GALLERIA POCKET PARK FIGHT ENDS WITH TIRZ REACHING INTO POCKET Twin septuagenerian veterinarians Jock and James Collins, whose property on the corner of San Felipe and Post Oak Ln. adjacent to BLVD Place was taken by eminent domain 2 years ago, settled their dispute with the city this past August after receiving a $990,000 payment from the Uptown TIRZ, reports Mike Snyder: “The amount of the settlement is less than the $1.4 million Wulfe offered the brothers for the property in 2006, an offer they refused because they wanted a lump sum rather than payments over several years. However, it’s more than twice the $433,800 that the city asserted the land was worth in December 2006, the agreed-upon date for settlement discussions, [the Collins brothers’ attorney, J. Cary] Gray said. The brothers contended the land was worth $1,012,000, Gray said. The Collins brothers, along with leaders of some government watchdog groups, contended the park was a pretext for providing a landscaped entrance to [Ed] Wulfe’s [Blvd Place] development at public expense. Documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle last year showed that the condemnation helped Wulfe close a $12.5 million land deal for a planned residential tower within the development, although plans for that project have been delayed because of the recession. [Mayor] White repeatedly denied that political considerations were a factor. The need for land to widen San Felipe wasn’t disputed, and White said it was a better deal for taxpayers for the city to take the entire parcel.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
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Tag: 77056
Once the new Metro Uptown light-rail line is built, Post Oak Blvd. could feature more than 23 stoplights along its 1.7-mile stretch between Richmond Ave. and the 610 Loop, reports the River Oaks Examiner‘s Mike Reed. A report prepared last October by the group of companies contracted to build the new Uptown Line lists 21 stoplights and 7 stations.
But that information’s got to be out of date, right?
. . . in response to questions, a Metropolitan Transit Authority spokeswoman said Tuesday that since the report was written, the number of potential signals has increased to 23, with an additional traffic light and an additional pedestrian light under consideration.
While the proposals contained in such reports are subject to change, the original document indicates the scope of the project combined with the density and development in the area would make substantial alterations to the plan difficult at best.
Reed also reports a few details on the rebuilding of Post Oak:
What do all these Houston office towers have in common?
- The Fulbright Tower,
- 1 Houston Center,
- 2 Houston Center,
- 4 Houston Center,
- Post Oak Central One,
- Post Oak Central Three,
- Post Oak Central Two,
- One Greenway Plaza,
- Two Greenway Plaza
- Three Greenway Plaza,
- Four Greenway Plaza,
- Five Greenway Plaza,
- Eight Greenway Plaza,
- Nine Greenway Plaza,
- Eleven Greenway Plaza, and
- Twelve Greenway Plaza
That’s right — they’re all part of the vast Crescent Real Estate Equities empire, which at the peak of the market 2 years ago comprised 54 properties in all, stretching from Texas to the California coast. That’s when Morgan Stanley snatched up the whole thing for a mere $6.5 billion, thanks in part to a little $2 billion loan from Barclays Capital.
Today, Morgan Stanley announced it is giving up on the whole thing. Back to the bank all those properties go. All of them. (Okay, minus a few that were jettisoned along the way.)
Where was that home that was featured in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game? And did anyone win that RDA membership?
First, let’s run through the locations you guessed: Braes Heights, Highland Village, on Brogden Rd. in Memorial, Southampton, Rice Village, Midtown (2 guesses), “somewhere off Washington Ave.,” St. George Place, Hyde Park (also 2 guesses), Cottage Grove, “north of Fairview, east of Dunlavy, near Wilson Elementary,” “between Shepherd and Waugh, just south of Washington, maybe around Feagan St.,” Timbergrove Manor (2), Montrose, the Museum District, Camp Logan, the Heights (2), “just east of Memorial Park, south of Washington, north of Memorial, near Westcott,” Rice Military (3), near Memorial Park, in the “River Oaks” area, “in the upper west Washington Ave/Rice Military vicinity,” near Winter and Houston Streets (2), Sunset Heightsish, Upper Kirby, Shady Acres (2), “north Heights,” Sunset Heights, “within a mile of the north Loop,” off Quitman, East Downtown, Fifth Ward, Downtown, the Caceres development, “between Montrose and the Museum District” (2), Jackson Hill, the West End, and near the Menil.
The winner of that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance? Longtime NGG player justguessin, who just guessed this guess:
First, I’ll go with somewhere off Washington Ave. Second, St. George’s Place, so many townhomes over there.
One of those new modern townhomes with all of the slate tiles on the exterior.
This house must have been built recently. There are a few too many textures in this place….cement floors, granite and marble counters, and the ubiquitous “tumble stone†backsplashes. Also, the rug in the bedroom seems to keep showing up in the NGG houses. You would also have to sell the dining room table with the house…what else could work there?
Congratulations, justguessin!
This week we also recognize the considerable efforts of reader mojo jojo, who already knew the answer (and wrote in to let us know that), but went ahead and posted this remarkable entry anyway, just to throw the rest of you off track:
Just from my initial peruse through the photos, two things immediately caught my eye; the window placement and the curved walls in the dining room and just past the kitchen. Noticing these items, I am certain that this is a recently constructed contemporary/modern home. On closer inspection, I noticed that through the four windows in the living room, I can see that the property has been landscaped with an abundance of tropical plantings, consisting of large green leafy foliage. From the size of the landscaping, I would estimate that this home was built somewhere around 2005 or 2006. Although I don’t see any, I would bet my first Gin & Tonic of the morning that the property has its fair share of palm trees.
From the photo of the master bedroom, again looking out the windows, this photo also gives two clues to location! Out these windows, you see mature trees both on this property as well as across the street. This indicates that the home is located in an established neighborhood, maybe from the 30’s to the 50’s. The second, and most important clue, is the slope of the street running in front of the home (bottom of the middle window). I can tell that the road slopes down to the left! Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
This home is located in Braes Heights, what should be Section 9. I am sure it is located on one of the streets that run North or Northwest from N Braeswood Blvd, between Stella Link and Buffalo Speedway. My guess would be that the home is within five to 10 lots North of N. Braeswood Blvd. Another clue, which I almost missed, is the framed diplomas located in the open cabinets in the study. These diplomas look just like those that hang behind my Dr’s desk. My theory is that the owner is a Dr who does ER work, thus the close proximity of Braes Heights to the Med Center is perfect.
Did it work?
So where is this place, really?
Here they are: More renderings of the Perennial, the mixed-use development the Redstone Companies is hoping to fit onto a block at 2200 Post Oak Blvd. just north of the Galleria — on the former site of the Compass Bank building, which was imploded in a small ceremony earlier this year. Does this thing look familiar? An earlier drawing of the project appeared on the SkyscraperPage forum and was featured on Swamplot in May. Now HAIF poster Urbannizer digs up a leasing brochure for the property from the development’s otherwise password-protected website.
What’s for lease? Two separate buildings: a 20-story office tower incorporating an 8-level parking garage as well as lots of retail space at the base; and a separate hotel tower to the north — combining just under 300 guest rooms and 100 residences. In all, the developers are counting just under 74,000 sq. ft. of retail space, including 3 levels meant to face the action on Post Oak.
Note: Story updated below.
A reader writes:
I had been told that the architect of the Transco tower secretly incorporates cat figures in to all of his work. I could never see a cat in the Transco until yesterday evening. I found it! Can you? Pretty cool, huh?
What’s new to eat?
- Opening Soon: Lola, a diner-ish spot serving “American comfort foods” — in the restored and refashioned former Eckerd Drug across from the Heights Post Office on Yale and 11th. This’ll be the third Heights restaurant venture from Ken Bridge, who also runs Dragon Bowl and Pink’s Pizza.
- Opened This Week: From famed New York, Las Vegas, and Dallas chef John Tesar, Tesar’s Modern Steak and Seafood, directly across from the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. You’ll certainly want to eat everything on your plate when you visit: “Tesar’s entire menu will be one hundred percent sustainable created with a zero-waste food ethics in mind,” declares the restaurant website. Whole fish will be a specialty. Outside: a burger bar.
- Closed: The Texadelphia in the fast-food-friendly strip center on Memorial Dr. and Asbury, across from Otto’s — reportedly on account of the parking lot being too darn clogged. No worries: You can still get your cheesesteak fix at 3 other Houston locations, and it’s now a bit easier to find a spot in front of the Kolache Factory.
More food fun:
Houston radio host and blogger Lance Zierlein snaps photos of the lockout letters on two separate storefronts in the Shops on Sage strip center at 2800 Sage, on the corner of West Alabama. The notices, demanding that delinquent rent be paid before the stores can be reopened, were apparently posted by center managers Hunington Properties last Wednesday.
Who’s locked out? Lebanese restaurant Mint Cafe . . . and a Quiznos, which Zierlein reports on Twitter is already vacant.
But . . . what’s this? Someone from the nearby Subway in the Yorktown Plaza shopping center on W. Alabama has been kind enough to post a menu on the Quiznos door, with this pertinent Subway tagline featured prominently: “At Subway restaurants, we have your fresh interests at heart.” Plus, a handwritten invitation to visit!
Zierlein’s line: “Subway vultures picking over the carcass.”
- The lockout notice at quiznos and Subway vultures picking over the carcass. [ÃœberTwitter]
- Mint cafe locked out and quiznos vacant on sage [ÃœberTwitter]
- Mint Cafe
Photo: Lance Zierlein
A reader sends photos from a recent visit to the Centre at Post Oak shopping center, across Westheimer from the Galleria:
It’s been a while since I’ve been by here, so maybe this is old news, but … are the shopping cneter owners hurting so bad they’ve got to resort to selling ads for overactive bladder medications in the parking lot?
The parking lot sign suggests empathetic readers go to the conveniently named website www.overactivebladder.com. There you can take a brief urination quiz, view bladder illustrations, and read extensive advertorial content from Pfizer, makers of Toviaz — a pill “clinically proven to significantly reduce bothersome symptoms of OAB like strong sudden urges to go, frequent bathroom visits, and accidents.”
The reader continues:
I wonder how many urgent visits from highly suggestible customers this has brought to the stores there. How’s the Mattress Firm holding up?
Is this a view of a planned replacement for the Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak — a block north of the Galleria — that was imploded back in March? So claims Reverberation, a participant on the SkyscraperPage forum, who posted the image. Reverberation adds that the Redstone Companies is calling the project The Perennial, and that it’s “supposedly coming 2011.”
The 4-acre site is immediately north of the Centre at Post Oak shopping center. The street on the far left of the rendering appears to be Post Oak; that would put Guilford Ct. on the right. The project appears to include office, residential, and hotel components, along with at least one multi-story parking garage.
As a poster on HAIF points out, the domain name theperennial.com redirects to the Redstone Companies website. Records show the domain name has been registered to Redstone Companies since 2004. Redstone has not officially announced its plans for the website — or the site on Post Oak.
- Houston Development Thread II [SkyscraperPage]
- Perennial – Post Oak, Imploded Compass Bank Site [HAIF]
- This Time with Fair Warning: Galleria Bank Collapse [Swamplot]
- More Action on Post Oak: Goodbye, Compass [Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SMALL STREET ADDITIONS TO THE GALLERIA AREA 
“The Uptown TIRZ and District are actively working to build a grid in Uptown. Much of it will be funded by existing and new developments by the TIRZ funds and not from the general taxpayer base. . . . [This map shows] their planned addition of grid style layout to uptown. . . . It’ll take existing private access roads and convert some to public streets.” [kjb434, commenting on Uptown Traffic Grid] Map: Uptown Houston District
UPTOWN TRAFFIC GRID “As we all know, traffic is incomparably worse in Uptown than it is in Downtown. Downtown has more of everything: more streets, more freeways, more transit, more pedestrian use. The most important part, though, is that Downtown has the grid, and Uptown does not. Uptown is a lot less dense than Downtown, and yet it’s reaching a breaking point. There are critically few ways in and out, and even though those are mega-roads, they concentrate traffic BY DESIGN rather than diffusing traffic as the grid does. If Uptown had a fine-grained local street grid the traffic there would be a fraction of what it is today, but it’s too late to put in a grid now. The best we can hope for is for benevolent developers to include new connecting streets to break up some of the super-blocks when they come up for redevelopment.” [NeoHouston]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DRIVING THE GENTLE HILLS OF TANGLEWOOD “. . . I think the layout of the streets can have a significant effect on how the neighbors interact. Did you know Tanglewood streets were laid out the way they are with several curving to give the feel of inclines where there were none lending it to a more genteel feeling as opposed to the straight street grid which is a bit cold. With those curvy streets, they still have a pretty straight street grid, but with more gentleness. While cul de sacs may create community within that cul de sac, I think it cuts the few houses on it off from the rest of the streets and therefore offers fewer opportunities for casual social interaction and in effect creates an us against them. Of course these are all generalizations, but developers deal in generalizations anyway.” [EMME, commenting on Welcome to Bizarro Heights. What Are You Drinking?]
Hey, we have another Rice Design Alliance membership to give away!
Your guesses for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game were: Rice Military, the East End of Galveston, Camp Logan, Oak Estates, The Woodlands, Avalon Place, “the area between Shepherd & Montrose and 59 to Milford or North,” Southampton, “west of Chimney Rock to around Voss, between Woodway and Westheimer,” West Lane Place, Nantucket, Southside Place, “Indian Trail/Indian Circle/Tecumseh off Chimney Rock btw Woodway and Memorial,” along the “divorcee belt” between Beltway 8 and 610 “crossed by the likes of Westheimer, Woodway, Richmond, Bissonnet et al.,” the divorcee belt north of Westheimer and east of Voss, “in the area of the Houstonian off of Memorial, closer to San Felipe-Sage/Post Oak,” Midlane at San Felipe, near Bering, “past the Galleria heading towards Voss,” and West University. Plus two each for the Heights, Afton Oaks, and Bellaire. All very sharp!
The winner of a one-year RDA individual membership — donated by the Rice Design Alliance — is Rachel, for this entry:
This home is in the area of the Houstonian off of Memorial, closer to San Felipe-Sage/Post Oak. The kitchen dates it to around 2001 and the small size makes me think the lot is not especially large. It looks to me like they had a decorator come in and all of the built in book shelves suggests a higher end builder.
Congratulations, Rachel! Deserving of an extremely honorable mention this week is Harold Mandell, who stepped out of a shadowy corner of Montrose to deliver two classic NGG entries — first, introducing the Great West Houston Divorcée Belt:
Long time lurker, 1st time player–impelled to jump in because I really want the prize. And because you guys are so off the mark on this one.
No man doth live in this house– and the baby in the baby’s room is a guest baby. This home is found in the great divorcee belt– one of those late ’80’s or newer townhomes found west of Chimney Rock to around Voss, between Woodway and Westheimer. The stairwell and the upstairs ceiling tell all.
. . . and next, in response to a broader definition of the belt, tightening it in a wide-hipped circle around the target:
Bobby Hadley, you see the Great West Houston Divorcee Belt right on– but remember, there’s also the divorcee demographic that arrived from comfortable circumstances in say Briargrove, or even Memorial. Comfortable until there comes a time when “she’d rather be homeless than be at home with himâ€. Then she finds herself in downsized quarters– but at last she can decorate it just like she wants it. I say this place is definitely north of Westheimer, and except for Hammersmith I would say east of Voss.
So, what’s the real deal with this place?
TAKING A BITE OUT OF WHOLE FOODS That new Whole Foods Market coming to Post Oak Blvd. in the Galleria may not end up being quite the giant originally envisioned, says Nancy Sarnoff: “Developer Ed Wulfe, who’s building the BLVD Place mixed-use project where the Whole Foods will go, recently said the parties are working on amending the lease to reduce the size of the store, originally planned for 80,000 square feet. Put in context, the Kirby Whole Foods is about 40,000 square feet and Central Market is about 75,000 square feet. An 80,000-square-foot store would have been on par with the company’s flagship market in Austin, where customers can eat at mini-restaurants, chose from hundreds of varieties of beer, cheeses and a seafood counter that smokes, slices and fries to order. In a related move, Whole Foods recently announced that it was keeping its store on Woodway and Voss open. The plan was to close it when the Post Oak store opened. [Houston Chronicle; previously in Swamplot]