Houston CORE developments thread (West: company, build, distance)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

I agree, it would not shock me if they did eventually make the move to Bridgeland. With that being said, I can't imagine they'd do it without significantly increasing their footprint, in other words for something like an HQ relo. And I don't think they're in a hurry for any of that.

I don’t think they’d need to do that to move. What I could see happening is that they move in phases and test it out first before moving everyone at once. Sort of like Exxon did. I think a headquarters move would only require a few hundred jobs anyway. Similar to Exxon

But yeah im definitely not saying they’re moving for sure. Just that the move is entirely possible and a realistic scenario

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

I agree, it would not shock me if they did eventually make the move to Bridgeland. With that being said, I can't imagine they'd do it without significantly increasing their footprint, in other words for something like an HQ relo. And I don't think they're in a hurry for any of that.

The Bridgeland property is 65 acres in essentially the middle of nowhere. I can see moving a HQ out there, but not the thousands of people working downtown. The Bridgeland is too far from places like Pearland, where lots of folks live. Chevron also has the Noble Energy building out off of 290.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Right next to the M-K-T Heights, the Swift Building will be reimagined into a mixed used block.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by WRM20

The Bridgeland property is 65 acres in essentially the middle of nowhere. I can see moving a HQ out there, but not the thousands of people working downtown. The Bridgeland is too far from places like Pearland, where lots of folks live. Chevron also has the Noble Energy building out off of 290.

Exxon had a whole bunch of folks downtown too, as well as on Buffalo Speedway.

There are probably some employees living in Pearland and the Bay Area, but engineers are disproportionately residentially located to the southwest, west, and north over to Kingwood. And in Houston, engineers are disproportionately tied to the energy industry.

Don't forget that engineers also like to have chances to hop around employers, and energy employers have been concentrating in Westchase and the Energy Corridor. So, living in Katy and Cypress is helpful for career options.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Exxon had a whole bunch of folks downtown too, as well as on Buffalo Speedway.

There are probably some employees living in Pearland and the Bay Area, but engineers are disproportionately residentially located to the southwest, west, and north over to Kingwood. And in Houston, engineers are disproportionately tied to the energy industry.

Don't forget that engineers also like to have chances to hop around employers, and energy employers have been concentrating in Westchase and the Energy Corridor. So, living in Katy and Cypress is helpful for career options.

Agree with everything here. It’s worth noting though, that the engineering ties have diversified a lot since the pandemic in such a short time

ExxonMobil is a similar story. Lots of downtown assets. They packed up and left though to WRM’s point, their land was over 300 acres. But they had jobs scattered and ultimately pulled the plug and considlidated everything in the far north. It’s too early to predict a chevron move but it’s not something we’d be surprised to hear.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Exxon had a whole bunch of folks downtown too, as well as on Buffalo Speedway.

There are probably some employees living in Pearland and the Bay Area, but engineers are disproportionately residentially located to the southwest, west, and north over to Kingwood. And in Houston, engineers are disproportionately tied to the energy industry.

Don't forget that engineers also like to have chances to hop around employers, and energy employers have been concentrating in Westchase and the Energy Corridor. So, living in Katy and Cypress is helpful for career options.

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Agree with everything here. It’s worth noting though, that the engineering ties have diversified a lot since the pandemic in such a short time

ExxonMobil is a similar story. Lots of downtown assets. They packed up and left though to WRM’s point, their land was over 300 acres. But they had jobs scattered and ultimately pulled the plug and considlidated everything in the far north. It’s too early to predict a chevron move but it’s not something we’d be surprised to hear.

Exxon had people in 800 Bell, but had given up all of the leased space in Downtown. There were offices on Buffalo Speedway at the research center and at Greenway. Exxon chemicals was out I-10 at Eldridge. There were more at Brookhollow at 290 and Dacoma. The largest concentration, though, was at Greenspoint, where Exxon occupied all or parts of 6 buildings, a building on Greens Road, and a building near the airport. When the new campus opened, all of those offices were sold or given up and the employees moved to the campus.

Chevron has a ton of employees, including engineers, near Baytown. If those engineers get moved from the plants into an office, they are not going to be thrilled to be driving to 290 and 99.

I am just skeptical that Chevron would give up the Downtown properties and move everyone to a 65 acre site that far out of town.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Exxon had people in 800 Bell, but had given up all of the leased space in Downtown. There were offices on Buffalo Speedway at the research center and at Greenway. Exxon chemicals was out I-10 at Eldridge. There were more at Brookhollow at 290 and Dacoma. The largest concentration, though, was at Greenspoint, where Exxon occupied all or parts of 6 buildings, a building on Greens Road, and a building near the airport. When the new campus opened, all of those offices were sold or given up and the employees moved to the campus.

Chevron has a ton of employees, including engineers, near Baytown. If those engineers get moved from the plants into an office, they are not going to be thrilled to be driving to 290 and 99.

I am just skeptical that Chevron would give up the Downtown properties and move everyone to a 65 acre site that far out of town.

Exxon has engineers in Baytown too though. I personally knew a lady that worked at ExxonMobil in Baytown and got sent to work at the current campus in Spring. She also worked in other Exxon offices over the years. So those type of things do in fact happen. I’ve known people in other companies have far relocations as well. It’s really not an uncommon practice at all.

FWIW, the Bridgeland land is also 77 acres not 65. I’m sure they have the option to buy more land there as well.

But I do agree that such a would probably not be all at once

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Agree with everything here. It’s worth noting though, that the engineering ties have diversified a lot since the pandemic in such a short time

ExxonMobil is a similar story. Lots of downtown assets. They packed up and left though to WRM’s point, their land was over 300 acres. But they had jobs scattered and ultimately pulled the plug and considlidated everything in the far north. It’s too early to predict a chevron move but it’s not something we’d be surprised to hear.

Understood about diversification of engineering, but I think the energy industry engineers still mostly live in the same areas they had been.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Right next to the M-K-T Heights, the Swift Building will be reimagined into a mixed used block.

So back to the post at hand, this portion of the Heights is transitioning into a walkable pocket. This, M K T heights, and residential units have been curating an urban environment here. There’s also hiking and biking trails that pass through here.

[Jack Lance]

Has anybody seen these water tanks going up on Fry Rd just north of Clay. From a distance they look like twin Astrodome’s being built. A company called DN Tanks is the contractor. Is this a MUD project?