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March 28, 2008 – 11:34 am
Interfin Companies president Giorgio Borlenghi, who developed Uptown Park and the Hotel Granduca, explains how it’s done:
. . . developers must not forget the principles we Houstonians like so much such as ease of access to the various components of the building and plentiful and readily available parking. As an example, when we planned Uptown Park, we decided to keep it exclusively retail to allow our patrons to park directly in front of the shops and restaurants without having to deal with multistory parking structures.
Keeping Uptown Park “exclusively retail,” of course, meant that his luxury hotel had to go across the street:
I created Hotel Granduca as a unique, elegant and extremely exclusive boutique hotel for the Uptown/Galleria area. I wanted it to be very different from all the other hotels: It had to feel very Italian, of course, and to have a true residential setting, so that it could be someone’s home away from home. What surprises me is that a number of people in Houston are still not understanding this very European concept and somehow think that Granduca is not a regular hotel, but some type of apartment building.
Photo of Arturo’s Uptown Italiano restaurant in Uptown Park: Flickr user heyjebbo
Read more about: 77056, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Parking, Parking-Garages, Real Estate Marketing, Retail, Shopping Centers, Uptown, Uptown Park
A reader writes in wanting to find out what is planned for the “gigantic” and newly cleared block at the northwest corner of the 59 South feeder road and Richmond, just west of Midtown. The block surrounded by Richmond, Colquitt, Garrott, and Jack is the planned site of The Courtyard on Richmond, a midrise apartment complex by Post Properties that’s just a short walk away from the Wheeler light-rail station.
Back in October, the Chronicle’s Betty Martin reported on the project: a 5-story, 200-unit structure with two courtyards, sandwiching a parking garage. The story included this comment:
It would be similar to “that property in Midtown that everybody likes - Midtown Square - that has a restaurant on the ground floor, brick sidewalks,” [Post Properties developer Bart] French said.
Post Properties built Midtown Square, so you might expect the new project will be similar . . . well, except for that part about restaurants on the ground floor. The plans we’ve seen don’t show any retail, except for a leasing office at the corner of Richmond and Milam. And a Planning Department document dating from January refers to the Courtyard on Richmond as a 252-unit residential-only project.
After the jump: those plans!
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Read more about: 77006, Apartments, First Montrose Commons, Light-Rail, Midtown, Neartown, Proposed Developments
The last of the Harold Farb apartment complexes has been sold. Cypress Real Estate Advisors, an Austin firm, bought the Nob Hill Apartments on North Braeswood and the West Point Apartments on Woodway last December. And Post Investment Group, an LLC out of LA with some NYC backing, just closed on Farb’s Broadway Square Apartments just north of Hobby Airport.
David Beebe, who’s just posted his own account of the southeast-side walking tour he took with John Lomax last month, has a few comments about his stroll along Broadway:
The [trees] throughout this neighborhood are mature and beautiful. They are, for the most part, oaks. This is a big difference between the Harold Farb pioneered Hobby Airport area and the Frank Sharp designed Sharpstown. If [Sharp] had been as pro-active about tree planting his nighborhood would look more like this. The architecture and age is about the same.
. . . and on the Broadway Square Apartments, which Farb built in 1975:
His apartments here on Broadway are still the best looking of the entire area’s- French Victorian style, but without falling off shutters and with better built and ornate wrought iron railings and kempt landscaping.
There’s been no announcement about it, but the iconic signs along Broadway showing a silhouetted Farb wielding what appears to be a roll of blueprints are likely to be replaced. Globe St.’s Amy Wolff Sorter reports that Post Investments is planning a $2.5-million renovation:
Work will begin in two months on the 182-building complex and take 1.5 years to complete, according to Jack R. Ehrman, Post’s acquisitions director. The lion’s share of the tab will be used to replace 90% of the roofs.
Photo of sign at Broadway Square Apartments: David Beebe
Read more about: 77061, Apartments, Buying and Selling, Hobby Airport, Park Place, Real Estate Investing, Renovations
Today comes news that the developers of the Ashby Highrise won’t wait any longer to strike a deal with the city — and are proceeding with permit applications for their original 23-story apartment and condo tower next to Southampton. Writing in the Chronicle, Mike Snyder reports that Buckhead Investment Partners had submitted a proposal for a slightly smaller tower to the city three weeks ago but had received no response.
The proposed smaller 22-story tower, which didn’t get much support from neighborhood groups, would have featured a narrower tower with 130 condo units and four detached townhouses along Ashby, two floors of underground parking and two more above grade, plus a small park on one corner. Buckhead principals Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton told Snyder the reduced number of units would “eliminate any possibility the project would cause unacceptable traffic congestion.”
A document outlining the proposal, however, shows the offer is contingent on significant financial concessions by the city: An immediate refund of about $500,000 for new sewer lines the developers installed to serve the project, along with a payment to the developers of up to $2.15 million, over as long as 10 years, from revenue generated by increased tax values on the site.
Meanwhile, Buckhead’s fancy new website now features a far more complete collection of presentation drawings of what appears to be the original 23-story tower. There doesn’t seem to be any mention on the site of the 22-story all-condo tower proposal.
After the jump, lots of tower drawings from the new website — including . . . kids hugging puppies!
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Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Condos, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Retail, Southampton, Townhomes
Armed with only a camera and a healthy sense of curiosity, Swamplot reader and longtime Memorial Heights Apartments resident Michael W. Jones pokes around his apartment complex and unearths evidence of Archstone-Smith’s redevelopment plans. His conclusions:
- Buildings 7, 8, and 9, in the southwest quadrant of the complex facing S. Heights Blvd, will be the first to come down. All tenants have been out of these buildings since March 1. The first of six new four-story apartment buildings will be built here.
- The dingbat-Modern-style office building at 225 S. Heights Blvd. outside the complex will likely be torn down:
The fact that the building is not on the tax roll leads me to believe that 225 is actually owned by Archstone-Smith, and will be brought down as part of the redevelopment. The current state does give sign that there may have been some interior demolition already done, and it’s waiting for the wrecking crew to come in to finish the job.
- Though tenants have been hit with some large rent increases in the last two years, Archstone-Smith isn’t going out of its way to let them know what’s happening to their homes:
To date, other than the tennants in the buildings affected by the pending demolition, the rest of the complex has not been made aware of the pending changes. It is only through research and infomation from other sources have I been able to piece the information you see here together.
After the jump, photos — and a few more details — from Jones’s report.
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Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Demolitions, Memorial Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Washington Corridor
March 14, 2008 – 10:10 am
Nope, no condos in the planned Houstonian Medical Center hotel — but there will be 100 apartments. Medistar consultant Doug Williams gave a few more details about the planned 40-story Main St. tower at the edge of Southgate in yesterday’s Planning Commission hearing:
- Parking-structure base will be 12 stories, with a green space on top, and contain 14,000 sq. ft. of meeting and ballroom space.
- Building will have 303 guest rooms, plus 100 apartments for longer-term stays, 70 of them furnished.
- This is a Redstone project.
- The developers are also buying the Baylor Clinic building next door, which Baylor rents from St. Luke’s.
- The plans include a new skybridge that will connect the new tower to the Baylor Clinic next door, so hotel guests can use the existing Baylor Clinic skybridge to cross Main St. Representatives of Rice have expressed interest in connecting the university’s new Collaborative Research Center one block to the north to the new building by skybridge as well.
The commission approved a revised version of the variance request but attached several conditions having to do with landscaping and parking spaces.
After the jump, the view from Southgate!
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Read more about: 77030, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Disputes, Planning Commission, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center, Variances
March 11, 2008 – 11:21 am
The square footages appear to have adjusted a bit since our last report, but Trademark Properties says it has its financing, and that High Street is a go. From a report in Globe St.:
The Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. and Coventry [Real Estate Advisors Ltd. of New York City] are redeveloping a seven-acre site of the former Central Ford dealership at 4410 Westheimer Rd. In turn, the JV signed a partnership pact with Indianapolis-based Kosene & Kosene Development Co. for the residential component of High Street. The redevelopment will have 233 apartments atop 100,000 sf of retail and 80,000 sf of office in a separate structure. The foundation’s been poured for the office building, with residential and retail to go vertical in 60 to 90 days.
After the jump, another pretty picture!
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Read more about: 77027, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, Westheimer
Didja know that the new Costco going up on the former site of the HISD headquarters building at the corner of Richmond and Weslayan . . . is gonna have its very own gas station right out front?
Costco liked the idea of coming inside the Loop so much . . . it decided to bring all its friends! The city just issued a building permit for the new Costco Fuel station. But that’s just the latest addition to Greenway Commons, which is turning out to be quite a mix: A 45,420-sq.-ft. LA Fitness is going above the Costco, next to a 4-story parking garage which is connected to a 2-story retail strip center. It’ll all be protected from the busy surrounding streets by more than 500 surface parking spaces and 2 corner pad sites slated for “banks.” In back: a 550-unit Morgan Group luxury apartment complex . . . with two more separate garages!
After the jump, more drawings and plans of this surprising development.
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Read more about: 77027, Apartments, Big Box Stores, Commercial Real Estate, Greenway-Plaza, Mixed Use, New Construction, Parking, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments, Retail, Richmond-Avenue, Shopping Centers, Sprawl, Strip Centers
February 26, 2008 – 11:49 am
Here’s the plan: Buy a fourplex on a cul-de-sac near the intersection of Woodway and Voss. Do some painting, replace the roof and repair the exterior, put in granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances in one of the units and new appliances and carpet in the rest. Then . . . convert the place to condos, and flip them one at a time!
Except . . . there are a heck of a lot of condos out there in the $150K-$230K range, and selling is tough.
Bummer. But there’s still a moneymaking way out: If you can’t make the condo flip yourself, that doesn’t mean you can’t sell someone else on the idea of doing it. And you’ve already done the conversion work!
Just listed on MLS: 6323 Deerwood. Four units built in 1975, totaling 7,564 square feet, on a 10,171-sq.-ft. lot. Apartments lease for $1200 and $1400. Asking $645,000:
Units have already been condo converted! Investor can sell units separately or keep as a fourplex.
Will consider seller financing!
After the jump: the renovated innards.
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Read more about: 77057, Apartments, Briargrove, Buying and Selling, Condo Conversions, Condos, Flipping, Multifamily Properties, Real Estate Marketing, Woodway Glen
February 25, 2008 – 7:36 am
Archstone still isn’t saying much about its plans to redevelop the Memorial Heights Apartments at Studemont and Washington, but the Houston Business Journal’s Allison Wollam digs up a little more detail:
While members of SuperNeighborhood 22 support the redevelopment, they are concerned that the project’s suburban design — which calls for the back of the residential components to face Washington Avenue — is hurting efforts to transform the avenue into a walkable, pedestrian-friendly destination.
Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Memorial Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Washington Corridor
February 19, 2008 – 9:37 am
Wielding a copy of Stephen Fox’s Houston Architectural Guide, transit buff Christof Spieler writes in to report that the vacant and graffiti-laden Hoa Binh Center in Midtown — targeted by Camden Property Trust for a new apartment complex — has an important story behind it. He quotes from Fox’s writeup of the shopping center, which was built in 1923:
What distinguishes this building is that it was the prototype of the 20th century American suburban shopping center: it introduced the concept of off-street parking, toward which the grocery store itself was oriented.
Spieler adds:
In other words, Camden may be about to tear down the world’s first strip mall. Now that’s a historic building.
And it’s certainly worth at least a nice plaque somewhere on those new apartments going up on the site!
But before all you preservationist types get up in arms about the impending demolition of the mother of all strip malls, keep in mind that an equally important part of this structure’s history and legacy will almost certainly be preserved, cherished, and celebrated. Sure, the building will probably end up in a pile of rubble off Loop 610. But all those historic off-street parking spaces? They’ll be moved into a nice new garage at the Camden Travis, where residents of the new apartments and their guests will be able to enjoy them for generations to come.
After the jump: Spieler spills more Hoa Binh history!
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Read more about: 77006, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Midtown, Parking, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
February 18, 2008 – 8:48 am
For years, Camden Property Trust has been talking about a giant mixed-use project the company is planning for the “superblock” bounded by Main, Anita, McGowen, and Travis in Midtown. And the Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff reported this weekend that Camden is ready to go ahead with its Midtown development.
Except the new Camden project isn’t on the vacant superblock. And it won’t be mixed use. It’s a four-story, 253-unit, $45 million apartment complex called the Camden Travis, planned for the site of the former Hoa Binh supermarket building, the dilapidated and heavily tagged vaguely-moderne-looking shopping center one block to the west, at 2830 Travis.
Read more about: 77006, Apartments, Demolitions, Midtown, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers
February 14, 2008 – 2:19 pm
It looks like our earlier report about the Fairmont at San Felipe — the strip-center-apartment combo planned for the southeast corner of San Felipe and Winrock — was wrong. Judging from this new rendering of the complex, it sure looks like those apartments will actually be stacked directly on top of the retail spaces, forming a lovely parking-lot-courtyard tableau!
Permits for construction of the apartments were just approved by the city. After the jump: closeups, plus the plan that led us astray.
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Read more about: 77057, Apartments, Briargrove, Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Retail, Strip Centers
February 12, 2008 – 9:40 pm
Archstone is planning to redevelop the 28-acre Memorial Heights Apartments complex fronting Studemont, Washington Ave., and Heights Blvd.:
The current plan to be realized over a 5-year period features mid-rise mixed-use at the Washington/Studemont corner, and a series of six mid-rise residential nodes with incorporated garages on a new internal central Paseo that will parallel Washington Avenue mid-way through the complex. Archstone suggests visiting their nearly completed Esplanade project on Hermann Drive west of Almeda for a representation of product quality.
Hey, that’s a pretty short life for the apartments. They were built in 1996.
Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Memorial Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Washington Corridor
February 5, 2008 – 1:02 pm
How poetic is it that the lone holdout in a 2-acre plot on West Alabama that Gables Residential wants to tear down so it can build up to 150 more apartments — and maybe some street-level shops — is called . . . Distinctive Details?
Little Woodrow’s will be shutting down March 2nd, but Distinctive Details, which rents linens and party supplies, wants the Atlanta REIT to triple its $150K lease buyout offer.
Read more about: 77098, Apartments, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby
February 4, 2008 – 5:35 pm
A short item in the Houston Business Journal is encouraging rumors of a new highrise on Shepherd, one block south of the Alabama Theater Bookstop.
That’s the current location of jewelry store Fly High Little Bunny, along with the Jamail Real Estate office shown in this photo sent in by a Swamplot reader. The property includes two houses in back.
But the new development could stretch all the way to W. Alabama. A poster on HAIF claims the same buyer is also purchasing the shopping center on the north side of the block, which contains Ruchi’s Taqueria and Roeders Pub, and is planning highrise apartments and a parking garage, with retail space on the ground floor.
Read more about: 77098, Alabama Theater, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Westlawn Terrace
