Developers early this month unveiled plans to build what they call Energy Tower City Center in Midland. Initial plans call for offices, condominiums, a hotel, retail space, and a movie theater.
The announcement reminded this reporter of her stint during the 1980s as a wire service reporter working out of a West Texas bureau that included coverage of Midland and Odessa. At that time, an oil price bust and a failed downtown bank sent Midland into an economic tail spin.
The tail spin included unfulfilled real estate promises. No high-rise buildings have been constructed in Midland for about 3 decades although a 10-story structure opened last year. Some downtown skyscrapers discussed during the 1980s never materialized.
Organizers behind the proposed 53-story energy tower assure the media and other interested parties that oil supply-demand scenarios have changed since then.
"It's perfectly logical that this gets built," said Joseph Jacobs, cofounder of Wexford Capital LP, a private equity and hedge fund based in Greenwich, Conn., that is proposing the $350 million tower, expected to take 2 years to build.
The Midland-based Energy Related Properties (ERP) is working with Wexford on the project, and executives said pre-leasing has begun for the envisioned tower, which would be about twice the height of Midland's tallest building.
Wexford's Jacobs told reporters that he doubts industry will see the same type of oil price volatility as experienced during the 1980s.
Downtown revitalization efforts
William Meyer, ERP partner, hopes the building can help revitalize downtown Midland. "We're trying everything to make people feel proud about this," he said, adding plans call for "Class A space that competes with anything that's as good as in Houston."
West Houston is well known for its energy corridor along Interstate 10 where office buildings hosting oil and gas companies dominate the real estate landscape.
ERP's Meyer believes the proposed tower will help oil and gas companies that already are trying to recruit employees to accept jobs in Midland and to move their families there.
"We believe in oil. We believe in Midland long term," Meyer said. "This isn't built for show, it is built for need."
Currently, the old Midland County courthouse sits on land where the tower is to be built. Developers bought the land in March.
Michael Edmonds, principal of Edmonds International, has been hired to design the office-hotel-condominium project. Previously, he designed mixed-use buildings in Canada, Mexico, and Asia. Edmonds hopes the project will create a social network for downtown Midland.
Edmonds hopes that the proposed high rise "could start a ripple effect of activity downtown."
Petroleum Building's role
Midland already has a Petroleum Building, a 12-story office building that opened in 1929. Developer T.S. Hogan outlined plans for the Petroleum Tower in 1927. At that time, 12 stories was a skyscraper for Midland. Although it sat empty for awhile, the Petroleum Building still stands today.
This reporter can't help but question assertions that fate will be kinder this time for an energy skyscraper in Midland than in previous decades. Optimistic oil executives argue it's different for industry now because of technological advancements, particularly for unconventional oil and gas.
Midland Mayor W. Wesley Perry notes his city is seeing a rising demand for office space from oil companies returning to the Permian basin. Perry acknowledges the existing Petroleum Building was nicknamed "Hogan's folly" for awhile.
Yet, he also believes the building helped put Midland on the map. "We're here because of a tall building built years and years ago," Perry said.