The folks at BuzzBuzzHome pass on this hot-off-the-email rendering of the 34-story condo tower Randall Davis is planning for a piece of the former Westcreek Apartments site along San Felipe just inside the West Loop. Dubbed the Arábella, the 116-unit building is meant to sit at 4521 San Felipe St., directly across the street from Ashley Furniture. The proposed highrise’s immediate neighbors — including Target and the almost-complete 25-story SkyHouse River Oaks apartment tower immediately in back of the property — are artfully represented in the rendering by a small forest.
- Sales Center Opening Soon [Arábella]
- Arábella [BuzzBuzzHome]
- Randall Davis 116-unit Arabella 34-floors (Westcreek) [HAIF]
- Previously on Swamplot: A Randall Davis-Flavored Highrise for the East Side of the West Loop
Rendering: Randall Davis Company/Argali Partners
Highland Village Highrise
bwahahahaha!
@ Randall Davis: You’ve built the best of your track record on condo projects that have only dozens of units, not hundreds, and with flamboyant architecture and marketing. Its a good strategy. You should stick with it. If this is the sort of thing where the land price has effectively dictated the scale of your project, then that’s a bad land deal. And if there aren’t any good land deals anymore, then the market is overheated and you need to take a break from Houston to let things cool off.
That looks a lot like 3737 Kirby, but uglier.
@The Niche- The Astoria has 75 units. The Cosmopolitan has 80. This one has 116. I think you either don’t understand the difference between dozens and hundreds or you woke up way too early in Vietnam on the wrong side of the bed. Randall Davis has been a successful developer. You were run out of town. I am sure he appreciates the advice though.
Love the design!
I hate the blue stripes. Also seems late in the cycle, but I think, in the big picture, demand for hi-rise condos is good, considering the desire for aging boomers to downsize from single family homes. The location seems less nice as its not terribly walkable and across 610 from all of the great shopping, but maybe people could walk to River Oaks District from this site.
Eff the design. I can’t get past the accent in the name. Does that mean it’s pronounced almost to rhyme with “parabola”, that is, somewhere in the neighborhood of “uh-RAH-beh-luh”?
@ anonymous – Going out an a limb here and assuming that the blue stripe wont even be visible in reality. All good points though regarding downsizing and location. According to google it will be a 4 minute walk down Westcreek to the new River Oaks District.
Spoon, I think you mean 2727, but yes, good call. The comments from Doofus sound hilarious because I’d bet money he works for Davis. I’d think possibly the same for Tasha Ray as well. I mean….what about this could somebody love. I, like 90% of this city, think everything Davis builds looks like crap, but I can still see why some people like it and will live there. I think most people I know would be embarrassed to live in this monstrosity even if the location is amazing, as anonymous notes above.
@ doofus: The Astoria and the Cosmopolitan have fewer units and the sites are superior. Randall Davis has great marketing (if you just ignore the irrelevant internet snark and look at his results) and I like him personally; his track record is decent, but he’s also had some harsh learning experiences about big projects and the business cycle. This one strikes me as much more risky.
Btw, I was never run out of town. Seriously, who the heck gets run out of town? What does that even mean? I’m not sure what you’ve heard but although it’s true that I’m no longer in Houston, nearly all of my work is there and business is good.
Yeah, I always love how the artistic renderings never show how the building will actually look in its environment. The Wilshire will be completely hemmed in by Sky House RO, Target, and another 17-story project going up on the Westcreek site. In fact, units on the lower floors won’t have much of a view at all.
Awesome, awesome, awesome
I love it!!!!!!
I love it. Awesome building….great addition to our beloved inner loop. Can’t wait to see it growing each time I visit target
Diamond Beach was not a great success, but that had more to do with the hurricane than anything else. The TItan was scrapped due to bad market conditions but it eventually morphed into the Astoria.
What were his other “large scale” failures.
I think Randall Davis builds gaudy buildings. I personally call them highrise garage mahals. However, people seem to love them. He’s sold out everything he’s built and I have no doubt this one will follow the same pattern.
I always see people on the internet bashing Randall’s projects but I’ve never met a person that doesn’t like The Renoir, Gotham, Empire, etc… I now live near The Renoir and everyone oohs and ahhs when they come over to my house about the “cool building over there”.
It is a nice building – if you ignore those weird aqua blue lines on the end of it. I like the play of the boxes on the long facade. It breaks it up nicely and keeps it from looking like your standard nicely curved high rise facade.
.
All in all, this is a very welcome departure from the styrofoam gargoyles Randall Davis is known for.
Did Ken Bernstien forget to change his user name between posts?
@ mr.clean19 – no, I didn’t. I posted 3 comments and on purpose. I keep wanting to add to what I already said. And I will say it again. I LOVE this building. So refreshing compared to all the 5 story multi family garbage boxes that our beloved inner loop has been flooded with.
Yeah, a total rip off of 2727 Kirby. I don’t know ONE person who thinks the Renoir doesn’t look like shit, I have no idea who on Earth your friends are, but if they think it’s cool it’s pretty obvious that they have zero taste. Still, this builting is better than some of the rubbish he pays to have built.
My favorite part was in the main article’s notation that the Target and 25-story Sky House River Oaks was conveniently snuffed out by a small forest in the artist’s rendition. (Tip of my hat to whoever wrote that snazzy and sassy bit of writing.)
Of course, this could be true if Mr. Davis is going to buy the Target and Sky House, demolish them both, and then plant a forest. Trees for Houston would be so proud of him. He could then turn his reforestation magic on that Wendy’s at Kirby Drive and North Boulevard.
*he says sheepishly*
.
I like it.
The Target used to be a ‘forest’ of mature live oaks only to become a heat baked parking lot. What’s old is new again?
I think the building looks awesome. But what do I know :)
Randall Davis did it again.
Charming, elegant, and contemporary practical luxury in the heart of Uptown Houston. Arabella soars forging a trail from the ground up for others to follow or at least try.
The leadership and vision of Randall Davis is at work again, projecting abstract architecture into a factual structure of beauty ascending to the sky strong, lean, and yes sexy…
Great work Randall. Keep Houston moving
M. Tony Semaan
I think it suits the neiborhood. It’s not my cup of tea but I can understand how it will be desirable to a certain niche. I’m certain Mr Davis will make a lot money.
As far as the blue light (if they actually do it). I think it’s clever marketing. Always think of your market. I imagine the buyers like a bit of bling.
This building is going to be awesome. Our city needs architecture like this!