First City Tower

First City Tower
General information
Status Complete
Type Office
Location 1001 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas
Coordinates 29°45′21″N 95°21′50″W / 29.75579°N 95.36384°W / 29.75579; -95.36384Coordinates: 29°45′21″N 95°21′50″W / 29.75579°N 95.36384°W / 29.75579; -95.36384
Completed 1981
Owner First City Liquidating Trust, JMB Realty
Height
Roof 662 ft (202 m)
Technical details
Floor count 49
Design and construction
Architect Morris Architects (formerly Morris-Aubry)
Developer Vinson & Elkins
Main contractor W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation
References
[1]

First City Tower is a skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. The building rises 662 feet (202 m) in height.[2] 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. Bellows Construction Corporation. The structure is an example of late-modernist architecture.[1] 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,[2] and the headquarters of Vinson & Elkins.[3][4] It also houses the U.S. headquarters of Campus Living Villages.[5]

The building, with Class A office space, has 1,300,000 square feet (120,000 m2) of office space.[6] The building is noted for its distinctive "staircase cuts" on the north and south facades,[2] and is composed mostly of aluminum and green-tinted glass.[7] These designs were designed to represent the letter "F" for the building's developer and first major tenant, First City Bank,[7] which was itself founded by attorneys of the international law firm Vinson & Elkins.[2] First City Tower was constructed in a diagonal rotation away from Houston's main north-south street grid, which gives the impression that the structure has a larger footprint than it actually does.[7]

History

Morris Architects designed First City Tower, which opened in 1981.[8] JMB Realty owned one third of First City Tower since the late 1980s.[6] In 2003, JMB Realty bought the First City Tower and a 10-story parking garage, which houses the Houston Club, for an amount reported by the Houston Business Journal as $114 million.[6] 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.[9] In October 2002, the building became the first in Houston to implement an in-house courier intercept center in order to provide a central collection point for all inbound and outbound deliveries serving its several tenants.[9] As of 2003, the largest tenant is Vinson & Elkins, which by that year had renewed its lease until 2020.[6] By 2004, Ocean Energy, after being acquired by Devon Energy, vacated 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) 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.[8] In November 2010 SSY Chemicals leased space in the building.[10] 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 (1,218.8 m2), giving it a total of 55,082 square feet (5,117.3 m2).[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "First City Tower". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "First City Tower". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  3. ↑ "Houston." Vinson & Elkins. Retrieved on May 5, 2010. "First City Tower 1001 Fannin Street Suite 2500 Houston, TX 77002-6760"
  4. ↑ Selden, Jonathan. "Law firms in Austin help Houston offices." Austin Business Journal. Thursday September 22, 2005. Retrieved on May 5, 2010. "At Vinson & Elkins LLP, the Austin office is accommodating evacuated attorneys from the Houston headquarters as well as some clients, says Don Wood, administrative partner."
  5. ↑ "Contact." Campus Living Villages. Retrieved on 5 October 2011. "Campus Living Villages US 1001 Fannin, Suite 1350 Houston, Texas 77002"
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Chicago firm purchases First City Tower." Houston Business Journal. Tuesday July 8, 2003. Retrieved on May 5, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 "First City Tower". Atrefaqs. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  8. 1 2 Sarnoff, Nancy. "Renovations under way at First City." Houston Business Journal. Monday February 23, 2004. Retrieved on May 5, 2010.
  9. 1 2 "First City Tower implements in-house courier service". Houston Business Journal. 2002-10-25. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  10. ↑ "Real estate transactions." Houston Chronicle. November 7, 2010. Retrieved on November 12, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Real estate transactions." Houston Chronicle. January 2, 2010. Retrieved on January 3, 2010.

External links

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