07/14/08 2:02pm

Drawing Showing Planned Hotel at 1634 Westheimer, Montrose, Houston

Concept drawings for the new “boutique” hotel on Westheimer mentioned here on Friday are out! A tipster sends us to a HAIF post pointing to the Bunkhouse Management website, where Liz Lambert and company — the team behind Austin’s too-cool slow-mo Hotel San Jose rehab and Jo’s Coffee — have posted sketches of a 5-story, 75-room hotel complex planned for 1634 Westheimer, between Dunlavy and Mandell.

Yes, that’s the long-vacant failed-condo site next to Buffalo Exchange, across the street from the Leopard Lounge. Bunkhouse describes the site as a “blank slate,” but they’re likely to find a number of poured-then-abandoned piers on the property.

Bunkhouse’s plans show a restaurant, patio, and retail space fronting Westheimer. The hotel, wrapping around a pool, is in back, reachable from the front patio and a car entrance along one-block-long Kuester St., on the east side of the property.

Below: More drawings, including a site plan.

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07/11/08 1:22pm

RR Donnelley Building, 1015 S. Shepherd, Houston

A reader forwards us a report indicating Trammell Crow Residential has withdrawn its variance requests for the South Shepherd Apartments, planned for the current site of the RR Donnelley printing company building on the Shepherd Curve, between the themey Renoir and Gotham condo buildings. And it’s not just the variance requests — apparently the entire project has been withdrawn from consideration by the city. Judging from the Planning Commission hearings — and from the comments on Swamplot’s story about the project — there was a fair amount of neighborhood opposition to aspects of the project. Is this simply a strategic retreat or is Trammell Crow backing out?

07/11/08 10:27am

BOUTIQUE HOTELS COMING TO WASHINGTON AVE. AND LOWER WESTHEIMER? They’re not saying much, but two separate potential developers have targeted Inner Loop sites. No “immediate plans,” of course: “Liz Lambert, the businesswoman behind the hip Hotel San José in Austin, has a site on lower Westheimer earmarked for a possible hotel. . . . Sergio Ortiz, owner of Houston-based Orion Hotels Inc., is working on the development of a boutique hotel on Washington Avenue, one of the hottest emerging strips in the Bayou City.” [Houston Business Journal]

07/10/08 4:05pm

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=dkUjSpRr93Q 400 330]

The two “Marking Our City” billboards near Grace Community Church‘s north and south I-45 locations depict a plain white cross, an American flag, and the words “150 FT CROSS COMING SOON.” But they probably show only the top portion of the structures the church is planning — and the 150-ft. label may be selling the project short. The Chronicle‘s Lisa Gray says

. . . the pastor hopes both structures will be 200 feet tall, roughly the height of a 20-story building. The Federal Aviation Administration, he said, may limit the south campus’s cross to 150 feet because it’s near Ellington Field.

Five-and-a-half minutes into the Grace Community Church video above, Grace senior pastor Steve Riggle walks viewers through a drawing of a more elaborate structure. Riggle asks

What if there was one of these at every entrance to the city? And it was there for the prayer movement in the city, not just a church. You talk about marking our city for God.

After the jump: More crosses on the side of the highway!

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07/10/08 1:12pm

MainPlace, Main and Rusk, Downtown Houston

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!

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07/09/08 10:43am

Crane for Park 8, Beltway 8 Near Arthur Storey Park, Houston

Lou Minatti notes that the construction crane parked on the site of the Park 8 condo tower project on the west side of Beltway 8 between Bellaire and Beechnut has at long last been dismantled and removed. Is it time to say goodbye to the Land of Oz?

More bad news for fans of the 3-tower (plus hospital and strip center) project: The video originally embedded in our story about the project from last year is down too. But don’t worry . . . YouTube has a copy! See it again — and relive some of that Oz highrise magic — after the jump.

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07/02/08 11:38am

ASHBY HIGHRISE: ONE PERMIT AWAY FROM APPROVAL “Having cleared six of seven departmental reviews, dating back July 30, the project only lacks clearance from Public Works and Engineering’s traffic section.” Developer Matthew Morgan says Buckhead Investment Partners will address four outstanding traffic concerns and resubmit the project for approval soon. [West University Examiner; previously]

07/01/08 1:46pm

Proposed New Downtown YMCA

Forwarded by a helpful reader: an email from the Downtown Y that includes the above image of the new Downtown YMCA. The new building is planned for a site that’s just a knight’s jump away from the current 1941 building on Louisiana St., which is now slated for demolition.

The new site is on the block bordered by Travis, Milam, Pease, and Jefferson — currently a surface parking lot. However, the YMCA email says “a new location has not been purchased.” So can y’all please keep quiet about this so the sellers don’t raise their price and ruin the whole deal?

The image comes with a clear message about the building’s schedule, too! The email has a slightly looser concept of “now”: “Doors are scheduled to open,” it says, “by the end of 2010.”

After the jump, more images of the proposed new building . . . from Kirksey’s website.

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07/01/08 9:08am

Downtown YMCA, Houston

The 10-story brick YMCA on Louisiana St., which has been taking up valuable space Downtown for more than 65 years, will at last be torn down, reports Nancy Sarnoff in today’s Chronicle. The Y will move to a new glass-and-brick building now being designed by Kirksey — apparently intended for the nearby block bounded by Travis, Milam, Pease, and Jefferson.

The best part of the story? The Y is being very polite about the whole thing. Having determined that its own building is not worth the $25 million a report determined would be necessary for repairs, the organization will go out of its way to demolish the structure itself, so no future buyer will have to be burdened with similar defensive and wasteful studies — or cleanup. And that future buyer has already been determined: Chevron, which already owns the former Enron building next door, says it has no current plans for the new 85,000-sq.-ft. vacant lot it is purchasing.

At 100,000 square feet, the new YMCA building will be less than half the size of the current facility, but will come with 250 parking spaces. And it will be rated LEED-Silver, which means its construction and operation will conserve energy and resources, unlike the wasteful current building, which was designed by architect Kenneth Franzheim in 1941.

In addition to continuing its mentoring, educational and other life-skill programs, the new facility will include a teen center, child watch area and women’s wellness center, as well as racquetball courts, a basketball gym, swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness equipment, a chapel, meeting space and a food vendor.

Not included in the new structure: replacements for the 132 “short-term” residential units in the current building.

Below: A photo that illustrates the story!

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06/30/08 11:37am

Parking Lot for Proposed Second Baptist Church of Baytown on North Main St., Baytown, TX

Baytown’s City Council has voted to annex 320 acres of land along North Main and south of I-10 — so that Baytown’s Second Baptist Church can get utility and other municipal services for a new 48,000-sq.-ft., $8.7 million shopping-center-style facility it is hoping to construct on North Main St.

The Baytown Sun‘s Barrett Goldsmith reports that even more land may be annexed:

According to information submitted to Council by city planner Kimberly Brooks, additional property along North Main will be brought to Council for annexation as the utility system is extended to the area.

After the jump: More images of the new church . . . plus a video!

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06/26/08 10:51am

Sign on White Oak, Next to Onion Creek Coffee House

A post offering “a few notes of clarification” appears on the HAIF thread discussing the new sign on the property next to the Onion Creek Coffee House on White Oak:

a. The structure, as currently envisioned, will include first floor retail and parking, probably two floors of parking and six to seven floors of office/studio lease space. The top floor of the garage will be designed for an art gallery, or similar space, with the roof of the garage as outdoor terrace areas.

b. The project is in a very, very early design stage and will be a Class-A “green” structure with early 20th-century details. Equivalent-scaled structures might be the Lancaster downtown or The Plaza in Montrose.

c. Target tenants will be neighborhood small businesses and individuals currently doing business in homes, garages, guest rooms, etc…within walking or biking distance and not wanting a heavy commute routine.

d. Project is in commercial district and would only “border” the residential district of the Heights.

e. Since it is primarily an office building there are considerations for the parking to be utilized after-hours by the nighttime oriented buinesses nearby for off-street parking which would limit the intrusion of parking into residential areas.

f. This is the only information available at this time. Further postings will come in the near future.

Thank you for your interest.

Photo: HAIF user tmariar

06/25/08 12:57pm

Proposed 5 Allen Center, HoustonThis hazy image of a new office tower planned for the northwest corner of Downtown, unveiled from the depths of the interwebs by HAIF user nate, is apparently meant to be the new Five Allen Center. It’s listed as a 1.2-million-sq.-ft. “near-term future development” in a Brookfield Properties document from this month.

A Brookfield executive described the project at a panel discussion on Downtown development earlier this year, according to a Houston Business Journal article by Jennifer Dawson a tipster alerted us to:

Brookfield is planning a 50-story office building on a 2.5-acre site west of 3 Allen Center, but will not begin construction until it is at least 50 percent leased, said Paul Layne, Brookfield’s executive vice president over the Houston region.

Layne predicted that by the time Brookfield’s all-glass, planned LEED Gold-certified building is finished, Class A rental rates downtown will be roughly $50 per square foot on a 10-year lease.

The project is referred to as the “Gateway Site” on Brookfield’s website:

A 2.5 acre parcel, the Gateway site would have a sky bridge connection to the Allen Center and unobstructed views to the west. The Gateway site is surrounded by historical parkland to the north, low-rise residential to the west and the Metropolitan Racquet Club garage to the south.

That looks like the northeast corner of Houston Ave. (the I-45 northbound feeder, at that point) and West Dallas.

Image: Brookfield Properties

06/23/08 4:12pm

Sign for Rizk Tower, White Oak, Houston Heights

This sign, posted near the corner of White Oak and Oxford in the Heights, has apparently stirred up concerns among a few area residents. And really, if causing a commotion was the goal, broker Ed Rizk couldn’t have picked a better location: the property is right next to the Onion Creek Coffee House.

Judging from the emails we’ve received, the project already has a name: It’s “another Ashby Highrise.” The latest from the sleuths on HAIF: Planning and Development says it hasn’t received any permit or subdivision application for the project.

Photo: HAIF user tmariar

06/23/08 10:36am

The Modigliani, Townhouses on South MacGregor Way, Houston

Nancy Sarnoff reports that construction is about to begin on a new gated 52-townhouse development on South MacGregor, east of 288. The developer, Joseph Casimir of Cypresswood Capital, reports on the project’s website that the development

bears three distinctive yet integrated architectural flavors: Florentine, Venetian, and Romanesque, affording you a lifestyle of unparalleled comfort and understated sophistication.

The townhouse development is called The Modigliani, after an Italian artist who spent most of his adult life in Paris, and who died of TB at the age of 35, aggravated by persistent alcoholism and drug abuse.

The 4.3-acre site at 3028 S. MacGregor Way is next door to the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center and across the street from Brays Bayou. Casimir bought it in 2006 for $4.6 million, then demolished the 1936 Wright Morrow estate on the property. The previous owner, the UT Health Science Center at Houston, had intended to build a mental health outpatient facility on the site, but put it up for sale after encountering vocal opposition from neighborhood residents and State Rep. Al Edwards.

Below: Elevations and a site plan!

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06/23/08 8:39am

Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

New drawings and details appear of Discovery Tower, the 30-story office building now under construction at the northwest corner of Discovery Green Downtown.

The wind turbines at the top of the building are still there. The brochure also mentions solar panels on the south face of the building, a green roof on top of the entrance pavilion, 2 stories of retail, as well as some old Houston favorites: 2 floors of underground parking (151 cars), and a 10-story, 1,350-space parking garage one block north, connected by . . . . an air-conditioned (phew!) skybridge!

After the jump, more green-hot Downtown tower architectural rendering porn!

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