Shell Oil to offer 5.5 acres of premium land for sale

Shell Oil Company plans to close its 70-year-old Bellaire Technology Center on Bellaire Blvd in the inner-loop which will open up a prime piece of real estate.

The Bellaire Technology Center land is made up of three different parcels located on Bellaire between Stella Link and Buffalo Speedway. They plan to be marketed for redevelopment once Shell demolishes the structures on the site and prepares it for sale, which could be as late as 2012.

Shell owns 5.5 acres of the 9.7-acre Bellaire site, and leases the rest from the Perrin White family a Houston real estate investor. Even with two separate owners, the three parcels are expected to be jointly marketed for redevelopment once the land is cleared, according to Jeri Ballard, director of corporate real estate for Shell.

Shell started operating at the site in the late 1930s, and over the years constructed eight buildings with a total of 315,000 square feet of space. The campus is across the street from a residential neighborhood, and is not far from the Texas Medical Center. The future use will be dictated by the City of Southside Place, which, unlike Houston, has zoning regulations.

City leaders will have a keen interest in future development as they seek to regain economic losses from Shell's departure. The municipality will experience a dip in property tax revenue after the relocation, and businesses will no longer have access to 650 Shell employees who shop and eat in the area.

The campus and surrounding area has been designated for a variety of uses, including office and professional, research and development, special services and medium-density residential.