Mixed Use

Commercial Real Estate
01/19/09 6:43pm

Even Better Than Greenspoint: New AstroWorld Festival Office Park!

by
Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Reliant Park, Transportation
12 Comments

One of Swamplot’s best tipsters forwards a link to a website featuring lovely renderings of a family of glassy office buildings and blocky parking garages squatting on the former AstroWorld site — along with a rather direct question: “Is this real???”

Well, the Crosswell Torian website is a real website, where the development company proudly presents its AstroWorld tower roundup under the name SouthPointe: “a hundred+ acre, transit-oriented mixed use development.” But a brand-new 13.5-million-sq.-ft. project doesn’t exactly seem tailor-made for today’s cautious real-estate market.

If the SouthPointe design isn’t real, though, it’s a brilliant parody — down to the ultra-generic name and its not-so-silent extra vowel. It expertly answers this question: How might a bunch of suburban developers — some of them from, say, Conroe — make a complete mockery of Houston’s highest profile and best connected redevelopment site?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , ,
Downtown
01/13/09 1:01pm

Pavilions Office Tower: First!

by
Leasing, Mixed Use, New Construction, Office Space
2 Comments

That see-through office tower above the new Houston Pavilions development Downtown won’t be empty much longer. Globe St.‘s Amy Wolff Sorter reports that law firm Sheehy, Serpe & Ware has leased the top floor and a half.

Only 7 1/2 floors left!

Photo of Pavilions Tower: Houston Pavilions

, , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
12/29/08 12:02pm

Heights Village: It Was All Just a Good Old Fashioned Dream

by
Development Strategy, Houston Heights, Mixed Use, Parking, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Washington Corridor
20 Comments

Here’s something we can all feel tingly and nostalgic about: Developer Bobby Orr’s Heights-ish fantasy — of brand-new old-timey storefronts facing long streetside parking lots off Yale St. and Heights Blvd. just south of I-10 — is dead. The Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff drops news of the demise of the Heights Village dream as an aside to her update on the stalled-out High Street development.

The entire 4.9-acre property, across Heights Blvd. from the ArtCar Museum, is back on the market, at $75 a square foot.

Sadly, Cushman & Wakefield’s listing for the property doesn’t include any misty watercolors to memorialize what might have been. But Swamplot remembers! Here’s a brief trip down invented-memory lane . . . in 3 quick images:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Apartments
12/29/08 10:50am

High Street: Left High and Dry

by
Commercial Real Estate, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers
4 Comments

Problems getting credit have stalled or dashed hopes for many Houston developments, leaving vacant sites, ratty construction fences, and more than a few misleading “coming soon” signs touting unachievable goals. Off Westheimer just west of Mid Lane, though, we’ll have a much bigger and longer-lasting reminder of changed fortunes to look at, for a good long while: The steel frame of the first building in Trademark Property’s High Street project.

Work has stopped.

What happened?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , ,
Katy
12/15/08 10:45am

How To Bring the Mall Closer to Main Street: Katy Shows the Way

by
Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Streets
4 Comments

Just line that short central driveway through your new power-center parking lot with a small number of stores and head-in parking. Fortify the freeway frontage with an FM-1960-worthy strip of more than the usual number of pad sites, and build the whole thing next to a mall! Next problem?

Introducing the new Katy Main Street, a just-announced 86-acre shopping center named for the short strip of 4 retail buildings meant to line its gullet.

The mixed-use development is designed to include 485,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space and a full-service hotel and convention center at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Pin Oak Road in Katy.

All this . . . just across the street from the Katy Mills Mall!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Apartments
11/21/08 1:14pm

Die, Sell, or On Hold: Big Houston Projects in Crisis

by
Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail
16 Comments

What effects have difficulties with bank financing stemming from the global financial crisis had on some of those big new developments planned for Houston? The Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson weighs in with a “Where Are They Now?” roundup:

  • Regent Square: That big design change meant a year’s delay; the first parts of the 24-acre Inner Loop development are now scheduled to start construction in the second quarter of 2009. A marketing center will open at 1203 Dunlavy next month, but have some more official kickoff in February.
  • Sonoma: “Called off — for now,” but you already knew that. According to Dawson, it wasn’t so much the banks but the developer that grew skittish: CONTINUE READING THIS STORY
, , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
11/20/08 10:28am

Sonoma Developers: We Were So Close, Really!

by
Condos, Financing, Mixed Use, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Rice Village, Streets
1 Comment

Sonoma’s would-be developers try to explain to West U Examiner reporter Michael Reed why the Rice Village retail-and-condo project was put “on hold” only a few weeks after the sales team sent out an email to prospective buyers claiming it had received financing:

Julie [Tysor], president of the Appelt Companies, said in an e-mail response to Examiner questions about the financing, “We had secured a substantial majority of the financing for the south building through the cooperation of some local lenders who have also supported this project since its inception.”

She said a number of factors contributed to the financing falling through, “not the least of which is historical world economic crisis that is unprecedented…”

So what’s going to happen to the site — which includes that block of Bolsover St. purchased from the city — now?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
11/14/08 11:04am

Sonoma in Translation: Not Gonna Happen

by
Condos, Financing, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Rice Village, Streets
5 Comments

Rendering of Proposed Sonoma Development, Bolsover St., Rice Village, Houston

Last month, a Sonoma sales rep told the West U Examiner that the project had secured financing — which turned out to be condo-sales-speak for “Maybe if people think we’re definitely going ahead we can still sell units and somehow find a way out of this mess.” Now Nancy Sarnoff reports in the Chronicle that the developer of the condos-and-retail complex slated for what used to be Bolsover St. in the Rice Village has told her that the project “is being put on hold ‘for the short term.’” This appears to be developer-speak for “We’re toast.”

Was the problem just “economic uncertainties and tumultuous credit markets”? After developer Lamesa Corp. and partner Randall Davis pulled their switcheroo, deciding to start with the project’s second phase because they couldn’t get the more grandiose first phase financed,

they went back to the market and were negotiating for a $70 million loan with 40 percent equity to build the smaller second phase of 85 units.

At that point they had nearly 70 buyers who had put down deposits. More than half were interested in the second building.

Translation: Almost half their buyers bailed.

There’s good news for the trashed 2-block section of the Village Sonoma leaves behind, though:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
10/27/08 11:15am

Costco Greenway Commons Sidewalk Obstacle Course: Fun!

by
Greenway Plaza, Mixed Use, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sprawl, Strip Centers
16 Comments

Sidewalk Along Weslayan St., Greenway Commons, Houston

The wise folks behind Greenway Commons — the new shopping center replacing the old HISD headquarters building at the corner of Richmond and Weslayan — have apparently taken some extra-special steps to make sure the new development (which includes a brand-new Costco) is super-friendly to pedestrian visitors!

Making everything welcoming to people arriving on foot makes sense — the project had been criticized for exhibiting suburban-style development patterns in a location that some dreamers had imagined would be a street-fronting mixed-use center. It’s already a busy corner, and Metro’s new University Line will have a stop only a short walk away.

But “easy to access” can also mean “boring.” So it’s comforting to see these pictures of the project’s street edge sent in by a reader, which show a gentle, fun infrastructure-themed obstacle course taking shape along the new Weslayan and Richmond sidewalks in front of Trammell Crow’s grand development:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
10/24/08 10:10am

Go-Aheads for Sonoma

by
Condos, Financing, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Rice Village, Streets
No Comments

GO-AHEADS FOR SONOMA Randall Davis’s Sonoma development couldn’t get financing for its first phase, but the condos-and-retail project’s sales team is now saying it has financing for its second phase, planned for the south side of Bolsover St. And requirements for taking over the block of Bolsover between the two projects have been fulfilled: “In an e-mail sent Saturday, sales team member Keith Kaposta said groundbreaking at the Rice Village site was still expected in February following the expiration of Walgreens’ lease on the property at 5313 Kelvin St. In another development, the city of Houston said Tuesday that developer Randall Davis property owner La Mesa Corp. had successfully completed all work that was required by the extended deadline of Oct. 27. . . . [Public Works Department spokesman Alvin] Wright said even if the work covered under the letters of credit was not completed by the deadlines, the city would not get the property back. [West University Examiner; previously]

, , , , , , , , , ,
Apartments
10/21/08 11:22am

Putting Off the Ritz: Boulevard Place Towers Stalled

by
Financing, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
1 Comment

Aerial View of BLVD Place, Showing Proposed Ritz Carlton and Hanover Apartment Towers

Remember the two 30-plus-story towers planned for Boulevard Place on Post Oak — the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the Hanover apartment tower? How have they been surviving the rumbling credit crunch?

A HAIF user last week

got slight confirmation that both the hanover tower and the ritz are going to be delayed at least slightly… they still expected both to happen, but they will be phased in.

Then yesterday came another comment:

i can confirm this in regards to hanover.

dont expect their tower to be built anytime soon.. i would consider it postponed indefinitely rather than slightly.

Followed by this:

As a sub on this project I will also confirm this. We have been told at least 6 months of delays.

But they still look great on paperscreen!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , ,
Downtown
10/17/08 9:20am

A Soft Opening for Houston Pavilions

by
Malls, Mixed Use, New Construction, Nightlife, Office Space, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers
6 Comments

House of Blues at Houston Pavilions, Downtown Houston

Walkways at Houston Pavilions, Downtown Houston

At the new House of Blues last night: Jay-Z. And three blocks away, Books-A-Million and a roman-numeral flagship version of Forever 21 are now open! But between them in Downtown’s brand-new mixed-use street-hovering mall? Not much going on . . . yet:

The developers of the three block long Houston Pavilions said the pavilions will be the place to go, but for now it’s mainly a lot of space.

“It’s different because you don’t have a lot of nightlife down here. But with the restaurant, the Foundations Room, and the music hall at the House of Blues, we are going to bring people to the Pavilions,” [said] Deb Eybers, President of the House of Blues.

They won’t just bring people. Tenants will also be coming to the area. But for now there are just a handful of businesses.

More are slated to come on line in December and even more in the spring. Then the complex will be at 60 percent capacity.

The complex extends from Main St. to Caroline between Dallas and Polk — only a few surface-parking-lot blocks from the Toyota Center and Discovery Green.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
10/15/08 6:20pm

Extremely Well Furnished in Katy

by
Homes for Sale, Katy, Mixed Use, Retail
No Comments

Entry to Living Space, 2006 Fry Rd., Katy, Texas

Dining Room, 2006 Fry Rd., Katy, TexasThis place is huge! 6000 sq. ft. of living space, reads the listing:

Includes 4 Big Bedrooms, 2 full baths, Large Formal Dining, Huge kitchen w/gas cooking, Granite Counters, Porcelain sink, walk-in pantry, breakfast bar, serving bar and tile floor. Living/Family area w/gas fireplace, wood laminate floors. large inviting entry. Study or 5th bedroom.

That’s a lot of home! How could anyone furnish it all?

Not a problem!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
10/09/08 9:42am

Will the Village Get Its Bolsover Back?

by
Condos, Financing, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Rice Village, Streets
2 Comments

The West U Examiner‘s Michael Reed points out that Randall Davis has a looming deadline to complete some work on the block of Bolsover St. in Rice Village that was purchased from the city:

A condition, passed by the Houston City Council at the time of the sale, specified that some changes to the site of the high-end condo over retail project must be completed within one year.

The block was sold in August of last year so that Davis could use it as part of his Sonoma mixed-use development. Since then, Davis has run into problems finding financing, and the project has changed considerably. He now wants to build the smaller second phase — on the south side of the street — first. But the Walgreens currently on that site has a lease that won’t be up until January.

What needs to get done by the end of October?

The plugging and abandonment of the 8-inch water line within the street, and the relocation of the existing storm sewer inlets to Bolsover and Morningside.

The developer is “required to eliminate the appearance of the public street” at the intersections of Bolsover and both Kelvin and Morningside.

, , , , , , , , , ,
Commercial Real Estate
09/09/08 12:25pm

Sonoma: Bolsover Bulldozer

by
Condos, Demolitions, Development Strategy, Financing, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Rice Village, Streets
11 Comments

Demolition on Bolsover St., Rice Village, October 2007

Having torn down an entire block of buildings in the Rice Village for a condo project the company can’t get financed, Randall Davis has a better idea: Why not demolish the buildings on the other side of Bolsover — so they can build the second phase instead?

The Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports that Davis and company have been unable to get a $100 million construction loan for the Sonoma mixed-use condo development he’s been marketing for a couple of years. Hey, that’s no problem! Just move on to the next project, and double down on the demo:

Now they’re negotiating for a $70 million loan with 40 percent equity to build the smaller second phase of 85 units.

“Hopefully they’ll respond positively since we have so many sales,” said Davis.

The sales, however, are for the first phase of the project, which has been 50 percent pre-sold.

And the second phase is on the south side of Bolsover, where Walgreen’s has a lease until January.

After the jump: marginal views of phase two!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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