Proposed Developments

Proposed Developments
06/20/08 7:30am

New HEB at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet: Not as Bad as It Looks

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Real Estate Marketing, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, West University
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Buffalo Pharmacy at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet, Houston

Those drawings some of you have seen of the new HEB shopping center coming to the corner of Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet? Pay no attention to them, says the West University Examiner:

Rare sightings of renderings depicting the H-E-B grocery store development at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet Street are not an indication that construction is pending, a company spokeswoman said.

“Nothing is final,” said Cyndy Garza Roberts. “The real estate division is working with architects.” . . .

There is no start date and no project particulars to share, she added. . . . most tenants vacated the property in May.

Buffalo Grille and Buffalo Pharmacy, however, will remain in business at the site during construction.

Hey, if you’ve got a copy of these renderings, why not share them with Swamplot, so we can all ignore them together?

After the jump: An aerial view of the site!

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Apartments
06/13/08 1:49pm

Between Gotham and Renoir: Squeezing New Apartments into the Shepherd Curve Theme Park

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Condos, Proposed Developments, Shepherd Curve
6 Comments

RR Donnelley Building, 1015 S. Shepherd, Houston

Trammell Crow Residential is planning a new apartment building on the current site of the RR Donnelley printing company building on S. Shepherd, some sleuthing neighbors tell us.

The printing company sits between two cartoon condos near W. Dallas: Randall Davis’s Gotham and Renoir. The site for the apartments will include all of the land currently owned by Donnelley, extending from Shepherd through the parking lot east to Gross St. The Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church on Newhouse St. may own a small piece of the parking lot, reports an email making the rounds in the neighborhood.

Trammell Crow, which runs the Alexan apartment chain, is reportedly still in the early stages of planning . . . though apparently far enough along for the company’s planners to request some variances from the city. One variance request

is to not have to widen Newhouse to the now required standard of 50 ft. . . . To do so would adversely impact the church and the one townhouse at the end of Newhouse.

More details and photos after the jump!

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Galleria
06/12/08 6:31pm

3100 Post Oak: Where the Loop, the Lake, the Train, and Richmond Collide

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Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Rendering of Proposed Office Tower at 3100 Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

A kind tipster sends us a link to this new 17- 26-story (including the parking garage), 452,000-sq.-ft. office tower planned for 3100 Post Oak — near Richmond, just across the Lakes on Post Oak from Randall Davis’s Manhattan fantasy in the Galleria. And right next to the new rail line. The plans show room for a ground-floor restaurant, directly on one of the lakes.

A couple more images after the jump!

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Galleria
06/05/08 4:16pm

Galleria Whole Foods Parking Puzzle Solved

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Parking, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Proposed Whole Foods on Post Oak Blvd., Blvd. Place, Galleria, Houston

Yesterday’s brief Uptown Whole Foods parking mystery has been solved by one of our most helpful tipsters . . . who points to an older but more complete set of Boulevard Place plans. Shoppers, there is no need to worry. You will be able to park above, below, near, or yes — right in front of Whole Foods . . . and you won’t get stuck having to sneak your whole-grain-laden shopping cart past Hermès. Just imagine what awkward social situations that would have caused!

Below: 5 levels of out-of-date Blvd Place site plans explain it all!

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Apartments
06/04/08 3:08pm

The Sleek Strip, the Ritz Tower, and the Path to Whole Foods: A Closer Look at Boulevard Place

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Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
7 Comments

Post Oak Blvd. Parking, Blvd Place, Uptown, Houston

Sure, the super-Mod architecture, elevated sidewalks, artistically moistened streets, and glistening rotunda in the new Boulevard Place renderings make the place look pretty swank, but what’s with the token strip of parking spots out front? Is this gonna be pay-to-display valet? Some kind of shopping-center twist on a velvet rope line? Or just a stab at maintaining Houston street cred: Sure, Post Oak Blvd. might be going urban upscale, but this is one development that won’t be forgetting its strip-center roots!

Updated views of Blvd Place, including the new Ritz-Carlton and Hanover towers — plus a site plan and a Whole Foods puzzle! It’s all below:

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Condos
06/03/08 9:58am

The Turnberry: More Wiping, in More Places, than at Any Other Condo Tower

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Galleria, Highrises, Home Design, Proposed Developments
4 Comments

Plaza Level Pools, Turnberry Tower Residences at the Galleria, Houston

There will be a grand total of 652-and-a-half private bathrooms in Houston’s Turnberry Tower. Apparently this is the kind of attention to detail that’s needed to attract buyers who are flush with assets:

When meeting with buyers, Turnberry’s sales staff emphasizes the high life they’ll enjoy, said [Turnberry Ltd. vice president Jim] Cohen, with the 40-year-old condo tower developer.

They’re told, for example, that when they hang out by the pool, a Turnberry staffer will offer a cool towel for their neck and wipe sunscreen from their sunglasses.

Image of Turnberry Tower plaza-level pools: Turnberry Ltd.

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Commercial Real Estate
05/29/08 1:06pm

Highland Village: Work Above Waterworks, Filling the Gap Gap

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Highland Village, Hotels, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Construction on Top of Waterworks, Highland Village Shopping Center, Houston

A reader who lives near the Highland Village Shopping Center reports that work on “the structure being built (so slowly) on top of Waterworks” at the corner of Drexel and Westheimer appears to have started up again, after a long period of nothing-going-on. Plus: he hears it’s going to be a French restaurant. Wasn’t last year’s rumor that it was going to be a wine bar?

And speaking of rumors, the same reader wants to know what’s going to happen on the opposite corner of the same intersection, where the Gap used to be:

I have hear that it will be either a 5 story boutique hotel or 2 story retail, and, as of a few weeks ago, that they would be deciding between retail vs hotel by mid May.

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Mixed Use
05/27/08 11:23am

The New Regent Square: Details and Drawings

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Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
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Aerial View of New Regent Square Square, Houston

Thanks to two helpful readers, we have a solid update on Regent Square, now that the GID Urban Development Group has straightened out that kink in its plans. First comes word of updated drawings, panned in dizzying Ken Burns-worthy passes on the development’s website. And then: more of the scoop!

It’s all waiting for you, after the jump: a report on presentations at last week’s meeting of the North Montrose Civic Association, plus stationary images of the new Regent Square, lovingly stitched together for your at-a-glance perusal by another Swamplot correspondent.

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Mixed Use
05/22/08 9:38am

Regent Square Developers: Parking Garages Scared Us Straight

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Montrose, North Montrose, Parking, Proposed Developments, Streets
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Axonometric of Proposed Regent Square Development, North Montrose, Houston

Those of you still wondering why Regent Square’s quaint crooked street was axed from the project’s most recent plan — along with a few lush-looking inner courtyards — will be interested to read this explanation unearthed from a variance request submitted to the Planning Commission for today’s hearing:

After careful value engineering, it was determined to eliminate the below grade parking and replace that parking in additional structured garage parking. In addition, the diagonal private street that bi-sected the site has been modified and now runs perpendicular to Dunlavy. This also provided for a more efficient design of the structured parking garages.

After the jump: The new plan. When . . . and what?

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Commercial Real Estate
05/21/08 2:50pm

River Oaks Shopping Center Redo: Not Much of a Curve, but a Decent Wedge

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Demolitions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, River Oaks, Shopping Centers
3 Comments

Rendering of Proposed River Oaks Shopping Center Building at Shepherd and West Gray, Houston

And here it is: Weingarten’s two-story replacement for the northwesternmost River Oaks Shopping Center building at West Gray and Shepherd the company tore down last year.

One goal of this design seems pretty clear: Build a wedge building that helps forge a split between the two tiny groups that might otherwise join together to raise a stink about Weingarten’s larger redevelopment plans for that shopping center, the River Oaks Theater across the street, and the Alabama Theater Shopping Center further south on Shepherd. Preservation-preferring sentimentalists, ready to grumble that this isn’t the curve you expected or the black-and-white Art Deco-ish look you wanted, say hello to your design-elite friends, who are already breathing a sigh of relief that the new building at least isn’t going to be fakey retro. No, it’s not the cleanest Modern thing they’ve seen, but they know it’s the closest they’re likely to get from Heights Venture Architects. Look, Ma! No cornice!

There’s no sense catering to that second group too much though, because Weingarten will need them to be somewhat dispirited so the rest of the strategy can work. No, this wasn’t the wedge we expected, but hey, it’ll do! And it’s sure to draw attention away from the parking garage. Now remind us why we wanted to save that theater again?

After the jump: Close-ups! Site plans! Come back, Jamba Juice — all is forgiven!

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Buying and Selling
05/19/08 7:56am

Secret Hines Tower: Land in Hand

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Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Rendering of Proposed North Tower at Main and Texas Downtown Houston

Hines has “finalized the acquisition” of the Main Street block between Texas and Capitol Downtown, Nancy Sarnoff reports. That’s the site of the secret new 742,000-sq.-ft. office tower reported here a week and a half ago.

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Apartments
05/16/08 10:03am

Hanover Apartment Tower at Boulevard Place: 37 Stories

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Galleria, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
1 Comment

Hanover Company 37-Story Apartment Tower at BLVD Place, designed by Solomon Cordwell BuenzToday’s Chronicle has details on that apartment tower the Hanover Company has been planning for Boulevard Place, Ed Wulfe’s Post Oak redevelopment just north of the Galleria. Doing the math, your average 1,650-sq.-ft. apartment in the glass tower will rent for more than $4,000 a month.

That’s before it goes condo, of course.

At 37 stories, the 236-unit Hanover tower may end up even taller than the slender Ritz-Carlton planned directly to the south.

More info from Nancy Sarnoff:

Solomon Cordwell Buenz of Chicago is designing the building, which will have “boutique hotel style” amenities, including a concierge and bellman, as well as a lounge and catering kitchen.

A 19,000-square-foot rooftop pool terrace will be atop an attached parking garage.

The units will be similar to those in 7 Riverway, another Hanover project in the area. They will include stainless steel appliances, granite slab countertops, crown molding, hardwood floors and travertine tile, but will be larger and have additional features and amenities.

Hanover chose to design the building with larger units because it said there was considerable demand at 7 Riverway for oversized kitchens and living spaces.

After the jump: Where it’s going to land!

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Mixed Use
05/14/08 12:17pm

The Kink Is Gone: Those Revised Plans for Regent Square

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Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Streets
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Master Plan, Regent Square, North Montrose, Houston, March 26, 2008

A helpful reader who lives across the street from “what will hopefully become Regent Square and not self-storage” sends us a link to this revised master-plan drawing for the proposed North Montrose multi-block monster. The new plan matches the new drawing we posted yesterday.

After the jump: some closeups, plus another look at the old version for comparison.

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Apartments
05/14/08 9:18am

The New Whole Foods at West Dallas and Waugh

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Commercial Real Estate, Land Development, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail
8 Comments

Northwest Corner of West Dallas and Montrose, Houston

Whole Foods Market has just signed a 25-year lease with the Finger Companies for land at the northeast corner of West Dallas and Waugh in North Montrose. The company plans to build a new 50,000-sq.-ft. store there, reports the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff. That’s the same size as the new Whole Foods that recently opened in Sugar Land, but the new Uptown store the company is planning as part of Boulevard Place will be 50 percent larger.

The North Montrose location is only a few blocks east of the site planned for Regent Square. And Finger has more ideas for the full 11 acres fronting West Dallas it bought from Knickerbocker Corp. earlier this year:

Plans for the site also call for 60,000 square feet of additional retail space and hundreds of apartments. The Finger Cos. will build a six-story, 445-unit multifamily complex on the property. Construction will start early next year.

A ring road will be created in the center of the development to tie into the AIG complex, located to the north of the site.

A future phase includes a high-rise apartment tower for the land closer to Montrose. Developer Marvy Finger said the building could be similar to his company’s 20-story Museum Tower on Montrose near the Museum District.

Photo of the corner of West Dallas and Montrose, proposed site of Finger highrise: Charles Kuffner

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