Tag: Downtown

Downtown, Highrises, Leasing

3 Comments

The River Oaks Examiner‘s Cynthia Lescalleet tours the brand-new 340-unit One Park Place, across from Discovery Green Downtown:

Units are bright and spacious, with several oversized features, such as 10-foot ceilings that, unlike loft properties, are finished, meaning no dust or gloomy black paint. Each unit has a balcony. Views vary. Overall, the apartments toured felt solid and private and very much like city living in other major cities, which was the point. In One Park Place, Finger Companies wanted to build a landmark residence reminiscent of the historic parkside properties in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Meanwhile, the projectâ€™s rose-colored masonry with stone accents connotes other noted Houston architecture. . . .

Okay, how much?

. . . the propertyâ€™s floorplans have verdant names like Cedar and Azalea. The smallest units have about 800 square feet and lease for $1,800-$2,550 if located on the lower floors of the tower. The six penthouses lease for $6,400 to $11,880 for units of 2,000 to 3,500 square feet.

77010, Apartments, Downtown, Highrises, Leasing, One Park Place

Cancellations and Delays

04/06/09 12:13pm

A Few Reservations About a Downtown Hilton Garden Inn

Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments

1 Comment

That 11-story, 240-room Hilton Garden Inn the WEDGE Group International was planning to build next to the company’s Downtown tower has been put on hold — at least until September — a source tells Swamplot. Financing apparently wasn’t the issue. Our source says that Hilton’s executive board is being cautious, and “wanted to watch the Houston market conditions to see if it would be a wise placement.”

The hotel was planned to fit directly to the north of the WEDGE tower at 1415 Louisiana and cover the blank parking-garage wall facing Clay St.

Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn? [Swamplot]

Rendering of Proposed Hilton Garden Inn: Mitchell Carlson Stone

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments

03/31/09 11:30am

Seen on the Street: Houston in the Machine Age

Transportation, Woodland Heights

1 Comment

In this episode: Katy Freeway anthill mover, moon-unit coffee, and that robot on the porch.

What’s this special delivery rushing down I-10?

77009, 77010, Discovery Green, Downtown, I-10, Transportation, Woodland Heights

Bayous and Waterways

03/27/09 9:18am

When It Rains, It Floats

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

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

East Downtown

02/03/09 5:13pm

Older Names for Houston’s Naughty Bits

Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing

10 Comments

OLDER NAMES FOR HOUSTON’S NAUGHTY BITS The East Downtown Management District rolled out its new EaDo identity package last month, but John Nova Lomax prefers the older and rougher neighborhood names: “The 400 block of deep Milam was a sink of vice and sin called Catfish Reef. Lower Washington Avenue was a swanky district called Vinegar Hill. A good chunk of Fourth Ward, or FoWa for short, was given over to Houston’s Red Light District (ReLiDi) and was known as The Reservation, while the toughest corner in Fifth Ward (FiWa) was known as Pearl Harbor. Mid Lane near the non-yet-built Galleria was a Mad Men-like seen of whiskey-fuelled poolside soirees that earned it the name Sin Alley. Even the Richmond Strip seems evocative compared to these moronic, truncated, New York-wannabe handles.” [Hair Balls; previously in Swamplot]

77003, Downtown, East Downtown, East End, Names, Real Estate Marketing

Apartments

01/28/09 3:11pm

Maybe He Just Liked the Party Hat on Top?

Downtown, Parks, Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing

8 Comments

MAYBE HE JUST LIKED THE PARTY HAT ON TOP? Mayor White takes a turn hawking the expensive rentals at the Finger Companies’ One Park Place highrise Downtown. Rick Casey thinks he could have delivered a better pitch: “When it comes to a place to live, people are motivated by a dream. Only a pocket-protected city planner could have his dreams triggered by such phrases as ‘residential infrastructure,’ or ‘leisure destination,’ or ‘luxury multifamily rentals,’ or ‘price points lower than you would think,’ or ‘landmark project on a unique site.’ The mayor managed to stuff all these infelicitous phrases and more onto a single page. One can only speculate why White wrote the letter. He had already done enough, it seems to me, by marshalling the money, the research and the architects to build Discovery Green, a beautiful and exciting 12-acre park across the street from Fingerâ€™s property. Itâ€™s the best front yard an urban dweller could want, and the city mows the grass.” [Houston Chronicle]

77010, Apartments, Discovery Green, Downtown, Mayor White, One Park Place, Parks, Real Estate Marketing

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

Commercial Real Estate

01/19/09 1:04pm

Hess It Is: Discovery Tower All Leased Up

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space

No Comments

Hot off the Swamplot tipline: Discovery Tower, going up across McKinney St. from Discovery Green Downtown, has its first tenant — and it’ll be taking the whole building.

Beginning in late 2011 — about the time Hess’s current lease at One Allen Center expires — the 30-story tower with the wind turbines on top will be renamed Hess Tower.

After the jump, details from an email announcing the move — sent out to Hess Corporation employees late this morning: