Hermann Park

Museum Park Plans

77004, Apartments, Hermann Park, Highrises, Museum Park, Proposed Developments

Hermann Park, Museum Park, New Constructon

12/04/14 4:30pm

More Tema Apartments Coming North of Hermann Park, But Not That Tall Twisty Tower, Yet

by John Nova Lomax

7 Comments

Hermann-Park-Residences-wide

Construction commenced earlier this week on Tema Development’s Hermann Park Residences you see rendered above. The 7-story building is going up at 1699 Hermann Dr. overlooking the park and a heartbeat or two east of the Health Museum, a little to the west of Tema’s 35-story Parklane tower, and possibly within earshot of the lions roaring at the zoo.

The Residences are intended to be the first of Tema’s three-phase plan for their 6.8 acre plot. That twisty 42-story tower Tema has proposed is still 4-6 years away, according to a company spokesperson.

Parklife

77004, Apartments, Hermann Park, Museum Park, New Construction

Museum District, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

12/01/14 3:30pm

Fine Dining, 24-Hour Room Service and Butlers Toting Wine Coming to Mosaic on Almeda Rd.

by John Nova Lomax

10 Comments

FINE DINING, 24-HOUR ROOM SERVICE AND BUTLERS TOTING WINE COMING TO MOSAIC ON ALMEDA RD. davis-st-restaurant-mosaic-almeda A reader sends in this photo of Davis St. at Hermann Park, a fine-dining establishment officially opening Wednesday on the ground floor of the Mosaic on Hermann Park at 5925 Almeda Rd. According to our reader this stretch of Almeda —across the street from the park’s golf course and south of Binz St. — is something of a restaurant desert. “I am eagerly awaiting more variety than Fuddruckers & Luby’s”Â the reader says. Mosaic residents can avail themselves of 24-7 in-room dining,Â as well asÂ Â “private wine storage with handpicked wines from around the world by our in-house sommelier featuring 24-hour access through our bonded butler service.” Non-Mosaic-dwellingÂ Houstonians will have to avail themselves of the restaurant’s fare in the dining room and during normal business hours. [Davis Street at Hermann Park]Â Swamplot inbox

77004, Mosaic on Hermann Park, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Condos for Sale

11/06/14 3:00pm

The Million-Dollar Views of Houston in This Mosaic Penthouse Will Cost You $2 Million

by CALwords

Hermann Park, Highrises, Interiors

17 Comments

5925-almeda-1280902

Expansive vistas panÂ north, west, and southÂ throughÂ barely-thereÂ walls of floor-to-ceiling windows in thisÂ swish penthouse atop the Mosaic at Hermann Park, one of the twin-ishÂ 30-story condo towers across from the park’s eastern edge. Do the panoramas and high-end custom finishes from a 2012 update to the 2008 space merit the listing’s asking price of $2.05 million? It last sold in 2009 for $930K, but back then the FDIC and a group of investors had control of the property following sequential foreclosures on the condo tower and its neighboring rental twin (once named The Montage).

Vision Quest

77004, Condos for Sale, Highrises, Home Design, Interiors, Mosaic on Hermann Park, Penthouses

01/24/14 10:30am

Where They’re Digging for New Apartments by Hermann Park

Hermann Park, New Construction: Residential

25 Comments

View Showing Construction of Hermann Park Plaza Apartments, 5745 Almeda Rd., Houston

Hark! Ye down there, amidst the freewayishness and — what? Some sort of dirt hill? A bit of earthwork and foundation pouring appears to have begun on the new 193-unit apartment complex M-M Properties is developing along the southbound 288 feeder road between the misaligned block-long stretches of Hermann Dr. and MacGregor Way. The 2.1-acre site was forged by merging a drainage-friendly never-been-built-onÂ swath that cuts diagonally through the site with a bit of extra feeder-road frontage to the north. The view, sent in by a Swamplot reader, is taken from high above in the northern Mosaic condo tower. Almeda Dr. extends along the left side of the photo; the new complex will have a 5745 Almeda address. The Amalfi at Hermann Park apartments are at the far left.

Deal of the Week: Firm to add 193 units to city’s apartment mix [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Construction Overview

77004, Apartments, Hermann Park, New Construction: Residential

08/09/13 10:00am

Where You’ll See the New 42-Story Highrise on Hermann Dr.

by Allyn West

Hermann Park, Highrises, Museum Park, Proposed Developments

40 Comments

Tema Development is planning to build a 42-story residential tower on that recently surveyed fenced-in lot right beside itsÂ Parklane condos on Hermann Dr., according to a couple of Swamplot readers who saw the Corgan-designed building presented at a Museum Park neighborhood association meeting this week. One reader describes the highrise:

The building has a unique design that will twist as [i]t goes up, changing the viewpoint of the higher levels (towards downtown, I believe). They’re planning a 5-story parking garage with one level below grade. On top of the garage will be an amenities level, including a pool and clubhouse among other things. It’ll be connected to the tower via a skybridge. The tower will be bordered by Jackson St. (west), Hermann Dr. (south), and Ewing St. (north). A private drive will be built on the east side as the grand entrance of the building, which will include valet parking. Entrances to the parking garage will be off this private street with a secondary entrance off Jackson St. . . . I believe they’re working with the same landscape architects who worked on the Asia Society building. . . . Lastly, the units will be for lease and not for sale. They expect it to hold 550 residents. I don’t remember the exacty breakdown of units, but it’s something like this: 20-30 studios, 140 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom.”

Previously on Swamplot: Whatâ€™s Going On Beside the Hermann Dr. Highrise?

Photo: Allyn West

77004, Apartments, Hermann Park, Highrises, Museum Park, Proposed Developments

Museum District, Parks, Proposed Developments

05/14/13 11:30am

Sketching the Growth of the Hermann Park Garden Center

by Allyn West

16 Comments

This is what Hermann Park says it would like to look like when it turns 100 next year: This drawing of Centennial Gardens from Chicago landscape architecture firm Hoerr Schaudt shows the blossoming of the currentÂ 15-acre Garden Center that’s between the museums and golf course along Hermann Dr. Looking forward to its centennial in 2014, the park conservancy has also recruited Peter Bohlin, the architect behind the Highland Village Apple Store, to design a new entrance:

77030, Gardens, Hermann Park, Landscaping, Museum District, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Space

Drainage

01/31/13 4:15pm

Waiting for the Grass To Grow at Miller Outdoor Theatre

by Allyn West

Hermann Park, Parks, Renovations

No Comments

All winter this Hermann Park high point has been fenced off while crews have worked on Miller Outdoor Theatre’s heavily used seating (and rolling-down) area to update drainage andÂ irrigation systems, among other hill-improvement-type activities. The project, funded by the city, has a budget of almost $261,000. This photo shows a little patch of progress; though performances start back up in April, the theater warns you not to get your hopes up: the hill could remain closed through May.

Improvements at Miller [Miller Outdoor Theatre]

Photo: Miller Outdoor Theatre

77030, Drainage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, Parks, Public Space, Renovations

10/25/11 2:57pm

An Early Peek at Hermann Park’s Expanded Dinosaur Habitat

Museums, New Construction

5 Comments

Outside along San Jacinto St., the scaffolding is down. And inside the new Duncan Family Wing of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Hall of Paleontology is looking close to ready for some big-toothed residents to move in:

77030, Hermann Park, Museums, New Construction

Attractions

06/06/11 10:23am

Made in the Flashing Shade: HMNS’s Dizzying Expansion

Hermann Park, Institutional Buildings, New Construction

7 Comments

The easily queased may want to stay away from this video of the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s new Duncan Family Wing — maybe wait until this time next year when all the giant carnivores are installed and snarling at each other and things are a little more settled down. For the rest of you, this time-lapse project shows Linbeck’s construction work since last April on the just-under 200,000-sq.-ft. dinosaur-sized expansion. Enjoy this kind of action? The museum promises the $34 million building, designed by Gensler, will include the most mounted Tyrannosaurus Rex ever assembled in one place, as well 3 more carefully animated scenes showing the ancient sea floor, where “fossils will come to life” — though likely at a less frenetic, more dinosaur-friendly pace.

NEW Time Lapse: HMNS Construction [Vimeo]
Update: Expansion Exoskeleton and Infrastructure [Beyond Bones]
Previously on Swamplot: Warwick Towers Survives Dinosaur Attack

Video: HMNS

77004, Attractions, Critters, Hermann Park, Institutional Buildings, Museums, New Construction, Videos

Condos

05/20/10 11:24am

What You Can See Naked from the 26th Floor: A Clean Look at the Warwick

Condos for Sale, Hermann Park, Highrises, Interiors, Museum District

6 Comments

How does the city look after a long, heavy shower? If you’re stepping out to grab a towel in the north-facing master bath of a 26th-floor unit in the Warwick Towers on Hermann Dr., maybe something like this. Which will lead you to the little perch below, one of the nicest we’ve seen set up for someone who’s naked, dripping wet, and maybe trying to get a little work done:

77004, Condos for Sale, Hermann Park, Interiors, Modern Design, Museum District

01/11/10 11:56am

The Very, Very Good Friends of Hermann Park

Parks, Public Art

5 Comments

And now we return once again to Swamplot’s continuing series on love, lust, and Houston’s public spaces. The obelisk of her affection: Hermann Park’s Pioneer Memorial. Next up: A Miniature Choo-Choo Train Named Desire.

Note: Audio possibly NSFW.

Video: sergio

77030, Hermann Park, Parks, Public Art, Videos

01/06/10 11:44am

And the Second Tower Too: The Montage Foreclosure

Bankruptcies, Condos, Financing, Foreclosures, Hermann Park, Highrises

8 Comments

Real estate agent Sandra Gunn informs us that the Montage, the second glass Almeda St. tower across from Hermann Park, was foreclosed on yesterday. Originally named Mosaic to match its adjacent twin directly to the north, the Montage has been a rental property since it was completed.

Almost exactly a year ago, the developer of both buildings — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy in order to avoid foreclosure on the Mosaic, which at the time was officially a condominium tower. And Florida Capital’s chief operating officer expressed hope that the Montage’s separate $71 million loan with Corus Bankshares could be renegotiated.

77004, Apartments, Bank Failures, Bankruptcies, Condos, Financing, Foreclosures, Hermann Park, Highrises, Mosaic and Montage

Comments

10/26/09 2:29pm

Comment of the Day: The Value of Failed Developments

Condos, Development Strategies, Financing, Hermann Park, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Quicklink

10 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE VALUE OF FAILED DEVELOPMENTS “The financial failure of Mosaic is not related to zoning or neighborhood protection. Mosaic represents a massive mixed-use project that will (eventually) fill up and further the civic goals of increasing population density and adding positively to the streetscape. In the mean time, the FDIC and out-of-state investors are paying the property tax bill on units that arenâ€™t occupied by people that would stress our infrastructure. Whereâ€™s the downside in that? If the alternative were a vacant lot, Mosaic is far preferable from a civic perspective. . . .” [TheNiche, commenting on Only the Towers Remain Standing: Mosaic and Friends Break the Bank]

77004, Bankruptcies, Comments, Condos, Development Strategies, Financing, Foreclosures, Hermann Park, Highrises, Mosaic and Montage, New Construction: Residential

10/23/09 12:22pm

Only the Towers Remain Standing: Mosaic and Friends Break the Bank

Bankruptcies, Condos, Financing, Foreclosures, Hermann Park, Highrises, New Construction: Residential

42 Comments

With its most recent achievements, the Mosaic earns its place in Houston’s spec-development record books: Last month the 29-story condo tower near Hermann Park — wedged between Almeda and 288 — scored the loan-default trifecta, having notched a bankruptcy, mass foreclosures, and an attendant bank failure to its credit all within a single calendar year.

Chicago’s Corus Bankshares, which held a $71 million loan for the Mosaic, foreclosed on all 271 unsold units (out of 394 total in the building) in September, just days before the bank itself was seized by the FDIC. A few weeks later, the federal agency sold 40 percent of the bank’s real estate loans to a team of private-equity firms calling itself Northwest Investments and led by Starwood Capital Group — for 60 cents on the dollar.

Any further fun at the Mosaic will be courtesy of the FDIC, reports Nancy Sarnoff: