HOUSTON | BHP Billiton Tower | 477 FT / 145 M | 30 FLOORS | U/C

[Wattleigh]

Tower Five at Four Oaks Place

In brief: A 30 story (22 Office floors + 8 floors of parking) , 525k square foot office tower located at 1550 Post Oak Boulevard, adjacent to the Four Oaks Place office complex. The building would be included as part of the complex when complete.

The location is currently the site of a 24 Hour Fitness location, which is owned by TIAA-CREF, who in turn own Four Oaks Place. If built, it will be the first Class-A office building built in the district in 25 years.

Developers: TIAA-CREF + Transwestern
Architect: Pickard Chilton

Planned start of construction: Q1, 2009



From a HBJ article at the beginning of September on the state of three office projects uptown...

FUNDING NO PROBLEM

Houston-based Transwestern, development manager and leasing representative for the proposed TIAA-CREF building, is expected to release final details on the project within a month.

Preliminary plans revealed nearly a year ago called for a 400,000-square-foot, 17-story office building with a development cost of $100 million to $120 million. The structure at 1550 Post Oak would replace the building in the Four Oaks Place office complex leased by 24 Hour Fitness from owner TIAA-CREF.

The proposed building being called Tower Five at Four Oaks Place is now set to be 30 stories tall, with 525,000 square feet of office space on 22 floors atop a parking garage with roughly 1,500 spaces, says Carleton Riser, head of Transwestern’s development group.

He says the building designed by architectural firm Pickard Chilton could break ground in the first quarter of 2009.

The fact that no tenants have committed to the new building won’t delay construction, Riser says.

The typical pre-leasing requirements aren’t in play because funding isn’t a problem for TIAA-CREF. The Fortune 100 financial services firm with more than $435 billion in combined assets under management is the leading retirement system for people in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

A significant amount of money has already been spent planning the building, reflecting TIAA-CREF’s intent to move forward.

Says Riser: “People don’t generally spend the money to take a building through construction drawings unless they’re very serious. We wouldn’t be spending the money if they weren’t bullish on the prospects of the investment.”

[Xeelee]

This is good news. I wonder what it would look like.

[Wattleigh]

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/s...=et63&ana=e_du

Monday, November 10, 2008 - 3:46 PM
City approves variance for TIAA-CREF building

Houston Business Journal - by Jennifer Dawson Reporter

The City of Houston’s Planning Commission has granted a variance to TIAA-CREF to accommodate a 30-story office building it plans to construct in the Galleria area.

TIAA-CREF intends to build an office tower at 1300 Post Oak, in place of an existing two-story 24-Hour Fitness. The office building will be located next to the Four Oaks Place office complex that is also owned by TIAA-CREF.

The owner needed city approval to build the structure 15 feet away from Post Oak instead of the standard 25 feet. The setback change, granted last week, applies on Post Oak from Four Oaks Place Drive to West Briar Lane.

The building will be located closer to the street in keeping with guidelines being developed for the future rail corridor. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County plans to construct a rail line down the middle of Post Oak.

Houston-based Transwestern is development manager and leasing representative for the proposed office building, which has been on the drawing board for more than a year.

With more than $435 billion in combined assets under management, TIAA-CREF is the leading retirement system for people in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

[Xeelee]

For a minute I was expecting it the have been placed on hold or canceled. So far so good.

[Thymant]

So this most likley will happen?

[HOUSTONIAN57]

^^^
Its already approved, now we have to wait for renderings.

[photoLith]

Four Oaks place, isnt that near the galleria area?

[HOUSTONIAN57]

Sorta, more in the Uptown area.

[Complex01]

We need another project for the galleria. Its almost a given to see at least a couple of cranes in the area. Something is always happening in the Uptown...

[Thymant]

Cant wait for the renderings.

[Golyadkin]

Sorry for posting on a two-year old thread, but here's the only rendering that's been found of the proposed building:

(original image from http://www.paynerowlett.com/#/PORTFOLIO/Architecture/7)

I like how it doesn't fit at all with any buildings in the area.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

there has been a sign posted on site requesting a variance.

Looks like this project may be a go soon

[Complex01]

The Galleria is coming alive again. Woo Hoo...

[shakman]

It is indeed great news to hear about The Galleria area being built up with density.

[Urbannizer]

BHP Billiton Petroleum unveils plans for Post Oak tower

BHP Billiton Petroleum said Monday it will hire hundreds of new employees and lease a 30-story office tower to be built at 1500 Post Oak Blvd. to accommodate its expanding shale business and future growth.

Construction is expected to start later this year on the new building, which will be connected to the company’s current headquarters at 1360 Post Oak Blvd, creating a two-tower campus. A glass skybridge will connect the structures.

The buildings will house several thousand BHP employees, many still to be hired. Some 1,800 existing BHP employees will office there, including workers in other locations. Employees in downtown’s Wells Fargo Tower and a building in Tulsa, Okla. will relocate to the Post Oak headquarters.

“We’ll probably be pushing 3,000 when we move into the new building,” CEO J. Micheal Yeager said at a press conference.

In total, BHP will occupy about 1 million square feet in both buildings. The new tower will have 560,000 square feet.

Transwestern will develop the new building for owner TIAA-CREF.

BHP Billiton deals in natural resources ranging from iron ore and uranium to oil and natural gas. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, with a major office in London, but the petroleum division is based in Houston.

Architectural firm Pickard Chilton designed the building, which is expected to open in 2016. Gensler also was involved.

“We have designed this new building with employee productivity and appeal as top priorities to retain current employees and attract prospective employees,” Yeager said in a statement. “We plan to hire hundreds of new people in the immediate future. To attract the most talent, we believe we need to offer them the best possible work environment.”

The Site:

By Skylineview on HAIF


http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...-oak-boulevard

[Shasta]

Looks like it might be flirting with 500 feet. Nice tower although slightly dated now.

[Urbannizer]

Title for the building should be renamed bhpbilliton

Screenshots from a news video:

[Shasta]

Eh, from these new angles looks like it'll be around 460 feet. Still a nice addition.

[KevinFromTexas]

Still a nice tower, but yeah, Four Oaks Place (blue tower in back) is 420 feet. This looks to be slightly taller than that. 450 to 460 feet sounds about right.

[tayser]

BHP Billiton are very active with the accomodation globally at the moment.

They've just completed and moved into their new Perth office:



They're moving the HQ in Melbourne http://171collins.com.au/171-collins/tower/

And now this Houston building... that's of cash floating about.

BHP's registered office for the ASX listed entity (BHP Billiton Ltd) is in Melbourne but the office which really is only head-office functions like Finance, Marketing and the CEO's office pales in comparison to the size of the offices in Perth & Brisbane where they're closer to all the mines.

They're heavily decentralised with a lot of their technology work done out of Singapore - Pretroleum in Houston and of course the LSE Entity (BHP Billiton Plc) office in London.