1.
CenterPoint Energy Plaza
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CenterPoint Energy Plaza is a 741 feet tall building in downtown Houston. The original building, finished in 1974, stood at 651 feet, designed by Richard Keating, this renovation dramatically changed the building, the Houston Skyline and the downtown. Keating was also the designer of the nearby Wells Fargo Tower and it has the headquarters of CenterPoint Energy. Historically the building housed the headquarters of Houston Industries and subsidiary Houston Lighting & Power, in 1999 Houston Industries changed its name to Reliant Energy. When Reliant Energy moved out of the building and moved into the new Reliant Energy Plaza in 2003, around 1995 the building owners added a circle-shaped canopy that is five stories tall. Clifford Pugh of the Houston Chronicle wrote that It was meant to resemble a lantern, List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States DMJM H&N Architects website
2.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
3.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
NRG Energy
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NRG Energy, Inc. is a large American energy company, dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Xcel Energy, and was spun off in bankruptcy in 2004, when the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy, in 2006, NRG Energy bought Texas Genco from a group of private equity firms for roughly $5.9 billion. Afterwards, in May 2009, NRG Energy acquired the operations of Reliant Energy. With those two moves, NRGs holdings represented most of the former HL&P and today serve 1.6 million customers in Texas, the retail operations continue to operate under the Reliant Energy name while the remainder of the former Reliant Energy became RRI Energy. Following the acquisition of Reliant, NRG extended its footprint with the acquisition of Green Mountain Energy in November 2010. NRG Energy completed its acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012 for $1.7 billion in stock, the GenOn name was retired in the merger, but the combined company retained GenOns Houston headquarters to coordinate operations. In August 2013, NRG acquired Energy Curtailment Specialists, a Buffalo, the terms of the deal were not disclosed In September 2014, NRG acquired Goal Zero, a manufacturer of personal solar power products. NRG Energy holds the rights to the NRG Park campus in Houston, Texas, home to the NRG Astrodome, NRG Stadium, NRG Arena. On March 12,2014, NRG Energy announced that they would be re-branding Reliant Park to replace Reliant on all signages to NRG, after the GenOn merger, NRG has 47,000 MW of total generation capacity, enough to power approximately 40 million homes. Its nearly 100 power plants are located in 18 states in the Northeast, Chicago area, Gulf Coast, Southwest, Nevada, generation facilities include mostly fossil fuel power plants powered by natural gas, oil, and coal, plus four wind farms and six solar farms. NRG also has a 44% ownership stake in the South Texas Nuclear Generating Station, some facilities use cogeneration and the company also owns 28MW of solar distributed generation. NRGs Retail Power services provide electricity services to more than 2 million homes and businesses, mostly in Arizona, beginning in 2009, NRG began an initiative to become an green energy producer in the United States and started investing money in clean energy projects. They include onshore and offshore wind power, solar energy, photovoltaic, and distributed solar power facilities. In late 2010, NRG launched the EVgo network, the first completely private public car charging network for electric power vehicles. The company signed a two-year agreement beginning in January 2011 to provide 100% renewable energy for the Empire State Building, assemblywoman Aravella Simotas has been chair of a coalition to support the utility in their plan to replace its decades-old, dirty power plant in Astoria with a newer generator. The company stated its intention in 2012 to replace 31 older oil generators with new gas generators that will increase the megawatts of power while reducing emissions, greenStreet New York energy law NRG Energy Website Reliant Energy website EVgo Website
6.
Skyscraper
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A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building having multiple floors. When the term was used in the 1880s it described a building of 10 to 20 floors. Mostly designed for office, commercial and residential uses, a skyscraper can also be called a high-rise, for buildings above a height of 300 m, the term supertall can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m are classified as megatall. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls and these curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure, and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, a relatively big building may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes well above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. The maximum height of structures has progressed historically with building methods and technologies, the Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world. High-rise buildings are considered shorter than skyscrapers, the first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. Even the scholars making the argument find it to be purely academic and this definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicagos Monadnock Building. What is the characteristic of the tall office building. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and it must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, the word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. A loose convention of some in the United States and Europe draws the limit of a skyscraper at 150 m or 490 ft. The tallest building in ancient times was the 146 m Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt and it was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 14th century AD Lincoln Cathedral being conjectured by many to have exceeded it
7.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
8.
GenOn Energy
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GenOn Energy, Inc. based in Houston, Texas, United States, was an energy company that provided electricity to wholesale customers in the United States. GenOn Energy is headquartered in the Reliant Energy Plaza in Downtown Houston, the company, formerly known as RRI Energy, acquired Mirant on December 3,2010. The corporate names and logos of both RRI Energy and Mirant were retired, NRG Energy completed its acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012 for $1.7 billion. GenOns stock ceased trading and was exchanged for NRG stock, the company was originally known as Houston Industries, and Houston Lighting & Power was its subsidiary. In August 1996 HI closed on a merger with NorAm Energy Corp, the combined company, as of 1997, had assets of $18 billion and annual revenues of about $9 billion. By November 1997 there was a report stating that the company wished to acquire Central & South West Corp. In 1999, Houston Industries changed its name to Reliant Energy and it was scheduled to begin trading under REI on February 8,1999. In 2002, Texas deregulated the electricity market and Reliant then competed against other companies like Direct Energy. At this time, Reliant Energy also separated into two publicly traded companies, Reliant Resources, Inc. and CenterPoint Energy, Inc, when the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former HL&P was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy was created when Reliant Energy merged with an indirect subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. As a result of the merger, Reliant Energy shareholders received one share of CenterPoint common stock in exchange for each share of RRI common stock they held before the merger. A regulated utility, CenterPoint Energy became one of the largest U. S. energy delivery companies, in late 2002, CenterPoint distributed the stock of Reliant Resources, Inc. to CenterPoint shareholders. This spin-off created Reliant Resources with a strategy to provide competitive wholesale and its businesses included power generation and retail energy services in Texas newly deregulated electricity market. On the wholesale side, Reliant owned, had an interest in, in January 2007, the Texas electricity market became fully deregulated, and Reliant began to offer an array of products, flexible service options, and pricing arrangements to a variety of customers. At this time, Reliant was the second largest mass market electricity provider in the state of Texas, with a revenue of $10.9 billion. On May 1,2009, Reliant Energys retail electricity business was purchased by NRG Energy, the retail group retained the name Reliant Energy and the surviving wholesale business was renamed RRI Energy, Inc. The new company, named GenOn Energy, would be based in Houston but led by Mirants Chairman, at that time, Muller would retire and Mark Jacobs, the president and COO of RRI Energy, would become CEO of GenOn. The new company had a capitalization of about $3 billion
9.
Marsh & McLennan Companies
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Marsh & McLennan Companies was ranked 29th on the 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek 50, the magazines annual ranking of the S&P 500s top 50 performing companies. The firm was established in 1905 and is considered the largest insurance broker in the world by revenue, burroughs, Marsh & McLennan was formed by Henry W. Marsh and Donald R. McLennan in Chicago in 1905. It was renamed as Marsh & McLennan in 1906, the reinsurance firm Guy Carpenter & Company was acquired in 1923 a year after its founding by Guy Carpenter. In 1975, it acquired the human resources consulting firm Mercer, in 1997, it bought Johnson & Higgins, shortly after, it bought Sedgwick. On October 11,2001, Marsh established a consulting practice specializing in terrorism. Marsh also announced a partnership with Control Risks Group to provide political risk assessment, on July 8,2004, Marsh completed the acquisition of Kroll Inc. Jeffrey W. Greenberg called it an important strategic step, the company had employed terrorism expert John ONeill, formerly of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. CEO Jeffrey W. Greenberg resigned several weeks later, the suit was ultimately settled out of court. On January 31,2005, Marsh & Mclennan agreed on a settlement for its bid-rigging practices. In July 2007, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. was ranked first in Business Insurances worlds largest brokers list, on September 14,2007, Brian M. Storms, the CEO of Marshs insurance brokerage unit, resigned. As Michael G. Cherkasky explained his departure, we now need a different set of leadership and operational skills. At the time of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building, their offices spanned the entire impact zone, from floors 93 to 99. Everybody present in the offices at the time of the died. Marsh & McLennan Companies is composed of two business segments, Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting. The Risk and Insurance Services segment includes Marsh and Guy Carpenter, the Consulting segment includes Mercer and Oliver Wyman. Marsh, which provides insurance broking and risk management consulting, edward Hanway Willis Towers Watson Official website
10.
Houston Chronicle
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The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. As of April 2016, it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, with its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the Houston Post, the Chronicle became Houstons primary newspaper. The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, the paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists, editors, and photographers. The Chronicle has bureaus in Washington, D. C. and it reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the newspaper of record of the Houston area, previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue, Downtown Houston, the Houston Chronicle is now located at 4747 Southwest Freeway. From its inception, the practices and policies of the Houston Chronicle were shaped by strong-willed personalities who were the publishers, the history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals. The Houston Chronicle was founded in 1901 by a reporter for the now-defunct Houston Post. The Chronicles first edition was published on October 14,1901, at the end of its first month in operation, the Chronicle had a circulation of 4,378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time. Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the Daily Herald, in 1908, Foster asked Jesse H. Jones agreed, and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South. Under Foster, the circulation grew from about 7,000 in 1901 to 75,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sundays by 1926. Foster continued to write columns under the pen name Mefo, and he sold the rest of his interest to Jesse H. Jones on June 26,1926 and promptly retired. In 1911, City Editor George Kepple started Goodfellows, on a Christmas Eve in 1911, Kepple passed a hat among the Chronicles reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe-shine boy. Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers and it has grown into a city-wide program that provides needy children between the ages of two and ten with toys during the winter holidays. In 2003, Goodfellows distributed almost 250,000 toys to more than 100,000 needy children in the Greater Houston area, in 1926, Jesse H. Jones became the sole owner of the paper. He had approached Foster about selling, and Foster had answered and he replied, On real estate and everything about 200,000 dollars. I then said to him that I would give him 300,000 dollars in cash, having in mind that this would pay his debts, I considered the offer substantially more than the Chronicle was worth at the time. No sooner had I finished stating my proposition than he said, I will take it, in 1937, Jesse H. Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly established Houston Endowment Inc. Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of economic growth on life in the city
11.
1200 Travis
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1200 Travis is a 28-story building in Downtown Houston, Texas that is currently occupied by the Houston Police Department as its current headquarters. At one time it was known as the Houston Natural Gas Building, the building houses HPDs administrative and investigative offices. The building, with 575,000 square feet of space, has a typical floor size of 16,500 square feet. The building, originally the Entex Building, was built in 1967, a renovation in 1988 involved the installation of a new central plant. In 1994 the City of Houston bought the building to house the headquarters of the Houston Police Department, in February 1995 the Houston City Council unanimously voted to retain the Hines company as the development manager for the renovation of 1200 Travis. In the 1990s Hercules Engineering and Testing Services received a contract to do testing in the renovated 1200 Travis building, in October 1997 the $21 million renovation was completed. In 2007 the Houston Police Department announced that it was opening a shop inside the building. The Museum, Gift Shop, and officers memorial opened on May 12, in 2008 Harold Hurtt, the head of HPD, proposed a plan which would have involved the City of Houston selling 1200 Travis. In regards to a new police headquarters, Hurtt said It is not a building like 1200 Travis. In 2011 Mayor of Houston Annise Parker said that the city is considering selling the 1200 Travis facility so that the city will not have to lay off 273 jailers, as of 2012 the facility is for sale. List of tallest buildings in Texas Architecture of Houston Houston Police Department Headquarters at Emporis HPD Home Page
12.
1400 Smith Street
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1400 Smith Street is a 691 ft tall skyscraper located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building has 50 floors and is the 11th tallest building in the city, designed by architectural firm Lloyd Jones Brewer and Associates, the building was completed in 1983. The 1,200, 000-square-foot office tower is situated on Houstons six-mile pedestrian and it was formerly Four Allen Center, a part of the Allen Center complex. The building was the headquarters of Enron, one of Americas largest commodities trading companies during the 1990s. 1400 Smith Street was originally known as Four Allen Center prior to Enron relocating to Houston in 1985, before Enrons collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk. In 2006, Brookfield Properties acquired the 1,200, 000-square-foot Four Allen Center for $120 million, at the same time, Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group, as of 2006, the joint venture has 7,400,000 square feet of office space in Downtown Houston, making it the largest office owner in the central business district. Beginning in 2006, Chevron leased the entirety of the building, earlier in 2011 Brookfield Properties, the owner of the building, searched for a prospective buyer. In June 2011, Chevron bought the building from Brookfield for $340 million, Brookfield confirmed the purchase on June 24,2011. If Chevron had not fully occupied the building, Brookfield would have put the building on the market, architecture of Houston List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas Enron Emporis Skyscraperpage 1400 Smith Street website
13.
1500 Louisiana Street
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1500 Louisiana Street, formerly Enron Center South, is a 600 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 2002 and has 40 floors and a building area of 1,284. It is the 17th tallest building in the city and the tallest completed in the 2000s, Enron, a Houston-based company, had the building constructed to serve as its US headquarters. Due to a scandal in late 2001 the company collapsed and filed for bankruptcy that same year, intell Management and Investment Co. paid $102 million for the tower, which came equipped with technology that was, in 2003, the latest for energy firms. Charlie Giammalva of Lincoln Property Co. the leasing company of 1500 Louisiana, Giammalva said that the management of the building had contacted several firms, such as ExxonMobil, about the possibility of leasing space in the building. By July 2003 none of the firms contacted the management, chevronTexaco bought the building in 2004 for $340 million. By 2005 the firm announced that it would move out of the former Chevron Tower in Houston Center, in 20064,000 employees worked in 1500 Louisiana. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Houston Architecture
14.
1600 Smith Street
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1600 Smith Street, is a 51-story, 732-foot office tower in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building houses offices of United Airlines, and it was Continentals headquarters prior to its merger with United Airlines, at one point it also served as the headquarters of ExpressJet Airlines. It is a part of the Cullen Center complex, the 51 story building has about 1,098,399 square feet of rentable Class A office space. The design architect was Morris Architects, the contractor was Linbeck Construction Company. Naman, and the engineer was CBM Engineers. The building was completed in 1984, the tower stands as a postmodern-style building. It is currently the 8th-tallest building in Houston, bruce Nichols of The Dallas Morning News said that in early 19841600 Smith Street was so vacant it became a symbol for overexpansion in Houston. By 1987 the Canadian company Trizec Group bought debentures carrying an option to buy portions of the Cullen Center, in 1997 subcommittees of the University of Houston System Board of Regents held meetings at 1600 Smith Street. In September 1997 Continental Airlines announced that it would consolidate its Houston headquarters in what would become Continental Center I, the airline scheduled to move around 3,200 employees in stages beginning in July 1998 and ending in January 1999. The airline consolidated the operation at the America Tower in Neartown. Continental anticipated taking 15 floors at Continental Center I, in addition it planned to add a company store, a credit union, and an employee service center in the street-level lobby of Continental Center I. The airline agreed to lease 600,000 square feet of space in the Cullen Center for 11 years initially and 20 years if it takes renewal options. To make room for the airline and to increase the complexs overall tenancy, the unit of Shell Oil Company agreed to reduce its 320,000 square feet square feet of space in Continental Center I to 170,000 square feet to make room for Continental. Shell had planned to downsize, so it renewed its lease for a amount of space. In addition Houston Industries, Inc. paid TrizecHahn so it could break its lease on 100,000 square feet of space and this made additional room for Continental Airlines. Tim Reylea, the president of Cushman Realty Corp. said that the Continental move is probably the largest corporate relocation in the central business district of Houston ever. Bob Lanier, Mayor of Houston, said that he was tickled to death by the move to relocate to Downtown Houston. In September 2000 an electrical component burned out at Continental Center I, as a result of the temporary power outage, delays of between 300 and 400 Continental Airlines flights occurred worldwide
15.
2727 Kirby
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2727 Kirby is a 30-story,96 unit, condominium high rise, designed by Ziegler Cooper and located in Upper Kirby just south of Westheimer in Houston, Texas. Residents of this building are zoned to schools in the Houston Independent School District and they are zoned to Poe Elementary School, Lanier Middle School, and Lamar High School. Kirby Tower LP filed a lawsuit against the developer citing defective construction repair costs, as of 2014 all problems have been rectified and 2727 Kirbys value and investment has dramatically increased. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas 2727 Kirby — official site
16.
Allen Center
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The Allen Center is a skyscraper complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It consists of five buildings, One Allen Center, the Devon Energy Tower or Two Allen Center, Three Allen Center, Allen Center Clay Street, the complex has about 3,000,000 square feet of space. The area that became the Allen Center was originally considered to be a portion of the Fourth Ward. The opening of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated the portion from the rest of the Fourth Ward. TrizecHahn Properties acquired the Allen Center in 1996, Trizec defeated 16 other real estate companies so it could purchase the center for an amount reported by Tanya Rutledge of the Houston Business Journal as $270 million. When Trizec acquired the Allen Center in November 1996, the complex had a 76 percent occupancy rate, by 1997, Trizec had convinced several tenants of the Cullen Center, also owned by Trizec, to relocate to the Allen Center. Paul Layne, a president of the office division of Trizec. In 2001, when Enron collapsed, it vacated 800,000 square feet of space in the Allen Center, in 2010 Devon Energy was trying to sublease about 125,000 square feet of space that it occupies in the Allen Center complex. Hess Corporation will vacate around 500,000 square feet of space in the complex when a new tower in the east side of Downtown Houston opens. One Allen Center is a 452 ft tall skyscraper and it was completed in 1972 and has 34 floors. It is the 31st tallest building in the city, One Allen Center employs a composite stub-girder steel frame floor system, originally developed in part by Joseph Colaco then of Ellisor Engineers Inc. currently of CBM Engineers, Inc. Macquarie Bank houses its Houston representative office in Suite 3100 of the building, the Devon Energy Tower was known as Two Allen Center and previously the Citicorp Building. Three Allen Center is a 685-foot tall skyscraper completed in 1983 with 50 floors and it is the 12th-tallest building in the city. Macquarie Capital Inc. has an office in Suite 4200, oil States International has an office in Suite 4620. 1400 Smith Street was known as Four Allen Center, the building was the former headquarters of Enron, one of Americas largest commodities trading companies during the 1990s and later infamous for its financial scandal in 2001. Enron occupied the building after relocating to Dallas in 1985, before Enrons collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk. In 2006 Brookfield Properties acquired the 1,200, 000-square-foot Four Allen Center for $120 million, at the same time Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group, as of 2006 the joint venture has 7,400,000 square feet of office space in Downtown Houston, making it the largest office owner in the central business district
17.
American General Center
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The American General Center is a complex of several office buildings in Neartown Houston, Texas located along Allen Parkway. It is owned by AIG American General, the America Tower is a 590 ft tall skyscraper. It was completed in 1983 and has 42 floors and it is the 19th tallest building in the city. It serves as the headquarters of Baker Hughes and it served as the former headquarters of Continental Airlines, it now houses AIG American General and BDO USA, LLP. The other buildings include the Life Building, the Wortham Tower, the Woodson Tower, on July 1,1983 Continental Airliness headquarters were located at the America Tower, and would remain there until relocation to Downtown Houston in 1998 and 1999. Stephen M. Wolf, the president of Continental said that the company moved its headquarters because Houston became the largest hub for Continental, during the existence of Texas Air Corporation in the 1980s, it had its headquarters in the America Tower. In September 1997 Continental announced that it would move its headquarters to Continental Center I, Continental had occupied around 250,000 square feet in space in the America Tower before its lease expired in July 1998. Lynn Cook of the Houston Business Journal described this as a number for the size of Andersen Consultings lease. In 1999 Cushman & Wakefield, a realty firm, moved its Houston office into the America Tower from the Wells Fargo Tower of Four Oaks Place in Uptown Houston, as of 1999 the building was 99% leased. American General Life Companies has offices in the America Tower, American General Life Insurance Company is headquartered in the Life Building. Ebro Foods North America Riviana & New World Pasta is in the Riviana Building, the Consulate-General of Norway in Houston was in Suite 1185 in the Riviana Building. It is now located in another location in Neartown, list of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
18.
Bank of America Center (Houston)
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The Bank of America Center is a highrise representing one of the first significant examples of postmodern architecture construction in downtown Houston, Texas. It has three segmented tower setbacks, each with a steeply pitched gabled roofline that is topped off with spires, the tower was developed by Hines Interests and is owned by a joint venture of M-M Properties and an affiliate of the General Electric Pension Trust. The banking center is housed in a building, due to construction problems. There are 32 passenger elevators each finished with wood panels that include Birdseye Maple, Macassar Ebony, Italian Willow, Tamo, the building contains an art gallery in the lobby and plans to host curated exhibitions. At 56 stories the Bank of America Center is the 55th tallest building in the United States and is the seventh tallest building in Texas, the northeast corner of the structure houses a building within a building. On June 9,2001, the building was the site of an accident that took place during Tropical Storm Allison. Building security warned individuals that the below grade parking levels were in danger of flooding and instructed persons working late in the building to move vehicles to upper levels of the garage. Kristie Tautenhahn, an employee of the law firm Mayer, Brown & Platt and she drowned in an elevator car when it filled with water as it descended to the lower floor of the garage. Mayer Brown has its Houston office in Suite 3400
19.
BG Group Place
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BG Group Place is a 630 ft tall skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas. It was completed in February 2011 and has 46 floors, when it was completed, BG Group Place became the 15th tallest building in Houston and features a skygarden on the 39th floor. It is the tallest building built in Houston in 23 years, the naming was done when BG Group Plc became an anchor tenant and leased 164, 000sq ft of space. The primary monument & all core signage for the facility was built by Ad Display Sign Systems, water that condenses in the buildings air-conditioning system is used to irrigate the plants. Glass fins that act as sunshades reduce the buildings need for air-conditioning, the 10-foot ceilings allow in more sunlight, cutting the need for electric lights. Each floor is on average 27,000 square feet and can hold up to 8 full corner offices, Basement Floor 2, Parking Basement Floor 1, Parking, access to Downtown Houston tunnel system, and a small area for retail space. 1st Floor, Lobby,1 large and 1 small retail space area, access to the Downtown Houston tunnel system will also be available via an escalator to Basement Floor 1. The 30-foot high ceilings will extend through Floor 2 and half of Floor 3
20.
Bob Lanier Public Works Building
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Bob Lanier Public Works Building is a 410 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1968 and has 27 floors and it is the 41st tallest building in the city. Eero Saarinens CBS Building in New York City inspired the design for this building and it was named after Houston mayor Bob Lanier who served between 1992 and 1998. The building is located one block from Houston City Hall and Hermann Square and it is bounded by Louisiana, Rusk, Smith, and Walker Streets. The Rice Hotel Family Laundry formerly stood where the Lanier building is today and this building was previously the Houston Lighting & Power office building. In 1999 the City of Houston, which had acquired the building and it was previously known as the Electric Building. The renovation occurred under the direction of Mayor Lanier, the main office of the City of Houston Public Works and Engineering Department is in the Lanier Building. Divisions of the PW&E with headquarters in the Lanier Building include the Right-of-Way and Fleet Maintenance Division, divisions of the Mayors Office at the Lanier Building include 3-1-1 and Office of Business Opportunity. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
21.
Calpine Center
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The Calpine Center is a 453 ft tall postmodern skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas. The building has 33 floors of Class A office space and it is the 30th tallest building in the city. The building has the headquarters of Calpine Corporation. Hines and Prime Asset Management jointly developed the building, the Houston office of HOK designed the building, and Turner Construction acted as the general contractor. It is connected to the tunnel system. Mark Russell of Studley, a real estate firm, said that the Calpine Center is more efficient than many of the office buildings built in Houston in the early 1980s. Originally Calpine intended to lease 300,000 square feet of space, by February 2003 Calpine announced that it would sublease some of the space to other firms. The Calpine Center was scheduled for completion at the end of 2003, in July 2003 the space was 82% booked for occupation. Calpine and Burlington Resources, another company, leased space in the building. In addition Jones Day agreed to lease over 50,000 square feet, the building opened on Monday November 10,2003. Other tenants that had occupied the building by its opening included Cheniere Energy Inc. in 2004 Avalon Advisors LP agreed to lease 9,385 square feet of space in the building, bringing its occupancy level to 86%. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
22.
Devon Energy Tower (Houston)
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Two Allen Center, also known as Devon Energy Tower, is a 521 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1978 and has 36 floors and it is the 24th tallest building in the city. The tower houses offices for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corporation, the building has travertine flooring and is Energy Star labelled. It is owned by Brookfield Properties and it was known as the Citicorp Building in 1989. During that year Exxon had office space there, greater Houston Partnership has its offices in Suite 700, on the seventh floor. Devon Energy had its Houston office there, in October 2012 Devon Energy announced that it was closing its office there, affecting 500 jobs. Two Allen Center also hosts the headquarters of Houston-based national tax law firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka, previously Trizec Properties had its Houston offices in Suite 1100. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
23.
El Paso Energy Building
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The Kinder Morgan Building is a 502-foot tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1963 and has 33 floors and it was originally known as the Tenneco Building. It is the 28th tallest building in the city, because of downtown Houstons diagonal street grid, all four sides of the building are exposed to the sun. The windows are recessed from the frame to control heat and glare from the sun, the footprint of the building is an exact square. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, the architects of the building, were recognized with an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1969. An elevator or an escalator were required to get to the lobby of the building because it was raised above the street level. The first 5 floors of the building opened to make a huge glass-enclosed space, a number of drive-through bank kiosks along Louisiana Street were replaced with fountains in 1984. In 2001 the fountains were refurbished, a very long stock ticker was installed to deliver messages and add to the visual appeal. In 1996 when the El Paso Corporation bought Tenneco for 4 billion dollars, when Tenneco owned the building the letters T-E-N-N-E-C-O outlined the top of the building on each of the four sides. In 2008 Gilbain Construction started a remodel of the building completed in 2012. The main lobby is now located on Level 1 with entrances on Louisiana Street, Levels 3 through 29 are office space and Levels 30,31 and 32 are the Executive offices. The Exec offices boast a three story grand stairway, boardroom, many rooms and spacious offices and meeting areas. Kinder Morgan purchased the building with its acquisition of El Paso Corporation in 2012, Kinder Morgan moved its headquarters to this building. EP Energy leases floors 18-27 from Kinder Morgan, list of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Houston Architecture
24.
Enterprise Plaza
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Enterprise Plaza is a 55-story,230 m skyscraper at 1100 Louisiana Street in downtown Houston, Texas The headquarters of Enterprise Products is located in the Enterprise Plaza. Enbridges Houston offices are in Enterprise, Enterprise Plaza was completed in 1980 by Hines. Hines Real Estate bought the tower in January 2000, Enterprise Plaza is an office building located in the heart of Houstons energy and financial corridor. It stands at 756 ft tall with 55 stories and it was the tallest building in Texas from 1980 until 1982 when it was surpassed by the JPMorgan Chase Tower
25.
Esperson Buildings
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The Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings are a building complex in downtown Houston, Texas. Mary Ann Azevedo of the Houston Business Journal said that they were among the most recognizable buildings in Downtown, the Niels Esperson Building is the only complete example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Downtown Houston. Designed by theater architect John Eberson, the Esperson buildings were built in 1927 and 1941, respectively. They are elaborately detailed with columns, great urns, terraces. Mellie Esperson had the first of the two buildings constructed for her husband, Niels, an estate and oil tycoon. His name is carved on the side of the building, above the entrance, the name Mellie Esperson is carved on the accompanying structure, known as the Mellie Esperson building, although that structure is only a nineteen-story annex to the original Esperson building. Sherry Thomas of USA Today said that rumors of the buildings being haunted existed, the ghost of Mellie Esperson is said to have haunted the building. In 2007 Cameron Management Inc. sold the Esperson buildings to Seligman Western Enterprises Ltd, the Bollywood film Sirf Tum had scenes filmed at the top of the Niels Esperson tower, notably for the song Dilbar. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States
26.
ExxonMobil Building
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The ExxonMobil Building was built in 1963 in Houston. At that time it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at 606 ft and it remained the tallest building west of the Mississippi only until 1965, when Elm Place was built in Dallas. As of 2011 ExxonMobil is the owner of the building, one of the most distinctive features of the building is the cantilevered seven-foot-wide shades on each floor that protrude from the side of the building to provide shade from the daytime sun. Currently, the JPMorgan Chase Tower, completed in 1982 is Houstons tallest building, the building is two blocks east of 1500 Louisiana Street, a parking lot is between the two buildings. The architect of the International style structure was Welton Becket and Associates, in 2011 the company announced that all employees in the ExxonMobil building are moving to the new ExxonMobil office in Spring. ExxonMobil did not state what it plans to do with the building after the employees leave, in January 2013, Shorenstein Properties announced it had closed on the property for an undisclosed amount. ExxonMobil immediately leased back the building into 2015. Shorenstien Properties plans to undertake significant improvements following ExxonMobils departure, in 2015 Mayor of Houston Annise Parker proposed moving municipal court and Houston Police Department operations into the ExxonMobil building. In September 2015 Parkers administration announced that the plan would not move due to concerns over costs. The top two floors were formerly dining space for the Petroleum Club of Houston, which had moved to the ExxonMobil Building in 1963, the club was accessible through elevators on Bell Street. Because of the sale and scheduled renovation of the ExxonMobil Building, in late January 2015 it was scheduled to move to Total Plaza. ThePetroleum Club of Houston official website
27.
First City Tower
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First City Tower is a skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. The building rises 662 feet in height and it contains 49 floors, and was completed in 1981. First City Tower currently stands as the 14th-tallest building in the city, the architectural firm who designed the building was Morris-Aubry, and was built by W. S. The structure is an example of late-modernist architecture, the tower, which formerly housed the headquarters of the now-defunct First City National Bank, now serves as the global headquarters of Waste Management, Inc, and the headquarters of Vinson & Elkins. It also houses the U. S. headquarters of Campus Living Villages, the building, with Class A office space, has 1,300,000 square feet of office space. The building is noted for its distinctive staircase cuts on the north and south facades, First City Tower was constructed in a diagonal rotation away from Houstons main north-south street grid, which gives the impression that the structure has a larger footprint than it actually does. Morris Architects designed First City Tower, which opened in 1981, JMB Realty owned one third of First City Tower since the late 1980s. In 2003, JMB Realty bought the First City Tower and a 10-story parking garage, in 2002 Waste Management, Inc. and Vinson & Elkins, and Ocean Energy Inc. were the major tenants and Insignia/ESG, the managing agent, was also a tenant. As of 2003, the largest tenant is Vinson & Elkins, by 2004, Ocean Energy, after being acquired by Devon Energy, vacated 250,000 square feet of space in the First City Tower. In 2004, renovations to the tower began, FC Tower Property Partners, the owner and a limited partnership operated by an affiliate of JMB Realty, selected Morris Architects to design the public spaces in the tower. CB Richard Ellis, the property manager, oversaw the construction management, granite pavers and landscaped planters were placed in the north and south plazas. The entrance columns were re-clad in stainless steel, a limestone monument, displaying the address and tenants of the First City Tower, was erected at the intersection of Fannin and Lamar. A private garden, used by tenants to host performances and receptions, was added, in November 2010 SSY Chemicals leased space in the building. By January 2011, Black Stone Minerals renewed its lease for its headquarters in the First City Tower and expanded its space by 13,119 square feet, list of tallest buildings in Texas Architecture of Houston Official site Image of First City Tower on Emporis
28.
Four Leaf Towers
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Four Leaf Towers is a high-rise residential complex located in Houston, Texas, United States, on San Felipe Street adjacent to the Uptown Houston district. They were designed by architect Cesar Pelli, designed by architect Cesar Pelli and constructed in 1982, the two towers in the complex each contain 200 condominium units. The 40-story condominium towers are situated in park-like setting, the outdoor sculpture, Polygenesis by Beverly Pepper is located at the front of the complex. At 4,15 AM on October 13,2001, a fire occurred in a fifth floor unit in the west tower, Houston Fire Department firefighter Captain Jay Jahnke died while fighting the fire. Over 175 firefighters extinguished the fire, the Four Leaf Towers are within the Houston Independent School District. Residents are zoned to Briargrove Elementary School, Grady Middle School, and Lee High School
29.
Four Oaks Place
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Four Oaks Place is a complex of skyscrapers in Uptown Houston, Texas, United States. Managed by Transwestern, the complex includes the 420 ft 1330 Post Oak Boulevard, the 25 story 351 ft BHP Billiton Tower, Wells Fargo Tower, the buildings were designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates Architects. In 1993 BHP Petroleum, the US subsidiary of Broken Hill Proprietary Co. announced that its U. S. headquarters was moving from San Felipe Plaza to the Cigna Tower,200 clerical and professional employees moved into the building. In the 1990s Weatherford Enterra had its headquarters in 1360 Post Oak. By 2000 Weatherford moved to a new location in Houston, in 1999 Cushman & Wakefield, a realty firm, moved its Houston office from the Wells Fargo Tower into the America Tower in the American General Center in Neartown. By 2008 and as of 2009 Cushman & Wakefields Houston office is now in the 1330 Post Oak building, as of 2007 the owner of Four Oaks Place is considering plans to develop a fifth tower for the complex. As of Feb 22,2014 the foundation was poured for Five Oaks Place, the foundation consists of 2.5 million pounds of reinforcing steel and over 8,000 cu. yards of concrete. The BHP Billiton Tower houses BHP Billitons Houston Marketing Office, the complex has two consulates in the Wells Fargo Tower, those of Chile and Italy. In addition the Consulate-General of Germany in Houston resides in 1330 Post Oak
30.
Greenway Plaza
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Greenway Plaza is a master-planned mixed-use development off Interstate 69/U. S. Highway 59 in Houston, Texas, United States, five miles west of Downtown Houston, Greenway Plaza is Houstons first totally planned business-commercial-residential complex developed by Kenneth Schnitzer. Greenway Plaza is owned and operated by Cousins Properties, most buildings within the Greenway Plaza campus are interconnected by environmentally-controlled bridges, and/or tunnels and covered walkways. Civil engineer Jack Boyd Buckley also worked on the Greenway Plaza design, the complex, composed of 10 commercial buildings, has more than 4,200,000 sq ft of space. Within the complex is the Doubletree Hotel, the Houston City Club, the commercial buildings in the complex range from 11 to 31 stories. Greenway Plaza is located next to Lakewood Church and this facility was formerly called The Summit and later Compaq Center and hosted the Houston Rockets, a professional basketball team, as well as other sporting teams, concerts, and events. Privately owned residential condominiums are located near Greenway Plaza, just west of Timmons Lane. The Greenway condominiums consist of two 30-story buildings located at the southwest periphery of the development, Kenneth L. Schnitzer, the chairperson of the Century Development Corporation, envisioned Greenway Plaza, which became the first mixed-use development in Houston. Century took realtors from outlying towns around Houston and had them buy individual parcels for very inexpensive prices while trying not to attract attention, one homeowner found out about the plan and asked to have the house sold for $350,000. At the time it was a lot of money for a house that was small, the company paid the money so it could secure the tract the house sat on. The grand opening took place in 1973, Schnitzer said that Greenway Plaza would become a second downtown. In 1970 the M. W. Kellogg company had moved its headquarters from New York to Houston, after Kellogg moved its operations into Greenway Plaza, initially Kellogg occupied half of 3 Greenway Plaza and staffed the half with fewer than 600 employees. When the energy industry expanded worldwide, Kellogg occupied all of 3 Greenway Plaza, Kelloggs lease on July 1,1991 was up for renewal, if Kellogg had renewed the lease, its rent payment would have increased. Instead Kellogg decided to swap office space with its parent company, Dresser took over a part of Kelloggs lease and renamed 3 Greenway Plaza to the Dresser Tower. After the swap Dresser occupied 163,000 sq ft of space on eight floors, in exchange Kellogg took space formerly held by Dresser at the M. W. Kellogg Tower in the Cullen Center in Downtown Houston. The swap satisfied Dressers need for less space, in 2004 Crescent attempted to sell a 50% equity position in both Greenway Plaza and Houston Center. During that year, El Paso Corp. a major tenant with 912,000 sq ft in Greenway Plaza, announced that it was vacating the property and moving its personnel to its Downtown Houston headquarters. A Houston Business Journal article stated that El Paso was expected to sublease the space until 2014, in 2005 the internet service provider Internet America had offices in Greenway Plaza
31.
Heritage Plaza
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Heritage Plaza is a postmodern skyscraper located in the Skyline District of downtown Houston, Texas. Standing at 762 feet, the tower is the 5th tallest building in Houston, the 8th tallest in Texas, the building, designed by Houston-based M. Nasr & Partners P. C. was completed in 1987, and has 53 floors. Heritage Plaza completed construction in early 1987 and it was the last major office building completed in downtown Houston in the midst of the collapse of the Texas real estate, banking, and oil industries in the 1980s. The building stood as the most recently completed skyscraper in Houston for nearly 15 years. The building has 1,150,000 square feet of leaseable space, the building went on to serve as the US headquarters of Texaco for 12 years. In 2001, Heritage Plaza became the US headquarters of the ChevronTexaco corporation, in 2005, Goddard Investment Group acquired the building. During that year, over 700,000 square feet in the building was unoccupied, in 2006, EOG Resources announced that it will move from 3 Allen Center to Heritage Plaza. The firm had signed a 15-year lease for 200,000 square feet, the firm, scheduled to move in early 2007, became the largest tenant in the building at the time. In early 2007, Deloitte & Touche USA L. L. P, executed a lease to occupy 300,000 square feet as part of a 12-year, 10-floor lease with options to increase that space, if needed. The new lease consolidated staff from three Houston sites to one location, making Deloitte the largest tenant in Heritage Plaza. This feature was inspired by the visit to the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula. The crown of the building is said to resemble an image of a bald eagle spreading its wings. The interior lobby of Heritage Plaza was also designed with Mexican influences, the lower levels of the building, which contain a large food court, contain a distinctive multi-level marble waterfall that falls from the lobby. Heritage Plaza is one of the few skyscrapers in downtown Houston that is not directly connected to the extensive Houston tunnel network and it is, however, connected to the DoubleTree Hotel Houston-Allen Center through a skyway. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States Official site
32.
Hess Tower
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Hess Tower is a 29-story building located adjacent to Discovery Green park in downtown Houston, Texas. It was formerly called Discovery Tower until Hess Corporation leased the entire tower in January 2009, the global architectural firm Gensler designed the building. The building was a project of Trammell Crow Company, a real estate development and investment firm, the building was originally designed to house a number of wind turbines, but the turbines were removed in December 2010
33.
Houston Center
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Houston Center is a retail and office complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by subsidiaries of Crescent Real Estate Equities Co, the three towers in Houston Center have almost 3,400,000 square feet of Class A office space. Four Seasons Hotel Houston Texas Eastern Corporation bought 32 blocks of land in Downtown Houston for $50 million, Texas Eastern razed the existing buildings and proposed building Houston Center, a large office space development. Texas Eastern planned to build elevated walkways, people movers, Panhandle Eastern Corporation acquired Houston Center when Texas Eastern was sold to Panhandle for $2.5 billion in stock in June 1989. Later that year Panhandle sold Houston Center to JMB Realty for $400 million, Panhandle planned to use the money from the sale to reduce its debt, which it accumulated from the merger. Panhandle planned to move in increments over a period after 1989. In 1989 Houston Center consisted of three buildings and one hotel. Its occupancy rate in December 1989 was about 90%, Crescent purchased Houston Center in 1997 for $328 million. In 2000 Crescent sold the Four Seasons Hotel Houston, a hotel that is a part of Houston Center, to Maritz, Wolff & Co. a hotel investment group, in October 2002 Houston Center was 95% leased. In 2004 Crescent attempted to sell a 50% equity position in both Greenway Plaza and Houston Center, during that year the Class A office space in the entire complex was 94% leased. In addition, in 2004 many of the 32 blocks that were scheduled to be a part of the Houston Center development remained undeveloped. Borghese, LLC, Bennett G. Fisher, and Third Planet Windpower, together they held 6,758 square feet of space. Opened in 1978, this building, originally called 1 Houston Center, has 46 floors with Class A office space and is located at 1200 block of McKinney Street, the building is 678 feet tall. It was designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott and built by W. S, LyondellBasell has its Houston offices in 1 Houston Center. When Lyondell was an independent company, its headquarters were in 1 Houston Center, as of January 2012, the Lyondell/LyondellBasell operation has been at 1 Houston Center for 25 years. In 1999 Merrill Lynch Capital Markets expanded its lease to 23,520 square feet, in 2000 Ernst & Young occupied 140,000 square feet of space on five floors in 1 Houston Center. When 5 Houston Center opened in 2003, Ernst & Young pulled its operations from 1 Houston Center and moved them into 5 Houston Center, two of the five floors that Ernst & Young left behind were leased to other firms by July 2003. Cozen OConnor opened an office in 1 Houston Center in 2004, on November 22,2005, Alain Robert, a French rock and urban climber nicknamed Spider-Man, was arrested attempting to climb the building
34.
Hyatt Regency Houston
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Hyatt Regency Houston is a 30-story high-rise hotel located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The hotel, part of the Hyatt hotel chain, was designed by architect John Portman, at 401 ft, Hyatt Regency Houston is the citys tallest hotel The hotel is topped by a revolving restaurant known as Spindletop. The hotels 29-story atrium, one of the highest in Texas, was featured as a set in the 1976 film Logans Run. Hyatt Regency Houston was a host hotel for the 1992 Republican National Convention, the 16th G7 Economic Summit in 1990, architecture of Houston List of tallest buildings in Houston Hyatt Regency Houston website
35.
JPMorgan Chase Building (Houston)
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The JPMorgan Chase Building, formerly the Gulf Building, is a 37-story 130 m Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. Completed in 1929, it remained the tallest building in Houston until 1963, the building is the Houston headquarters of JPMorgan Chase Bank, and was formerly the headquarters of Texas Commerce Bank. Jesse H. Jones arranged to have the Gulf Building constructed, finn, Kenneth Franzheim, and J. E. R. Carpenter the building is seen as a realization of Eliel Saarinens second-place-but-acclaimed entry in the Chicago Tribune Tower competition. Texas Commerce Bank initiated the restoration of the building in 1989, largely through the efforts of JPMorgan Chase, the former Gulf Building was designated a City of Houston Landmark in 2003. The structure was already a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Texas Commerce Bank also owned another history-making skyscraper in downtown Houston, the neighboring 75-story Texas Commerce Tower, completed in 1982, and now known as the JPMorgan Chase Tower. In 2010, JPMorgan Chase sold the former Gulf Building to the Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund, Chase will be leasing space from the tower on a long term basis. Chase, as of February 12,2010, occupied about 500,000 sq ft of space in the building, Chase planned to remove about 80,000 sq ft from its lease agreement, saying that it does not need the space anymore. After the Chase relinquishment, the building will be 75% leased, the building has a total of 800,000 sq ft of space. On the ground floor the building has a 15,000 sq ft retail banking center, the banking center has 43 ft ceilings, floors and walls made of marble, and large stained glass windows. The building once had a rotating illuminated Gulf sign on the top, on August 30,2010 the 27th floor of the building caught fire. The fire quickly escalated from one, to two, to three alarms within 30 minutes as firefighters tried to battle the blaze with low water pressure, on August 30,2010, an alarm was called at about 8pm for a fire on the 27th floor. The Houston Fire Department responded with 3 alarms and 270 men, the fire was officially extinguished at 11,20 pm. Due to a pipe, HFD had to pipe water directly into the building. During the course of extinguishing the blaze, six firefighters were injured and they were taken to a local hospital and later released. Architecture of Houston Gulf Building from the Handbook of Texas Online
36.
JPMorgan Chase Tower (Houston)
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The JPMorgan Chase Tower, formerly Texas Commerce Tower, is a 305.4 m, 75-story,2,243,013 sq. ft skyscraper at 600 Travis Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. The tower was built between 1979 and 1981 as the Texas Commerce Tower and it was designed by noted architects I. M. Pei & Partners. In some early plans, the building reached up to 80 stories, however, nonetheless, when it was completed, it was the eighth tallest building in the world. The building was developed as part of a partnership between Texas Commerce Bank and Khalid bin Mahfouz and it was built on the site where the Uptown Theatre, demolished in 1965, once stood. S. Bank Tower, was built in 1990, JPMorgan Chase Tower is not currently connected to the Houston Downtown Tunnel System. This system forms a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that link twenty-five full city blocks, the Tower also includes 22,000 square feet of retail space. The sky lobby observation deck is located on the 60th floor, one can take the express elevator, providing a panoramic view of the city of Houston thanks to the use of wide glass spans and thirteen-foot ceilings. While the towers name reflects the bank JPMorgan Chase, the space designated to Chase is a single branch office on the bottom floor. The tower is owned by Prime Asset Management and managed by its original owner, police were forced to cordon off the area due to the amount of debris in the streets. At first, it was speculated that the glass came off the building due to impact from debris or due to high-speed winds in the confined spaces, however, flying glass debris must be entirely governed by drag and lift forces that overcome gravity for a considerable time period. This theory was proposed because an increase in speed produces a drop in external pressure. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings by U. S
37.
KBR Tower
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KBR Tower is a 550 ft tall skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States, it is a part of the Cullen Center complex. The KBR Tower has the headquarters of KBR, the 40 story building has about 1,047,748 square feet of rentable office space. The building was completed in 1973, by 1991, Dresser Industries and its subsidiary, M. W. Kellogg, switched office buildings. Kellogg took over 400,000 square feet of space on 16 floors of the Houston skyscraper formerly occupied by its parent firm, the skyscraper was renamed the M. W. Kellogg Tower. In exchange Dresser took over space at 3 Greenway Plaza, which had renamed to the Dresser Tower. The building swap satisfied Kelloggs need for more space, in 1998, Exxon announced that it was forming a new subsidiary, Exxon Upstream Development Co. The company planned to house the company in the Kellogg Tower before moving it to the Greenspoint business district. By 2001, Halliburton owned the tower in a joint venture with TrizecHahn, in August of that year, Halliburton announced that it would consolidate 8,000 local employees to office space in Westchase. Halliburton planned to vacate about 650,000 square feet of Class B office space in the Kellogg Tower, in December 2001 Halliburton canceled its plans to relocate employees to Westchase. Nancy Sarnoff of the Houston Business Journal said that it made sense for the company to lease existing space instead of constructing new office space in times of economic downturns. In 2004, Jeanneret & Associates renewed its lease of 9,806 square feet space in the KBR Tower for 10 years, in 2010, KBR signed a 20-year lease for 1,200,000 square feet at the KBR Tower and 500 Jefferson. In 2011 Brookfield Properties Corp. offered a 50% interest in the KBR Tower for sale, paul Layne, Suresh Brookfields Houston area executive vice president, said that the KBR lease made the building a major candidate for the sale of its interest. KBR owns the other 50% interest, Layne did not state whether KBR had the right of first refusal on Brookfields interest. Layne said that confidentiality concerns were why he did not reveal the information, in 2012 an affiliate of W. P. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Brookfield Properties
38.
Marathon Oil Tower
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Marathon Oil Tower is a skyscraper in Uptown Houston. The building rises 562 feet in height and it contains 41 floors, and was completed in 1983 and construction only took 22 months. First City Tower currently stands as the 20th-tallest building in the city, the architectural firm who designed the building was Pierce Goodwin Alexander & Linville. The building is named for American petroleum and natural gas exploration company Marathon Oil, in addition Aon Corporation has its Houston offices in the tower. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas Architecture of Houston Image of Marathon Oil Tower on Emporis
39.
Memorial Hermann Health System
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It was formed in the late 1990s when the Memorial and Hermann systems joined. Both the Memorial and Hermann health care systems started in the early 1900s, the administration is housed in the new Memorial Hermann Tower, along with the existing System Services Tower, of the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center. Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center was opened in 1925 and it was the first of two hospitals with a Level I trauma center rating to be located in Houston, Texas inside the Texas Medical Center. It is the flagship of a system of hospitals and clinics located in and around the greater Houston area. The different hospitals are distinguished by further indicating their location. The hospital system has been headed by some of the most affluent leaders in healthcare including Dan Wolterman as well as the current President & CEO Dr. Benjamin K. Chu. The Memorial Hospital System was started in 1907 by The Rev. Dennis Pevoto who purchased an 18-bed sanitarium in downtown Houston, by the time he retired, it had become Memorial Hospital System, a 200-bed facility. Prominent local businessman George H. Hermann died in 1914, leaving a portion of his $2. 6m estate for building and maintaining a hospital for the poor. The City of Houston annexed the site of Hermann Hospital in 1922, Hermann Hospital opened its doors in 1925, it also started a school of nursing that same year. Hermann Hospital was the first to operate in the neighborhood later became the Texas Medical Center. In 1943 this hospital was the first in Texas to receive a shipment of the new wonder drug, in 1946 it was also the first hospital to perform a cardiac catheterization. It remains the only hospital in the Houston area to have a burn-treatment center, the flagship Texas Medical Center hospital is home to Memorial Hermann Life Flight, an emergency and critical-care-transport aeromedical service. Founded in 1976, LifeFlight was the first aeromedical service in Texas and it transports around 3,000 patients annually. In 1985 the first successful liver transplant occurred here as well, in 1992 it was also the first hospital in the nation to perform a living-donor transplant on a neonatal patient. In 1993 Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center acquired the regions first Gamma Knife, the first four-organ transplant in Houston also was performed here in 2006, along with it being the first hospital in the world to perform robotic re-constructive aortic surgery. Hermann Hospital and the Memorial Healthcare System, which at the time had five hospitals, however, the county withdrew its bid in September 2009. Memorial Hermann has since made efforts to rebuild the Southwest Hospital, six Memorial Hermann hospitals were named among the nations 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters in 2011. Memorial Hermanns hospitals were the ones in the Houston-area to earn the recognition
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One Park Place
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One Park Place is a 518 ft tall apartment building located adjacent to Discovery Green park in downtown Houston, Texas. Completed by The Finger Companies in May 2009, the building has 340 units on 30 floors with a height of 501 feet and 37 floors. The building has 346 apartment units, the ground floor has retail shops and restaurants, while the six floors immediately above the ground floor have secure parking. Phoenicia Specialty Foods opened a store location in 28,000 square feet of space on the ground floor of One Park Place. The Downtown location focuses on serving residents in the Downtown area by stocking staples such as bread, eggs, in addition the store will have a Wine Bar, a cafe, and a delicatessen to attract area workers. Katharine Schilcutt of the Houston Press said prior to the opening that Phoenicia will become the first major grocery store in Downtown. Tcholakian has a background of being an architect, allowing him to design the system, shilcutt said that the facility has ample parking that would surely attract residents of the Houston Heights and Montrose to the store. The MKT Bar is located inside of the grocery store, before the announcement by Phoenicia occurred, rumors spread stating that Whole Foods Markets wanted to lease space in One Park Place to establish a store there. Originally the opening was scheduled for December 2010 and it was moved to May 2011, but due to issues with the design of the electrical and plumbing lines, the opening was moved to July 15. The building is within the Houston Independent School District boundary, as of 2015 the building is assigned to Gregory Lincoln Education Center, and Northside High School. By Spring 2011 Atherton Elementary School and E. O. Smith Education Center were consolidated with a new K-5 campus in the Atherton site, as a result, for middle school the building was rezoned from Smith to Gregory Lincoln. As part of rezoning for the 2014-2015 school year, this tower was rezoned from Bruce to Gregory-Lincoln K-8 for elementary school, list of tallest buildings in Houston Skyscraperpage Official Site One Park Place Official Site The Finger Companies 1900 Yorktown Houston Luxury Apartments | A Finger Company Property
41.
One Shell Plaza
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One Shell Plaza is a 50-story,218 m skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the height to 304.8 m, at its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest in the city. One Shell Plaza was designed by the firm of Skidmore. Associate architects were Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, One Shell Square, in New Orleans and Republic Plaza in Denver, also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have designs very similar to that of One Shell Plaza. Like One Shell Plaza, One Shell Square has Shell Oil as a major tenant, Shell Oil Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, is headquartered in this building. The law firm of Baker Botts is also headquartered there, the Houston Club, on the 49th floor of the building, has dining, entertainment, and meeting facilities. The building opened in 1971 and was renovated in 1994, the $80 million in major renovations included an updated lobby and plaza, elevator modernization, upgrades to the buildings EMP systems, new lighting, and ADA modifications. In December 2011 Shell renewed the lease for 804,491 sq ft, the new lease retroactively had the start date of January 1,2011, and will last for 15 years, ending in 2025. In March 2012 Hines Interests Limited Partnership announced it was putting the building up for sale, the building stood in for the headquarters of the Knox Oil Company in the 1983 film Local Hero. The 170 ft mast atop the building has carried various television, the combiner and antenna was supplied by Electronic Research Inc. List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in the United States FCC-Entry, which gives 300.2 metres as height with antenna
42.
Pennzoil Place
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Pennzoil Place is a set of two 36-story towers in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and built in 1975, in May 1976 Deutsche Bank and other partners in a West German investment group bought a 90 percent interest in the Pennzoil Place building for $100 million. The Redstone Cos. the owners of The Houstonian Hotel, opened one of the first two Houstonian Lite fitness club locations in Pennzoil Place, the club resides in Suite 200. As of 2002 Arthur Andersen was vacating about 300,000 square feet of space in Pennzoil Place, Pennzoil Place, developed and managed by Gerald D. Hines Interests, consists of two 495 ft trapezoidal towers placed ten feet apart and sheathed in dark bronze glass and aluminum. The buildings are mirror images of each other, the entire street-level plaza joining the two structures is enclosed in a 115-foot glass pyramid-shaped atrium. Deliberately designed as an illusion, Pennzoil Places appearance will vary depending on the different locations from where it is viewed. The buildings combined contain 1,400,000 square feet of leasable space, architect Philip Johnson was awarded the 1978 AIA Gold Medal and became the first laureate of the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1979 for his work on Pennzoil Place. Pennzoil Place was named Building of the Decade in 1975 by The New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable because of the silhouette it added to the Houston skyline. List of tallest buildings in Houston Architecture of Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas Pennzoil Place at Googles 3D Warehouse Images of Pennzoil Place
43.
Phoenix Tower
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For the structure with a similar name in Chester, England, see Phoenix Tower, Chester Phoenix Tower is a 434 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1984 and has 34 floors and it is the 36th tallest building in the city. It is owned and operated by Parkway Properties, the Phoenix Tower is adjacent to Greenway Plaza and located in an area between Downtown Houston and Uptown. A Jack Nicklaus-designed nine-hole putting green is on top of the parking garage. The tower has 629,024 square feet of office space, the tower was purchased by Parkway Properties in December,2012 for US$124.5 million. Trico Marine Services, a former tenant, relocated its corporate headquarters to The Woodlands. Trico maintains a presence in the tower. In 2009 Trico sublet 6,135 square feet to the law firm Edison, the Phoenix Tower was the former headquarters for Champion Technologies. After its acquisition by Ecolab, it formed the company of Nalco Champion. The new company will office a large part of its employees as it consolidates its operations, in 1983, Hurricane Alicias winds sent debris from the parking deck that was under construction onto the Buffalo Speedway. List of tallest buildings in Houston Phoenix Tower-Parkway Properties Phoenix Tower Emporis Skyscraperpage
44.
San Felipe Plaza
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San Felipe Plaza is a 46-story tower located west of the Uptown Houston district in Houston, Texas, United States. Designed by noted architect Richard Keating, the building was constructed in 1984 by Linbeck Construction Corporation, the building is the sixteenth tallest in the city and is the second-tallest building outside of downtown. It is in proximity to the Houston Galleria, in 1993 Sanchez-OBrien Oil & Gas leased an additional 21,828 square feet of space in the building. During that year other tenants included BHP Petroleum, Maxxam, the building had served as the U. S. headquarters of BHP. Later in 1993 BHP announced that it was moving its U. S. headquarters, including 200 clerical and professional employees, from San Felipe Plaza to the Cigna Tower, the Consulate of Canada in Houston opened in the building in 2003
45.
The Huntingdon
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The Huntingdon is a 503 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. The 34-floor structure was completed in 1984 by the developer James E. Lyon and it is the 27th tallest building in the city. It is also the tallest entirely residential building in Houston and was the tallest residential building in Texas until the Mercantile Building was converted into residences, the Mercantile, with baroque gate piers, is twenty feet taller than The Huntingdon. The Huntington is within the Houston Independent School District, residents are zoned to River Oaks Elementary School, Lanier Middle School, and Lamar High School. William J. Hill Joanne King Herring List of tallest buildings in Houston The Huntington Emporis Skyscraperpage
