Originally Posted by Shasta (Post 5210045)

Word on the street is the Hines building is a go but someone leaked before they were ready to announce. I've been hearing a late 2012 groundbreaking with an early 2014 opening date set. It's the worst kept secret in town.

Also, while everyone is lamenting the potential loss of some jobs at Continental and Devon, people aren't mentioning that the Houston job market performed WAY better than predicted last year. Additionally, the big oil/energy companies are starting to hire. With the Gulf opening back up to drilling and the price of oil remaining around $100 a barrel, things should really start to pick up here in town.

And, I hate to rain on the Dallasite's parade, but our three brand new towers are starting off pretty damn well. The Hess Tower is 100% leased out. The building in the Pavilions is also 100% leased out to NRG (Reliant Energy). And, while the Hines tower isn't 100% leased, they did land two stellar tenants in KPMG (top floors) and BG Group (naming rights).

The time is right to start something now to take advantage of the future. The class A market in downtown is way too tight right now for someone to not make a play.

Lastly, word in Pine Shadows, where the head of Continental lives, is that the wife is flat out refusing to move to Chicago. Their house, which is just down the street from my parents' place is fully occupied and there's been no attempt to sell... Just sayin'

Originally Posted by Owlhorn (Post 5241097)

Why should that make Dallasites mad?

Originally Posted by Tumbleweed_Tx (Post 5240808)

Disney sailing out of Galveston will only help parking lot owners and those three guys who have service stations on Harborside at I-45... The GPD directs cars west onto Harborside, straight out of town.

Originally Posted by photolitherland (Post 5119630)

Photos I took 2 days ago, now Im back in Arkansas, YAY


http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...rdboy1/mp4.jpg
That is how you do a parking garage.

Originally Posted by c4smok (Post 5246148)

Saw this posted up at TheHaif.com

Exxon HQ construction underway.. Ariel via Swamplot through unknown photographer

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...rial-close.jpg

Originally Posted by photolitherland (Post 5246666)

Yuck yuck yuck, I thought we evolved past these giant suburban campuses.

Originally Posted by photolitherland (Post 5247097)

No it will probably be like the sears campus in suburban Chicago with one giant low rise building surrounded by a sea of parking yay.

Originally Posted by photolitherland (Post 5247097)

No it will probably be like the sears campus in suburban Chicago with one giant low rise building surrounded by a sea of parking yay.

Originally Posted by c4smok (Post 5247589)

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...campus-map.jpg

thats all I can find on swamplot.. does not really tell you a lot.

Originally Posted by weatherguru18 (Post 5246734)

I can't understand why when big, elaborate projects happen in The Woodlands (or near The Woodlands), people are quick to criticize. But let it happen "Sugar Land" <nose in the air> and all of a sudden it's a bad ass project. If this was going up along the energy corridor, it would be applauded for being another large anchor in that area with fancy buildings, density, and 17,000 additional people to liven up the business. :hell:

Originally Posted by glowrock (Post 5251583)

No, not at all. If this were in the energy corridor, the office campus would be made up of several 10-15 story towers with probably a nice greenspace/park area in between them, along with lots of additional apartment complexes surrounding the towers. Sure, the energy corridor is somewhat sprawly, but it's also relatively dense, both in terms of office space and number of people per square mile. Lots of apartment complexes, especially along Eldridge!

Aaron (Glowrock)

Originally Posted by c4smok (Post 5246174)

Originally Posted by mfastx (Post 5253206)

I hate to be such a Debbie Downer, but I don't really see what the big deal is about the new Exxon campus.

Originally Posted by glowrock (Post 5253231)

The problem is, all it's really going to do is result in several empty Greenspoint towers, that's all... :(

After all, isn't Exxon the single largest tenant in the whole Greenspoint complex?

Aaron (Glowrock)

Originally Posted by Shasta (Post 5253805)

You aren't the only one. Exxon will be leaving Houston city limits and moving into an unincorporated area that used to be a native pine forest. The plans call for 3,000,000 square feet of office space in a sprawling campus that will pretty much require everyone who works there to drive to work.

If you're a young petroleum engineer right out of college, where would you rather work, Hess Tower downtown or Exxon's new campus?

Originally Posted by llamaorama (Post 5253890)

Same old Houston cycle of new edge cities forming while others decline.

Originally Posted by glowrock (Post 5254669)

Looks nice, but how can Landry's ensure another hurricane won't toss it right back into the Gulf of Mexico?

Aaron (Glowrock)

Originally Posted by glowrock (Post 5256691)

No, nothing in life's for sure, but it IS a sure thing that Galveston will be hit by storms in the future. I'm not saying a nice pier complex isn't potentially feasible, but I think a LOT of work needs to be done to ensure as much as possible it doesn't end up falling into the Gulf of Mexico in even a mild to moderate hurricane.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Originally Posted by N90 (Post 5257481)

This is the wrong methodology.

With careful planning and structural engineering comes a masterpiece to last eons. It's what Japan and California have done for generations to build structures that can withstand the likes of Earthquakes. Galveston has recently started this trend as well, and Laundry's has already stated in the past that all his new developments will keep mold to it.

Have you heard of "Beach Town" in Galveston? It was recently built in the last 4-5 years and absolutely had zero damages to it by Hurricane Ike, where as other developments including the flagship hotel saw hell come and go. It's how it was designed to withstand wind damage, which is the most deadly part for these developments against a hurricane.

Careful planning and a big pocket book will help build sustainable developments for decades with minimal renovations necessary. This project happens to be one of those.

My only gripe with it is the lame name for it, my gosh sounds like some perverted child molesting joint rather than a amusement park pier.

Originally Posted by glowrock (Post 5257599)

Don't talk to me about poor methodology, N90. First of all, as I grew up in the L.A. area, I know all about piers and the damage that occasionally happens to them, either by unnatural causes (fires, please see Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara) or serious storms (Redondo Pier in Redondo Beach, just for one example). Again, I never once said it was an insurmountable issue, but damn it, Galveston can get some really nasty storms.

I personally love really cool pier-based entertainment venues. I think they are freaking awesome places in general. However, I think they're also extremely prone to severe issues with all manner of storms. It's a fact of life. :(

Aaron (Glowrock)