Hmmm . . . What’s going on in Houston real estate today? How about . . . the continuing construction of MainPlace! It’s the day before Christmas, and it’s still going on!
Scope out the scene yourself with the D.E. Harvey MainPlace webcam! Five-minute camera takeovers accepted.
Sent in by a reader: Another view of construction along the new MKT/SP Hike and Bike trail meant to connect the Heights to Downtown bikeways. The photo, taken from around here, shows the scene along Spring St. in the First Ward, a couple blocks west of Houston Ave.
Now available on the Asia Society website, amid pix of dragon dancers and Yao Ming shoveling dirt at the groundbreaking last spring: 2 more renderings of architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s design for the society’s new 38,000-sq.-ft. Texas Center in the Museum District.
The view from Southmore St. at Caroline, in 2010:
COSTCO SIDEWALK MAZE: BETTER FOR THE TREES Lee McGuire gets to the bottom of the wacky sidewalk screwup at Trammell Crow’s Greenway Commons, on the corner of Weslayan and Richmond: “It turns out the city actually required the new sidewalk to run right through the utility poles to save a row of trees. The developer said the project meets federal guidelines — except perhaps the blocked handicap ramp. The final inspection won’t take place until the shopping center is finished. If it’s in violation, the developer promises to fix it.” [11 News, via BlogHouston; previously]
Row House CDC has completed a second group of 8 duplexes for low- to moderate-income residents — on Francis St. between Dowling and Live Oak. That’s just north of the growing Third Ward campus of Project Row Houses, the CDC’s sister organization. At least 6 units are still available, reports Robin Foster in the Chronicle:
The units range from 700 to 900 square feet; 10 are family-sized with three bedrooms and 1½ baths and six have two bedrooms and one bath.
[Row House CDC executive director Alain] Lee said funds for the project were stretched to allow the builder to frame-in back porches. If additional money can be found, the porches will be finished as part of a courtyard envisioned for both the new and original housing complexes, he said.
All 16 duplexes were based on designs by students in the Rice Building Workshop at Rice University.
Photo of Francis St. duplexes under construction: Flickr user b2tse; photo of original duplexes along Division St.: Row House CDC
A reader sends along this photo of the very brightly painted new structure now up at the corner of Montrose and W. Clay, where the much-tamer red-and-yellow Golden Room Thai restaurant used to be.
According to the Golden Room website, when the restaurant reopens it will have the same ownership and food but a new name: Khun Kay Thai-American Café.
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:
A reader points out that NexCasa — the company responsible for the Kung Fu Panda renovation covered here yesterday — has two more properties on Westview: another “‘flipper’ type ranch” one block east, which comes with owner financing — and this “ultra modern” new construction across the street.
The new construction at 8571 Westview, which our source says is “pretty far along,” will have 5 bedrooms and 5 baths in 4200 sq. ft., and is listed at $999,000.
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.
This too-cute-for-Disneyland drawing depicts Allegro Builders’ new Wild Wild West-y development at the northwest corner of Studewood and 10th in the Heights. It’s going up just north of Allegro’s headquarters building, which is home also to the Glass Wall restaurant, and is known for its vaguely-historicist facade of valet-parked SUVs.
A few vans may front the new building at 1001 and 1003 Studewood, but it’ll only be in 2 spots of handicapped parking: The main lot is in back. That’ll likely be a relief for local filmmakers, who are no doubt eager to film Universal Studios-authentic spaghetti-western-style gunfights off those front balconies.
All of which makes this new retail-with-office-above confection an ideal location for Robert Gadsby’s new restaurant, Bedford, named after the chef’s birthplace in . . . uh, England.
After the jump: The interior is gonna be . . . modern!
Never mind the virtual obstacles: The website for Discovery Tower has a new promotional video that pays silent homage to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Also: more fancy renderings of the office building, now under construction.
More interesting to Discovery Green fans, though, will be a few new aerial renderings that depict the Downtown park in urban glory, surrounded by a crowd of real, planned, imagined, and soon-to-be-axed new projects. But . . . uh, which is which?
That orangish tower perched on Discovery Green’s southwest corner: the stalled 22-story Embassy Suites hotel. That sorta-identical but mirrored Hilton Americas on the north side of the park? The Convention Center Hotel Part Two!
So . . . what’s going on behind Discovery Tower?
WASHINGTON AVE. INSANITY! Here’s a question: “Do y’all know what’s going up on Washington in the block between Candelari’s and El Tiempo? Looks massive, possibly shaped like a music venue. No info on HAIF. Driving…me…mad.” Readers? [Swamplot Inbox]
The drive-thru mall with extras known as Pearland Town Center opens this Wednesday, at the intersection of 288 and FM 518! But it’ll be so much more than just a collection of chain stores arranged neatly in a giant parking lot:
Sixty-two apartments rest on top of retail stores, giving residents a downtown feel without the hassle of daily traffic. Granite countertops complement the kitchen of each unit along with stainless-steel appliances.
The above-retail units will be available for leasing July 30 while another set of 238 freestanding residential units will be accessible in late 2009. One-bedroom apartments will lease for $1,300 per month, and two-bedroom loft apartments will lease for $1,900 per month.
75-percent of the 85-percent-leased mall will be open Wednesday, reports David Kaplan in the Chronicle.
Plan of Pearland Town Center: CBL & Associates
The Willowisp Country Club is being transformed — from not-loved-enough golf course . . . to tilt-wall paradise! First, the clubhouse was clubbed. Then somebody probably had to go around and remove all those holes. Now the first three buildings of Trammell Crow’s new 168-acre Lakeview Business Park are under construction, reports Amy Wolff Sorter in Globe St. They’ll be complete next year, and total 240,000 sq. ft.
Whether the remainder of the park goes spec, build to suit or a combination of both depends on the market. “We’re offering the buildings for sale or for lease, which is a little different from our typical program,” says James Casey, TCC’s managing director in Houston. TCC’s more traditional MO is to keep and lease what it builds.
“This method offers us greater flexibility since we have a lot of land for the business park,” Casey tells GlobeSt.com. “We’d like to get this park developed as quickly as we can and think offering these for sale will accelerate velocity of bringing users to the park.”
After the jump: a site plan, plus public-transit-friendly views of the first three buildings!
The new MainPlace website features a bunch of snazzy new and revised rendered views of Hines’s 46-story Downtown office tower. Also included: plans of the building showing 2 street-level retail spaces — big enough maybe for a sushi restaurant plus a small postcard shop for tourists.
Promised to come soon on that website: videos. We hope they’ll play up some of the 1950s-era Japanese horror movie theming going on in a few of the new images.
After the jump: Plans! Sky Gardens! Shiny Glass! Run for your lives!
