Tag: Downtown

Buying and Selling
01/07/11 6:46pm

Another Bank Shot for the Hotel Icon

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Downtown, Foreclosure, Hotels
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Lookie what an investment group headlined by former NBA star Magic Johnson walked away with after Tuesday’s Harris County foreclosure auction: the Hotel Icon — and probably for less than $27 million, since that was the unanswered starting bid for the 135-room boutique hotel. The building at 220 Main St. Downtown is of course no stranger to foreclosure auctions: Randall Davis and some investment partners brought it home from one in 2002, then redressed it as the Icon. And the building began its life as the Union National Bank. LA’s Lowe Enterprises — also the owners of Austin’s Driskill Hotel — bought the hotel from Davis’s group in 2006, but since defaulted on $46 million of debt. That’s what the joint venture of 2 joint ventures — one of them Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, part owner of the Marq*E Entertainment Center on I-10 — bought up on the rebound, and at a deep discount, this week. The new owners tell the HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson they’re hoping to turn over operation of the hotel to “a luxury chain such as The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. or W Hotels & Resorts.”

Photo: Facilities Online

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Downtown
01/04/11 6:16pm

Books-A-Million at Houston Pavilions: Back from the Dead!

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
12 Comments

A source tells Swamplot that “an even sweeter deal” has just been struck between Books-A-Million and the management of Houston Pavilions, and that the bookstore chain has decided that its Downtown Houston store will remain open. “It seems the story has forced the company’s hand,” says the source. Swamplot reported yesterday that Books-A-Million had decided to close its store in the mall at 1201 Main St., even though the company was paying only $3,000 a month for the 2-story, approximately 23,000-sq.-ft. space.

Photo: Flickr user Holcombe of Hidalgo

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Comments
01/04/11 3:18pm

Comment of the Day: How To Pour Crowds into Houston Pavilions

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Downtown, Quicklink, Restaurants
3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO POUR CROWDS INTO HOUSTON PAVILIONS “. . . What usually gets me downtown is free weekend street parking, beer specials at certain bars, and discounted or free (handed-down) arts and Astros tickets. Oh – and formerly, the Angelika. I like to think most middle-class Houstonians share my tastes, summed up by: cheap Mexican food and free parking. Put that into the mix and the number of visitors would double.” [Superdave, commenting on Comment of the Day: How Tough Would It Be To Turn Houston Pavilions Inside Out?]

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Comments
01/03/11 6:09pm

Comment of the Day: How Tough Would It Be To Turn Houston Pavilions Inside Out?

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Downtown, Malls, Quicklink
11 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TOUGH WOULD IT BE TO TURN HOUSTON PAVILIONS INSIDE OUT? “This was mentioned before with the Pavilions…but worth mentioning again—who designed the layout? I agree with other posters—if you drive by you hardly notice the Pavilions exist. The stores face inward so things may be noticeable if [you’re] passing (i.e. walking) through it….but not if you’re driving by from the streets. This is Houston…we don’t exactly walk outside. If the Pavilions had the resources, they should spend it on revamping the outside so people can see what businesses are there from the streets.” [Chris, commenting on Books-A-Million Bailing out of Houston Pavilions; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Pavilions model: Jim Porter [license]

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Downtown
01/03/11 12:46pm

Books-A-Million Bailing out of Houston Pavilions

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
16 Comments

Update, 1/4: Reverse! Books-A-Million is gonna stay put.

Southeastern U.S. chain Books-A-Million has decided to close its Downtown Houston store on January 15th. The decision has left management of Houston Pavilions feeling rather put-out: Managers at the downtown mall reportedly had lowered the bookstore’s rent on the 2-story, approximately 23,000-sq.-ft. space facing the light rail line at 1201 Main St. to just $3,000 a month — in hopes the concession would prevent it from shutting down. A source insists the store “wasn’t a huge flop,” but says that the Katy Mills Mall Books-A-Million typically brought in more than 5 times the sales of the Downtown store — even though the 2 locations are about the same size.

Another factor that may have played a role in Books-A-Million’s decision to close: A pending lawsuit filed against the company after the location’s former manager reportedly kicked a man and his wheelchair-riding, apparently mentally disabled son out of the store. “At some point [the son] soiled himself and the [manager] took this as a vagrance and kicked them out. Needless to say the boy’s family were outraged,” a source tells Swamplot. The manager is no longer with the company, though reportedly for “unrelated” reasons.

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Franchises and Chain Stores
12/22/10 5:15pm

And a Corner Bakery on Every Corner

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Quicklink, Restaurants
15 Comments

AND A CORNER BAKERY ON EVERY CORNER A new franchisee of Dallas’s Corner Bakery Cafe chain has bought the company’s 2 Houston restaurants — one in the Reliant Energy Plaza building Downtown and the other downstairs from Dowling Music in that double-decker strip mall facing the 59 feeder near Kirby. Next step for Fairview Capital Management Group: Open 19 new Corner Bakery locations in Houston over the next 8 years. Watch your endcaps: Franchisees in other cities are planning to add an additional 31 corner locations in Texas over the same period. [Business Wire; previously on Swamplot]

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Downtown
12/02/10 1:45pm

Successor to Scott Gertner’s Skybar Coming to Houston Pavilions

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Leasing, Nightlife, Openings and Closings
7 Comments

Skybar owner Scott Gertner has found a new space for his jazz club. It’ll be on the 3rd floor of Houston Pavilions — one block west of the House of Blues and Lucky Strike, and directly across the open-air mall from “swing space” originally planned for retail but now being leased as office space by an energy company. Scott Gertner’s Skybar, on the 10th floor of the office building at 3400 Montrose, closed over the summer, after Gertner tired of dealing with building maintenance issues left unaddressed by a new owner.

Houston Pavilions’ 3rd floor is pretty high up there, but Gertner says the new venue will drop the SkyBar name for the multi-level space (it’ll just be called Scott Gertner’s). At 13,000 sq. ft. (and a capacity of 700), it’ll be slightly larger than the old club too. He tells Chronicle reporter Joey Guerra the new interior, designed by Uptown Sushi architect Isaac Preminger, will feature 3 outdoor patios, an “arena-style” stage, and a full kitchen. Directly downstairs from the club, at the corner of Dallas and Fannin: BCBGMaxAzria and McCormick & Schmick’s, shown above.

Photo: Flickr user sabotai

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Buying and Selling
11/10/10 11:10pm

Heritage Plaza Sells High

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Downtown, Office Buildings, Quicklink, Skyscrapers
8 Comments

HERITAGE PLAZA SELLS HIGH That vaguely Mayan-looking tower at the northwestern edge of Downtown sporting the popular no-neck stone-top-sinking-into-a-glass-base look will soon have a new owner. Brookfield Office Properties has agreed to buy the 53-story Heritage Plaza for an almost-local-record $325 million — thanks in part to a little 12-year $200 million loan from MetLife negotiated by the seller, Atlanta’s Goddard Investment. Goddard paid $121 million for the building a little more than 5 years ago; the company added a new 1,058-car parking garage catty-corner to the property in 2008. [Real Estate Alert; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jeff Balke

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Downtown
11/01/10 5:38pm

What Bike Sharing in Houston Might Look Like

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Transportation
57 Comments

Houston sustainability director Laura Spanjian says B-cycle (shown above at Discovery Green earlier today) is just one of the systems the city is considering for its planned bike-sharing project. The city has funding from an EPA “climate showcase” program to install a bike-share kiosk or 2 in yet-to-be-identified locations Downtown — possibly along Buffalo Bayou or near Discovery Green. That first installation would just serve as a demo, says Spanjian. Once it’s in place, the city will look for funding for a more extensive bike-share system. Riders would use a credit card to check out the bikes; rides of half an hour or less would be free.

Photo: Laura Spanjian

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Quicklink
10/27/10 12:26pm

Electric Shuttles Get the Green Light

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Transportation
2 Comments

ELECTRIC SHUTTLES GET THE GREEN LIGHT A vote by city council today caps the long, strange regulatory journey of Erik Ibarra’s Rev Eco-Shuttle service. Rules passed by the council in August restricted Jitney licenses to vehicles with 9 or more seats, effectively barring Ibarra from licensing any more of his Downtown, Midtown, and Washington Ave electric vehicles. Today’s vote allows the licensing of pedicabs and low-speed vehicles, including any new Rev 6-seaters. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Rev Eco-Shuttle

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Downtown
10/26/10 6:13pm

Some Plans in Their Wrench

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Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Quicklink
2 Comments

SOME PLANS IN THEIR WRENCH And who thought a building shaped like a pipe wrench wouldn’t attract a natural-gas firm as its lead tenant? Hines announced yesterday that UK-based BG Group will move its Houston offices from the Panhandle Energy Tower where Westheimer hits Alabama in the Galleria to MainPlace, the Pickard Chilton-designed spec building still under construction at 811 Main St. Downtown. The company will take over floors 29 through 34 in the 46-story tower, but may fill up more later. And it’s changing the building’s name — no, not to Pez Tower — but to BG Group Place. KPMG put dibs on the building’s top 4 floors more than 2 years ago. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Skyscraper Page user Johnme

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Cottage Grove
10/18/10 11:24pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Downtown Flag Lot

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Downtown, First Ward, Franchises and Chain Stores, New Construction, Renovations, Restaurants
3 Comments

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

Answers to your questions:

  • Downtown: Flagspotters pinpointed the not-so-wavy Lone Star banner pictured above on the parking-lot side of the small office building at 1515 Rusk St. between La Branch and Crawford, directly behind the new Hess Tower parking garage. Yes, it’s even visible on Google Street View, reader Brian points out.
  • Cottage Grove: What’s that freshly built structure at 1500 Shepherd Dr. on the corner of Maxie, right across from the shuttered Shuck Daddy’s (which is slated to become another Lupe Tortilla Mexican Restaurant)? According to marketing director Heather McKeon, Bullritos Management is “finalizing the details with the franchisee” to bring the 12th area (and first freestanding) version of that burrito-and-margarita chain to that location. The 2,500 sq.-ft. Bullritos is expected to open in February or March of next year. Here’s a view:

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Commercial Real Estate
09/23/10 1:02pm

Old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel To Be Torn Down for the Views and Parking Spots

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Demolitions, Downtown, Hotels, Office Buildings, Parking
43 Comments

Brookfield Office Properties announced giddily yesterday that the real-estate company has bought the 28-story long-vacant former Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel at 711 Polk St. Downtown — just so it can tear the property down. The once-swank hotel achieved a small measure of fame as the Beatles’ Houston crashpad . . . and was also apparently graced with an overnight stay by Kennedy avenger Jack Ruby. But the building has sat vacant for the last 24 years. Brookfield owns the 35-story office building directly to the northeast (at 1201 Louisiana), which has long offered tenants closeup views of the decaying structure. But it looks like only the building’s underground features will remain:

“Our tenants in Total Plaza will experience views of downtown that they never had before,” announced Brookfield’s Paul Layne, “and access to three levels of below-grade parking.” The company says it has no particular plans for further development of the site once the building is demolished.

In 2007, Omni Hotels and an Atlanta company called Songy Partners announced plans to create an all-suites hotel in the structure, which had been cleared of asbestos in the late nineties. The development was meant to include meeting space, restaurants, and a wellness and fitness center. But the project stalled. More recently, the property was put on the market for more than $8 million.

A few scenes from the hotel’s earlier days:

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Downtown
09/09/10 11:57am

Spindletop Restaurant Ready for Another Spin

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
5 Comments

SPINDLETOP RESTAURANT READY FOR ANOTHER SPIN After a $1.4 million renovation, the Spindletop Restaurant at the top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown will  reopen soon, for the first time since Hurricane Ike knocked the rotating 34th-floor attraction off its tracks. Everything is set in motion for an October 6th opening, though earlier announcements had promised something in September. The glass-walled restaurant at Smith and Dallas will return to its regular 45-minute circuit under the steady guidance of longtime executive chef Jean Moysan. Revamped: both the interior and the menu, which will feature seafood, tableside-tossed salads, and desserts from a Spindletop pastry shop. [PRWeb; previously on Swamplot]

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