At the ground-breaking ceremony, dignitaries had assembled before an architectural rendering of the new development bearing the headline, "Expanding the Dimensions of the Houston Skyline," and that has been the theme of the project.

Downtown Houston had been stirring when the storied Rice Hotel had been resurrected. It took a great leap forward when Enron Field, the new baseball stadium had risen from the rubble. But, a new skyscraper tells Houstonians: "This is for real."

5 Houston Center is designed to provide "maximum space efficiency for 21st century customers." Its unique features include ready accessibility to excess power, two telecommunications rooms per floor, full wiring for broadband, taller floor-to-floor heights, and larger and more efficient floor plates.