No matter what the economic pundits tell us about our economy having become diversified, if you live in Houston, you’re in the oil business. The past six months have seen oil prices plummet. In response, oil companies have slashed their capital spending by more than 40 percent, sold noncore assets, frozen new hires, reduced salaries,…
Welcome to “pitch day,” where inmates practice and prepare for an upcoming business plan competition managed by the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), a Houston-based nonprofit that turns incarcerated men into aspiring business owners. During this important dress rehearsal as they prepare for their final examination, inmates receive feedback from mostly local business leaders. At a…
J.W. “Jay” Wall III, commercial broker at Moody Rambin and vocal opponent of the dedicated bus lanes On traffic changes:”People are not going to be able to get out of their office buildings, they aren’t going to be able to make left turns. There’s going to be light preemption — they say there’s not going…
This article originally appeared as an Op Ed in the Houston Chronicle There’s an unjustifiable project afoot in the city that’s somewhat of a solution in search of a problem. The alleged problem: congestion on Post Oak Boulevard near the Galleria. I’m not saying there is no traffic congestion in the area. Any weekday at…
Houston has more than 17 million square feet of new office space currently under construction, but that trend is about to end Much of it is of single-tenant campuses — like Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Hous ton-based ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) — and are often tenant-owned, and it seems as though many…
In response to the Saudi-driven collapse of energy prices, Houston energy companies are drastically reducing their exploration and production capacity, cutting capital projects by 30 percent or more, which will have a big impact on Houston’s office real estate market. Most important to our conversation, they are dramatically reducing head counts. Houston-based Halliburton Co. (NYSE:…
This article originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle HPD Chief Charles McClelland struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk downtown on his way to work. Fortunately, the pedestrian only suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from St. Joseph Hospital, but the chief wasn’t ticketed. It’s obvious to anyone who has passed their driver’s license…
Chicago is undergoing a rash of gang violence. Democrat Mayor Rahm Emanuel, choose Garry McCarthy (formerly Chief of the Newark Police Department, formerly with the NYPD) to be his new Chief of Police. McCarthy in turn has turned to David Kennedy to help stymie gang violence in Chicago. Kennedy is a self-taught, public safety academic…
Many think the United States has long lacked a coherent energy strategy. Recent events have shown that our current federal energy policy is neither, as many conservative pundits allege, “feckless,” nor, as many liberal pundits claim, “enlightened.” It is rather willfully malevolent. But hope, as they say, springs eternal. It is painfully transparent that, until…
I am afraid, sincerely petrified, for my country, and, no, I’m not channeling Glenn Beck. My business, tenant representation, is good. There’s money in the bank. My accounts receivable are current. My retirement account has almost recovered from its 2007 lows. We refinanced our house with a conventional 4.25 percent 15-year loan. Nevertheless, I fear…
