Highrises

View from Main St. of New Houstonian Hotel and Condominiums, Texas Medical Center, Houston

From fuzzy video stills to washed-out photocopies: In the agenda handout for today’s Planning Commission hearing are hazy images that provide even more details about the new 40-story hotel and condo tower Medistar wants to build on Main St. in the Medical Center, at the eastern boundary of Southgate.

The drawing labels identify the hotel as the Houstonian Texas Medical Center, or Houstonian TMC for short. The architect is the Hill Glazier Studio of HKS, out of California. And a section drawing gives an actual height for the tower.

After the jump: It’s very tall!

77030, Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Disputes, Planning Commission, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center, Variances

02/29/08 3:50pm

Discovery Tower: Yep, They Are Wind Turbines

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Top of Proposed Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

From our email comes a message from a reader who has heard from someone involved in the project that the white poles shown at the top of the new Discovery Tower drawing are . . . indeed, wind turbines.

So . . . if they do end up being put in, how much energy will they bring to the building? And . . . how many tenants?

Discovery Tower [LoopNet]
Discovery Tower: Ready for Closeup? [Swamplot]

77010, Commercial Real Estate, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Condos

02/29/08 3:30pm

Live on TV: New Med Center Hotel-Condo Tower

Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center

Screen Capture of Planning Commission Discussion of New Medistar 40-Story Condo and Hotel Tower at Dryden and Main St., near Southgate, Texas Medical Center, Houston

Thanks to some ~~intrepid reporting~~ lazy online-video scanning over here at Swamplot, we now have more information about Medistar’s 40-story hotel and condominium tower planned for the corner of Dryden and Main St. in the Medical Center.

Yesterday, the Planning Commission voted to defer any consideration of Medistar’s request for a lot-line variance along Main St. But the president of the Southgate Civic Club voiced his objections to the variance — and other aspects of the project — anyway.

After the jump, more stills from the civic-club president’s presentation to the Planning Commission, plus a few bits of armchair analysis from our crack crew of expert TV watchers.

77030, Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Disputes, Planning Commission, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center, Variances

02/28/08 10:26am

Newest and Tallest: The Texas Medical Center Goes Condo

Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Malls, Medical Buildings, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center

Here’s what we know so far about the new 40-story hotel-and-condo tower Medistar Corporation is planning for the corner of Main St. and Dryden, between Rice’s new Collaborative Research Center and the Baylor Clinic on the west side of Main: not a whole lot.

But at 40 stories, the new building would likely be the tallest tower in the Texas Medical Center. (The new Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza is only 31.) That’s taller than those twin hypodermics, too.

A lot-line variance for the project is item number 111 before the Planning Commission this afternoon. And the request provides a few clues. Medistar wants the same 10-foot setback along Main St. that the Baylor Clinic has, so the new building can have a similar passenger dropoff and a “pedestrian friendly” entry on that side. The building’s longer axis will be perpendicular to Main. The arguments imply Medistar intends to have “ornamental decorations and balconies” on the Main St. side, and that the tower will be linked by skybridge to the Medical Center main campus across the street.

According to the Southgate Neighborhood Newsletter, the tower will include a 1200-car parking facility.

This isn’t the only new building type Medistar is planning to stir into the Medical Center mix. A block down the street, just south of the company’s Best Western Hotel at 6700 Main St., Medistar is planning a 600,000-sq.-ft. medical mall. The Houston Business Journal reported on that project late last month:

The high-rise would house offices and showrooms for companies that sell equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals to Texas Medical Center institutions. Tenants could also include organizations working to develop new medical technologies and treatments.

Six Thousand Six Hundred Main replat No 1 (more information available today only from pps. 76-78 of the agenda linked at the bottom of this page) [Houston Planning & Development Department]
Southgate News (PDF) [Southgate Civic Club]
Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza [Texas Architect]
Medistar tests medical mall market [Houston Business Journal]
Medistar Corporation
St. Lukeâ€™s: Weâ€™re Selling So We Can Renovate and Demolish [Swamplot]

77030, Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Malls, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center

02/26/08 4:31pm

New West Loop Tower: Keeping the Uptown Office Market Up to Date

Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

According to a report by Jennifer Dawson in the Houston Business Journal,, the first new spec office building built in the Galleria area in more than 25 years will be . . . a 20-story tower that was designed 15 years ago!

In the early 1990s, [Novati Group CEO Ken] Moczulski ran Transworld Properties, a developer of office, industrial and multifamily properties. Transworld owned the land at 1600 West Loop South at that time, and commissioned Ziegler Cooper Architects to design an office for the site.

“We had planned a building,” recalls Moczulski. “It was all designed.”

The economy turned south, he says, so the facility did not get built. . . .

Last year, Novati co-founders Moczulski and Fernando De LeÃ³n start looking in the Galleria area for an office development site. Moczulski approached Landry’s about buying the West Loop land because, as in the 1990s, he still thinks the location and high visibility make it a good site for an office building.

To top it off, Novati is saving months of development time by dusting off the original plans from Ziegler Cooper. The only design changes needed are those to make the 475,000-square-foot structure eligible for certification as a green building.

Hey, maybe it’s one of those towers that kinda looks like a tall glass cylinder is bulging out from the center? That was a hot nineties look, wasn’t it?

Building fills West Loop bill [Houston Business Journal]
New 20 Story Tower on West Loop [HAIF]

77027, Development Strategy, Galleria, Green Design, Highrises, Houston Architects, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Uptown

02/26/08 8:36am

Whole Foods, Fast Foods, and the Titan

Condos, Development Strategy, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail

Still from Video of The Titan, Randall Davisâ€™s Proposed Condo Tower on Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

If you’re looking for clues to help you figure out what the McDonald’s on Post Oak is gonna look like when it gets rebuilt, the flashy new website for the Titan doesn’t help much. There’s a video that shows Randall Davis’s latest theme-heavy condo tower from all sorts of dramatic angles, but it never answers the question most of us have been asking since the project was announced last fall: How, exactly, is the drive-thru gonna fit next door?

Davis told the Houston Business Journal last September that the new McDonald’s would be a “long, skinny building” facing Post Oak, between the Titan and the new Alexan Post Oak apartments directly to the north. In the new video, though, there are no Golden Arches, and camera angles artfully block the most direct views of that portion of the building site.

There’s no mention of the McDonald’s on the Titan website. There is, however, a welcome second confirmation that another fine food establishment will be built down the street at Boulevard Place:

A newly planned Whole Foods Market, only half a block away, places hard to find gourmet items at your fingertips.

Okay, so it’s just advertising copy. But it’s recent!

After the jump, more views of the Titan — none of which show where the real Big Macs are gonna live.

77056, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Development Strategy, Fast Food, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Restaurants, Retail, Titan, Uptown, Whole Foods

Condos

02/21/08 4:48pm

The Titan: Uptown Theme Blender

Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Penthouse View, Randall Davisâ€™s Proposed Titan Condo Highrise, Post Oak Blvd., Uptown Houston

All the condos in Randall Davis’s new Titan condo tower on Post Oak will be named after . . . industry titans! Get it? On the 18th floor, for example, you’ll have units named after J. Paul Getty, Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, and . . . Bill Gates! Now that’s a party. Floor 14? More people of brilliance, though a few of them might not actually get along so well with each other: Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Rudolph Valentino, Steven Spielberg. Isn’t that clever?

It gets better: The Brin/Page is . . . a two-bedroom! Strangely, the Buffet has a Kitchen and Dining Room that are separated from the rest of the unit’s living space. And the three-bedroom penthouse named after Mies van der Rohe — whose neighbors are of course Rupert Murdoch and Neil Armstrong — has a Great Room with a curved wall in it, and is connected to the Entry Foyer by a long hallway.

One unit on floors 23 and 24 is simply named The Titan. But there’s no reason for Randall Davis to be so bashful — he really ought to go ahead and name it after himself. Is there anyone else in Houston who even comes close to his stature in the themed-condo market?

The Titan is a break from Davis’s earlier projects, though — because it seems to have so many different themes! Put all those architects, movie stars, musicians, Silicon Valley insiders, oilmen, and suicidal novelists together in a tower styled vaguely like a comic-book rocketship, add in Michelangelo’s sculpture of David as the naked brochure-and-website coverboy, and you’ve got the Titan’s winning marketing formula! A bit confused? Sure. But if anyone can mix all this stuff up and make it work, it’s Randall Davis.

After the jump, floorplans that prove what we all know already: Designing a great building is just like planning a great dinner party that includes a few famous dead people!

77056, Condos, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Real Estate Marketing, Theming, Titan, Uptown

Boulevard Oaks

02/18/08 5:05pm

Ashby Highrise Developers: How To Build Smaller While Keeping Profits Big

Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton

Townhouses at Ashby, 1717 Bissonnet, Ashby Highrise, Houston

How do you reduce development in . . . uh, sensitive Houston neighborhoods — without imposing new regulations?

It can be done! A free market provides its own land-use controls.

Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton of Buckhead Investment Partners, developers of the proposed 23-story residential highrise at the corner of Ashby and Bissonnet, show how it can work:

In the Feb. 5 meeting, Morgan and Kirton offered to reduce the size of their building to 19 stories or to build a six-story project while accepting a $2.65 million payment to recoup their investment.

Ashby high-rise developers remain hopeful for deal with neighbors [Houston Chronicle]
Previously in Swamplot: Uproar Update: Ashby Highrise, Canâ€™t Stop This: Southampton Pop-Up Tower

Street-level view of proposed Ashby Townhomes, 1717 Bissonnet: Buckhead Investment Partners

77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Condos, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton

02/18/08 3:45pm

Eldridge Oaks: Turn on the Lights!

Energy Corridor, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

Eldridge Oaks, Proposed Office Building in Houston Energy Corridor A reader who works in the Energy Corridor reports that a sign has just appeared at the Northwest corner of Enclave Parkway and Eldridge Parkway announcing Eldridge Oaks, a 350,000-sq.-ft. 14-story office tower being developed by Transwestern.

Transwestern is apparently taking energy issues in this Energy Corridor building seriously: It will pursue an unspecified LEED rating, and has signed the project up as a sponsor of this spring’s Gulf Coast Green conference. Plus, this drawing from the project website shows what the building will look like when the lights go on . . . then off . . . then on!

Eldridge Oaks [Transwestern]
Transwestern plans twin towers in Energy Corridor [Houston Business Journal]
Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo [AIA Houston]

77077, Commercial Real Estate, Energy-Corridor, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

02/15/08 8:35am

Uptown Hot Potato: Four Quick Flips in a Few Short Months

Galleria, Highrises, Land Prices, Land Sales

That parking lot at the corner of Richmond and Post Oak, where the Steak & Ale and Mason Jar used to be? Very popular:

In 2007, Houston-based Hines Interests LP sold 9.4 acres to Rich Oak Properties LLC, an affiliate of Boymelgreen Developers LLC of New York. Sources put the purchase price at $86 per square foot, or roughly $33 million . . .

Rich Oak ultimately opted out of building on the site and chose to sell the entire 9.4 acres.

On Dec. 21, 2007, the land was acquired by Lasco/Hicks Ventures Ltd. Sources estimate the purchase price was $140 per square foot, or roughly $57 million.

A $24 million profit? Not bad for a few months’ work. And they said the days of the Houston land flip were over!

On the same day, Lasco/Hicks flipped six acres to Elegant Development Group Inc. The buyer is affiliated with Elegant Development and Investment Inc., a Houston-based construction services company that does commercial and residential work . . .

Less than two weeks later, Elegant Development flipped the six acres to Deyaar Development.

Deyaar Development is based in Dubai, and likes tall towers.

Dubai tower looms on horizon [Houston Business Journal]

77056, Commercial Real Estate, Galleria, Highrises, Land Prices, Land Sales, Uptown

Downtown

02/07/08 4:54pm

Discovery Tower: Ready to Climb

Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

Drawing of Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston Here’s a small discovery from today’s permit report: Work on the site and foundation of Discovery Tower — a 30-story office tower developed by Trammell Crow and designed by Gensler — has been approved by the city. The tower is planned for a block next to Discovery Green downtown, at 1501 McKinney St.

The tower will have retail space at street level and will reportedly tie into the tunnel system . . . by skybridge. A new parking garage will go up one block north.

The tiny image above shows the view from Discovery Green. Discovery Tower is at the far right. (The hazy image in the background to the left is the Finger Companies’ One Park Place, which is now under construction.)

Got any better images of Discovery Tower you’d like to share? Send them in!

Trammell Crow planning for early 2008 start on CBD tower [Houston Business Journal]
Hines project hits home [Houston Chronicle]
Discovery Tower [LoopNet]

Photo: CBRE, via HAIF user lockmat

77010, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Downtown Tunnel System, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Apartments

02/04/08 5:35pm

How High Will Little Bunny Fly?

Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Westlawn Terrace

Fly High Little Bunny, 3120 S. Shepherd, Houston

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.

High-rise rumors loom over retail rabbit hutch [Houston Business Journal]
High Rise Development at Shepherd and W Alabama? [HAIF]

77098, Alabama Theater, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Westlawn Terrace

Apartments

01/30/08 3:14pm

New Studemont Apartment Tower: Out of Styles

Development Strategy, Highrises, Memorial Heights, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Legacy at Memorial 25-Story Apartment Tower in Houston This is the best image we’ve been able to find online of the 25-story apartment tower about to go up at the site of the former Ed Sacks Waste Paper Co. at 440 Studemont, just north of Memorial Dr.

And it makes you wonder: Do these out-of-town developers really know what they’re doing here? First they give the project a name — “Legacy at Memorial” — that makes it sound like a funeral home, in a town where death is already a major industry. Then . . . they think Houston residents will stand for 15 percent of the units in the combination highrise-lowrise development being marketed as “affordable housing.” But weirdest of all . . . it looks like they forgot to give their building a theme!

Memo to Legacy Partners and your California retiree funders: Your tower is going up against some aggressively themed competition. When renters can go next door and feel like they’re in Italy, or go down the street to get a little stucco taste of New Orleans, or cross Allen Parkway for a full-fledged Beaux-Arts Alamo resort revival, just who do you expect is going to want to want to live in an apartment that looks like . . . a building in Houston, Texas?

More on the tower that forgot to put on its clothes and makeup . . . after the jump.

77007, Affordable Housing, Apartments, Development Strategy, Highrises, Memorial Heights, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Style, Theming

Condos

01/23/08 11:52am

Nine and a Half Bathrooms: The Turnberry Tower Penthouse Evacuation Plan

Galleria, Highrises, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments

Plan of Top Floor Gramercy Tower Suite Penthouse of Turnberry Houston Tower Showing 9 and a Half Bathrooms

Do you experience the urge to urinate frequently? Do you suffer from recurring bladder infections? An enlarged prostate? And one more question: Do you have $8.5 million burning a hole in your (probably moist) pocket?

Well then, you’re certainly going to pee in your pants when you see the exciting floor plans for the two “Gramercy Tower Suite” penthouses on the top floors of Houston’s 34-story Turnberry Tower! Yes, this will be the height of luxury: 11,860 sq. ft. of living space on three separate levels of an Uptown highrise; an additional 3,535 sq. ft. of terraces; 4 bedrooms plus a Den, a Guest Suite, and a Staff Room for live-in help; a Media Room, two Lounges, and a 2-story Great Room; a private elevator entry; your own private pool and cabana; and so much more.

But forget all that. What makes this little pied-Ã -terre special is that even if all that space perched high in the sky (and the at-least-jaw-dropping panoramic views) gives you an unmistakable urge to evacuate, you’ll only be a few shuffling paces away from a toilet: Each unit comes with nine-and-a-half bathrooms. And if that’s not enough, there’s plenty of room to add more!

Read on for more of the scoop on where to poop: floor plans for the top two floors, with more porcelain palaces clearly marked. Plus: a closeup of Swamplot’s favorite Turnberry penthouse pit stop!

77056, Bathrooms, Condos, Galleria, Highrises, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Luxury Highrises, Proposed Developments, Swimming Pools, Turnberry Tower, Uptown

Apartments

01/17/08 5:52pm

River Oaks District Development Reaches Advanced Watercolor Stage

Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail, River Oaks, Shopping Centers

Watercolor of Proposed River Oaks District Mixed Use Development Planned for Westheimer by OliverMcMillan

With new bold, rich watercolor renderings now posted to its website, OliverMcMillan shows its mixed-use proposal for Westheimer is serious. The River Oaks District won’t be in River Oaks exactly, but it would mark a serious upgrade for this portion of Westheimer just inside the Loop, on a portion of the site of the Westcreek Apartments.

What’s planned here: 300,000 square feet of retail space, 300 fancy apartments, 250,000 square feet of office space, plus two hotels — rumored to be a W and a Le Meridien. The W Hotel will house 150 condos on its top floors.

After the jump: those shiny watercolors, plus plans and an aerial view!