Galleria

Galleria
10/17/08 10:41am

Westgate Resorts Closes Its Houston Sales Office

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Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Real Estate Marketing
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JPMorgan Chase Bank Building, 5177 Richmond Dr. at Sage, HoustonThe HBJ’s Allison Wollam reports that the Westgate Houston Preview Gallery, a large timeshare sales center in the JPMorgan Chase bank building on Richmond at Sage, has closed:

The gallery, located at 5177 Richmond Ave., offered a full-size model with a living room and kitchen styled after Central Florida Investments’ timeshare properties.

The Houston location, which opened in 2004, was the first offsite sales center for Orlando-based Central Florida Investments. The company owns Westgate Resorts, which operated the preview gallery.

Almost 3 weeks ago, CFI founder and CEO David Siegel told the Orlando Sentinel that financial troubles had recently begun at the company — with the suddenness of “a heart attack.”

Until that time, Siegel apparently thought he was doing pretty well.

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Galleria
10/08/08 11:34am

No Bice: Still Behind on the Rent

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
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Bice Ristorante, Houston Galleria

An austere bit of stationery is taped to the door of Bice Ristorante in the Galleria, indicating that mall owner Simon Property Group has changed the locks until Bice comes up with $164,731.37 in rent. The letter is dated from mid-July. And somebody has finally noticed!

“Seriously, how do you fall this far behind on rent?,” asks Tasty Bits author Misha. A few pix below:

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Financing
08/29/08 8:39am

West Loop Nineties Revival Not Getting Enough Love

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Galleria, Highrises, Houston Architects, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Proposed Novati Group Office Tower at 1600 West Loop South, Uptown, HoustonThe Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson is reporting that the Novati Group’s plan to dust off a 15-year-old Ziegler Cooper design for a 20-story office tower and build it on the West Loop

appears to be in limbo. The deal isn’t dead, but it’s not moving forward.

The problems: finding debt financing . . . and that pre-leasing thing.

Meanwhile, Dawson expects Transwestern to announce details soon on a large new addition to Uptown’s Four Oaks Place — to replace the 24-Hour Fitness on Post Oak Blvd. owned by TIAA-CREF:

The proposed building being called Tower Five at Four Oaks Place is now set to be 30 stories tall, with 525,000 square feet of office space on 22 floors atop a parking garage with roughly 1,500 spaces, says Carleton Riser, head of Transwestern’s development group.

He says the building designed by architectural firm Pickard Chilton could break ground in the first quarter of 2009.

The fact that no tenants have committed to the new building won’t delay construction, Riser says.

Rendering: Ziegler Cooper

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Construction Materials
08/21/08 8:02am

Venue-Appropriate Stucco Repair

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Galleria, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Circuit City, 4500 San Felipe St., Uptown, Houston

Walking from their car to the front door of the Circuit City on San Felipe, Bunny Bungalow resident Annie Sitton and her husband notice a crack in the stucco covering a pilaster at the front of the building. Looking closer, they notice that . . .

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Galleria
08/08/08 12:13pm

Whole Foods Galleria and North Montrose: Still on Track

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North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail
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View of Proposed New Galleria Whole Foods at Blvd Place

Whole Foods Markets’ recently announced plans to scale back some of its planned store openings will not disturb plans for new Houston stores on West Dallas at Waugh and in Boulevard Place — according to a report in the Houston Business Journal:

Scott Simon, executive marketing coordinator for Whole Foods, says this announcement will not impact any of the company’s plans in Houston.

The Austin-based health foods supermarket chain is planning to develop a 78,000-square-foot store at the southwest corner of Post Oak and San Felipe.

“Our Post Oak store would very likely not open until 2010 anyway, so this decision doesn’t affect our Houston plans,” says Simon.

Boulevard Place Whole Foods image: DMJM H&N

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Art
06/18/08 9:43pm

Head of the Titans: Cosmopolitan Pissoirs on Post Oak

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Condos, Galleria, Highrises, Parking, Public Art, Real Estate Marketing
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Giant Fountains on Parking Garage, Cosmopolitan Condominiums, Post Oak Blvd., Houston

A reader sends photos of some recent construction on the garage podium beneath the Cosmopolitan tower and asks:

What are those three giant urinals affixed to the east exterior wall of Randall Davis’ latest glass-clad erection, the one on Post Oak where James Coney Island used to be? . . .

Where is the Colossal Statue of Constantine when you need him? (Well, he’s in Rome, but that’s no help to Post Oak Boulevard!)

Sure, there’s the vaguely Roman theming going on with the marketing for Davis’s next tower across the street, the Titan. But these new constructions might be something much more contemporary . . . think Marcel Duchamp by way of Claes Oldenburg: The big fountains!

Below: the Colossal Head of Constantine . . . and the Colossal Heads of the Cosmopolitan, on display!

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Galleria
06/12/08 6:31pm

3100 Post Oak: Where the Loop, the Lake, the Train, and Richmond Collide

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Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Rendering of Proposed Office Tower at 3100 Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

A kind tipster sends us a link to this new 17- 26-story (including the parking garage), 452,000-sq.-ft. office tower planned for 3100 Post Oak — near Richmond, just across the Lakes on Post Oak from Randall Davis’s Manhattan fantasy in the Galleria. And right next to the new rail line. The plans show room for a ground-floor restaurant, directly on one of the lakes.

A couple more images after the jump!

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Buying and Selling
06/12/08 1:56pm

The Cosmopolitan: Is It Flipping Time Yet?

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Condos, Galleria, Highrises, Homes for Sale, Real Estate Marketing
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The Cosmopolitan Condo Tower, Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

A reader has questions about the Cosmopolitan, Randall Davis’s tower-on-a-box on Post Oak:

What’s going on with this building? My wife and I looked at this last month as they were closing out and only had 2 units left, with the agent (surprise) saying they would be sold out shortly. Now there are 4 units on MLS. Are these from the builder or resales? There are only 80 units in the building–I wonder if some speculation is going on as I heard that Randall Davis offers sizable discounts to his employees, who bought several of the units at the Cosmo at a discount and are now trying to flip them. Is this Houston or Miami?

Hey, 4 units for sale out of 80 doesn’t sound too bad. On the other hand, it looks like one of the available units on MLS is, in fact, the Miami.

Cosmo buyers, readers . . . any comments?

Photo: HAR

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Demolitions
06/06/08 11:11am

More Action on Post Oak: Goodbye, Compass

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Galleria, Office Buildings, Redevelopment
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Compass Bank Building, 2200 Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

Redstone is planning to tear down the classic Galleria Modern 7-story Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak Blvd., Jennifer Dawson reports in today’s Houston Business Journal. But the company isn’t quite ready to announce its new highrise condo development:

David Shindeldecker, chairman, president and CEO of Redstone, confirmed the deal but would not reveal what will be built.

“We are going to do a project there,” Shindeldecker says. “I don’t want to discuss this for another three or four weeks.”

A notice sent to tenants said leases would be terminated December 1st.

See below for a long last look at the building, courtesy of Google and the Netherlands Consulate!

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Galleria
06/05/08 4:16pm

Galleria Whole Foods Parking Puzzle Solved

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Parking, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Proposed Whole Foods on Post Oak Blvd., Blvd. Place, Galleria, Houston

Yesterday’s brief Uptown Whole Foods parking mystery has been solved by one of our most helpful tipsters . . . who points to an older but more complete set of Boulevard Place plans. Shoppers, there is no need to worry. You will be able to park above, below, near, or yes — right in front of Whole Foods . . . and you won’t get stuck having to sneak your whole-grain-laden shopping cart past Hermès. Just imagine what awkward social situations that would have caused!

Below: 5 levels of out-of-date Blvd Place site plans explain it all!

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Apartments
06/04/08 3:08pm

The Sleek Strip, the Ritz Tower, and the Path to Whole Foods: A Closer Look at Boulevard Place

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Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Post Oak Blvd. Parking, Blvd Place, Uptown, Houston

Sure, the super-Mod architecture, elevated sidewalks, artistically moistened streets, and glistening rotunda in the new Boulevard Place renderings make the place look pretty swank, but what’s with the token strip of parking spots out front? Is this gonna be pay-to-display valet? Some kind of shopping-center twist on a velvet rope line? Or just a stab at maintaining Houston street cred: Sure, Post Oak Blvd. might be going urban upscale, but this is one development that won’t be forgetting its strip-center roots!

Updated views of Blvd Place, including the new Ritz-Carlton and Hanover towers — plus a site plan and a Whole Foods puzzle! It’s all below:

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Condos
06/03/08 9:58am

The Turnberry: More Wiping, in More Places, than at Any Other Condo Tower

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Galleria, Highrises, Home Design, Proposed Developments
4 Comments

Plaza Level Pools, Turnberry Tower Residences at the Galleria, Houston

There will be a grand total of 652-and-a-half private bathrooms in Houston’s Turnberry Tower. Apparently this is the kind of attention to detail that’s needed to attract buyers who are flush with assets:

When meeting with buyers, Turnberry’s sales staff emphasizes the high life they’ll enjoy, said [Turnberry Ltd. vice president Jim] Cohen, with the 40-year-old condo tower developer.

They’re told, for example, that when they hang out by the pool, a Turnberry staffer will offer a cool towel for their neck and wipe sunscreen from their sunglasses.

Image of Turnberry Tower plaza-level pools: Turnberry Ltd.

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Apartments
05/16/08 10:03am

Hanover Apartment Tower at Boulevard Place: 37 Stories

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Galleria, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
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Hanover Company 37-Story Apartment Tower at BLVD Place, designed by Solomon Cordwell BuenzToday’s Chronicle has details on that apartment tower the Hanover Company has been planning for Boulevard Place, Ed Wulfe’s Post Oak redevelopment just north of the Galleria. Doing the math, your average 1,650-sq.-ft. apartment in the glass tower will rent for more than $4,000 a month.

That’s before it goes condo, of course.

At 37 stories, the 236-unit Hanover tower may end up even taller than the slender Ritz-Carlton planned directly to the south.

More info from Nancy Sarnoff:

Solomon Cordwell Buenz of Chicago is designing the building, which will have “boutique hotel style” amenities, including a concierge and bellman, as well as a lounge and catering kitchen.

A 19,000-square-foot rooftop pool terrace will be atop an attached parking garage.

The units will be similar to those in 7 Riverway, another Hanover project in the area. They will include stainless steel appliances, granite slab countertops, crown molding, hardwood floors and travertine tile, but will be larger and have additional features and amenities.

Hanover chose to design the building with larger units because it said there was considerable demand at 7 Riverway for oversized kitchens and living spaces.

After the jump: Where it’s going to land!

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Commercial Real Estate
05/01/08 10:56am

That Nineties Retro Tower Coming to the West Loop

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Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Proposed Office Tower at 1600 West Loop South, Uptown, Houston

From Ziegler Cooper Architects’ website: Renderings of a 20-story office tower the firm designed back in the early 1990s.

As we reported in February, the Novati Group plans to build the 500,000-square-foot spec tower, along with an 8-level parking garage, at 1600 West Loop South — next to Post Oak Motor Cars, on land purchased from Landry’s. The only changes from the original design will be adjustments so the building can qualify for LEED Silver certification.

So what if the design is old? Worrying that your brand new building already looks dated is so . . . last decade!

After the jump: the marble in the lobby will be old, too!

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