Proposed Developments

Apartments
02/27/09 6:10pm

Ashby Highrise: Shifting Driveways and the Insanity Offense

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Boulevard Oaks, Condos, Development Regulations, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton
26 Comments

The Chronicle’s Mike Snyder comments on the the Ashby Highrise’s latest failing grade:

Since March of last year, [Matthew] Morgan and [Kevin] Kirton have submitted various versions of their permit application eight times, and the city has rejected it eight times.

Since one definitition of insanity is taking the same action repeatedly and expecting a different result, some observers have speculated that the developers were building a record for a lawsuit. The language in their timeline shows they’re prepared to take this step, whether or not it’s been part of their strategy all along.

The developers are portraying this case as an example of heavy-handed and inequitable city regulation that all developers should worry about. How much support they’ll get from their industry colleagues if they choose to go to court remains to be seen.

But Jennifer Dawson, writing in the Houston Business Journal, notes that Buckhead Investment Partners has been fiddling with those plans they keep submitting:

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Attractions
02/27/09 9:00am

Avoiding Illegal Food Movements: Sliders in Hermann Park

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Hermann Park, Parks, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail
5 Comments

Alison Cook previews the promised second location for Little Big’s — set to open “probably late spring” in Hermann Park. The home of tiny burgers will slide into a shack overlooking a new bridge on a portion of McGovern Lake, just north of the Zoo.

But chef Bryan Caswell’s attempt to operate food carts in the park have forced him to face a Houston food legend that dates from long before the age of the taco truck:

The promised Little Big’s cart service inside the park is turning out to be complicated, however. Houston health ordinances forbid the actual cooking of sliders on the carts, which means Caswell & company must come up with some new “park-themed” menu ideas. “The whole restricted versus non-restricted cart thing is amazing,” says Caswell.

The chef notes that during the research phase of the project, “we found some very interesting info on why Houston doesn’t have street food cart vendors like New York City or New Orleans. If I recall correctly, in the early 1900s, the original Market Square was littered with tamale carts. One busy hot summer day, a large group of people got sick and I think even a few died. The carts were all blamed and chased out of town. Ever since, the food cart has been a heavily restricted H-Town deal.”

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Eminent Domain
02/24/09 10:02am

HISD Neighborhood Lunch Program: The Eating of Glenbrook Valley

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Glenbrook Valley, Institutional Buildings, Proposed Developments, Schools
14 Comments

In a letter demonstrating the virtues of direct and forthright language, HISD has notified the owners of 8 homes on Glenloch St. in Glenbrook Valley that the new Lewis Elementary School will eat up their property:

This letter is to inform you that growth in Houston has created a serious shortage of permanent space within the Houston Independent School District (“HISD”). In a response to this need for space necessary to provide the best education for our children in your area, HISD will be replacing the Lewis Elementary School facility and it will be necessary to expand the existing school site.

The Superintendent of Schools has recommended, and the HISD Board of Education has designated, a tract of land for this expansion. This tract includes property you may own (see attached map).

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Midtown
02/19/09 4:20pm

Coming to Main St. in Midtown: Pizza and Burgers, Coffee Shop, Exposed Wallpaper

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Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail
3 Comments

Midtown’s lone island of light-rail-lining nightlife will likely be expanding one block north, Jay Lee reports:

The folks who brought you The Continental Club, Sig’s Lagoon, Tacos-A-Go-Go and Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge are at it again. This time right next door @ 3600 Main.

The new owners of the long-vacant one-story building have discovered some Deco-ish detail underneath the more recent stucco.

If you squint just right and imagine it with some paint to bring out the original design you can just make out what a wonderful space this is going to be. There’s already plans for a coffee shop and a pizza/burger joint and if Pete [Gordon, manager of the Continental Club] has his way, a new club called “Wallpaper”…

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Historic Preservation
02/13/09 12:36pm

Clear on the Concept: The Astrodome as Movie Studio

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Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park
10 Comments

Still waiting in the wings, the long-promoted but as-yet-unmade proposal to turn the long-vacant Astrodome into a giant indoor movie lot is almost ready for its closeup, says Christine Hall in the Houston Business Journal. Astrodome Studios co-executive directors Elise Hendrix and Cynthia Neely

along with a laundry list of supporters, including “Dazed and Confused” director/writer Richard Linklater, are one month away from presenting a proposal to Harris County that would put a major soundstage and movie production studio into the proclaimed “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

“We would have absolutely everything a creative agency would need to film a movie,” Hendrix says. “With 140,000 square feet, you wouldn’t have any problem building a city in there if you needed to.”

But what would an Astrodome movie studio look like, really? To help unimaginative county officials picture the transformation, Astrodome Studios has prepared the dramatic photo-illustration above, along with a series of similarly rich diagrams:

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Attractions
02/05/09 4:55pm

A First Glimpse of the New Dynamo Stadium

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East Downtown, Proposed Developments
22 Comments

11 News is showing some rough images of that new Dynamo soccer stadium planned for a site just east of Downtown, bordering Texas, Dowling, Hutchens, and Walker:

“We think it’s about an $80 to $85 million stadium. (It will have) 21,000 seats, but nothing fancy though. It’s very functional,” said Dynamo GM Oliver Luck. . . . “It’s gonna be much more fan friendly in terms of concessions and restrooms and some of those things that we just don’t really have over at Robertson Stadium. Most importantly, it’s going to be much easier to get to in terms of the parking and access. A rail line will literally run right next to the stadium,” said Luck.

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Apartments
02/04/09 6:17pm

Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted

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Demolitions, Houston Architects, Lancaster Place, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
62 Comments

At least 2 tenants of the Wilshire Village garden apartments have received eviction notices from the owner, demanding that they vacate the property by the end of February, a source tells Swamplot. The notices, which were signed by Commerce Equities president Matthew Dilick, say that electricity at the property will be turned off after that date. Swamplot’s source also says that the city’s Public Works department is aware of plans for the site.

Wilshire Village is the classically modern but now classically decrepit yellow-brick complex at the southwest corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, across from Fiesta. The 17 buildings were designed by local architect Eugene Werlin and completed in 1940. Wilshire Village hit a downward spiral in more recent years under the peculiar supervision of its previous owner, who reportedly fought off throngs of eager potential tenants in order to keep the 144-unit complex largely vacant — then declared bankruptcy in 2002 when he was unable to pay the taxes on the property.

Although reports that the 8-acre complex would be demolished have circulated for years, the timing of these eviction notices is a bit of a surprise, given problems other developers are currently having securing construction loans. Equally surprising to many others who have driven past the run-down apartments recently is news that actual tenants are still living there.

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Lake Houston
02/02/09 1:40pm

The Art of Lake Houston Purification: As Clean As It Gets

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Proposed Developments, Public Art
13 Comments

A bouquet of bathtubs by sculptor Donald Lipski will be the centerpiece of a new Houston Water Museum and Education Center in northeast Houston called The WaterWorks. Named “Tubbs” — apparently after Texas country musician and frequent bather Ernest Tubb — Lipski’s sculpture appears to encourage the recycling of water from one bath to the next, although in a playful way perhaps at odds with the standard “short showers only” messages contained in most water-conservation public-information campaigns. The sculpture’s splashing will be controlled, however: That’s a water-recycling system hidden in the bathtub stems.

The museum, scheduled to open in August, will be adjacent to the Northeast Water Purification Plant at the southwest corner of Lake Houston, at 12121 North Sam Houston Parkway East, in Humble.

The bathtub sculpture is a considerable improvement over Lipski’s first proposal for the WaterWorks Museum, the “magic” overflowing water pitcher pictured here:

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Art
02/02/09 10:21am

The Richmond Lights Shall Not Be Moved

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Institutional Buildings, Menil, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Redevelopment
No Comments

THE RICHMOND LIGHTS SHALL NOT BE MOVED Deputy director Emily Todd lists the “guiding principles” behind the Menil’s planned expansion for the Chronicle‘s Douglas Britt: “Just going down the list: environmentally sustainable design principles; no alteration to the original museum buildings or the Cy Twombly (Gallery); the Dan Flavin/Richmond Hall installation cannot be relocated. … The relationship between the Menil buildings to the Rothko (Chapel) and the Byanztine Chapel have to be taken into account – something that is so beautiful. The … scale, ambience and residential quality of the neighborhood is of paramount importance, which I think is sweet. Any new buildings in the immediate vicinity of the president buildings will be of the scale of the Cy Twombly Gallery. Significant trees will be preserved, and building on an outdoor environment that encourages visitors and especially families, which you see if you come over here on the weekends.” [Arts in Houston; previously in Swamplot]

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Cancellations and Delays
01/29/09 10:59am

What’s Next for That Parked Bolsover Sonoma Block

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Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Rice Village, Streets
10 Comments

A tidbit from Lamesa Properties, proud owner of that block of Bolsover St. in the Rice Village that was supposed to turn into a grand plaza for Randall Davis’s Sonoma development, but for now is just a fenced-off lot:

Company representative Julie Tysor said that while construction is on hold, the firm is open to ideas for the site to have some “long-term benefit to the community.” For now, plans are under way to make the unpaved area a green space, and the paved area may be used for much-needed Village parking.

Photo of Sonoma Site on Bolsover St.: Miya Shay

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Art
01/27/09 10:56am

What the New Collection of Menil Collections Might Look Like

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Cherryhurst, Institutional Buildings, Menil, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
16 Comments

The firm of British architect David Chipperfield has been selected to design a master plan for the expansion of the Menil Collection campus. What’s to be added?

Those facilities include the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center, an auditorium, a café, additional space for Menil archives and buildings devoted to the work of individual artists.

The Menil Foundation is also interested in developing “income-producing properties” along the coming Richmond rail line, reports Douglas Britt in the Houston Chronicle.

Fitting in so many new buildings, of course, will be a lot easier once the Menil decides which of its many neighboring properties it wants to knock down. And owning 30 acres in the area means there are plenty of possibilities!

Which will go first? The gray-washed arts bungalows? The small rental properties? Richmond Hall? Richmont Square?

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Commercial Real Estate
01/26/09 11:44am

West Ave: Going South?

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Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby
11 Comments

Is Gables Residential’s West Ave development doing so well already that plans are already in place to build the mixed-use development’s second phase? Or are the cause and credit markets so hopeless that architects of a once-hoped-for follow-on project decided they might as well post images of their design, since that’s the most exposure their work will likely ever get?

Ziegler Cooper Architects, designers of the 2727 Kirby highrise going up across the street, now have posted this image of a building on the company’s website. It’s identified it as West Ave Phase II.

And there’s this description:

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Proposed Developments
01/23/09 9:38am

Burger Chains Ready Attack on Houston: Carl’s Jr., Smashburger, Five Guys

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Restaurants, Retail
19 Comments

A new company has signed an agreement to open 121 new Carl’s Jr. franchises in Texas — including as many as 40 in the Houston area — over the next 10 years. But it’ll take a while for them to get started here at least. The Houston Business Journal‘s Allison Wollam reports that RWJP Star Enterprises has

a franchise agreement to open locations in the eastern part of Houston, and [partner Rich] White expects the first location to open in the first quarter of next year. They are still in the process of scouting sites, the first of which will be built from the ground up.

Carl’s Jr. franchises have to agree to open at least three units, for a total initial investment of $1.3 million, according to the company’s Web site.

Will the year-long wait leave enough time for other competing newcomers to get established? Wollam reports Smashburger is planning to open a second location at Briarforest and Eldridge later this month. And:

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Commercial Real Estate
01/20/09 5:56pm

Beyond the Shroud: New Images of Five Allen Center

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Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

A major downturn in the economy tends to make it a bit easier to happen upon images of developments that have been planned in secret — though finding them can be somewhat less exciting than unearthing plans that are actually likely to happen. A tipster reports HAIF user lockmat’s discovery of two images of Brookfield Properties’ planned Five Allen Center office tower Downtown. We saw one hazy picture of this building back in June. But is there any more to it now than just a few pretty pictures?

Five Allen Center is marked “pre-development” on the Brookfield website: a 50-story, 1.2-million-sq.-ft. office tower planned for a 2.5-acre site at the northwest corner of Downtown — at the northeast corner of Houston Ave. and West Dallas. That’s a rather prominent position:

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

Even Better Than Greenspoint: New AstroWorld Festival Office Park!

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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?

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