Looks like 800 Bell is back to square one: The city’s plans to turn the former Exxon tower Downtown into a new criminal justice center have been halted due to fiscal constraints.
The 45-story, 1.2M SF tower was acquired by San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co from ExxonMobil in early 2013. A JV of Shorenstein and Houston-based Griffin Partners has been pursuing the city to use the building for its criminal justice center.
Until recently, Mayor Parker believed the project would be viable but raised concerns in a memo to City Council members. Parker worried that the project “would bind the next administration to a project for which funding has not been identified,” as reported by the Houston Business Journal. [HBJ]
