Chevron Skyscraper Proposal At 1600 Louisiana St.

[LTAWACS]

Camp Strake...

You've got to be effin kidding.

[cloud713]

sorry if I missed it, but why is your buddy's father credible?

 

is this just fanboy pumping or is this serious business

because he works for a company that won one of the contract/bids for the tower, so he has blueprints.. im not sure what you mean by fanboy pumping but i have no reason to lie, nor does my buddy. he didnt even realize i was a skyscraper dork but we were talking about his work and another large project came up, so i started asking him about skyscrapers and sure enough the Chevron tower is one of the projects hes working on. he did say however that there was a slight possibility that the tower was only 58 stories, but is almost positive its 64. we should find out tomorrow.

[ig2ba]

If true, this would be news to the executives at chevron. You are also forgetting that that they purchased the parking garage next to the current tower on Louisiana in the last 24 months for future expansion. And of course that is to say nothing of the announcement to all employees about the tower. Moving north would go against absolutely every action chevron has taken in the past. That said, if some guy in Conroe said they are moving there, it is probably happening. . . .

I.

 

You're right. As tl;dr as my list was, I forgot that they also purchased this.

[ig2ba]

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/28300-camp-strake-development/?p=426868

 

interestingly enough, there have been at least three people who do not know one another with the same or similar information. i do not intend to suggest that chevron would cancel the tower.  i do believe there are other chevron companies that could be behind the rumors.  at minimum, a chevron company most likely placed a bid on the camp strake property and as of yet, a large portion of the plans for the property have not yet been announced by the new owner.  essentially, everyone may be right, at least a little bit.

 

i'm positive the tower is a done deal.  also, based on my source (who sounds a lot like ferz source), an energy company could be in the works for the development at camp strake in conjunction with the new owners.

 

Chevron also owns a six-story building on the southeast corner of Briarpark and Westpark. It houses a significant contingent of Chevron Energy Technology Company (ETC) (internal consultants, researchers, some PhD types) and research activities of Chevron Technology Ventures, who are looking into alternative energy and other things which require laboratory space. This laboratory space will NEVER be moved downtown because of fire safety concerns, corporate espionage concerns, chemical inventories required, and high square footage requirements for their experiments (it's cheaper in the burbs). The Briarpark building also houses a training center including the now defunct Drilling Training Center which was a joint venture with BP. (I think we can all understand why they went their separate ways, especially on something pertaining to drilling.) 

 

Last I heard, Chevron employees visiting for training were parking at nearby businesses, which leads me to believe that they are already space-limited at the Briarpark building, but I have no way to confirm this is the reason for off-site parking. It would make sense since some California ETC people have relocated from here (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.911166,+-122.355341&hl=en&sll=30.770159,-100.101929&sspn=3.737711,4.916382&t=m&z=17) to the Briarpark building.

 

If space is a constraint for research and for training, it might make sense to swap Briarpark for Camp Strake, but not downtown for Camp Strake.

[nate]

If space is a constraint for research and for training, it might make sense to swap Briarpark for Camp Strake, but not downtown for Camp Strake.

 

This.

 

Settle down, people. 

 

Chevron has a need for space outside of downtown, so there is no reason at all to be surprised that they may be looking at Camp Strake and should not be seen as a sign that they are going to divest of the ~$1bn worth of downtown real estate that they already own.

[arche_757]

I think we can all agree -regardless of outcome- this is the most highly speculated/talked about tower in quite some time!

 

- I think Chevron will probably go ahead and built that tower.  That is a lot of effort to produce zero for that site.

- Also, they can talk about the tower being 60 floors instead of 50.  They can engineer the building to accommodate those additional 10 floors if they so desire and then decide not to build that large.  Not like that hasn't been done before.

[tangledwoods]

A few notes:

 

• Chevron has delayed the start of this project for multiple reasons, one of them being to allow more time for the design.
• The tower will get built, there have been 0 discussions regarding cancellation.
• The height of the tower was increased shortly after the project was awarded to the GC. (they added two floors)
• With the additional time for design there are discussions regarding the desired height for the tower, nothing is currently set in stone and anyone who throws out a height figure right now needs to understand that the height of the tower is FLEXIBLE with the start of construction pushed out.

[ltlftc]

Chevron has several moving pieces occurring simultaneously.  

 

You are exactly right about Briar Park.  That facility will not be relocated downtown under any scenario.

 

Similarly, Chevron owns and occupies two office buildings on the old Texaco facility in Bellaire.  They are currently demolishing several old lab buildings on that site that will free up some land that could be repurposed later.  I don't anticipate them leaving this facility any time soon.

 

ChevronPhillips Chemical is headquartered in The Woodlands and will always remain separated from the parent company because its a JV with Phillips 66.  They are expanding rapidly and will need additional space (very apt to stay in The Woodlands area).

 

They have already closed the Sugar Land office (old Unocal building) and moved those employees downtown.

 

In addition to 1400 Smith and 1500 Louisiana, they also currently lease about 20 floors in the Cullen Center (Continental building) and 20 floors in Allen Center.  The employees in these leased offices will occupy much of the new tower.  Additionally, they are constantly transferring employees and business units from San Ramon to Houston.  

 

Also, they are continuing to hire at high rates to accommodate their expansion aspirations.  For example, they recently added several hundred new employees in Houston for their Kittimat project with Apache, almost overnight.  The rate of new hires will ultimately slow; but it shows no signs of stopping, yet.

 

Oil companies are currently facing an interesting dilemma.  Their queues of attractive projects and opportunities are huge and the need for the services they provide are growing globally.  It takes enormous capital investment to accommodate this growth.  Yet Wall Street has been pressuring these companies to show more discipline in their capital budgeting.  While this makes sense from a short-term stock valuation perspective, it could lead to longer-term energy shortages.  How might this come into play here?  When capital is perceived to be tight, the capital associated with office buildings struggles to compete with projects that more directly meet the organization's objectives and provide the organization with better returns.  This will force companies to consider lower cost alternatives.

[JJxvi]

LMAO at the idea of Chevron relocating their Houston presence to Conroe

[Urbannizer]

<p><p>A few notes:

• Chevron has delayed the start of this project for multiple reasons, one of them being to allow more time for the design.
• The tower will get built, there have been 0 discussions regarding cancellation.
• The height of the tower was increased shortly after the project was awarded to the GC. (they added two floors)
• With the additional time for design there are discussions regarding the desired height for the tower, nothing is currently set in stone and anyone who throws out a height figure right now needs to understand that the height of the tower is FLEXIBLE with the start of construction pushed out.

Thanks for clearing things up tangledwoods.

[cloud713]

<p>

A few notes:

• Chevron has delayed the start of this project for multiple reasons, one of them being to allow more time for the design.
• The tower will get built, there have been 0 discussions regarding cancellation.
• The height of the tower was increased shortly after the project was awarded to the GC. (they added two floors)
• With the additional time for design there are discussions regarding the desired height for the tower, nothing is currently set in stone and anyone who throws out a height figure right now needs to understand that the height of the tower is FLEXIBLE with the start of construction pushed out.

Agreed. As for the last part, I realize the height could still change, I was just going to post the height that's on the current blue prints.

[Houston19514]

 

A few notes:

 

• Chevron has delayed the start of this project for multiple reasons, one of them being to allow more time for the design.
• The tower will get built, there have been 0 discussions regarding cancellation.
• The height of the tower was increased shortly after the project was awarded to the GC. (they added two floors)
• With the additional time for design there are discussions regarding the desired height for the tower, nothing is currently set in stone and anyone who throws out a height figure right now needs to understand that the height of the tower is FLEXIBLE with the start of construction pushed out.

 

 

Delayed the start?  Until when?

[cloud713]

Delayed the start? Until when?

I believe it was supposed to start in 2Q 2014 but now probably won't start till 3Q..?

[Houston19514]

I believe it was supposed to start in 2Q 2014 but now probably won't start till 3Q..?

 

Not sure that's true.   I don't think they ever explicitly stated when construction would start, but they did say that the "final investment decision" would not be made until 2Q 2014, with construction to start some time thereafter, and occupancy to begin in the 4th Q 2016.  It always seemed unlikely that construction would start before the 3rd Q.

[Howard Huge]

Agreed. As for the last part, I realize the height could still change, I was just going to post the height that's on the current blue prints.

Still havent heard from your guy yet?

YOU BETTER NOT BE JERKIN US AROUND, BUDDY!

[cloud713]

Still havent heard from your guy yet?

YOU BETTER NOT BE JERKIN US AROUND, BUDDY!

Heh, I'm just as eager to find out as you are.. You guys will be the first to know. I probably shouldn't have brought anything up until I had the info, I was just a little excited. Ha

[Sellanious Caesar]

Everybody chill. It's getting built. Who cares if it's not the new tallest? Even 700-800 feet is great. Houston has 2 supertalls already. I think we're good in that department for a few more years. Right now there's a lot of activity, lots of infill. Lots of depth. Great cities don't need supertalls to be great, look at Paris and Tokyo. Two of the very best in the world.

[Howard Huge]

Heh, I'm just as eager to find out as you are.. You guys will be the first to know. I probably shouldn't have brought anything up until I had the info, I was just a little excited. Ha

Its cool, just messin with you Cloud.

[arche_757]

Chevron announced they're putting the tower on hold... http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/12/chevron-puts-downtown-tower-on-hold/?cmpid=bna

Edited December 19, 2013 by arche_757

[Triton]

We're looking at 2015 now.

[cloud713]

Ugh... WTF Chevron?

[Urbannizer]

I don't mind, since one reason is to allow more time for the design. There'll still be big things going on downtown next year.

[cloud713]

Oh well if they are trying to make the design better I'm all for it... And true. 609 Main, Capital Tower and the residential projects should be enough to keep us entertained in the downtown area for the next year..

[houstonfella]

On the flip side, at least it is still planned, just at a later date. 

[arche_757]

Doesn't take a year to redesign something like this.  Any firm would bust their "you know whats" to get a 50-60 floor tower finished and ready to go.  Not like they're reinventing the wheel.

 

What I find really odd is the timing on this announcement.  I will bet the folks who own Allen Center are working on all sorts of levels to keep their Chevron clients happy, and maybe even convince them to move additional resources into those recently announced "soon to be renovated" buildings.

[bachanon]

Oh my.....the plot thickens.

[wxman]

Wow. In a word: retarded. 

[Triton]

Doesn't take a year to redesign something like this. Any firm would bust their "you know whats" to get a 50-60 floor tower finished and ready to go. Not like they're reinventing the wheel.

What I find really odd is the timing on this announcement. I will bet the folks who own Allen Center are working on all sorts of levels to keep their Chevron clients happy, and maybe even convince them to move additional resources into those recently announced "soon to be renovated" buildings.

Agreed.

Something seems fishy here.

[Naviguessor]

Damn.  Didn't see that coming. But, I am sure that it will be worth the wait. 

[invisibletrees]

Doesn't take a year to redesign something like this.  Any firm would bust their "you know whats" to get a 50-60 floor tower finished and ready to go.  Not like they're reinventing the wheel.

 

 

obviously, no one said it did. there's a number of reasons why this and other projects by chevron have been placed on the back burner.