Tenants of this downtown office building just got an upgrade. Rendering via 717texas.com

Houston-based real estate giant Hines is rolling out a new smart building platform with the goal of better serving workers and workplaces at its buildings across the country, including one building in Houston that's aiming to be an office building of the future.

From the employee perspective, the new Hines app will allow employees and employers to book spaces within buildings, order food from on-site cafes and restaurants, book on-site fitness classes and access the building via their smartphone or smartwatch. For employers and tenants, the app will help them gain insights into building performance, occupancy data, ESG targets and employee satisfaction, according to a statement from Hines.

“We’re committed to a people-centric experience and this investment takes that commitment to the next level,” Ilene Goldfine, chief digital strategy officer at Hines, says in a statement. “The traditional systems were managed building by building and made it difficult or impossible to track performance across a portfolio. This new digital ecosystem, which unites back-end technology with front-end experiences, will deliver long-term cost savings to our investors and clients.

"Our clients will also be able to track employee satisfaction, make informed decisions about their space needs and ensure they’re monitoring their carbon targets,” Goldfine continues.

The new digital platform will be launched at eight Hines buildings across five cities, including 717 Texas Ave., a 33-story Class A office tower in Downtown Houston.

The other buildings where Hines will roll out the app include:

  • Salesforce Tower in Chicago
  • 1144 15th Street in Denver
  • The Kearns Building in Salt Lake City
  • CIBC Square in Toronto
  • T3 Bayside in Toronto
  • Two buildings at T3 Sterling Road in Toronto

The company plans to add more locations across its global portfolio.

Hines' opened its first location of The Square coworking space at 717 Texas Ave. in 2020 as part of its coworking concept Hines². The company, in collaboration with Montreal-based Ivanhoé Cambridge, opened a second Houston location of The Square recently and has a coworking space in The Kearns Building in Salt Lake City where it will roll out the new app.

Earlier this year, Hines also launched a sustainability-focused business unit, known as EXP by Hines. The unit, led by Hines veteran Doug Holte, aims to address “the disruptive changes in the built environment.”
Hines announced another flexible office space planned for downtown. Image courtesy of Hines

Real estate giant to open another downtown Houston coworking hub

going up

A new downtown Houston skyscraper that's on the rise and expected to be completed by the end of the year will offer flexible office space.

Texas Tower will feature The Square, Hines' flexible office product, the international real estate firm announced with Ivanhoé Cambridge. The 18,000-square-foot space will provide "elevated level of service and amenitization akin to a hospitality environment," according to a news release from Hines.

"We recognize the way our tenants conduct business is rapidly changing. The Square at Texas Tower will provide the highest quality flexible work experience in the market supported by an unparalleled dedication to service and integrity. Its offerings accommodate tenants' temporary teams, task forces, and expansions, and welcomes collaboration and variability," says Hines Senior Managing Director John Mooz in the release.

The Square is scheduled to open in early 2022 in the LEED Platinum office building that's being designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli. The flexible space is a result of a collaboration between Hines and Montreal-based firm, Ivanhoé Cambridge.

"We are thrilled to offer this signature workplace service in Texas Tower," says Jonathan Pearce, executive vice president of leasing and development, office and industrial at Ivanhoé Cambridge. "We have listened to our tenants and understand their need for flexibility of service, duration and built environment. As owner of Texas Tower and long-standing partners with Hines, we thrive to put forward innovative solutions such as The Square, to elevate and support the user experience of our customers and their employees' engagement, attraction, retention, and development."

Hines introduced its coworking concept — Hines² — a few years ago. Hines² already is up and running at two locations: 717 Texas, a 33-story Class A office tower in Houston, and The Kearns Building, a 10-story office building in Salt Lake City. As Hines looks to continued expansion, future cities may include Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and London, per the release.

The Square's first Houston location opened in 2020 at 717 Texas Ave. Image courtesy of Hines

Hines is getting into the coworking biz. Image courtesy of Hines

Houston-based real estate giant enters the coworking space with 2 locations and more in the works

Hines²

Houston-based real estate investor and developer Hines Interests LP is eyeing a piece of the burgeoning market for coworking space.

Hines just unveiled Hines², a platform for flexible office space at Hines-owned buildings. Hines² already is up and running at two locations: 717 Texas, a 33-story Class A office tower in Houston, and The Kearns Building, a 10-story office building in Salt Lake City.

Justin Boyar, director of market analytics at CoStar Group, a provider of commercial real estate data and analytics, points out that the two Hines buildings where Hines² has launched had vacancy rates of 48.6 percent (717 Texas in Houston) and 32.4 percent (Kearns Building in Salt Lake City) in the third quarter of this year.

Landlords like Hines increasingly are incorporating coworking into their office buildings "as a way to creatively entice tenants to buildings otherwise suffering high vacancy rates," Boyar says.

"Office landlords have been under siege this cycle by new space utilization trends — including increased density and efficiency, open floorplates, remote work, hoteling, and coworking," he says. "Office landlords now not only have to compete with structurally shrinking office demand but also with coworking providers who now offer hotel-like amenities and programming."

On the horizon are Hines² setups in markets such as Atlanta, Boston, Denver, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. Eventually, Hines plans to enter other markets in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

New York City-based Industrious, a provider of flexible workspace, is Hines' operating partner for the new venture. Industrious runs more than 80 flexible-workspace sites in more than 40 U.S. cities. Additionally, Hines has teamed up with New York City-based Convene to provide event management and meeting services.

"Hines' workplace services offering will serve as a complement to our existing office capabilities, strengthening our position as the preferred partner for tenants and investors around the world, without changing our risk profile or leasing strategy. It's a natural extension of our vertically integrated operating model," Charlie Kuntz, chief innovation officer at Hines, says in a release.

Inside Hines properties, Industrious will operate centers known as The Square, which will supply coworking and flexible-workspace options, meeting and event services, food, beverages, collaboration areas, and community programming.

"The Square is a direct response to the changing needs of our current and future building tenants — our core customers. Hines has a 60-plus-year track record of providing superior space and service, and flexible workspace and office hospitality are a logical progression for us," Kuntz says.

In the coworking sector, Hines goes up against established players like Regus and WeWork. Working to Hines' advantage in the increasingly competitive coworking field is that it already owns the office buildings where Hines² will operate.

Coworking ventures like Hines² continue to emerge, given that flexible workspace and shared-amenity spaces are projected to make up about 30 percent of the U.S. office market by 2030, according to a forecast from commercial real estate services company JLL. Today, coworking accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. office market, according to CoStar.

CoStar says Regus ranks first among U.S. providers of coworking space, with about 16.8 million square feet. At No. 2 is WeWork, with 14.8 million square feet. Boyar predicts WeWork might surpass Regus by the end of 2019 to claim the No. 1 spot.

Boyar says that Regus and WeWork still dwarf other coworking providers in terms of lease space, although he notes that Hines partner Industrious is one of the fastest-growing providers in the U.S.

Nearly 47 percent of coworking occupancy in the U.S. is spread among six major office markets, according to CoStar. They are New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Boston; and Chicago.

Paul Leonard, managing consultant at CoStar Portfolio Strategy, says that although coworking is experiencing rapid growth, "it remains a small piece of the office universe and today is more of a collaborator with landlords than a competitor. That may change with time, but operators like WeWork have a far smaller share of office demand compared to other disruptors like Airbnb for hotels or Uber for rideshare and taxi services."

In Houston, coworking represents less than 0.5 percent of leased office space, or about 1.4 million square feet, according to Boyar. An estimated 190 buildings in the Houston area lease space to coworking tenants.

"Surprisingly, even this little amount of coworking space puts Houston in the conversation with the largest coworking markets in the U.S.," he says.

Boyar says it makes sense for Houston-based Hines to break into the coworking market in its hometown and elsewhere.

Hines is "seen by many industry insiders as the gold standard, so their foray into the coworking space represents an acceptance, of sorts, that coworking is here to stay," he says. "Subjectively, I think their partnership with Industrious and Convene represents formidable competition in the coworking space."

That being said, Boyar doubts Hines will embark on aggressive growth in coworking, as WeWork has. But he says Hines² "will allow them the ability to offer more flexible solutions to their tenants. If I were Hines, I would see this a risk worth taking."

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Axiom Space announces new CEO amid strategic leadership change

new leader

Six months after promoting Tejpaul Bhatia from chief revenue officer to CEO, commercial space infrastructure and human spaceflight services provider Axiom Space has replaced him.

On Oct. 15, Houston-based Axiom announced Jonathan Cirtain has succeeded Bhatia as CEO. Bhatia joined Axiom in 2021. Cirtain remains the company’s president, a role he assumed in June, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In a news release, Axiom said Cirtain’s appointment as CEO is a “strategic leadership change” aimed at advancing the company’s development of space infrastructure.

Axiom hired Cirtain as president in June, according to his LinkedIn profile. The company didn’t publicly announce that move.

Kam Ghaffarian, co-founder and executive chairman of Axiom, said Cirtain’s “proven track record of leadership and commitment to excellence align perfectly with our mission of building era-defining space infrastructure that will drive exploration and fuel the global space economy.”

Aside from praising Cirtain, Ghaffarian expressed his “sincere gratitude” for Bhatia’s work at Axiom, including his leadership as CEO during “a significant transition period.”

Bhatia was promoted to CEO in April after helping Axiom gain more than $1 billion in contracts, Space News reported. He succeeded Ghaffarian as CEO. Axiom didn’t indicate whether Bhatia quit or was terminated.

Cirtain, an astrophysicist, was a senior executive at BWX Technologies, a supplier of nuclear components and fuel, for eight years before joining Axiom. Earlier, Cirtain spent nearly nine years in various roles at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He previously co-founded a machine learning company specializing in Earth observation.

“Axiom Space is pioneering the commercialization of low-Earth orbit infrastructure while accelerating advancements in human spaceflight technologies,” Cirtain said. “I look forward to continuing our team’s important work of driving innovation to support expanded access to space and off-planet capabilities that will underpin the future of space exploration.”

Among other projects, Axiom is developing the world’s first commercial space station, creating next-generation spacesuits for astronauts and sending astronauts on low-Earth orbit missions.

Houston billionaire benefactors will donate almost entire fortune to charity

Giving Back

Houston billionaires Rich and Nancy Kinder plan to donate an astounding 95% of their multi-billion-dollar wealth to charities, they told ABC13's Melanie Lawson.

The news comes as the Kinder Foundation announced an $18.5 million expansion project for Emancipation Park in the heart of Third Ward. That historic park was founded by slaves in 1872.

The Kinders are one of the wealthiest couples in the nation, worth $11.4 billion, according to Forbes. You've certainly seen the Kinder name on buildings and facilities around the city of Houston.

The Kinders are also among the most generous, giving away hundreds of millions to Houston institutions and charities. Their plan is to give away almost all of their wealth, or more than $10 billion.

Rich Kinder helped build oil and gas pipeline giant Kinder Morgan, but he stepped down as CEO more than a decade ago for a what he calls a bigger cause.

"Well, I think we'd all like to leave the world a little better place than we found it," he said. "And we just felt early on that the right thing to do was to try to give most or all of that away. So that's what we plan to do during our lifetime and after our death."

They found kindred spirits as one of the first couples to sign The Giving Pledge, established by billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

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Continue reading the full story, with video, on ABC13.com.

Mark Cuban calls AI ‘the greater democratizer’ for young entrepreneurs

eyes on AI

Texas billionaire Mark Cuban—whose investment portfolio includes Houston-based Holliball, a startup that makes and sells large inflatable holiday ornaments—believes AI is leveling the playing field for budding low-income entrepreneurs.

At the recent Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, the Shark Tank alum called AI “the greater democratizer.”

Cuban told Axios that free and low-cost AI tools enable disadvantaged teenagers to compete with seasoned professionals.

“Right now, if you’re a 14- to 18-year-old and you’re in not-so-good circumstances, you have access to the best professors and the best consultants,” Cuban said. “It allows people who otherwise would not have access to any resources to have access to the best resources in real time. You can compete with anybody.”

While Cuban believes AI is “the great democratizer” for low-income young people, low-income workers still face hurdles in navigating the AI landscape, according to Public Works Partners, an urban planning and consulting firm. The firm says access to AI among low-income workers may be limited due to cost, insufficient digital literacy and infrastructure gaps.

“Without adequate resources and training, these workers may struggle to adapt to AI-driven workplaces or access the educational opportunities necessary to acquire new skills,” Public Works Partners said.

Texas 2036, a public policy organization focused on the state’s future, reported in January AI jobs in Texas are projected to grow 27 percent over the next decade. The number 2036 refers to the year when Texas will celebrate its bicentennial.

As for the current state of AI, Cuban said he doesn’t think the economy is witnessing an AI bubble comparable to the dot-com bubble, which lasted from 1998 to 2000.

“The difference is, the improvement in technology basically slowed to a trickle,” Cuban said of the dot-com era. “We’re nowhere near the improvement in technology slowing to a trickle in AI.”