Calpine Center facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Calpine Center
Calpine building, corner of Milam St. and Texas St.
General information
Type	Office
Location	717 Texas Street, Houston, Texas
Coordinates	29.7616°N 95.3643°W / 29.7616; -95.3643
Completed	2003
Opening	November 10, 2003
Height
Roof	453 ft (138 m)
Technical details
Floor count	33

The Calpine Center is a 453 ft (138m) tall postmodern skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas. The building has 33 floors of Class A office space. It is the 41st tallest building in the city. The building has the world headquarters of Calpine Corporation. Hines and Prime Asset Management jointly developed the building. The Houston office of HOK designed the building, and Turner Construction acted as the general contractor. It is connected to the downtown tunnel system. Mark Russell of Studley, a real estate firm, said that the Calpine Center is more efficient than many of the tall office buildings built in Houston in the early 1980s.

History

Originally Calpine intended to lease 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) of space. By February 2003 Calpine announced that it would sublease some of the space to other firms. The Calpine Center was scheduled for completion at the end of 2003. In July 2003 the space was 82% booked for occupation. Calpine and Burlington Resources, another energy company, leased space in the building; each company agreed to lease 250,000 square feet (23,000 m²) of space. In addition Jones Day agreed to lease over 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²). The building opened on Monday November 10, 2003. Other tenants that had occupied the building by its opening included Cheniere Energy Inc. and Hines's southwest region development office. In 2004 Avalon Advisors LP agreed to lease 9,385 square feet (871.9 m²) of space in the building, bringing its occupancy level to 86%.

Tower, with Houston Chronicle building seen at lower right

Street sign detail

Main entrance on Texas St.