Mixed Use

Buildings for Sale
04/09/12 10:20am

A Mixed Use Medley off Main

by
Commercial Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Land for Sale, Mixed Use, Sunset Heights
12 Comments

The three buildings listed as 6204 Main St. lie not on the tree-lined block near Rice University, but rather its mixed-use counterpart on North Main. Asking $260,000, the property includes a vacant warehouse flanked by two homes, squeezed onto a quarter-acre in the Rodgers Park area, just south of Sunset Heights and 2 blocks from Metro’s Heights Transit Center.

The warehouse anchors the southeast corner of N. Main and E. 23rd. It’s in “poor condition,” according to the listing. The adjacent houses, meanwhile, are generating rental income. They date back to the late 1920s. The dimensions of every room are described as 10 ft. x 10 ft.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , ,
Condos
04/03/12 2:00pm

Meanwhile, at the Corner of 11th and Studewood

by
Houston Heights, Mixed Use, New Construction
40 Comments

Some burger stand, street signs, a car wash, bungalows: So many little Heights-y things muck up the foreground in development blog Going Up! City’s construction pix of the 6-story concrete-and-brick condo building going up just north of the restaurant-heavy corner of 11th St. and Studewood. 1111 Studewood Place, which at last report included 9,000 sq. ft. of retail space on its ground floor, has a website up which for now carefully avoids use of the word “condo.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Apartments
02/21/12 11:17am

First Sign of the 35-Story Apartment Tower Coming to Weslayan and West Alabama

by
Highland Village, Highrises, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail
34 Comments

Here’s the sign that’s gone up on the northeast corner of Weslayan and West Alabama, where PM Realty plans to start construction later this year on the 35-story apartment tower it announced last year. The tower, PM Realty’s first in Houston, will have 12,500 sq. ft. of retail space on the first or second floor, 250 apartments, and a 3,000-sq.-ft. fitness center, according to a Houston Business Journal report last year. On the 2.6-acre site, which the company bought from Interfin last August: the remains of the State Grille restaurant. New on-the-scene blog Going Up! City has these pix of the site:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Comments
02/16/12 11:08pm

Comment of the Day: We Just Run the Numbers

by
Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, Quicklink, Real Estate Investing
10 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE JUST RUN THE NUMBERS “If you dig a bit deeper into the Milhaus proformas, what the developer is REALLY saying is that there won’t be retail because: 1. lenders don’t like it; 2. buyers don’t like it; 3. adding retail reduces my return on cost somewhat; AND 4. mostly because of #1 and #2, it kills my numbers. If you look at the overall return on cost (NOI/cost) you get 7.7% return on cost with retail vs 8.7% return on cost without retail. That’s a substantial difference, but not eye popping. If the Midtown TIRZ really wanted some retail in the deal, they could easily toss Millhaus a bone and bridge this 100 basis point gap with ease. The real problem, at least according to Millhaus (not that I disagree), is that the lenders and buyers treat mixed use differently. In the example comparison, Millhaus assumes the non-retail deal gets a permanent loan underwrittien to 1.25 DSC [debt service coverage] vs 1.30 DSC for the with-retail deal. This means a larger permanent loan upon completion for the no-retail deal (more cash in Millhaus pocket). He’s assuming lenders will get more aggressive on a apartments-only deal. He also thinks his eventual buyer will prefer a non-retail deal. He calculates the as-completed value using a 7.00% cap rate for the non-retail project, but uses a 7.25% cap rate for apartments+retail project. What he’s really saying is, ‘Don’t blame me for not including retail in my development. Blame the lenders and buyers.’” [Bernard, commenting on Nixing Milhaus Retail: Why These New Midtown Apartments Won’t Have Shops on the Ground Floor]

, , ,
Buildings for Sale
02/16/12 10:18am

At Home in a Tomball Parkway Warehouse

by
Champions, Interiors, Mixed Use, Northwest Houston, Warehouse Space
7 Comments

Is all that living space on the second floor of this metal warehouse building right off the Tomball Pkwy. frontage road near the end of Jones Rd.  really window-free? Built a decade ago, the 5,062-sq.ft. structure is an unrestricted property suitable for mixed use — and that includes homesteading.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , ,
Apartments
02/15/12 9:08pm

Nixing Milhaus Retail: Why These New Midtown Apartments Won’t Have Shops on the Ground Floor

by
Midtown, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Investing
28 Comments

A real-estate firm out of Indianapolis with a keen interest in developing mixed-use projects plans to build a midrise apartment complex on 2 vacant blocks in Midtown, just south of the Pierce Elevated and 4 blocks east of the light rail line running down Main St. Like almost every other recent residential development in the area built before or after the Post Midtown Square about a dozen blocks to the west, though, the Milhaus Midtown won’t include any lease spaces for stores or restaurants. If you’re wondering why not, the company has a detailed explanation ready.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Medical Buildings
01/04/12 12:34pm

The Signs Around the Parc Binz Site

by
Mixed Use, Museum Park, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
22 Comments

Walking by the vacant site on the corner of Binz and Chenevert on the way to Hermann Park, reader David Hollas notes that the large sign advertising a 75,000-sq.-ft. medical-offices-and-retail development planned for the site has been taken down. Meanwhile, the surrounding neighborhood has been peppered with Ashby-Highrise-style signs protesting Balcor Commercial’s planned 6-story Parc Binz building and parking garage at 1800 Binz St— and “hi-rise buildings” in general. Opposition to the development got some media attention last year, but Hollas has seen sign changes on the property before: “About 2 years ago, the signs offered the sale of townhomes that were to be built imminently, but never materialized. After a period of inactivity and weed growth, the city came and decked out the site with code violation placards. Eventually the site was mowed and trash removed, and the city signs and townhome signs disappeared.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , ,
Apartments
09/29/11 1:06pm

A West Alabama and Weslayan Kickoff to the Next Highrise Apartment Growing Season

by
Buying and Selling, Highland Village, Highrises, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments
22 Comments

Here’s a shot of the now-vacant corner of Weslayan and West Alabama, where PM Realty Group has announced it’ll be constructing a 35-story apartment building and parking garage — with a restaurant and “service retail” — beginning next year. The 2.6-acre site is the former location of the Confederate House at 2925 Weslayan, later known as the State Grille, which was torn down in 2008. PM Realty bought the site from Giorgio Borlenghi’s Interfin Cos. last month. No renderings from PM Realty’s architects, RTKL, have been passed around yet.


Photo: Candace Garcia

, , , , , , ,
Apartments
08/11/11 6:10pm

The Shops and Apartments Planned for the Block South of the Alabama Theater

by
Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail, Westlawn Terrace
50 Comments

Development firm Read King is “gearing up to break ground on” a mixed-use project at the southwest corner of Shepherd and West Alabama, across the street from the shopping center that houses the vacant Alabama Theater. Real Estate Bisnow‘s Catie Brubaker says preleasing has already begun for 30,000 sq. ft. of “high-end” retail; the development would also include 250 luxury apartments. The targeted opening date is in the middle of 2013, so it shouldn’t much matter that the design “is still in flux,” right? The placeholder rendering appears to show 5 stories of apartments perched above 2 retail floors.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Condos
06/03/11 9:54am

A Rooftop Party Deck Behind the 11th St. Someburger? Those Lofty Earlier Designs for 1111 Studewood Place

by
Houston Heights, Mixed Use, New Construction, Proposed Developments
60 Comments

Is this what the mysterious new 6-story concrete-frame mixed-use building going up behind the 11th St. Someburger in the Heights is supposed to look like? Sort of, but not exactly. The rendering of the project above (and a whole bunch more, below), found on the website of ZDA Architecture in San Antonio, shows a decked-out version of the more boxy structure that’s pictured on this new sign and that showed up on the corner of Studewood and 11th 1/2 St. yesterday:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , ,
Galleria
05/20/11 12:37pm

Construction of New Galleria Whole Foods Market: This Fall

by
Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers
25 Comments

A new “final” rendering is out for the second phase of Blvd Place, which includes a brand-new 48,500-sq.-ft. Whole Foods Market near the corner of Post Oak Blvd. and San Felipe just north of the Galleria (and yes, only a few feet east from the old Eatzi’s location), as well as two 4-story mixed-use buildings flanking it along Post Oak. Plus: a parking garage in back. The 4-story buildings (marked 1N and 2 on the recently updated site plan below) will have 2 office levels above 2 floors of retail, like the lone building in Blvd Place’s first phase, which opened last year a block south. Wulfe & Co.’s Elise Weatherall tells Swamplot the remaining portion of the old Pavilion on Post Oak on the site will be demolished this fall; construction on the new Whole Foods and the adjacent buildings is scheduled to begin about the same time, with everything opening in the first half of 2013.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , ,
Apartments
05/12/11 1:25pm

A Couple More Walkable Blocks: Post Properties Wants To Expand Midtown Streetlife

by
Fourth Ward, Midtown, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail
16 Comments

Atlanta’s Post Properties has announced that it’s ready to get started with a third phase of its Midtown Square mixed use development, notes Houston’s InnerLooped blog. A rendering of the project on the front cover of a recent company financial report (above) may not be the latest, though — that looks like a 2005 date scribbled in the bottom right corner. The $21.8 million development will include 124 apartments and 10,864 sq. ft. of street-level retail and should begin opening mid-to-late next year, the company says. The apartment units should run a little smaller on average than those in the existing Post Midtown Square complex at 302 Gray St. Post Properties hasn’t responded to our request for details about the development’s exact location, but the rendering appears to show the view looking east from the narrow corner of West Gray and Webster in the Fourth Ward, a few blocks west of Post’s existing outpost of street activity.

Rendering: Post Properties

, , , , , , ,
Comments
04/21/11 6:34pm

Comment of the Day: Down in Front

by
Development Restrictions, Development Strategies, Mixed Use, Quicklink, Retail
1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: DOWN IN FRONT “Actually, ground floor retail is an uphill struggle. Apartment managers want to manage apartments. Shopping center managers want to manage retail tenants. Plus, with the slim profile of this lot…where 10 extra feet is needed for the parking…putting 50 or 100 foot deep retailers in the garage would be even worse. And, despite the claims of the poster several spots up, mixed use retail space is a very hard sell. Dallas pushed several developers to include ground floor retail in new complexes, and most of them sit idle. The fact is, Houston is capable of separating the two, so developers and retailers prefer to do so. Only in dense urban areas do retailers attempt to carve out space wherever they can find it. Despite the love affair with mixed use retail, it is still a very rare bird . . . especially in new development. . . .” [Dave, commenting on Apartment Building Replacing Tavern on Gray Won’t Have Any Retail, But Really Wants To Hug the Street Anyway]

, , , ,
Galleria
04/18/11 8:06am

The Tallest Drive-Thru Bank on Post Oak

by
Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
1 Comment

Moving into the site of the 7-story Compass Bank building demolished a year and a half ago at 2200 Post Oak Blvd., a block north of the Galleria: the bank’s new corporate parent, BBVA Compass. The subsidiary of Spanish banking giant BBVA will be leasing at least 6 floors of a new 20-story tower being developed on that location by the Redstone Companies and Stream Realty Partners. Not officially announced but still apparently planned for the northern portion of the same 6-and-a-half-acre parcel (the grassy area in the foreground of the rendering above, along Guilford Ct.): a second office building, hotel, and more structured parking. Redstone and Stream Realty had previously been marketing the mixed-use property as The Perennial.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »