Commercial Craftsman
Commercial Drywall. Inc. Volume I, No. 4
February 1980
In downtown area
ODD starting During the month of February, Commercial Drywall will begin construction on two major downtown projects—First City and Texas Commerce towers. These, added to existing operations, make downtown one of CDI's busiest areas of work. First City Tower, scheduled to start-up in early February, is a 49-story office building in the First
At 997 feet, Texas Commerce Tower will be Houston's tallest building.
major projects
City Financial Center developed by Urban Investment and Development Company and First City National Bank of Flouston, a joint venture. With general contracting by W.S. Bellows Construction Co. the building when completed will house First City National Bank, Superior Oil Co. and the law firm of Vinson & Elkins as major tenants. Designed by the Flouston architectural firm of S.l. Morris Associates, the $100 million-plus building will be in the shape of a parallelogram positioned at an angle to the city block on which it stands. In addition to its shape and positioning on the site, First City will have another architecturally distinctive aspect—four 11 story-high notches, or vision strips rising in staggered formation the height of the building on two sides. These vision strips are designed to provide a dramatic view from the elevator lobbies of the building. For CDI, First City Tower will be 14-16 month undertaking to include both core and tenant work. Job supervisor for the project will be Chuck Grogan who prior to First City has headed up part of the Floustonian project and Marshall Fields department store. Just a few blocks to the north and west of First City will be the Texas Commerce Tower, a 75-story office building which when completed, will be the tallest structure in Flouston. At 997 feet, it will also be the tallest building outside of New York and Chicago, and will pass Flouston’s next tallest building by 20 stories. A project of Gerald D. Ffines Interests, Texas Commerce Tower will be under the general contracting
of Turner Construction. The building will serve as the worldwide headquarters of Texas Commerce Bancshares, its major tenant. It is designed by I.M. Pei & Partners Architects and will contain a fivestory atrium area rising from the ground floor. Drywall operations in Texas Commerce Tower are expected to begin in late February or early March. Under the CDI supervision of Jay Richards, the building has a production schedule of three days per floor, a pace nearly twice as fast as normal production time. Core work in the building will be 12-14 month process, with tenant work to start this summer giving the total project a duration of 18-20 months. CDI’s vice president and general manager, Mike Grogan, believes that downtown Flouston will harbor substantial construction activity for several years to come. “What we are seeing in these two projects is the confidence of the Flouston economy and the strength in the downtown sector of the city,’’ says Mike. “Flouston, in most respects, has just recently began to grow in that area. We expect to see a good balance of downtown construction along with that in the outlying parts of Flouston for the next several years," contends Mike. CDI, in the last three years, completed such downtown projects as Flouston Center One and Two, FHarris County Administration building and Two Allen Center. Currently, Three Allen Center, The FHotel Meridien and First International Plaza are major CDI projects in the downtown area.