Proposed Developments

77003, Attractions, Buying and Selling, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Financing, Harris County Government, Proposed Developments

Proposed Developments

02/22/10 1:04pm

A Peek at a Few Pieces of the New Metro Light Rail Stations

Public Transportation

17 Comments

What are the stations for the new Metro light-rail lines gonna look like? This full-scale mockup of a section, cobbled together from foam core, poster board, cardboard mailing tubes, and Plexiglas, now waiting way off-site in the offices of RdlR Architects provides one clue.

And here are a few more:

Light-Rail, Metro Rail, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, University Line

02/17/10 10:40am

How To Get More Houston Neighborhoods To Support the Downtown Dynamo Stadium Deal

Bellaire, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Westpark

5 Comments

HOW TO GET MORE HOUSTON NEIGHBORHOODS TO SUPPORT THE DOWNTOWN DYNAMO STADIUM DEAL It’s easy! Just start talking about an alternative plan for a stadium in some other area of the city. Neighborhood groups will be very supportive. Hey, it worked for Bellaire! “The [Bellaire City] Council voted 6-0 in favor of a resolution calling on the three parties to close a deal on a stadium just east of U.S. 59 near the East End. It also asked the dealmakers not to support a recently emerged proposal to build the stadium along Bellaire’s northern border.” [Houston Politics]

77003, 77056, Attractions, Bellaire, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Westpark

Comments

02/12/10 1:06pm

Comment of the Day: Ashby Highrise Game On

Development Regulations, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Southampton

9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ASHBY HIGHRISE GAME ON “Ultimately, the developers used the intricacies of the city code to try to slip this by the neighborhood. Then they complained when the neighborhood used the intricacies of the city code to block it. Boo effinâ€™ hoo.” [Fatt Fistery, commenting on Ashby Highrise Lawsuit: Itâ€™s On!]

77005, Comments, Development Regulations, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton

Development Restrictions

02/11/10 3:21pm

Ashby Highrise Lawsuit: It’s On!

Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Southampton

29 Comments

ASHBY HIGHRISE LAWSUIT: IT’S ON! Gee, who’da thunk it would come to this? “The developers of the Ashby high-rise sued the city of Houston today seeking more than $40 million in compensation after repeated denials of their permit application. ‘The city must learn that it cannot misapply the law to please a select few or to achieve de facto zoning regulations that our community has consistently rejected,’ said Kevin Kirton, the chief executive of Buckhead Investment Partners Inc., the company that sought to build the 23-story tower at 1717 Bissonnet near Rice University.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

77005, Ashby Highrise, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Lawsuits, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton

77003

02/11/10 12:12pm

Boxing Out Dynamo Stadium

Attractions, Bellaire, Development Restrictions, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Westpark

7 Comments

Will the Houston Dynamo get to build their stadium in East Downtown — or off Westpark, near the Galleria? So far, the odds are . . . neither. The final go-ahead for building a soccer stadium on the EaDo site will require county commissioners to formally join the new East Downtown TIRZ (boundaries shown outlined above). But they can’t vote on that proposal until commissioner El Franco Lee puts that decision on the agenda. So far he hasn’t done that — and he apparently won’t talk to the press or constituents about his intentions.

Meanwhile, over in Bellaire, city officials are rushing to put in some “stop-gap” zoning changes to the Research and Development District at the northern edge of the city. Most of the site of Midway Companies’ proposed Dynamo Stadium development there lies within Houston city limits, but a small portion on the east side is apparently in Bellaire’s RDD.

What sort of zoning changes are being discussed? Instant News Bellaire‘s Angela Grant explains:

The new Comprehensive Plan envisions the RDD as a mixed-used urban area that includes residential, retail and offices, along with METROâ€™s future light-rail station. But as the zoning codes are currently written, developers could construct car lots, warehouses or other things that conflict with the â€œurban villageâ€ idea. . . .

The main change would be that developers wishing to construct residential, commercial or mixed-use buildings would need to go before the city in a planned development process to have their ideas approved before moving forward. The city would get a chance to review the plans, consider whether they conformed with the Comprehensive Plan, and reject any developments that did not.

East Enders appeal to El Franco [Off the Kuff]
Residents: County Commissioner stalling Dynamo stadium construction [KHOU.com]
City Moving To Protect RDD From Undesirable Developments [Instant News Bellaire]
Bellaire mayor challenges Dynamo stadium plan; others on board [Bellaire Examiner]

Map showing outline of TIRZ 15: Gensler (PDF)

77056, Attractions, Bellaire, Development Restrictions, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Harris County Government, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, TIRZs, Westpark, Zoning

Downtown

02/08/10 2:21pm

Slipping a Hotel Under the Slipcover: Plans from the New Owner of 806 Main

Hotels, Houston Landmarks, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

7 Comments

The Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson is reporting that a hotel developer out of Fort Worth is purchasing the 22-story office building at 806 Main St. Downtown with plans to gut it, renovate it, and reopen it as a hotel. The building is approximately 100 years old, but its top 10 floors were added in the 1920s. The stone, terra cotta, and brick structure was dressed in a marble-and-glass slipcover about 60 years later. Directly across the street from the tower is the construction site of Hines’s MainPlace development.

The city has designated 806 Main as a landmark. It’s connected to the Downtown tunnel system, but has remained mostly empty in recent years. The last of 40 recent tenants is scheduled to move out this week. Building manager Betty Brown tells Dawson that only the Christian Science Reading Room and Domino’s Pizza on the ground floor will be left — their leases run out in 9 to 12 months.

With the exception of the Embassy Suites in downtown Fort Worth featured prominently on its website, Pearl Real Estate has built or redeveloped mostly suburban-style hotels. The 10-year-old company typically operates its own properties and serves as its own general contractor.

What kind of hotel is Pearl planning underneath this slipcover?

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Houston Landmarks, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

02/05/10 12:18pm

Dynamo Stadium: What Difference Does the Location Make?

Bellaire, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

4 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE LOCATION MAKE? “Talk to Houston Dynamo CEO Oliver Luck, and you get a much different view of the depth of Bellaire-area stadium proposal by the Midway Companies thatâ€™s taken on a life of its own in the past week, largely due to the buzz phrase, ‘privately funded.’ ‘We have not been presented a plan by the Midway Companies,’ Luck said. ‘I canâ€™t say whether thereâ€™s “no public money” involved. ‘We (the Dynamo) wonâ€™t talk to the city or county about this deal â€” we have pushed that responsibility to Midway. We know what our conditions are, and basically, itâ€™s replicating the financial structure of the downtown deal. Thatâ€™s sort of a threshhold question. If they can do that, weâ€™ll go ahead. If they canâ€™t, it wonâ€™t happen.’ Under the East Downtown (a district now known as EaDo) deal, the Dynamo would pay about $60 million with the city of Houston and Harris County each guaranteeing about $10 million through a special tax reinvestment district.” [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot]

77003, 77056, Attractions, Bellaire, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments, TIRZs, Westpark

Parking

01/28/10 4:40pm

Comment of the Day: The Great University of Houston Structured Parking Boom

Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail, University of Houston

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GREAT UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON STRUCTURED PARKING BOOM “Many more garages are in the works. The newest bid just went out for the Athletic garage which will be build between Robertson Stadium and Hofheinz Pavilion. Will provide parking for up to 2,200 cars and will have a retail component. Rumored tenants are Raising Caneâ€™s, Starbucks, and Chipotleâ€¦” [doofus, commenting on That East Garage Spirit: Pride of Parking at the University of Houston]

77004, Parking, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments, Retail, University of Houston

01/27/10 6:03pm

Dynamo Plan B: The Stadium at Bellaire Station

Bellaire, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation

20 Comments

More details on that newly proposed alternate location for Dynamo Stadium that the soccer team is now apparently considering: It’s a 30-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Westpark and S. Rice Blvd., across from the Sam’s Club parking lot and Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack. That’s just southwest of the intersection of 59 and the 610 Loop, and right next to the planned location of the Uptown and University light-rail lines’ Bellaire Station — at Westpark and North 1st St.

Brad Feels, CEO of Midway Companies, tells the Chronicle‘s Chris Moran he’s envisioning a mixed-use development there somewhat like Dallas’s Mockingbird Station, which sits just across the Central Expressway from SMU’s Ford Stadium, and which features restaurants and retail, office buildings, apartments, and a movie theater complex. (Midway is the developer of CityCentre, now pretty much complete at the site of the former Town & Country Mall.) Feels first contacted the Dynamo’s Oliver Luck with information about the property in October or November of last year.

What’s happening with plans to build a Dynamo Stadium in East Downtown?

77056, Attractions, Bellaire, Dynamo Stadium, Light-Rail, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments

01/26/10 4:22pm

What’s the Dynamo Stadium Westpark Option?

East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments

19 Comments

Houston Dynamo fan and attorney Eric Nordstrom — who’s also a supporter of a new East Downtown stadium for the soccer team — writes in with a question:

I appeared at Commissioners’ Court this morning on behalf of the Dynamo Supporters’ Alliance to speak in support of county participation in TIRZ 15, which is the last hurdle to clear before the Houston Dynamo can begin construction of their stadium at the proposed downtown location. As you know, this deal has been held up for quite some time as it works its way through the political process. The Dynamo Supporters’ Alliance is dedicated to keeping this issue on the front-burner with our elected officials, especially now that the smoke has cleared from the municipal elections. It is important to us to get the message out about this project for it truly represents a remarkable commitment by the team to expend $60,000,000 of its own capital . . . Opponents often ask why, if the Dynamo want a stadium, don’t they pay for it themselves. The Supporters’ Alliance is dedicated to communicating the message that that is precisely what the Club is trying to do. If the City and County will fix the roads, we’ll build the house.

However, after my three minutes were up, Commissioner Radack asked if I was aware of a project currently under development by Midway Companies to construct a multi-use facility in Precinct 3 with 100% private financing, “a mile from the Galleria” near Westpark. To be honest, I was not aware of such a project, and though our first choice is the downtown location, I am intrigued by the location Commissioner Radack suggests. I’m wondering if any of your readers out there can fill in the gaps.

Previously on Swamplot: Dynamo Downtown Dinghy: All Aboard, Quick!, A First Glimpse of the New Dynamo Stadium, The East Downtown Sports and Convention Complex

Rendering of proposed new Dynamo Stadium at Texas and Dowling, East Downtown: ICON Venue Group

77003, Attractions, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments, TIRZs, Westpark

Comments

01/22/10 1:03pm

Comment of the Day: Makes It Easier To Crush Those Communards, Too

Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Quicklink, Streets

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKES IT EASIER TO CRUSH THOSE COMMUNARDS, TOO “Parisian city planners were met with similar narrow-minded criticism when they decided to construct grand boulevards in medieval Paris. The result was the Champs-Elysees and other notable conduits. The visionaries at METRO must ignore similar insuferable fools and carry on the worthy goal of bringing automobile independent mass transportation to Houston. The University line is the lynch pin of the ongoing expansion and these plans should be approved with all deliberate speed.” [Landed Gent, commenting on Metroâ€™s University Line Acquisition Line-Up: What Stays and What Goes Along Richmond Ave.]

Comments, Light-Rail, Metro Rail, Proposed Developments, Streets, University Line

Commercial Real Estate

01/22/10 9:38am

Skanska Post Oak Tower: We Don’t Need a Bank To Build This

Financing, Galleria, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

2 Comments

An executive with Skanska USA tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson that the American subsidiary of the Swedish project development and construction company will build and finance this new freeway-side Galleria spec office building all by itself. Design work for the 14-story tower and 8-story parking garage, though, was farmed out to Kirksey.

Where will it go? The 2.3-acre former site of Tony’s Ballroom at 3009 Post Oak Blvd., across the street from the Water Wall Park. Metro will likely want a piece of that property too: A thin, mostly triangular sliver along the property’s western edge is needed to accommodate the new Uptown Line set to run down Post Oak.

77056, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Galleria, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Uptown

Eminent Domain

01/21/10 4:28pm

Metro’s University Line Acquisition Line-Up: What Stays and What Goes Along Richmond Ave.

Proposed Developments, Transportation

40 Comments

Did 3.2 acres of acquisitions along Post Oak Blvd. for the new Uptown Line sound like a lot to you? Then look at this: The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the new University Line says Metro’s “locally preferred alternative” route will need to acquire 23 acres of land from approximately 212 separate parcels on that route, most of it along Richmond Ave. (Only 7 of those parcels will need to be acquired in full, according to the report.) Plus: 100 businesses, 30 residences, and 38 mixed-use structures will need to be relocated.

Potential acquisitions and displacement are expected at signalized intersections and at some transit stations. Every transit station located on the street will have a traffic signal. Additional right of way will be needed to accommodate left-turn lanes at key signalized intersections.

You can find the complete list of affected properties beginning on page 146 of this document. Maps of the targeted properties along the entire route — similar to the bit along Richmond Ave. at Montrose Blvd. shown above — are in the engineering drawings section.

Find anything interesting in there? Let us know in the comments!

Rail along Richmond requires 23 more acres: report [West University Examiner]
University Corridor Updates [Metro Solutions]
Previously on Swamplot: Trimming Uptown Trees and Driveways: Where Metro Is Shopping for Land on Post Oak Blvd.

Map: Metro Solutions (PDF)

Eminent Domain, Light-Rail, Metro Rail, Proposed Developments, Richmond Ave., University Line

Eminent Domain

01/20/10 4:13pm

Trimming Uptown Trees and Driveways: Where Metro Is Shopping for Land on Post Oak Blvd.

Galleria, Proposed Developments, Transportation

21 Comments

Metro’s most recent street reclassification plan indicates that the transit authority will need a grand total of about 3.2 acres of land on Post Oak Blvd. to squeeze in its new Uptown rail line, reports the River Oaks Examiner‘s Mike Reed.

The most notable target of Metro acquisition efforts will likely be a roughly 14-ft.-wide swath of tree-lined land along the Post Oak edge of the newly minted Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, pictured above. The Williams Tower immediately to the north is due the same sort of trim, because the Hampton at Post Oak assisted living facility across the street is located much closer to Post Oak.

An even bigger bite would be taken out of the west side of Dillard’s if the current design goes forward: a 29,476-sq.-ft. strip that “would appear to include the ramp leading to the second-story of the garage,” Reed reports. The Galleria itself would lose only 1,019 sq. ft.

There’s a whole lot more in the plan. In all, pieces of 48 separate parcels are on Metro’s Post Oak shopping list so far: