A week later than promised, trucks and equipment have been moved onto the southeast corner of Preston and Travis streets downtown, ready to carve a 32-story highrise apartment building out of this surface parking lot, a reader reports (sending the above pics).
Meanwhile, Ziegler Cooper’s design for the tower has grown more brick-y and a bit less sleek and Mod than renderings featured a year ago on Swamplot appeared to show. The building has contracted since then as well: It’s now 1 floor shorter, and — at 274 units — 15 apartments lighter than indicated previously.
The building will still feature street-facing retail space on the ground level of its (now) 8-floor garage podium, and a pool deck above, according to the architects:
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Construction is expected to be complete by 2017.
- Hines Market Square [Ziegler Cooper Architects]
- One Market Square [Hines]
- Previously on Swamplot: Hines Market Square Takes Over a Surface Parking Lot Downtown; The Best Views Yet of Hines’s Market Square Apartment Tower and Its Downtown Headlight; A Few New Views of the 33-Story Apartment Building Hines Wants To Build in Market Square; A First Look at Some of the 33-Story Apartment Tower Hines Wants To Build in Market Square; Hines Interested in Building Residential Tower on Downtown Block Near Market Square Park
Images: Marc Longoria (construction); Ziegler Cooper Architects (renderings)
I’m so jelly
What’s the current plan for the build-out of the small vacant lot off Main. Private side-entrance?
the side lot is supposed to be a pocket park
Hines invests so much into the designs of its office towers but next to nothing into its apartment blocks. This is dull as hell, I have no idea what you’re “jelly” about. It will have zero impact on the skyline and it looks cheap.
I think a better design for this would be for 10-15 two story buildings with hardy plank siding and resident parking on all four sides. This complex would really give a luxury feel that young urban professionals desire. They should build it close to the 9600 sq ft Katy Heritage museum so residents can enjoy (By driving, There will be no sidewalks in the better design) the cultural offerings and education of the new booming city center.
Great location in walking distance to restaurants and bars. Market Square has lots of fun events that people drive in for. Hopefully, it will bring even more events in to the area.
Does that mean the city, i.e. us taxpayers are ‘saving’ $225,000 in subsidies?
Shannon: I must know nothing about design — and I’m not being sarcastic. To me, this building looks awesome. What’s so terrible (or cheap looking) about it?
Franks will need more ovens.
a better question may be, exactly what buildings in Houston is this “cheap” looking in comparison to? we’re not competing with London and NYC here.
Hines doesn’t use their 1st string architects for any Houston projects, office or apartment. Right now in NYC, they have Pei and Jean Novel doing new towers. All we get is Pickard Chilton and Ziegler Cooper. Architecturally, we are getting, at best, “good” but not “great”.
I like you, Cody, but I think we long ago established that you have no taste nor design aesthetic. You yourself have stated many times on this very site that you really know nothing about design and have dubious taste at best. I’ll play my Gay card here, this building is indeed nothing special and yeah, it looks cheap.
This is the one that needed approval from the historic district, right? Now exactly 1880 but I like it.
Looks like it got slapped with the developer stick.
I agree with anonymous and with Shannon, to some extent — although my reaction would be more like “meh” rather than “yuck”. Actually, I don’t hate this building … it’s more just a matter of seeing it as just another building whose design follows one that Z-C has been churning out for awhile. Kinda like a Highland Tower with a bigger budget. In other words, to me, it is a bit boring because I feel like I’ve already seen it done before several times. At least Z-C did something a bit different with The Austonian.
Yeah, I like The Austonian.
This looks far better than the rendering proposed last year. Brick is far more fitting in this area of downtown, I’d take it over the sleek shit anyday. Wish there were more brick townhomes popping up in Eado as well, but I guess no one takes the original aesthetic of our city’s neighborhoods into concideration
*consideration
I am an architect and I like the building.
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@Shannon: speculative office buildings are easier to design than condo and apartment buildings. For an office building, you just draw up a floor plan following some rules for exterior-wall to core depth and the like, and then play with the exterior in a free-design effort. Apartments and condos require that you figure out interior plans and unit layouts, provide balconies and windows at required places…. So it’s hardly fair to assume Hines puts less into the design of apartment towers.