Condos

Condos
10/21/14 4:30pm

Randall Davis Aiming Downtown Condo Highrise for the Corner of Rock n’ Roll and the Blues

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Downtown, Highrises, Proposed Developments
7 Comments

1311 Polk St., Downtown Houston

Sign at 1201 Caroline St., Downtown HoustonIn announcing earlier today the new condominium tower he and Astoria partner Roberto Contreras are planning to build downtown, Randall Davis wasn’t so specific about the location he has in mind for the highrise building. But sources tell Swamplot it’s planned for a portion of the block bounded by Polk, Caroline, Austin, and Dallas pictured above. That would put it on what’s now a surface parking lot adjacent to the Dirt Bar (tag line: “We Play Rock n’ Roll”) and across the street from the House of Blues, at the eastern end of GreenStreet (formerly Houston Pavilions). Noodle fans will remember the Dirt Bar spot at 1209 Caroline St. as the former home of Josephine’s Italian Restaurant. The Reserve 101 bar is on the corner at 1201 Caroline St., next door.

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Where’s Marlowe?
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Condos
10/17/14 3:00pm

Former Westcreek Apartments Site Sprouting Another Condo Tower; Hotel Coming Next?

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Highland Village, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
27 Comments

Proposed Pelican Builders Highrise Condo, Westcreek Ln., Highland Village, Houston

SkyHouse River Oaks Under Construction, Westcreek Ln. at San Felipe, Highland Village, HoustonPictured above on a grassy field standing in for its potential newer neighbors is the 17-story, Kirksey-designed highrise condo building Pelican Builders is planning for a 1.5-acre lot it bought from the site of the former Westcreek Apartments. It’ll go up near the taller SkyHouse River Oaks now under construction on another section of Westcreek Ln. just south of San Felipe (viewed at left from the adjacent Target parking lot). Nancy Sarnoff reports that financing for Pelican’s project hasn’t been finalized, but the company says it plans to begin constructing the project next summer, whether or not it pre-sells any units. It’ll take 2 years to build.

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Pelican Builders
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Condos
09/29/14 4:45pm

A Lifeboat for the Royalton’s Corroding Crown?

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Construction Problems, Highrises, Lawsuits, North Montrose, Quicklink
18 Comments

A LIFEBOAT FOR THE ROYALTON’S CORRODING CROWN? Top of Royalton at River Oaks Condominiums, 3333 Allen Pkwy., HoustonJudging from court filings, there appears to have been some sort of resolution to the lawsuit filed more than 2 years ago by the condominium association of the 253-unit Royalton at River Oaks highrise over the design of the steel grid at the top of the building at 3333 Allen Pkwy. The lawsuit claimed the structure was corroding and was designed in such away that made maintaining it or recoating it impossible — and sought damages from the building’s contractor, architect, and other parties. The condo association dropped its claims against many of those parties late last month. And a reader wonders if the attachment seen hanging below the structure in the recent photo at left, which “almost looks like a hot tub,” is part of some newly devised cleaning solution. [Prime Property] Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Buying and Selling
09/29/14 3:15pm

A Randall Davis-Flavored Highrise for the East Side of the West Loop

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Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highland Village, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Redevelopment
5 Comments

A RANDALL DAVIS-FLAVORED HIGHRISE FOR THE EAST SIDE OF THE WEST LOOP Aerial View of Parcels at Former Westcreek Apartments, 2021 Westcreek Ln., HoustonThemed-residence developer Randall Davis is planning another Galleria-area condo project, and it looks like this one won’t have to share space with any fast-food drive-thrus — unless, of course, he wants it to. The HBJ‘s Paul Takahashi is reporting that Davis plans to construct an 85-to-100-unit highrise on a 1.8-acre site at 2021 Westcreek Ln., until recently occupied by a portion of the Westcreek Apartments. (It’s labeled Parcel D in the view at left.) Davis’s block is immediately north of the SkyHouse River Oaks, which is already under construction. It fronts San Felipe, across from Ashley Furniture, and its eastern flank abuts the Target parking lot. If Davis still wants some sort of fast-food spot to land next to his so-far-unnamed project, though, he could certainly make it happen: Takahashi reports he’ll be building on a little less than half of the site, and selling off 45,000 sq. ft. of it to developers. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Image: CBRE

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Buying and Selling
09/18/14 12:30pm

Comment of the Day: Buyers Will Be Coming To Scoop Up Your Entire Condo Complex

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Comments, Condos, Post Oak Park, Quicklink
1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUYERS WILL BE COMING TO SCOOP UP YOUR ENTIRE CONDO COMPLEX Condo Prospecting“I don’t know how it went for Park Memorial, but with these Post Oak Townhomes only some number deemed the majority had to approve it, and the hearsay is that there was a lot of misery and gnashing of teeth by those who did not want to sell. I am surprised there was not more media chatter about the sale of this complex. To me, it seemed flat out REMARKABLE that you could get even half to agree in a complex of that size. A big story + a harbinger of the future for aging condos.” [Harold Mandell, commenting on The End of the Post Oak Park Townhomes] Illustration: Lulu

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Buying and Selling
09/16/14 3:45pm

The End of the Post Oak Park Townhomes

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Condos, Land Sales, Post Oak Park
15 Comments

Post Oak Park Townhomes, Post Oak Park Dr. at River Hollow Ln., Post Oak Park, Houston

Sources have indicated to Swamplot that all 102 separately owned units of a townhome development behind the Park Towers office complex on the West Loop have been sold. The 5.3969-acre site currently occupied by the Post Oak Park Townhomes (shown in the photo above) had been marketed for sale by CBRE. One source tells Swamplot the buyer of the condo development is a “foreign investor,” and that unspecified highrise buildings are reportedly planned for the property.

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Condo Selloff
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Condos
09/10/14 12:00pm

Has Everyone Cleared Out of the Winhall Condos, Too?

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Galleria, Land for Sale, Redevelopment
10 Comments

Parking Garage, 1525 Garrettson Ln., Galleria, Houston

The Winhall Townhomes complex at 1525 Garrettson Ln. — tucked behind Willie G’s on Post Oak Blvd. — appears to be vacant, notes a reader who snapped the above photo of an empty (and chained shut) parking garage on one side of the Galleria-area residence. That’s notable because — unlike various other complexes around town that have been given the all clear in recent months — the Winhall consists of more than 30 independently owned condos. But sure enough, a for-sale listing has been posted online for the almost-2-acre site, which includes 285 ft. of frontage on Garrettson.

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All Together Now
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Condos
09/09/14 1:00pm

The New Midrise Condo Building on D’Amico St. off Dunlavy Should Look Something Like This

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North Montrose, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

Rendering of Riva at the Park, 3331 D'Amico St., North Montrose, Houston

Here’s a rendering of the 7-story (2 of them parking) condo building Sims Luxury Builders is planning for the spot at 3331 D’Amico St. — just east of Dunlavy St. and south of Allen Pkwy. currently occupied by a dentist’s office and bridal shop structure where a sign went up late last month. Dubbed Riva at the Park, the building will contain 22 units (marked down from 24), on 3 floors of 4 units each and 2 floors of 5. A marketing rep tells Swamplot the building’s developers are aiming to have “larger units than Highland Tower or the Royalton,” but “superior finish allowances and very low maintenance fees but not as industrial as the loft buildings.” They condos are expected to start in the high $700s. The building will sit on the northern edge of the former Rincon Apartments, now called the Villas at River Oaks.

Rendering: Sims Luxury Builders

Riva at the Park
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Condos
08/18/14 12:00pm

Bigger Condo Building Now Planned for River Cafe Spot on Montrose Blvd. Has Bigger Site, Bigger Name Architecture Firm

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Montrose, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

Rendering of Proposed 3615 Montrose Condo Building, 3615 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, Houston

Riverway Properties’ latest plan for a condo building at the corner of Montrose Blvd. and Marshall St. almost triples the number of units planned for the former site of the River Cafe — from 12 in a proposal aired only a few months ago to 34. But the building’s still set at 7 stories. The embiggening was made possible by expanding the building’s footprint onto a neighboring property (the brick house-turned office to the north) — and switching to an entirely different scheme, from a big-name architecture firm. Philip Johnson, who designed the original campus and many of the buildings for the University of St. Thomas a few blocks away, is not coming back from the dead for this project, but Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects, the New York firm that still bears his name, has replaced Element Architects as the building’s designers.

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Round Three
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Condos
07/30/14 1:15pm

A High-Profile Real Estate Investor Dives into Sharpstown

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Crime, Real Estate Investing, Renovations, Sharpstown
22 Comments

Gardens at Bissonnet Condominiums, 7400 Bissonnet St., Sharpstown, Houston

Gardens at Bissonnet Condominiums, 7400 Bissonnet St., Sharpstown, HoustonInvestor Steve Moore, who’s made a name for himself by buying up, moving into, establishing unusual rules in, cleaning up, and lowering crime rates at some of the roughest apartment complexes in Houston neighborhoods such as Greenspoint and Westwood, has a new investment (and new address) — in Sharpstown. Working with an investment group, the owner of more than 5,000 apartment units has purchased a majority interest in the Gardens at Bissonnet condos at 7400 Bissonnet St., the 200-unit complex near Fondren Rd. known as the Le Promenade condos when it was home to the La Primera gang. Moore was sought out for the purchase by the Greater Sharpstown Management District after the condo complex was put into receivership last year; a series of security measures, which included changing the property’s name, were instituted as part of a legal settlement between the county and the property’s previous owners.

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Moving into the Gardens at Bissonnet
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Condos
06/06/14 12:15pm

Second Elevated Living Video Brings the Brutal Art of Highrise Condo Marketing to New Heights, Faster

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Highrises, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing
8 Comments

The mysterious promoter of a proposed trio of condo towers planned for undisclosed Houston locations has posted a second video talking up the vague project — and dissing other condo developers almost every step of the way. But unlike the original video, which aims to get prospective buyers to sign up for a mailing list by flashing images of condos in other cities and counting off extensive amenities like “a fleet of cars” and an indoor pet park, this new marketing effort is aimed at Realtors.

But did someone complain that promising to be able to build a 36-story highrise condo tower (or 3) in just 12 months sounds kinda unrealistic? Because the new video (embedded above) doubles down on that original claim, taking up a good quarter of the almost-5-minute monologue to explain how it’s totally doable (the “William’s Tower” and some unidentified building in China are offered as examples) — while pointing out how other Houston developers are taking so much longer with their projects. Students of marketing psychology (or of the psychology of marketers) will clearly want to preserve these videos — and the entire sales-before-construction effort — for future study.

Video: Elevated Living

And the Other Guys Suck
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