Houston Endowment buys land for new home
Houston Endowment has purchased 1.5 acres near Memorial and Waugh to build a new home the institution says will better reflect its values while offering a more collaborative workplace for its employees and community partners.
“This building has to reflect our values and priorities,” said Ann Stern, president and chief executive of the philanthropic institution, citing sustainability, innovation and collaboration. “We’re viewing this as an investment in our current work.”
County records show that the site, in the 3600 block of Willia, just north of Buffalo Bayou and overlooking Spotts Park, was purchased from an affiliate of Pinto Realty Partners, the real estate arm of Houston-based investment firm Cockrell Interests. Several years ago, Pinto had plans to build an 18-story, 250,000-square-foot office tower to be named Park Place at Buffalo Bayou on the site.
Terms of the sale, which closed Wednesday, were not disclosed, and officials from Pinto could not be reached Thursday. The county valued the property, which at one time housed a YWCA, at $4.4 million in 2018.
The Endowment, established by builder and philanthropist Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, in 1937, has more than $1.8 billion in assets. Each year it provides some $70 million in funding toward efforts that aim to enhance civic assets and strengthen systems that support residents.
A plan to relocate its staff of about 30, currently housed in 16,000 square feet at downtown’s Chase Tower, where it has had offices since 1992, has been in the works for several years.
“As a perpetual institution, this just makes business sense for us,” Stern said. “And it’s also appealing to have it be ours from a functional standpoint.”
An architect has not yet been selected to design the new building, which is to house an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 square feet.
Stern said it will likely be late 2021 or 2022 when the group is ready to move.
Cushman & Wakefield represented the Endowment in the land acquisition. The Gensler architecture firm, Forney Construction and the law firm Jackson Walker also assisted the institution.