HOUSTON | 609 Main at Texas | 752 FT / 229 M | 49 FLOORS
 

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...NorthTower.jpg

*Circa 2008 Rendering - Not certain if the design has been reworked or completly changed...

Project in brief: Back in 2008, I happened to find a rendering & project data for a site located at Texas and Main, in the heart of downtown and posted the findings on HAIF. It was orignally the site for the proposed Shamrock Tower which was pitched in the mid 2000s, but went away soon after due to various factors. In the '08 version, Hines was cited as the client for the new project, which was said to have been 742k SF in size. No number of floors or expanded information was available on that page at the time.

Days after the link to the project page was made public, the rendering & info were wiped from existence. Luckily a number of people saved the shots & data listed!

While talked died down somewhat, the project never actually faded away. In recent months, the buzz has been building once again regarding this block as even though most of Houston's office markets are doing well, demand for Downtown space remains high. Vacancy is still below 10 percent. Several towers are being talked about in the CBD, but a market analysis covering Q4 of 2012 released two weeks ago has more concrete information about this one.

On page 11, it says...

* New design:

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...x99kf48hn5.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...ofy7my72oy.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...qc5uz5sf5o.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...b1mkmm7cci.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...zn6h9rnbwy.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...xm50bfvh4s.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...hkree2obz6.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...aumu4b9awg.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...hv1vtxoh48.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...vbgxgcfcqe.jpg

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...e1ny2e1f6s.jpg

Houston IMO needs something with a different rooftop element. Why they have to look so much like LA has me lost.

What 48 floors converts to foot-wise I don't know; but if it turns out to be a skyline re-shaper for its location, it deserves a design that makes it stand out.

The rendering you saved was for a 34 story tower.

Hines's recently completed BG Place Building 1 block away on Main has been a HUGE success. It was built on spec and is now 94% leased. Glad to hear the proposal not only exists, but has grown.

Main @ Texas is a premiere block. Its neighbors will include the Chase complex, the old Rice Hotel Lofts, and the Binz Bldg. A 48 story tower could make a significant impact on the skyline. My fingers are crossed that we'll see a 700+ footer.

PS- I agree on the rooftop design. Would love to see a spire here since it's at the intersection of the historic district and the skyline district. Plus, a spire on a 48 story tower would really stand TALL.

Best part is that Hines builds quality. I've been in to BG Group place a few times and it is stunning.

It will likely be in the 648 - 672 foot tall range if no spire.

Are the rumors for this building concrete?

Rumors are never concrete.

From Culturemap...

http://media.culturemap.com/cache/fd...b3b0354546.jpg

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsde...ntown-houston/

The 41 floor figure is preliminary - the article says it can be increased based on the demands of a client or clients.

I gather this will be quite visible on the skyline, perhaps a useful foil to Chase Tower ?

Never mind. Just saw the thumbnail up top.

That rendering's from 2008, and is for a 31-35 story building.

The one posted above was released today. It wouldn't be as tall as Chase, but it would be larger than the original version of the proposal.

Downtown really needs more quality infill like this.

Love this building. Someone over on HAIF has uploaded other views... the roof is slanted and the tower is much bulkier from the East view.

Another winner from Hines!

Yummmm! :slob:

Oh wow. That is a really nice tower.. I'm hoping this gets built. That would be awesome.

More is coming out about this proposal...

Coy Davidson of Colliers International's Houston Office talked about the building in a recent blog post. He also posted what appears to be the early version of a marketing brochure - you can download it here.

Several additional renderings are included...

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps4ca49332.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps7b42b43c.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps1a73378c.jpg

I particularly enjoy its understatedness, i.e. not to complicated.

Of course, a couple hundred feet would've been nice; but es lo que es.

Imagine if Hines hadn't built BG Group Place. What if they had waited a few years to build a supertall that would have combined BG Group Place and this new building?

The first rendering was a definitely hard to figure out! With these new renderings, it looks completely different from what I had figured it'd be. I thought it would be a square base (for the tower portion) but obviously it's not haha.

For a office tower figure about 12 feet per floor so at 41 stories it would be shy of 500 ft./152 m. But the building does slope at the top so who knows. Nice looking tower though.

I wish Houston would get a supertall, but with all the land, developers simply dont care to go high. Maybe in 10 years we will get one, but I dont see anything other than some mid range high rises from 40 to 50 floors or roughly 600' If you think about the latest tower, Anadarko, its roughly 35 stories but the first 12 floors are parking...so we are really talking about a 23 story office

Very nice. This tower should be quite prominent when viewing the skyline from the east and north. The west view maybe blocked by JP Morgan /Chase.

Perhaps this proposal may get Five Allen moving forward with some more urgency.