Spring’s a time of renewal: And the Yoakum St. apartments — and palm trees, too — pictured here came down this winter so something very like this office building could begin going up. Campanile South, it’s called, is being described by developers Hansen Partners as a 6-story, 82,000-sq.-ft. “boutique” space with retail and restaurants facing Richmond Ave. Setting up on a lot between Yoakum and Graustark, Campanile South will be be the 7th member of the Campanile family that’s clustered around St. Thomas University the University of St. Thomas and Montrose Blvd.; it’s expected to be ready for tenants in 2014.
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The design from Philip Ewald Architects has inspired this description from developer John Andell:
In consideration of the Montrose neighborhood, the building features a traditional Palladian exterior sheathed in stucco, limestone and native hand moulded brick. The structure is capped with a limestone colored stucco cornice featuring circle head windows and large semi-circular windows. This creates dramatic offices and conference rooms on the taller top floor. At the first floor limestone surrounds the base of the building repeating the Palladian influences. Here retail and restaurant space face an open plaza area shaded by large mature live oaks carefully preserved around the site. The generous building lobby visible from the street will feature a Turrell inspired knife edge circular light cove bathing the limestone interior in subtle color.
Below: Some photos, post-demo, of the Montrose site. You can see where a few of those “large mature live oaks” have been “carefully preserved:”
- 4306 Yoakum Boulevard [Hansen Partners]
- Montrose developer teams with owner of Houstonian for new project [Prime Property]
- Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: Yoakum and Yankem
Photos: Swamplot inbox (rendering); NuHabitat (apartments); Allyn West (others)
So if you construct a box, then put some semi-circular windows at the top, it becomes a “traditional Palladian exterior”?
Uhm. If it’s St. Thomas University, then refer to University of Rice. Or Houston University. University of Houston Baptist.
@SM: Thanks for catching that! I corrected the reference.
Restaurants?
It sucks living in montrose right now. One building era knocked down a new one gets built then again and again. There are no peaceful afternoons anymore. Constant building is so disruptive.
@Lola well move.
@Lola: I love Montrose right now. Most of what is getting torn down wasn’t that special, and I say that as a person who mourns every lost bungalow. I’m much more likely to take a stroll to check on the progress of the local construction projects than I was to oggle the dilapidated multi-family’s and trash strewn fields they replaced.
This was such a cool pre war complex..i was sad to see it meet the bulldozer (the symbol of Houston if there ever was one) and of course it’s replaced with a cheap pre fab edifice that will hardly be beloved by anyone…so Houston
The “large mature live oaks carefully preserved around the site” are on City of
Houston right of way and therefore cannot
be whacked out nilly willy johnny hanney developer guy. I’d bet P. Ewald has been
beat down on his fee since this “traditional
Palladian” is so much like his other
“traditional Palladian” troweled on stucco
boxes . . . . give the stucco details a couple of decades and all will need replacement.
Next time try doing a James Turrell exterior with a Palladian lobby.
I agree it sucks living in Montrose right now. Already the traffic is backed up on Dunlavy/W.Alabama after the new HEB went up, and I dread seeing what it will be like after 400 apartments get built on top of the Fiesta site. Won’t be able to get thru that intersection at all, at least in a car, I’ll be avoiding it. Used to be less traffic in Montrose a decade ago. Now it’s nuts.
Plenty of wide open streets in the Fifth!
@bethsheba taking all the backroads would be nicer if they actually repaves the streets. It makes it impossible to drive around the traffic when u risk destroying your car trying to drive though the neighborhoods.
Montrose is a nice place live but listening to construction day after day is starting to get old. It’s one thing dealing with a new house being built for 3 or 4 months but the point I was trying to make before was its not so great to have to hear it nonstop like I said when one is done they start a new build same street over and over again. Montrose is going to turn into west university in a few years with all these new builds that take away the charm of the old montrose.
Obviously I am just a poor 20 something apartment dweller who most you yuppies could give 2 shits about but there aren’t many places left in Houston where you can find cheapish small apartment complexes that have character left in them that are close to everything. Moving outside montrose is not an option for me.
Just take a drive around the neighborhoods now, they look ridiculous all the houses look like they don’t belong next to another and no it’s not cute and eclectic anymore it looks stupid.
Bethsheba says “Used to be less traffic in Montrose a decade ago. Now it’s nuts.”
Yes, and the population of Harris county grew by 692,000 people between 2000 and 2010, according to the US Census bureau. They estimate another 45,000 joined us between 2010 and 2011. That’s why you observe more traffic.
You sound like the supposed “yuppies” you are describing. Montrose hasn’t been affordable compared to many other surrounding areas for years. There are a number of places right on the otherside of spur 527 that are affordable.