Tag: 77002

Downtown, Water Quality

14 Comments

From Downtown yesterday: Buffalo Bayou garbage flotilla!

Crap on the Bayou [By the Bayou]

77002, Buffalo Bayou, Downtown, Pollution, Water Quality

Apartments

03/19/09 1:38pm

More AIG Bonus Photos: Right Back Atcha!

Downtown, Economic Conditions, Highrises, Memorial Heights, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings

4 Comments

The fog cuts both ways: Reader Stephen Cullar-Ledford sends in this view looking back at Downtown, taken from the AIG American General building on Allen Parkway yesterday morning.

. . . Along with yet another economy/fog/building metaphor, ripe for the captioning:

77002, 77007, 77019, AIG, Apartments, Downtown, Economic Conditions, Fog, Highrises, Memorial Heights, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings, Weather

Comments

03/12/09 8:45pm

Comment of the Day: Downtown Hilton Garden Inn Furniture Plan

Downtown, Financing, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: DOWNTOWN HILTON GARDEN INN FURNITURE PLAN “Financing? WEDGEâ€™s principal can find the money for this project in his couch cushions. According to ArabianBusiness.com, Issam Fares is currently the 32nd richest Arab on the planet with a net worth of $2.4 Billion.” [Bernard, commenting on Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn?]

77002, Comments, Downtown, Financing, Hotels, Proposed Developments

03/11/09 3:23pm

On and Off Cite: What’s the Matter with Houston Pavilions?

Malls, Retail, Shopping Centers

7 Comments

Houston’s Downtown office district, writes Christof Spieler in the RDA’s OffCite blog, “wraps around Pavilions on two sides. It ought to be delivering swarms of office workers to restaurants and the book store. But at lunchtime on weekdays, Pavilions seems empty compared to the streets a few blocks away. Whatâ€™s wrong?”

In Cite, the blog’s paper-bound cousin, Max Page wishes all the stores in Houston Pavilions had simply faced the street, and that the apartments and condos hadn’t been cut from the project:

Like the residential component, the decision about whether to orient the project to the existing street grid, or turn away, was made in the wrong direction. [Architect Roger] Soto laments the choice. â€œWe had some compelling ideas about activating the street,â€ he told me. â€œBut in the end, the developer chose to attach retail stores to a â€˜central spine,â€™â€ perhaps because that approach created a scheme that more closely resembled the traditional covered malls [Developer William] Denton had spent years developing.

How about the action along that central spine?

77002, Downtown, Houston Pavilions, Malls, Retail, Shopping Centers

03/11/09 10:39am

Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn?

Hotels, Parking, Proposed Developments

6 Comments

Schemers at over- capitalized WEDGE Group International appear to have hatched a complicated plot to cover up that 11-story blank parking-garage wall at the base of the company’s Downtown tower at 1415 Louisiana. The plan: slide a new building of equivalent height — say, a Hilton Garden Inn — right next to the tower’s north base, then add a suburban-style porte-cochere entrance along Clay St.

HAIF user lockmat unearthed this small rendering of the hotel (above), which was hiding in plain view on the WEDGE Real Estate Holdings website. It shows how the completed wallcovering would look from Louisiana St., just north of Clay — if WEDGE’s separate 12-story Clay Garage wasn’t there to block the view. The tall buildings shown in the background are the WEDGE tower and the ExxonMobil building just behind it to the left.

How far along are these plans?

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments

Buildings for Sale

02/25/09 3:52pm

For Sale: Downtown Post Office Box

Downtown, Houston Architects, Land for Sale, Public Buildings

3 Comments

Nancy Sarnoff reports that the U.S. Postal Service is putting its entire 16-acre downtown facility on the market, including the classic modern main building. The building was designed by Houston’s own pseudo-brutalists Wilson, Morris, Crain and Anderson in 1962, when precast concrete fins were all the rage.

There are a few stipulations to the sale:

Whoever buys the property at 401 Franklin must build a replacement processing facility for the postal service, as well as provide a retail location near the existing site where consumers can mail packages and buy stamps.

Downtown Houston post office up for sale [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: Danilo Caranza Carino Pacquing Ronquillo

77002, Buildings for Sale, Downtown, Houston Architects, Land for Sale, Public Buildings

Art

02/19/09 11:47am

Openings and Closings: Galleria Gallery, Paulie’s Retreat, Not Mulch More

Furniture, Long Point, Museum District, Openings and Closings, Parking, Restaurants, Retail, Southgate

7 Comments

So what’s new?

Opening: There’s a big new Gallery Furniture taking over the old Pier One space in the Post Oak Shopping Center, across from the Galleria. Isiah Carey notes that there’s a (much smaller) “coming soon” sign out front. Also coming to the strip from Mattress Mack: a new and more upscale Kreiss Furniture store, where Pier One Kids used to be.
Closed: Paulie’s restaurant reports receiving an undisclosed “offer we couldn’t refuse” to close its Holcombe at Kirby location, and dutifully complied on Monday. The original Paulie’s, on Westheimer at Driscoll, will remain open.
Hoping to Spread: And Katharine Shilcutt reports that Otilia’s Mexican restaurant, the longtime Long Point standout, now “a bastion of the upper class yuppies who reside quietly in the nearby Memorial Villages and wash down their rice and beans with bottles of Merlot,” isn’t closing, despite rumors she had heard. But:

it turns out instead that Otilia’s is actively seeking to franchise their restaurant. A bright sign by the register blinked this advertisement every five seconds as we ate, while the waitresses sullenly confirmed this fact.

Then there’s that Main St. mulch . . .

77002, 77025, 77027, 77055, Art, Franchises, Furniture, Long-Point, Mulch, Museum District, Openings and Closings, Parking, Restaurants, Retail

02/13/09 4:20pm

Houston Pavilions: Lucky Strike Out, Hats Off, Shoes Back in Boxes

Malls, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

4 Comments

Last week Lucky Strike Lanes announced that the stalled buildout of the company’s new upscale bowling alley and lounge in Houston Pavilions would be “put on hold” — indefinitely. This time the company isn’t complaining about delayed equipment deliveries, though. It’s delayed money deliveries:

â€œAt the moment we are seeking financing to complete the project and are having meaningful conversations with potential Houston-based partners as well as investors from elsewhere in the country,â€ Lucky Strike President Dolf Berle said. â€œWe are still dedicated and committed to opening in Houston.â€

Meanwhile, this past Wednesday night HAIF poster houstonartstudent reported the quiet withdrawal of two minor — and seemingly out-of-place — retail tenants:

77002, Bowling Alleys, Downtown, Houston Pavilions, Malls, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

Commercial Real Estate

01/20/09 5:56pm

Beyond the Shroud: New Images of Five Allen Center

Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

10 Comments

A major downturn in the economy tends to make it a bit easier to happen upon images of developments that have been planned in secret — though finding them can be somewhat less exciting than unearthing plans that are actually likely to happen. A tipster reports HAIF user lockmat’s discovery of two images of Brookfield Properties’ planned Five Allen Center office tower Downtown. We saw one hazy picture of this building back in June. But is there any more to it now than just a few pretty pictures?

Five Allen Center is marked “pre-development” on the Brookfield website: a 50-story, 1.2-million-sq.-ft. office tower planned for a 2.5-acre site at the northwest corner of Downtown — at the northeast corner of Houston Ave. and West Dallas. That’s a rather prominent position:

77002, Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

01/13/09 1:01pm

Pavilions Office Tower: First!

Leasing, Mixed Use, New Construction, Office Space

2 Comments

That see-through office tower above the new Houston Pavilions development Downtown won’t be empty much longer. Globe St.‘s Amy Wolff Sorter reports that law firm Sheehy, Serpe & Ware has leased the top floor and a half.

Only 7 1/2 floors left!

200,000-SF Tower Gains First Tenant [Globe St.]
Pavilions Tower [Houston Pavilions]
A Soft Opening for Houston Pavilions [Swamplot]

Photo of Pavilions Tower: Houston Pavilions

77002, Downtown, Houston Pavilions, Leasing, Mixed Use, New Construction, Office Space

01/08/09 7:57am

Flexible Downtown Parking: $25

Parking

7 Comments

Feeding the meter won’t help you avoid a parking ticket Downtown anymore, thanks to a change in Houston parking regulations that passed City Council yesterday:

Drivers who stay beyond the posted limit will get a ticket, even if they have paid for additional time or have bought the all-day “Downtown Hopper” pass. The stricter ordinance also includes a provision making it clear that no one else can feed the meter for you.

How they gonna catch you? By tracking your license plate. The fine for overstaying coin-bought welcomes? $25.

The new rules are set to go into effect after a 1-month “grace period.”

Time’s up for ‘feeding meters’ in downtown [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: Flickr user wandayuen2001

77002, Downtown, Parking

12/31/08 6:12pm

As Seen from Here

Notices

No Comments

Happy New year! Swamplot is off for the remainder of the week, to rest up for an exciting year full of new features, plus plenty more Houston real estate, design, and neighborhood goodies.

Comments and the Swamplot tip line, of course, remain open. If you’re hunting for the results of the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, browse on over to this page. We’ll see you back here on Monday!

In the meantime, enjoy these excerpts from a recent watery tour of Downtown, shot by Daryl D’Angelo from an inflatable canoe on Buffalo Bayou:

77002, Buffalo Bayou, Downtown, Notices

12/24/08 11:08am

Slow News Day Staple: Construction Cam!

Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

No Comments

Hmmm . . . What’s going on in Houston real estate today? How about . . . the continuing construction of MainPlace! It’s the day before Christmas, and it’s still going on!

Scope out the scene yourself with the D.E. Harvey MainPlace webcam! Five-minute camera takeovers accepted.

Live Video [Harvey Construction Cameras, via HAIF]

77002, Downtown, Highrises, MainPlace, New Construction, Office Buildings

12/12/08 2:48pm

New Houston Ballet Building: Maybe Not

Houston Architects, Institutional Buildings, Proposed Developments, Theater District

1 Comment

It’s been obvious for some time that economic conditions and credit problems have placed a giant question mark next to almost every major proposed new development in town. But it sure is fun to revisit them one by one!

A week after Swamplot posted renderings of the new building the Houston Ballet has been planning for a Downtown block near the Wortham Center it bought last year, the Houston Press‘s Richard Connelly made some inquiries with Houston Ballet PR manager Melissa Carroll about the building. In reply came this very brief message: