1600 Smith Street

1600 Smith Street, (previously named Continental Center I and also known as Cullen Center Plaza) is a 51-story, 732-foot (223 m) office tower in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building houses offices of United Airlines, and it was Continental's headquarters prior to its merger with United Airlines. At one point it also served as the headquarters of ExpressJet Airlines. It is a part of the Cullen Center complex.

The 51 story building has about 1,098,399 square feet (102,044.6 m²) of rentable Class "A" office space. The design architect was Morris Architects, the general contractor was Linbeck Construction Company, the mechanical engineer was I.A. Naman, and the structural engineer was CBM Engineers. The building was completed in 1984.

The tower stands as a postmodern-style building. It is currently the 8th-tallest building in Houston.

History

Bruce Nichols of The Dallas Morning News said that in early 1984 1600 Smith Street "was so vacant it became a symbol for overexpansion in Houston". By 1987 the Canadian company Trizec Group bought debentures carrying an option to buy portions of the Cullen Center, including 1600 Smith Street. In 1997 subcommittees of the University of Houston System Board of Regents held meetings at 1600 Smith Street.

1400 Smith Street

1400 Smith Street (formerly Enron Complex) is a 691 ft (211 m) tall skyscraper located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building has 50 floors and is the 11th tallest building in the city. Designed by architectural firm Lloyd Jones Brewer and Associates, the building was completed in 1983. The 1,200,000-square-foot (110,000 m²) office tower is situated on Houston's six-mile (10 km) pedestrian and retail tunnel system that links many of the city's downtown towers. It was formerly Four Allen Center, a part of the Allen Center complex.

The building was the former headquarters of Enron, one of America's largest commodities trading companies during the 1990s and later infamous for its financial scandal in 2001. 1400 Smith Street was originally known as Four Allen Center prior to Enron relocating to Houston in 1985. Before Enron's collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk.

Allen Center

The Allen Center is a skyscraper complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It consists of five buildings, One Allen Center (500 Dallas Street), the Devon Energy Tower or Two Allen Center (1200 Smith Street),Three Allen Center (333 Clay Street),Allen Center Clay Street (Clay Street), and Five Allen Center (Houston). The complex has about 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m²) of space.

History

The area that became the Allen Center was originally considered to be an eastern portion of the Fourth Ward. The opening of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated the eastern portion from the rest of the Fourth Ward; that portion became the Allen Center and is now considered to be a part of Downtown Houston.

TrizecHahn Properties acquired the Allen Center in 1996. Trizec defeated 16 other real estate companies so it could purchase the center for an amount reported by Tanya Rutledge of the Houston Business Journal as $270 million.

When Trizec acquired the Allen Center in November 1996, the complex had a 76 percent occupancy rate. By 1997, Trizec had convinced several tenants of the Cullen Center, also owned by Trizec, to relocate to the Allen Center. Paul Layne, a vice president of the office division of Trizec, said that the shifting of tenants would lead to Allen Center having an occupancy rate of 92 percent in 1998.