Houston Heights residents: This is what an apartment complex looks like. The city issued construction permits today for the Retreat at the Heights.
- Retreat at the Heights Advances [Swamplot]
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Swamplot Archives by Tag: New Construction: Residential
Monday, October 22, 2007
Permission Granted To Retreat
October 22, 2007 – 9:37 pm
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Luxury Highrise and the Drive-Thru: They’re Lovin’ It!
October 17, 2007 – 9:41 am
Future residents of the Titan, the latest cartoon-themed condo to be announced by Randall Davis, will be pleased to learn that the two-story McDonald’s currently sitting on the tower’s proposed site on Post Oak Blvd. is not going away. It’ll just scoot over slightly—so that the 26-story, 80-unit luxury highrise can share the 50,000-square-foot site.
And just how prominent will those golden arches be at the Titan’s entrance?
Sure, it’s easy to poke fun of the luxury highrise next to the Mickey D’s, but think about it: If McDonald’s hadn’t been willing to risk its reputation by redeveloping next to a Randall Davis project, the Titan would never have had a chance:
The prime real estate, located across Garrettson from Willie G’s Seafood & Steak House, has been sought-after by developers for more than a year.
“We’re approached every day of the week,” says Kathy Burns, McDonald’s regional real estate manager in Houston. “We have brokers calling us all the time.”
Davis — who is replacing the former James Coney Island restaurant a block away with the Cosmopolitan high-rise — was able to strike a deal with McDonald’s because he was not set on a super-sized development.
“I was like everybody else. I wanted to buy the whole site,” Davis says. “But they didn’t want to give up the store.
“I figured out how to divide the site,” he adds. “I managed to fit my building on there, and leave them enough room for their prototype new store.”
Davis has once again demonstrated a remarkable talent for negotiating with fast-food restaurants. Only a few years ago, he was able to convince the owners of the lot across the street that his 20-story hot-dog Cosmopolitan tower (now under construction) would be a worthy successor to the James Coney Island that stood there. Of course, turning over a big bite of the development to the James Coney Island folks didn’t hurt his prospects either.
Expect the cars to be lining up in front of the newly recycled Titan sales trailer already on the McDonald’s lot. Okay, so maybe they’ll just be battling to get to the drive-thru, but there’ll be traffic!
- Developer drives through with condo deal on McDonald’s land [Houston Business Journal]
- Cosmopolitan condos to replace coney islands [Houston Business Journal]
- The Cosmopolitan Houston [Randall Davis Company]
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Retreat at the Heights Advances
October 3, 2007 – 10:41 am
This, reports Houston Architecture Info Forum member Porchman, is a drawing of the $30 million, 195-unit, five-story apartment complex about to go up on the former site of the Kaplan’s Ben Hur department store on Yale, which was demolished back in June. Except it’ll be different: That giant yellow steel Y bracket you see won’t be there. And the retail indicated on the building’s ground floor is apparently just for show.
The Retreat at the Heights, the newest “Retreat” development from Allied Realty Services, will reportedly feature an equal mix of one- and two-bedroom units, a pool and fitness room, residents willing to shell out an average of $1500 a month, and a two-level parking garage. One of those levels will be below grade (detention-pond parking, anyone?) and each will be accessed from a separate street.
Notable: Top floors are shown with metal siding, a nod to the many simple metal warehouses that littered the Heights before they were replaced with historic homes.
Porchman adds:
Another developer is going to put 4 townhomes on the lot west of Long John Silvers, which is currently being currently being used as the construction lot. They’re targeting the fried fish lovers market . . .
- Retreat at the Heights [HAIF]
- The Last Days of Kaplan’s Ben Hur [Off the Kuff]
- Daily Demolition Report: The Fall of Ben Hur [Swamplot]
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
From New Orleans, with Love: Le Maison on Revere
September 26, 2007 – 9:52 am
Worried that there still aren’t going to be enough places to live near the corner of Westheimer and Kirby after all the construction is done? Relax. The Texas division of Orlando, Florida’s ZOM Development just got a slew of construction permits approved yesterday for their next fancy apartment complex just a few blocks to the east of that busy intersection, at the corner of Revere and Cameron, at 2701 Revere St. (Cleverly, the address on the permits is listed as 2727 Revere. Why would they give it that number?)
Going up: Le Maison on Revere, 431 rental units on a just-under-six-acre site, a five-story mix of “flats and high-end loft units.”
But it looks like there’s more to it. Not satisfied with the Beaux-Arts-meets-the-Alamo stylings of the Bel Air Apartments they recently developed and filled up not too far away on Allen Parkway, the sleek modern look of the 2727 Kirby tower now going up across the street from their new development, or the apparent Superman-in-Gotham City theme of West Ave on the other side of Kirby, ZOM has apparently decided that their new complex will, at last, point out the absurdities of the area’s stylistic hodgepodge.
How? By theming the building with a higher, more symbolic purpose in mind.
That’s right: The Le Maison on Revere apartments will be marketed and dressed up to look like “New Orleans garden style apartments,” and thereby perform the public service of reminding residents of the former glory of their neighboring city and the dangers of living at low elevations in a high-water town.
Expect the top floors to fill up first.
- Le Maison on Revere (see “projects under development”) [ZOM Living]
- The Bel Air [ZOM Living]
- 2727 Kirby [MDA Holdings]
- West Ave: Shiny, Happy People Holding Shopping Bags [Swamplot]
Friday, September 21, 2007
Supermod Boulevard Place: Replacements First
September 21, 2007 – 10:23 am
Having trouble leasing upscale retail space in your giant mixed-use redevelopment project? No prob. Just build sleek new quarters for your existing tenants first. When they move, demolish their old building and build your new project in its place. Somebody else has gotta sign up by then, right?
The Houston Business Journal gives some details of Wulfe & Co.’s plans at the Galleria-area Boulevard Place:
The first building will rise at the project’s southern boundary, at the northwest corner of Post Oak Boulevard and Ambassador Way. The 70,000-square-foot building will house seven tenants currently in the Pavilion on Post Oak and Fashion Place retail centers that are relocating to Blvd Place — including Cafe Annie, Americas and Hermes. Once the tenants move, the older retail centers will be demolished and the remainder of Blvd Place will go under construction.
Retail, of course, is just part of the picture. There’s a hotel, condos, and an apartment building in the project . . .
Wulfe would not disclose the hotel name because the hospitality company wants to make the announcement, probably in about a month. However, he did reveal that the 225-room luxury hotel will include 175 to 200 high-end condominiums on the upper floors.
Wulfe also said it is “pretty definite” that the apartment building will be developed by Houston-based Hanover Co. An industry source says Hanover plans to buy Wulfe’s land for a 55-story apartment tower, making it the second-tallest building in the Galleria area behind the Williams Tower.
But what about the rest of that retail?
Whole Foods Market Inc. announced last year that it will build a 78,000-square-foot flagship store at the southwest corner of Post Oak and San Felipe. There are currently no other new tenants signed.
No other new tenants signed? That leaves just over 350,000 square feet of planned retail space in the development still available. No word in the article either about the 120,000 square feet of boutique office space, mostly on two stories above the retail. And construction is scheduled to start next month.
Wulfe joked at last week’s Commercial Real Estate Women luncheon that come Oct. 1, “somebody’s going to be shoveling something” at the site . . .
After the jump: renderings of that superbig, supermod Whole Foods that ate Eatzi’s, plus more Boulevard Place images.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Can’t Stop This: Southampton Pop-Up Tower
September 20, 2007 – 8:16 am
One advantage of keeping your Houston-style Big Tower in a Wealthy Residential Neighborhood project secret: You can plat the property, prepare traffic-impact studies, and upgrade utilities before anyone notices. One downside: Media-savvy neighbors might catch on and announce your project before you do. Or at least release renderings.
Here’s what Buckhead Investment Partners is saying about the 23-story mixed-use tower the company is planning for the current site of the Maryland Manor apartments, on the south side of Bissonnet near Dunlavy: A six-story base will include a 467-car parking garage, space for retail and a restaurant on the ground floor, and five live-work townhomes. An “amenity plaza” level on the sixth floor will have an exercise room, spa, and office space. Above it all: 17 floors of either apartments or condos.
Rainwater collection. LEED-Silver rating. Red-brick exterior with cast-stone details. But best of all is the spin:
The project design has been chosen so that all building residential units will be above the tree line, ensuring the greatest level of privacy for the surrounding neighborhood and the maximum view of Houston’s skylines and tree canopy from the units.
Emerging Boulevard Oaks development strategy: You won’t be able to see us, because we’ll be above the trees.
- We want development…but not that much! [Houston Political Blog]
- High rise plan not picture perfect with Museum District residents [abc13]
- Redevelopment of 1717 Bissonnet [Buckhead Investment Partners, Inc.]
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sonoma Units Available?
August 20, 2007 – 3:54 pm
Our story on the Rice Village’s Sonoma development last Thursday repeated KHOU reporter Lee McGuire’s claim:
The developer says potential buyers have reserved all but four of the new condos.
But Jennifer Friedberg’s writeup in this past weekend’s Chronicle sez otherwise:
A total of 115 of the 220 units for sale in Sonoma are already reserved, Tysor said.
That’s quite a number of buyers backing out of their reservations in a very short period, no? But even more curious is this:
The number of units continues to change depending on the square footage potential residents select for each condo.
Contracts won’t be signed until later in the process.
That’s right, ma’am, just tell us how big you’d like your kitchen and we’ll move the wall there.
- Why Houston is $1.5 M richer [KHOU]
- City Council approves sale, abandonment of Bolsover in Rice Village [Houston Chronicle]
- Council Bowls Over, So No More Street [Swamplot]
Friday, August 17, 2007
Mosaic: Second Tower Rising
August 17, 2007 – 10:40 am
The glass tower is half full: 218 of the 394 units in the first Mosaic tower have been sold, reports the Houston Business Journal. Are those just the north-facing units? Because directly to the south, the second tower is ready for liftoff:
Phillips Development & Realty LLC of Tampa, Fla., which is developing both condominium towers near Hermann Park at a cost of $203 million, secured a $141 million loan from Chicago-based Corus Bankshares Inc. last week to refinance the first building and finance the second one. . . .
Phillips says the company financed the first Mosaic tower as a rental property because that was the only way to secure funding.
Why is it called Mosaic? There are a lot of tiny units in there, 18 to a floor, averaging 980 square feet. They start at $165,000.
- Mosaic orders double-dip as second condo tower moves forward [Houston Business Journal]
- Mosaic on Hermann Park
Friday, August 10, 2007
River Oaks To Move West, Add Hotels, Apartments, Offices, and Shopping
August 10, 2007 – 7:29 pm
The Houston Business Journal gives more details on the River Oaks District, a 15-acre, $600 million mixed-use development proposed for Westheimer just inside the loop, on the site of the Westcreek Apartments, between Highland Village and the Galleria. It’s hard to imagine River Oaks moving further west than that. Once you get to the other side of the loop of course, you might as well call yourself Tanglewood.
Two luxury hotels are on tap. The five-star properties will have a total of 500 guest rooms, and 150 condominiums for sale at the top of one tower.
Another building will hold 300 upscale apartment units. A 10-story office building with 250,000 square feet of space also is part of the mix. And since the Galleria is synonymous with shopping, the developer plans 350,000 square feet of mostly ground-level retail space.
San Diego developer OliverMcMillan says groundbreaking is scheduled for a good year-and-a-half from now. So there’s plenty of time for this project to morph into a more typical Houston-style mixed-use project: maybe a stylish Sam’s Club next to some shiny new apartments?
After the jump, plans and more flashy drawings!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Airport Living
August 2, 2007 – 2:24 pm
Continental pilot Stephen Williams and his wife Nancy are the proud owners of one of several homes built in airplane hangars at Hooks Airport, a private airfield in Spring.
Initially, the Williamses wanted to add on to a Hooks Airport hangar they owned which contained a small apartment. But that plan was rejected by the FAA because it would have been too close to the runway.
They worked with Architect Kyle Cox to create their new 3,300-sf hangar-home.
At the top of the spiral staircase is the pinnacle of this unique home. The tower room is complete with a 360-degree set of windows, providing guests an overview of the airport. It has a steel catwalk that adds to the design, and provides visitors a chance to step outside to enjoy the view as well as the weather. The room also houses a bar and a dumbwaiter to make entertaining simple.
“We put in the things that we wanted. I wanted a nice cooking area,” Nancy said.
With a host of friends and a community full of fellow aviation enthusiasts living at Hooks Airport is nothing short of spectacular. “It’s a neat, quiet community,” Nancy said. “We love it here.”
- Artistic designs make hanger a breathtaking home [1960 Sun Group]
Photo: 1960 Sun Group
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Developer To Take “Tuscany in a Parking Lot” Concept Nationwide
July 19, 2007 – 9:31 pm
A Woodlands developer has decided its latest creation—a not-yet-opened shopping center in Katy—should be replicated statewide and beyond. Marcel Inc. CEO Vernon Veldekens told GlobeSt.com that
the concept behind Villagio involves smaller, mixed-use centers in neighborhoods rather than fronting freeways or interstate highways. “This gives a more intimate relationship with the community, similar to a European town square,” he says. “We feel like we can put these all over town in mid- to high-end areas and have the same success as we have in Cinco Ranch.”
The Villagio at Cinco Ranch, a boutique lifestyle center slated to open this fall on a 12-acre site at the corner of Westheimer Pkwy. and Peek Rd., is almost three-quarters leased. The center combines 112,285 square feet of retail and office space in a parking-lot-like setting. The developer’s marketing director told the Houston Chronicle that the Villagio will have a “Tuscan look and Tuscan feel to it.” Many of the cars in the 307 spaces surrounding the buildings and the 225-space garage will likely be European as well.
The project is a departure for Marcel Inc., a property development and management firm whose base portfolio includes more mundane shopping centers and a gas station and convenience store, and which previously developed a motorcycle superstore and a handful of Family Dollar stores. Already, the firm has plans for Villagios in north Austin and The Woodlands, and is contemplating additional locations in Round Rock, San Marcos, New Braunfels, and Dallas, according to Globe St.
After the jump, more views of the expanding Tuscan landscape, including the Tuscan villas on the lot!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
How the Magnolia Lofts Got Their Name
June 21, 2007 – 10:36 am
Commenting on an article describing plans for a 40-unit condo building on the site of the former Ashland Tea House in the Heights, with another 40 townhouses and “garden villas” to be sprinkled around it later, Chronicle blogger Martin Hajovsky writes:
I remember when the Ashland Tea House, the McDonald Home, was demolished in 2005, the plan at the time was for a Victorian-themed restaurant to go there. The mere idea that someone would tear down a Victorian-themed restaurant to build a Victorian-themed restaurant struck me as the height of irony.
That memory came back reading the article because there’s a beautiful old magnolia on that site right now. It’s a perfect example of the species. Wonderful, fragrant, old and stately. If that tree survives the building of the “Magnolia Lofts,” it would be a miracle. Once again, irony triumphs.
Construction is expected to begin in August or September. The Magnolia Lofts will feature a tiny ground-floor commercial space—at 750 sf, even smaller than the average condo size of 900 sf—and two stories of parking, one of which the article describes as
“partially submerged” so the building would only appear to be five stories tall.
Maybe the developers should claim that the bottom level of parking is really at a normal level—although it’s underground, it is in the Heights.
Architect Tim Cisneros’s vague storybook sketch of the facade, though, has aroused the ire of Heights resident Mark White:
“While the description provided by the architect sounds like the building’s proposed style is in keeping with the Victorian-era architecture of the Heights, the initial drawings suggest a more ‘updated’ factory-turned-condo facade,” he said. “We would ask that the developer consider making a few changes to the style to make it more consistent with the architecture of the time period represented by the Heights neighborhood.”
By our estimate, that time period would be approximately 1891 to 2007, with the average construction date moving toward the present at a pretty steady clip.
- Heights growing more dense? Thoughts thereof… [Home in the Heights]
- Plans expand for Ashland Tea House site [Houston Chronicle]
- Magnolia Lofts [Cisneros Design Studio]
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
You’ll Love This Home! And You’ll Love Demolishing It, Too!
June 12, 2007 – 9:14 am
Five little words slipped into the end of an MLS profile remind us, gently, that updated but low-slung houses on large lots in tony Houston neighborhoods aren’t meant for homebuyers who want to enjoy a simple home in a natural setting. No, an older ranch like this is meant for a family willing to tolerate a “gorgeous” and “spacious” (but also apparently cramped and doomed) home until they can tear it down and build something that’s five times as big and that blankets the 10,665-square-foot lot more definitively. It’s a sacrifice, we know.
See if you can find the magic words in this listing:
GEORGEOUS, UPDATED, WELL MAINTAINED 3/2.5/2 W/LRG ENTERTAINMENT RM & WET BAR OVERLOOK POOL, BRIARBEND SUBD, ZONED NEW BRIARGROVE ELEM. $55K+ IN UPDATES: 2007 Paint/Hardware, 2005 Silestone Kit Counters/ Dbl Ovens, Baths, Entertain Rm Roof, Replaced Ducts/Added 4 Return Vents. UPDATES LAST 6 YRS: Dbl Pane Windows, Refinished Hardwood Floors, Refinished Pool Surface/Robotic Pool Sweep, Garage Doors, Recessed Lights in Kit, LR & Hall. Park @end of blk. Live in now/Build later/2 story allowed.
More photos of the amazing $466K Briarbend house you’ll love so much you won’t be able to wait to tear it down—after the jump.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
New on the Block: Stack ’em High!
April 10, 2007 – 8:23 am
Look what’s going up in Brookesmith: “Luxury Patio Homes”! Maybe this is what people mean when they talk about designing a home from the ground floor up—and from scratch. We figure the first floor started as a garage apartment, but by the time they got around to the second floor the concept had expanded to a more Heights-y Victorian. Onto the third floor and there were better ideas: maybe what we really want here is one of them apartment complexes? Plenty of room for the air-conditioning units on the roof deck.
Bonus points for the computer rendering that makes living in Brookesmith look like . . . a walk in the park.
- MLS# 5613474 [Har.com]
