- Alley Theatre Beginning 15-Month, $46.5M Renovation Project July 16Â [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- 12,000 Apartments Expected To Be Completed This Year in Houston, 40% More Than Last Year, Finds Report [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- What It’s Like To Be a Holdout Homeowner in Redeveloping Houston [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Remodeled 49th and 50th Floors of Williams Tower Earn LEED Platinum Certification [Culturemap]
- Braun Enterprises New Owner of Ella Plaza, Plans To Renovate and Add Tenants [The Leader]
- Seafood Restaurant Holley’s Opens Today in Former Sushi Raku Space in Midtown [Zagat]
- Wing Zone To Open First Houston-Area Location in Pearland Later This Year [Prime Property]
- Chef of Post Oak’s Osteria Mazzantini Now Says Restaurant Is Not Closing [Culturemap]
- Beck’s Prime Considering New Locations Around Houston in Baybrook, Pasadena, Katy, East Downtown [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Boheme Owners To Transform Shipping Container into Fully-Functional Kitchen by November [KHOU]
- Olivewood Cemetery Caretakers Request Summer Street Be Extended in Grocers Supply Land Deal [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
- A Brief History of the John Staub-Designed Mansion at 7 Winston Woods on the Market for $11.5M [Culturemap]
- Nearly 33% of Houston Residents Pay More Than a Third of Income on Housing, Finds Harvard Report [Houston Business Journal]
- Wood from Torn-Down Houses, Destroyed Trees Turned into Furniture at Made at New Living on Kirby Dr. [Culturemap]
- Zipcar Adds Discovery Green Parking Garage Location Downtown [Houston Business Journal]
- The Strange Use of the Word ‘Sprawl’ in Metro’s Theater District Station Platform Art [Not of It]
- Funnel Tunnel To Remain on Montrose Blvd. Median Through January 2015 [Glasstire; previously on Swamplot]
- 8 Houston Businesses To Visit Now, in Case They Ever Close for Good [Hair Balls]
- 18 Reasons Why Houston is the Best City in America [Business Insider]
- Lifelong Galena Park Residents Have Cancer Risk 90 to 250 Times Greater Than ‘Acceptable’ Rates, Finds Air Study [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Photo of Louise Bourgeois “Spider” in Hermann Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Oh – a Beck’s in the Clear lake area would be awesome!!!
A bit nervous about the over saturation of the apatement market, nobody wants the 80’s repeated–will Houston ever f##king learn? Great news on the Ally–and yeah, I’m familiar with that Staub house, they sold all the land it was on and now it’s surrounded by houses–11 million is absurd.
Shannon,
Someone has brought these numbers up before.
dwelling units constructed 5+ family properties
1982 42,355
2013 16,649
dwelling units constructed 2-4 family properties
1982 2,212
2013 142
dwelling units constructed single family properties
1982 30,563
2013 34,543
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total dwelling units
1982 75,130
2013 51,334
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Metro population
1980 3,147,640
2013 6,340,014
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We would have to be constructing 3 times as many units to even be approaching the per capita level of over construction from 1982 and that was with a sustained level of construction for the whole late 70s early 80s boom, as oppossed to the low level of new units from 2009-2011. We are no where near a 1980s style collapse
unless something happens in the Oil&Gas&Derivatives market even more catastrophic (to Houston) than the events of the 1980s.
–
http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/
Furthermore, with an average household size of ~2.8 in Harris county and ~100,000 a year moving to the Metro we would only need ~35,000 new units built per year. As the recently reported price increases attest to though, we have had ~100,000 a year moving to Houston throughout the recession and not enough construction. We are still playing catch-up.
Very good to know, I had no idea we were so below the 80’s apartment boom. It seems like there apatements going up everywhere, but maybe it’s just concentrated in the West Loop. I look around and think, how many people can afford 1400 for a 1 bedroom—apparently, a lot.
Does anybody know of a good paper or report that discusses the effects of the concentrated buildout of apartments in SW Houston during the boom?
I’m skeptical of the seemingly small number of 12,000 new apartments for 2014. As I drive around town, I see what I consider to be huge apartment complexes popping up everywhere. Most are up to 5 stories tall, with several hundred units each, spanning entire city blocks.
The article cites the source “…according to a second-quarter multi-family report from Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real estate firm.”
For those of you in the know…is this an appropriate source for this type of data? I’d be interested in whether this is truly accurate, and what conflicting sources may say.
Superdave,
I don’t know any specifics,
–
To get to 12,000 units.
How many apartments per complex on average?
if it is 200, that is 60 complexes
if it is 300, that is 40 complexes
etc.
Isn’t it normally around 2 hundred something, thus about 50 complexes?
–
How many are under construction in the loop, how many of those will be completed this year?
–
Their numbers aren’t too far off Texas A&M Real Estate Center’s, with the difference probably being the outer Metro Area.
This article (http://www.houstoniamag.com/real-estate/articles/the-rent-race-july-2014/4), basically a Houston take on “the rent is too damn high”, quotes Hanover’s MP saying there’s 16-18,000 units under development, which he reckons is probably about 2k more than might be needed. This is based on his rule of thumb of 5 jobs created for every new apartment unit.
Memo to nostalgic holdouts: Poor things, you CASHOUT (take the money and run) in the boom, not holdout. Holding out only causes the developer to go around you, and you end up looking silly, being laughed at, and sticking out like a sore thumb (an ignorant sore thumb). He still gets rich…you get nothing, but could have walked off loaded. You ‘principled’ retards are a hoot. In these booming times, as my grands would say “take your money, honey”…”get while the getting is good.”
Now all you can do when you come to your senses is hope the developer will come back one more time and offer more (fat chance especially after you caused a stink), while your smart (not so damn greedy) former neighbors are somewhere living it up with fat pockets. Poor holdouts, they didn’t get the memo. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry for you. As Dionne Warwick might say: ‘You Know You’ll Never Get That Offer Again.’ But you’ll be holding on, even though the good is gone. Sad.
Or, y’know, perhaps the holdouts like their location and their yard, and value those more than the money they would get from selling their house — assuming they could find another comparable place to live in.
GoogleMaster
July 7, 2014 at 6:21 pm
Or, y’know, perhaps the holdouts like their location and their yard, and value those more than the money they would get from selling their house — assuming they could find another comparable place to live in.
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They’re offered double market value, many times more than that. But otherwise I agree,,,we’re both right.
Well, GoogleMaster didn’t resort to name calling so in my book, he got it right and you honest truth, got it wrong.
.
You called those folks retards just because they didn’t do things the way you think they should have. Good thing they don’t have to answer to you! Everyone isn’t a slave to the buck.
I applaud the holdouts–someone could offer me a fortune for my house and I’d say no. I love my location, I love my house, I don’t need the money and I’m sure that’s the case with many of these “holdouts”. The Honest Truth is that we have zero use for bullies and we don’t have to accept any amount of money—great wealth is over rated –if you love your life, love your home and neighborhood, and are financially conformable, what more do you want?
Wow, Honest Truth, I have to ask: what skin do you have in this game? Based on your unsolicited post about “holdouts” (also just known as people who like where they live and don’t believe the money offered is worth their moving) , I guess it’s a lot and all the more reason to dismiss whatever you have to say. Otherwise what would you care what others do?
Shannon
July 8, 2014 at 10:29 am
(1) I applaud the holdouts–someone could offer me a fortune for my house and I’d say no. I love my location, I love my house, I don’t need the money and I’m sure that’s the case with many of these “holdoutsâ€.
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Okay, a round of applause…for fools. And no that’s NOT the case, the article said the “holdouts” wanted more money (i.e. stupid greed).
(2) The Honest Truth is that we have zero use for bullies…
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Bullies?! The developer offered well over market, but the “holdouts” demanded more (greed). The “holdouts” are the bullies here. And that’s why they got “zero”.
(3)…and we don’t have to accept any amount of money—great wealth is over rated –if you love your life, love your home and neighborhood, and are financially conformable, what more do you want?
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A better life.
Honest Truth,
Can I have your contact information? It will be good to have someone to go to when I need to make decisions about how to better my life.
You seem to have an unhealthy interest in what other people do with their money/assets. What’s in it for you?