New renderings of the hotel-office-condo-retail hodgepodge in the works on the northern segment of the former city park and waste incinerator site at Allen Pkwy. and Gillette St.  were released into the digital wild by DC Partners this week. The buildings appear smoother and sleeker overall than some of the possible early depictions turned up last August (like the Downtown-facing view shown second above for comparison), though some elements of the cluster also appear a bit shorter and stouter. The main tower along Allen Pkwy. has been given a twist in the middle, with a floorcount appearing to number somewhere in the 40-plus range; the lowrise retail complex next door is shown with a bridge over the parkway leading directly into Buffalo Bayou Park.
Perennial rendering sleuth Urbannizer also dug up a different view of the new scene over on HAIF, showing how the whole bundle would fit in amid the Federal Reserve complex, the park, and the section of Fourth Ward surrounding what’s left of the Freedman’s Town Historical District:
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The stepped pits and pyramid of the Houston Police Officers Memorial and its tiny companion HPD station sit just to the north of the site, between Memorial Dr. and a meandering stretch of the bayou.
- Renderings Revealed for New Luxury Mixed-Use Development on Allen Parkway [HBJ]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Mixed-Use Towers That May Rise from the Ashes of Allen Parkway’s Former Waste Incinerator Site; Broadstone Tinsley Park Apartments Will Go Up on Site of Former City Garbage Incinerator; Comment of the Day: A Brief Annotated History of Allen Parkway Village’s Dirty Neighbor; City Selling Off Land, Streets, and a Park on Allen Parkway
Images: DC Partners
This looks more swankier than most crappy Houston buildings. We need more mid-rises though.
The progression of developments in Houston:
Rendering 1: Shiny multifamily tower, midrise condo and office buildings, multilevel retail center with parking neatly concealed in above and below ground garages tucked under the buildings. Sleek architecture looking like something on Vancouver Island or Dubai.
Rendering 2: One midrise office building and 6 story stucco apartment complex with hats. Big parking garage with a 2 story retail strip center wrapped around one side.
Rendering 3: 4 story “Houston wrap” apartment complex. One story strip center with big parking lot.
Final rendering: Large strip center with big box anchor and acres of parking. Architecture identical to retail center recently built in Pearland.
Not going to happen as long as it is adjacent to Allen Park Village, but I do like the walkway over Allen Parkway at least…
@old school
can that be the comment of the day?
Yeah, because Regent Square has been such a winner, why not propose another one…..
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What’s the vacancy rate downtown right now, close to 20%?
What old school said.
Some of the commenters are forgetting that this is funded with Chinese money. Essentially mean they are building this to park the money and get it out of China. Rational thought for the development go out the door.
WR,
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if our current President of the United States has taught me anything, a Trumpian Wall will suffice to keep out the ruffians and undesirables.
Looking at this, it’s interesting to think about how Houston and Dallas have developed their close-in areas in very divergent paths over the last decade and a half. In Houston, the area along Allen Parkway between downtown and it’s most affluent residential neighborhood ( River Oaks) has had a few highrise residential towers go up ( though of rather forgettable architectural quality), some small strip retail centers and a plethora of townhomes, and very little office space.
The equivalent area of Dallas, along Turtle Creek between downtown and it’s most affluent area ( Highland Park) has developed much more densely with many more highrise residential towers, a good number of mid-rise office buildings, lots of mixed use retail with apartments above, and attracted most of the city’s popular restaurants, akin to Montrose. It’s interesting to drive both areas and see how much more low-rise and less dense the Houston equivalent is. Here the density in the last 15 years has been mostly put in the Uptown/Galleria area just outside the 610 loop.
Please don’t compare Houston to Dallas. That place sucks.
So how much does foreign capital account for Houston’s high-rises, with penthouses atop?
When oil fades away, will this city be toast?