Central Houston Inc. reveals plans for downtown development projects

Central Houston Inc. recently announced several updates on development projects.

Residential projects include a 397-unit apartment building near Minute Maid, set to open in 2015, and a 24-floor residential tower called SkyHouse Houston. The latter, which carries a $60-million plus price tag, will include 336 units on Block 350.

In anticipation of the 2016 Final Four, Houston First is working with Rida Development to build a second convention center hotel with about 1,000 rooms. Demolition of the existing property at 806 Main is under way.

New office buildings are also on the horizon.

Skanska is in pre-development work on Capitol Tower. The building is at the current site of the Houston Club Building. The club will be relocating to the 49th floor of the One Shell Plaza building, where it will retain its name and join forces with the Plaza Club.

New office towers are also in the works at Hines Block 69, Brookfield's Block 902 and Block 43.

In school development news, the parking lot at Block 77 downtown has been identified by HISD as the site for the new location of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

The following downtown spaces with more than 100,000 square feet are currently being marketed:

1 Allen Center, floors 3-20, 490,000 square feet (formerly Hess + Kinder Morgan).
2 Allen Center, floors 25-36, 345,000 square feet (currently Devon).
Pennzoil North, floors 16-25, 208,600 square feet (currently Shell).
2 Houston Center, floors 4-10, 280,200 square feet (currently Shell).
1600 Smith, floors 17-22, 142,000 square feet (formerly Continental).
Travis Place (aka Travis Place Garage), floors 8-9, 120,000 square feet (currently Kinder Morgan).
Pennzoil South, floors 6-10, 102,200 square feet (currently Energy Transfer).

For more information, visit www.centralhouston.org or www.downtownhouston.org.