Innovation Tower: Mixed-Use High-Rise At 6700 Main St.

[toxtethogrady]

It's not the Texas A&M Innovation Plaza? (Actually it appears the Tower is in an Access Restricted area)

Edited November 30, 2021 by toxtethogrady

[Highrise Tower]

2022 bump.

Prime location here.  When will we see this old Best Western hotel demolished for something taller? Does Medistar still own it?

[hindesky]

24 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

2022 bump.

Prime location here.  When will we see this old Best Western hotel demolished for something taller? Does Medistar still own it?

Yes according to this map.

Edited August 10, 2022 by hindesky

[strickn]

Just leaving this (vertical office tower addition) here...

https://www.historicaugusta.org/properties/2016-the-penthouse-at-the-lamar-building-753-broad-street/

[DotCom]

2023 Bump.  I haven't seen any TDLR TABS filings or building permit apps.  As Urbannizer noted above, this is no longer on Medistar's website.  I'm not taking the time to check HCAD.  Anybody got anything?

[Bassclef]

3 hours ago, DotCom said:

2023 Bump.  I haven't seen any TDLR TABS filings or building permit apps.  As Urbannizer noted above, this is no longer on Medistar's website.  I'm not taking the time to check HCAD.  Anybody got anything?

I knew this wasn’t going to happen.

[monarch]

22 minutes ago, Bassclef said:

I knew this wasn’t going to happen.

^^^ this particular development is most likely to be constructed in AUSTIN, TX vs DALLAS, TX.  houston just does not get this type of magnificent development anymore.  so very sad isn't it... ?

[ChannelTwoNews]

On 10/13/2023 at 6:27 PM, monarch said:

^^^ this particular development is most likely to be constructed in AUSTIN, TX vs DALLAS, TX.  houston just does not get this type of magnificent development anymore.  so very sad isn't it... ?

Austin actually has a new building with the same name.

It was finished last year.

Currently, it appears to be empty.

"Innovation Tower, which is downtown but closer to the University of Texas and has a place on our multi-tenant buildings list below, is another shiny new tower with no one in it. Brokers said there's nothing to report yet on the tenant front, but they're trying."

[monarch]

3 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

Austin actually has a new building with the same name.

It was finished last year.

Currently, it appears to be empty.

"Innovation Tower, which is downtown but closer to the University of Texas and has a place on our multi-tenant buildings list below, is another shiny new tower with no one in it. Brokers said there's nothing to report yet on the tenant front, but they're trying."

^^^ no surprise here...

actually, PROPS to you for the clarification.  about a month or so ago, i thought that i had read or seen an illustration of an INNOVATION TOWER (either in austin, tx... or coming soon to austin, tx) upon my last post, i was just a tad bit too lazy to dwelve into searching for it.

 

however, it's really SAD that the powers that be... are so very HIGH ON AUSTIN, TX, they are more than willing to construct something in a heartbeat (WITHOUT AN ACTUAL TENANT) just for the sheer momentum of constructing in a city as dynamic and magnificent as austin, tx.  what on earth, has happened to this form of magic in our wonderful fair city of houston, tx... ?

sigh...

 

[Darb64]

42 minutes ago, monarch said:

^^^ no surprise here...

however, it's really SAD that the powers that be... are so very HIGH ON AUSTIN, TX, they are more than willing to construct something in a heartbeat (WITHOUT AN ACTUAL TENANT) just for the sheer momentum of constructing in a city as dynamic and magnificent as austin, tx.  what on earth, has happened to this form of magic in our wonderful fair city of houston, tx... ?

sigh...

 

To who's benefit is adding to the glut of unused office space?

[monarch]

50 minutes ago, Darb64 said:

To who's benefit is adding to the glut of unused office space?

^^^ the developers knew wholeheartedly that there was a "glut of unused office space" when they constructed this edifice in the first place.  however, my point was that they constructed this particular development based upon the FUTURE MOMENTUM within this hyper-dynamic and magnificent city.

everyone knows that austin, tx, is a city of the future...

[Darb64]

3 hours ago, monarch said:

everyone knows that austin, tx, is a city of the future...

Evidently the City of the future is a city with a lot of large empty office buildings. 

[monarch]

1 hour ago, Darb64 said:

Evidently the City of the future is a city with a lot of large empty office buildings. 

^^^ whatever floats your proverbial boat...

[KirbyDriveKid]

Provides some context to this fight (tldr; we are all in a sticky spot) --  https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/texas-cities-are-booming-but-their-offices-are-the-most-vacant-4cffb565

America’s highest office vacancies aren’t in the East and West Coast cities that have been shedding population and workers. They are in Texas, a thriving Sunbelt state that has been luring companies away from the big coastal cities.

Houston, Dallas and Austin top the list of major U.S. cities with the highest office-vacancy rates, according to Moody’s Analytics. About 25% of their office space wasn’t leased as of the third quarter. That was more than double New York’s vacancy rate of 12% and well above San Francisco’s vacancy rate of 17%.

Texas office floors are struggling to find tenants even though the state’s workers have been more eager to get back to the office than in most other places. According to Kastle Systems, which measures occupancy by counting keycard swipes in 10 major metro areas, Houston, Austin and Dallas have the highest office-return rates. 

Vacancies are high largely because Texas developers build too much. All three cities experienced a surge in construction in the 1980s, when tax rules favored developers and loose lending created a commercial real-estate bubble. Another construction spurt in the late 1990s aggravated the problem.

[...]Office markets in other booming Sunbelt cities such as Atlanta are also suffering, despite economic growth and job creation. 

But the Lone Star State is an extreme case. Cheap land and lax regulation encourages developers to overbuild during boom times, said Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics.

Construction in Texas has slowed from the 1980s, but new office completions as a share of the market still outpaced the rest of the U.S. each year for the past 16 years, said Jeff Eckert, the Dallas-based head of U.S. agency leasing at real-estate brokerage JLL. Older buildings have been losing tenants to the new competition. 

“We like to develop in Texas,” he said.

[...] Austin saw a lot of new office construction over the past seven years, as developers rushed to cash in on the city’s emergence as a corporate hub. All those new towers are now competing with older buildings built in the 1980s and ’90s. 

When some construction projects delayed by the pandemic finally opened, developers found that demand was less than they had hoped, partly because of remote work, said Christopher Rosin, an associate economist at Moody’s Analytics. Although Austin’s office towers are busier than those in other cities, physical occupancy is still more than 40% below prepandemic levels, according to Kastle.

Austin’s office-vacancy rate was 24.2% in the third quarter, according to Moody’s, up from 12.9% in the third quarter of 2019. 

Houston’s vacancy rate has also surged in recent years, but for different reasons. The city’s economy depends on the energy sector. A crash in oil prices in 2014 caused demand for office space to crater, helping push up vacancy from 14.9% in late 2014 to 23.5% in late 2019. 

Since then, it has increased to 26.4%—the highest among 79 markets, behind only the much smaller Charleston and Dayton, according to Moody’s.

At Houston’s 4.5-million-square-foot Greenway Plaza office complex, an appraiser recently cut the estimated value by more than half to $425 million, down from $1 billion in 2017, according to Trepp data. The complex was 34% vacant as of September, up from 12% in March 2022.

[Houston19514]

Here's some additional context:

 Austin, with its office market already 24.2% vacant, has another 7.2 Million square feet under construction (according to reports, mostly not pre-leased, and some that was pre-leased is available for sublease). The under-construction space will add 8.24 percent more supply.  

Downtown Austin is even worse: 2.4 million square feet under construction will add 14.13 percent more space to a market that is already 26.6% vacant.

The entire Houston market only has 742,017 square feet of office space under construction; an addition to the market of a mere 3/10ths of 1 %.

Downtown Houston has only 386,383 square feet under construction, an addition to the market of only 9/10ths of 1%.

[LosFeliz]

Is that just 1550 on the Green? Is there anything else under construction in downtown office-wise?

[Houston19514]

4 minutes ago, LosFeliz said:

Is that just 1550 on the Green? Is there anything else under construction in downtown office-wise?

Yeah, I think it must be just 1550 on the Green.

[phillip_white]

3 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Here's some additional context:

 Austin, with its office market already 24.2% vacant, has another 7.2 Million square feet under construction (according to reports, mostly not pre-leased, and some that was pre-leased is available for sublease). The under-construction space will add 8.24 percent more supply.  

Downtown Austin is even worse: 2.4 million square feet under construction will add 14.13 percent more space to a market that is already 26.6% vacant.

The entire Houston market only has 742,017 square feet of office space under construction; an addition to the market of a mere 3/10ths of 1 %.

Downtown Houston has only 386,383 square feet under construction, an addition to the market of only 9/10ths of 1%.

I would imagine the majority of Austin's office space is fairly new as well. Downtown Houston's plan to convert older office buildings to residential would be a really bad omen for their market if it turned to that.

[houstontexasjack]

Austin’s office binge is akin to Houston’s in the early 1980’s. 

[Montrose1100]

11 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

Austin’s office binge is akin to Houston’s in the early 1980’s. 

Okay since we're going slightly off topic. Don't think it's akin. Let's look at the numbers.

 

7.2 million under construction in Austin. How much of our total office space (estimated 240 million), was built in the early 80s? Not sure. Let's start Downtown.

Chase Tower - 1.7 million square feet.

Wells Fargo Tower - 1.8 million square feet

Enterprise Plaza - 1.46 million square feet

Fulbright - 1.23 million square feet

TC Energy Center - 1.25 million

 

7.44 million square feet in just 5 large buildings. We currently have 45-60 million square feet (depending on the source), available right now for lease. I'd go so far to say that we have never "recovered" from our 80s building spree. Austin will be just fine. 

[Houston19514]

7 minutes ago, Montrose1100 said:

Okay since we're going slightly off topic. Don't think it's akin. Let's look at the numbers.

 

7.2 million under construction in Austin. How much of our total office space (estimated 240 million), was built in the early 80s? Not sure. Let's start Downtown.

Chase Tower - 1.7 million square feet.

Wells Fargo Tower - 1.8 million square feet

Enterprise Plaza - 1.46 million square feet

Fulbright - 1.23 million square feet

TC Energy Center - 1.25 million

 

7.44 million square feet in just 5 large buildings. We currently have 45-60 million square feet (depending on the source), available right now for lease. I'd go so far to say that we have never "recovered" from our 80s building spree. Austin will be just fine. 

We had absolutely totally recovered from our 80s building spree.  Not all that long ago, the office market in Houston was very tight and landlord -friendly.  We just happen to be in another down-cycle.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Houston19514

[bobruss]

Things could be worse. Look at China. They're imploding high-rises 15 at a time, and never been lived in.

 

[Houston19514]

4 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Things could be worse. Look at China. They're imploding high-rises 15 at a time, and never been lived in.

 

Wow.  Not too surprising and overdue. Anyone who has toured much of China has seen multiple HUGE high-rise projects that were never completed.  It was CRAZY!  

[Montrose1100]

2 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

We had absolutely totally recovered from our 80s building spree.  Not all that long ago, the office market in Houston was very tight and landlord -friendly.  We just happen to be in another down-cycle.

You might be right. There's a few buildings built during that time that have had "for rent" signs since, which would be an indicator of the property rather than the market. 

Sucks we won't get this cool building in the Med Center.

[Urbannizer]

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

[Bassclef]

18 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

Oh come on. No matter the number of renderings, this thing is not getting built.

[kennyc05]

15 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

I like it!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

[houstontexasjack]

17 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

Santa Urby strikes again!  Merry Christmas @Urbannizer!

[aachor]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:35 PM, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

The website is short on information, but it says "mixed use." And from the render, everything above the podium looks residential to me. If they're going mostly residential with a lesser amount of boutique office space and streel-level retail, or residential/hotel/retail, that would make a lot more sense to me than a massive mostly-office building in the next couple of years. Especially with all of the other construction in the Med Center.

My wife works in the Med Center and we rented just outside the Med Center for several years. There is a serious lack of decent housing in the area. Something within walking distance of the major hospitals should do really well, especially if they can keep the rent within reach of hospital employees. Looking at availability on the website for The Latitude Med Center seems to confirm that there is a market here.  

Edited December 26, 2023 by aachor

[IntheKnowHouston]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:35 PM, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

A non hotlinked conceptual rendering of Innovation Tower planned for 6700 Main St. I'm including the rendering below, which is hosted on Imgur, in case the one Urbannizer directly posted from the site is later removed from Medistar's website.)

Also, I sharpened the rendering some. The one on Medistar's website is a bit blurry.


A description from the website:

Innovation Tower will be an expansive high-rise mixed-use development, located at the southern edge of the Texas Medical Center and adjacent to the InterContinental Houston – Medical Center Hotel and Latitude Med Center Apartments, also developed by Medistar.

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by IntheKnowHouston