HOUSTON— Development in downtown Houston is on the rise and owners of existing properties are stepping up to stay relevant in a market with new construction.

Hines announced plans for an extensive modernization and repositioning of 26-story Two Shell Plaza. The property's main entrance will move to Louisiana Street from Walker, and will be renamed 811 Louisiana. Construction will begin in April to renovate the building's façade as well as update and expand the lobby. The project is slated to be complete by April of 2015.

“We have been committed to downtown Houston since the founding of the firm more than five decades ago. Having managed 811 Louisiana since its inception, we are pleased to be on the team that ownership has assembled to re-launch the property into the upper tier of Class A buildings in the CBD,” said Hines Senior Property Manager Jon Cogdill. The 565,538-square-foot Two Shell Plaza and its larger sister property, the 50-story One Shell Plaza were completed in the early 1970s.

Hines will oversee the expansion and renovation of the building and Balfour Beatty is the general contractor. Page architects designed the project to draw on the buildings modern lines in an effort to project a contemporary image. Page's design calls for the building's lower façade to be re-clad in Virginia Mist granite, a dark stone that will contrast with the existing light-colored travertine above. 

A few blocks from Two Shell Plaza, Hines recently began speculative construction on 609 Main, a 48-story, one million square-foot office tower scheduled to deliver in 2017. 

Another new office project in downtown is Skanska's proposed 35-story Capitol Tower which will replace the former Houston Club Building at 811 Rusk. The project recently received Houston's first LEED v4 Platinum rating.

Downtown Houston, which has a Class A office vacancy rate of 7.5%, has a considerable amount of redevelopment and renovation activity. 

“We will continue to see substantial improvements to existing buildings downtown to meet the standard of the new construction,” said executive vice president with CBRE Sanford Criner.

Shorenstein Properties purchased 800 Bell from ExxonMobil with plans to completely renovate and re-skin the aging 1.2 million-square-foot tower. Shorenstein will begin redevelopment work in 2015 when ExxonMobil vacates with an anticipated availability at the beginning on 2017.

Repositionings like Two Shell Plaza and 800 Bell can be found across the city. Transwestern's Brett Williams, newly elected president of the Houston chapter of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), says a major concern of Houston area property managers is a “flight to quality” as tenants are looking for higher quality finishes and improvements. The necessity to be able to compete with new construction is also driving building owners to continue to find savings in utilities and seek LEED certifications, added Williams.