1400 Smith Street (Houston, Texas)
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Raven
N 29° 45.348 W 095° 22.320
15R E 270634 N 3294083
1400 Smith Street -- formerly known as Four Allen Center and the Enron Building -- is a 50-story, 691 ft (211 m) tall glass-and-aluminum office tower in downtown Houston, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMGXC1
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/19/2013
Views: 5
1400 Smith Street -- formerly known as Four Allen Center and later on the infamous "Enron Building" -- is a 50-story, 691 ft (211 m) tall office tower in downtown Houston, Texas. Built in 1983 and featuring an elegant blue glass and white aluminum frame, it has distinctive curved leading and trailing edges which -- until 2002, when a similar tower was erected across the street -- set it apart from all other skyscrapers in the city and made it an icon of the Houston skyline, especially when sunlight would reflect off its frame in all directions. It is currently leased by Chevron.
Below is a brief history of the skyscraper, per Wikipedia: (
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"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.
In 2006 Brookfield Properties acquired the 1,200,000-square-foot (110,000 m2) Four Allen Center for $120 million. At the same time Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group. As of 2006 the joint venture has 7,400,000 square feet (690,000 m2) of office space in Downtown Houston, making it the largest office owner in the central business district.
Beginning in 2006 Chevron leased the entirety of the building. Earlier in 2011 Brookfield Properties, the owner of the building, searched for a prospective buyer. In June 2011 Chevron bought the building from Brookfield for $340 million. Brookfield confirmed the purchase on June 24, 2011. If Chevron had not fully occupied the building, Brookfield would have put the building on the market, and Holliday Fowler Fenoglio LP would have had the listing."