calpine Building and 5 Houston Center are, but I was refering to new construction in general that involves tall buildings (say 30 stories and above)

Most have been around uptown of late and only been condos.

[Houston19514]

I am not sure how tall the Calpine Building and 5 Houston Center are, but I was refering to new construction in general that involves tall buildings (say 30 stories and above)

Most have been around uptown of late and only been condos.

According to Emporis, here are the buildings above 99 meters tall that have been built in Houston since 2000 along with their use and locations:

1500 Lousisiana; Office; downtown; 183 meters 40 floors

Reliant Energy; Office; downtown; 158 meters 36 floors

Calpine Center; Office; downtown; 138 meters 34 floors

Memorial Hermann; Office/Medical; Medical Center 131 meters; 28 floors

Mercer West; Residential; Uptown; 122 meters, 30 floors

Harris Co. Civil Courthouse; Office; Downtown; 115 meters; 18 floors

5 Houston Center; Office; Downtown; 115 meters; 27 floors

Royalton; Residential; Allen Pkwy; 110 meters; 33 floors

1200 Post Oak; Residential; Uptown; 109 meters; 33 floors

Mosaic Towers; Residential; Museum District; 109 meters; 29 floors

Dominion Post Oak; Residential; Uptown; 107 meters; 31 floors

The Mark; Residential; Uptown; 102 meters; 30 floors

Montebello; Residential; Uptown; 101 meters; 30 floors

Hilton Americas; Hotel; Downtown; 99 meters; 24 floors

Faculty Center Towers; Office; Medical Center; 99 meters; 21 floors

The four tallest buildings on the list are all office buildings, three of them downtown. Two of the next four on the list are also office buildings, both downtown. Of the sixteen buildings on the list (counting two Mosaic Towers), 8 are residential. Of those, only three are Uptown condo buildings. Two are Uptown residential rental buildings. One is an Allen Parkway condo, one is a Museum District rental building, and one is a Museum District condo.

[RedScare]

That's not quite accurate. In fact, when I looked back at the article, I noticed that some of the numbers didn't agree with the others.

The building in question is 1.2 million square feet, comprising 2.33% of all CBD office space (51.6 million sf), so this transaction alone would only cause vacancy to decline to 15.0%.

Chevron's total footprint downtown is now about 3 million square feet, comprising 5.81% of all CBD office space.

Niche, where did you find that 51.6 msf figure for Downtown? Everything I have seen is in the 43 msf range. I am curious if more space has come online, or if your figure includes a bigger DT footprint.

[TheNiche]

Niche, where did you find that 51.6 msf figure for Downtown? Everything I have seen is in the 43 msf range. I am curious if more space has come online, or if your figure includes a bigger DT footprint.

That was in the article; probably CoStar data. I've also seen numbers in the low 40's. I'm thinking that the 50's may account for courthouse and public buildings as well as the St. Joseph hospital complex.

It's really hard to say. The data from the article leaves several possible places for flaws.

[Houston19514]

Here's an article I found online about the potential Chevron lease (Sadly, it is dated September 20, and the crack reporters at the Chronicle still hasn't learned of it).

Slatin Report

[Scharpe St Guy]

Seems to me this may entice many Chevron employees living out West to move on up to the East Side. Any date on when the consolidation should begin? I figure after a few weeks of I-10 traffic listings in West Houston should go up and listings Inner Loop should drop. Any thoughts?

Scharpe St Guy

That was in the article; probably CoStar data. I've also seen numbers in the low 40's. I'm thinking that the 50's may account for courthouse and public buildings as well as the St. Joseph hospital complex.

It's really hard to say. The data from the article leaves several possible places for flaws.

[TheNiche]

Seems to me this may entice many Chevron employees living out West to move on up to the East Side. Any date on when the consolidation should begin? I figure after a few weeks of I-10 traffic listings in West Houston should go up and listings Inner Loop should drop. Any thoughts?

Scharpe St Guy

Agreed, but it'll probably be a pretty slow process. The costs of moving are fairly high and the Katy Freeway is going to become much more bearable in the near future. I suspect that there will be a small initial wave of relocations followed by a year-long flow of people moving into the city as their leases expire. Beyond that, the shift will likely be more gradual.

The empirical data shows clearly that inner-city office absorption rates are a leading indicator of inner-city apartment absorption. So one way or another, this is a good thing for inner-city property owners. Make no mistake about that.

[Montrose1100]

Centralizing companies? Downtown? Vacancy going down?

What What What?

[kjb434]

Chevron is also not only considering moving its west houston office to DT. It also moving many satelite offices in other cities and states. All Chevron offic employees from Louisiana will be moving to the new building. I've heard of this over two years ago. My cousin in Lafayette Louisiana got word two years ago of this move. She is starting to look at houses to move here family here when the office space is completed.

[Scharpe St Guy]

Sounds to me like a great atmosphere that will suck up the supply of cookie cutter townhomes on the fringes of Downtown and the like. I understand that I-10 will be getting better but really how much better? For how long? It only takes one minor fender bender or a lost load and police parked all over looking busy to tie up the whole freeway.

Scharpe St Guy

Chevron is also not only considering moving its west houston office to DT. It also moving many satelite offices in other cities and states. All Chevron offic employees from Louisiana will be moving to the new building. I've heard of this over two years ago. My cousin in Lafayette Louisiana got word two years ago of this move. She is starting to look at houses to move here family here when the office space is completed.

[TheNiche]

I understand that I-10 will be getting better but really how much better? For how long? It only takes one minor fender bender or a lost load and police parked all over looking busy to tie up the whole freeway.

The next time you happen to be on I-10 heading outbound, especially that part that has already been completed between 610 and BW8, briefly survey the enormity of the ROW. Amazingly, it'll all be concrete. I'd be much less concerned with I-10 than with BW8, I-45, and the North/West Loop that'll be fed by I-10.

Also, accidents and debris apply to all freeways, congested or not. Doesn't keep people from using them.

[Scharpe St Guy]

Just drove it twice today. It will be a huge freeway that is for sure however I have seen too many lost loads and police sprawled all over a road when they could be minimizing the after affect of an incident they tend to prolong and make worse. Doesn't matter if it's 30 lanes going each way, one nice fender bender and everyone has to slow down to take a look and cause another accident.

I'm just "half empty" on this one!

Scharpe St Guy

The next time you happen to be on I-10 heading outbound, especially that part that has already been completed between 610 and BW8, briefly survey the enormity of the ROW. Amazingly, it'll all be concrete. I'd be much less concerned with I-10 than with BW8, I-45, and the North/West Loop that'll be fed by I-10.

Also, accidents and debris apply to all freeways, congested or not. Doesn't keep people from using them.

[houstonfella]

I don't know if this thread is somewhere out there on HAIF, but I found this on the Houston Business Journal site. Great news for downtown Houston. A company that size taking a 50-story tower will significantly reduce our already plummeting office vacancy. Let the new buildings begin to rise.