Fun Awaits When I Play

The Arena Theatre now owned by a partnership which owns the office buildings, was built in 1965. Bob Hope, a comedian, was an investor in the original Arena Theatre.The towers, colored black, were developed in the early 1980s by Melvin Lane Powers. Powers built a personal penthouse on top of one of the towers and received a lot of attention for this. The penthouse, located in Arena Tower I, had a helicopter pad and a private swimming pool on the rooftop.Robert Williamson of the firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler said that the Powers case was “pretty celebrated” and that the complex was “very storied.” Williamson described Powers as a “very flamboyant developer.” The complex was the most well-known development established by Powers.

Powers filed for bankruptcy. Afterwards, in 1986, Powers attempted to claim Arena Tower I, the north side tower, as his personal residence to prevent foreclosure. Bank of America repossessed the building and evicted Powers. Lawrence Wong, a real estate developer, acquired tower one from Bank of America in 1989. In 1990 he acquired the second tower from the Midland Bank of England. Laura A. Stromberg of the Houston Business Journal said that when Wong purchased the buildings, they were “substantially vacant.” At the time a 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²) block of space in tower one was vacant.