Similar to Exxon in Spring, or the now old Chevron Park in CA, what are the odds Chevron ditches the pair of glass downtown for a more convenient space outside of the loop in the next decade?
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Not gonna happen. Anyone in Houston know of any large tracts of land in the suburban Houston area that aren't flood-prone? Unfortunately, we're stuck with the downtown properties (including beautiful views of the empty former Exxon building a block away), and lucky to have grandfathered-in the Briarpark labs.
I’m thinking CVX will move everyone from Houston back to San Remote and live and work in tents along the 680 corridor. Along with that we can pick up all the garbage to earn climate credits from California. It’s a win win and our stock price will increase exponentially.
The odds are zero.
Eason was smart to bail before the bottom fell out of downtown real estate. They scooped up land for their mega campus for pennies on the dollar back then.
@2dhx I'm thinking you don't have any real estate experience or knowledge of the transactions. Your comments on 1500 are definitely off. "They forgot to put the lobby on the ground level."? LOL
WFH and the demise of the oil industry will slowly turn downtown Houston into a ghost town and commercial real estate, which has been collapsing already for ten years, will really unravel. Chevron will be smart to time the market on this one and sell both buildings now and rent back only as much space as they need, just like in San Ramone. We probably could squeeze into 60-70% of that space easily.
Hess Tower is really nice
1400 Smith is a dump. It was built in 1983, the malaise years for construction. Chevron overpaid Brookfield for it - nearly triple what Brookfield paid for it five years before. We have never really made any smart moves when it comes to real estate.
1500 Louisiana was thrown together on the shortest time scale you can imagine as Enron was urgent to move it. Corners were cut. They forgot to put the lobby on the ground level. It is a quarter century old now and showing it and more.
Buying was d-mb because we poured a bunch of capital into a depreciating asset which we then had to pour more money into to maintain. We pay more to maintain those two wrecks than we would be paying to lease them today. Terrible.
“Our buildings are newer and purchased a relatively cheap price from Enron liquidation”
Ok not really, I followed this closely when it happened. Enron owned 1500 and was leasing 1400, when it went under a group of investors (including some doctors) bought 1500 and a year later turned around and sold it to Chevron, so it was them who made the ki-ling. Now Chevron owned and was leasing 1400 for many years. Eventually they bought it (maybe 2012 or 13?). My friend who was on the deal said it was real stupid to buy it when they had such a good lease deal, but the order came in from high to buy.
The XOM building was built in 1963. Our buildings are newer and purchased a relatively cheap price from Enron liquidation. There are plans to renovate floors which means chances are slim to none in the foreseeable future.
If you think the FTC will allow an Exxon-Chevron merger, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
@1tiz+1qRRbizl haha, very true. An Exxon merger is coming, be ready.
MW has not given up the idea of a final crowning deal with Exxon so you may get your Cypress campus in the end any how.
Slim to none.
0% chance.
I like onion chip dip. If it’s into phase 2B already, that means they are be ready to add in the chives. Yummy!
Build even more empty office space?
Yeah!!! When he-l freezes over
Why should they do that? ExxonMobil left because their building was old and they either had to build a new tower which would be far more expensive or move to a more affordable area to expand horizontally, which made more sense for real-estate maintenance. For Chevron that is still not the case, maybe in 25 years it becomes an issue but not in the next 10 years.
Do the elevators still su-k at HOU140?
Funny you should ask as it is in chip dip Phase 2B already!
I like the cruise ship idea. You can sleep at work and are always on-call. If they make you pay for food and hotel then the company makes more profit. It's a huge win for the company!
@mhe nope only a lab
Nope, too expensive to make necessary upgrades to the towers in order to market them. No one in their right mind would buy them.
I heard they are going to buy a used cruise ship and turn it into a massive floating campus. Putting HQ in international waters provides more tax benefits and bigger parties.
The possibilities are endless. Good luck
The chances are excellent, only if you’re dreaming.
Just a guess, but I’d say they’re high. The acreage they purchased in cypress can house a campus and a lab.