THE LEGENDS OF REAL ESTATE AWARDS 2016 – Ralph Bivins, editor of Realty News Report, has selected the most significant people, projects, deals and ideas of the Houston real estate market for 2016. These aren’t necessarily the largest or the first. But the deals point to future trends, potential gold mines, noble visions and notable accomplishments.
LEGEND: REDEVELOPMENT OF THE YEAR – Allen Center, Paul Frazier of Brookfield Property Partners. Brookfield is spending $50 million to improve its three-tower Allen Center office complex, which was built in downtown Houston in the 1970s. The removal of a skybridge between the building opens up the seven-acre Allen Center complex to the street. An earthen berm under the skybridge will be scraped away. Removing the skybridge yields one acre of green space between the buildings. The Office of James Burnett, a highly regarded landscape architecture firm, has been engaged to plan the park-like space.
The three Allen Center office buildings, located near the corner of Smith and Dallas, have a total of 3.1 million square feet of office space. Extensive interior improvements, such as renovating common areas into Millennial-friendly workspaces with collaborative environments, have been planned by Morris Dilworth and Walls architecture.
A major “out-parcel” was acquired late in 2016 – the 350-room DoubleTree Houston Hotel, 400 Dallas Street. The 20-story hotel is surrounded by Allen Center, so it was an important pick-up by Brookfield. The hotel will be upgraded and may be given a new upscale brand affiliation with the Hilton chain.
The first office tower in Allen Center was started almost 50 years ago. With the removal of the skybridge, creation of the green space and integrating the newly-acquired the hotel into Allen Center, Brookfield – under direction of Paul Frazier, the leader of Brookfield’s Houston division — is giving Allen Center a forward-thinking upgrade for another half-century of vitality. The project deserves Realty News Report’s Legends of Real Estate Award for Redevelopment of the Year.
Coming tomorrow: Realty News Report’s Legends of Real Estate Award for Texan of the Year.
Jan. 4, 2017 Realty News Report Copyright 2017