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funny hearing the mostly Houston crowd boasting about Houston and Dallas being so damn effing big.
and that BOSTON + Cambridge + 128 + 495 just couldn't have all that office space. Well there it is, right in front of your eyes..... Then Hillary Clinton's stated goal is to turn evey American city into a third world hell hole.
for you folks who believe bigger is better; be careful what you wish for. Big like Calcutta is closer every day, whn you live in a nation not creating jobs, and lies about it's U3, U6 and U7 employment numbers.
Those people are mostly talking about MSA and don't see CSA as a better measure of comparing metros. Keep in mind, Boston's CSA, which does include other MSAs unlike the CSAs of Dallas and Houston, has a much larger population than Dallas' and Houston's. Comparing GPD per capitas, the numbers are roughly 67,600 for Boston, 73,400 for Houston, and 65,300 for Dallas.
In pretty much every case, the owners/lenders are making a conscious decision right before construction starts. If they do that after a downturn starts, they're betting that conditions will be better at completion.
Developers tend to be optimists, but equity partners and lenders usually hold them back. Someone is making a case that it's smart to go ahead. That can be based on a combination of unique standing in the market like a great location, or it can be the valid point that building during a slower time means they might catch the upturn and/or complete when less competition is doing the same.
All of those points are true relating to 609 Main. The developer is a Houston based mega developer who built and manages hundreds of Millions of sq feet of office space all I've the world. He has a hand in almost all of the most iconic buildings in Houston and this building is no exception. I have spoken to some architecture lovers in Houston and they are already calling it an icon. Fact of the matter is Hines knows Houston, he knows the market and people trust that his buildings will be leased.
To your second point yes people are looking towards a brighter market when 609 M is completed.
And finally your last point is true. It is a unique looking building, it is on Main Street, in the middle of downtown, on the intersection of two rail lines and on the deeply popular tunnel system. It is right near the popular Main Street Sq plaza. Personally, I didn't like the renderings but seeing the building in person b changed my opinions. This building will be LEED certified and affords a lot of upgrades so it had a ton in its favor to quell investor worries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoninATX
That is true that 609 Main was built on spec, but as of late last year a Law Firm just signed the top 2 floors of the tower.
Yes, that does not speak much to the economy though. Plans for this building came out before the economic downturn and yet it was still brought forward despite an economic downturn and a lack of a main tenant.
Apart from the law firm, united will also occupy this building.
What is hurting downtown Houston is that the economic woes coincided with the scheduled move of Exxon moving workers from downtown to their new campus up in the middle of the woods. Add to that Shell is concentrating workers out of downtown to its suburban campus.
On the plus side and more on topic to this thread, this moves are still intrametro so although vacancy rates are going to cool growth, on the plus side the jobs are still in the metro.
sorry for necrobump but i just realized the ordering for g.d.p. per person per square-mile was off (4 years later):
Quote:
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (431704000000/4656068)/2474 = 37.48
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (396549000000/4675664)/3488 = 24.32
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (930817000000/12829044)/4850 = 14.96
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (491042000000/6098802)/5565 = 14.47
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (411161000000/6034122)/5118 = 13.31
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (485683000000/6685520)/9279 = 7.82
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX (503311000000/6489990)/10062 = 7.71
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA (339203000000/5611920)/8376 = 7.22
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (640656000000/9726976)/10856 = 6.07
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (1602705000000/23723353)/13318 = 5.07
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