Tag: Commercial Real Estate

Heights Village Parking Lot on Yale St., Houston Heights

Looks like a lot of pedestrian action going on in these marketing drawings for Orr Commercial’s new Heights Village, a five-acre restaurant, retail, office, and “upscale housing” development slated for the current site of the Sons of Hermann hall just south of I-10, between Heights Blvd. and Yale St. and an adjacent parcel abutting railroad tracks to the south.

Why, with all those people in the drawings walking to and fro, it looks like this development will have all the charm of a small old-town Main Street . . . or at the very least all the charm of an old small town that decided to build a multi-level parking garage, but still turned its Main Street into a parking lot anyway, just to hedge its bets.

After the jump: more parking-lot pedestrians!

77007, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Houston Heights, Mixed Use, New Construction, Office Space, Parking, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Washington Corridor

12/10/07 10:02am

CompUSA Boxes Available Soon

Galleria, Openings and Closings, Retail, Royal Oaks, Shopping Centers

Empty Willowbrook CompUSA store

Looking for a couple strategic locations on Westheimer for Big Box stores . . . say one near the Galleria, the other near Kirkwood? You’re in luck: CompUSA is toast.

Turnaround firm Gordon Brothers Group has acquired computer manufacturer CompUSA for an undisclosed amount. As part of the deal, Boston-based Gordon Brothers is closing all 103 CompUSA stores, which will remain open through the holiday season.

Sound familiar? CompUSA shut down 176 locations nationwide this past February, including stores in Sugar Land, Baybrook, Willowbrook, and another on FM 1960.

CompUSA Acquired, Stores Closing [Globe St.]

Photo of empty Willowbrook CompUSA: Ailona Gellert

77057, 77077, Big Box Stores, Commercial Real Estate, Galleria, Openings and Closings, Retail, Royal-Oaks, Shopping Centers

Buying and Selling

12/07/07 10:38am

They’re Otto Here

Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Highrises, Land Prices, Land Sales, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

Ottoâ€™s Bar B Que and Hamburgers on Memorial Dr., Houston

The owners of Otto’s Bar B Que and Hamburgers — a Houston institution since the early days of air conditioning — are retiring, closing up shop, tearing down their building at 5502 Memorial Dr., and putting it and the shopping center they own next door (including Biba’s Greek Pizza) up for sale, reports Allison Wollam in the Houston Business Journal:

Word of the end of Otto’s has already been circulating among customers, many of whom Sofka says are saddened to hear about the impending closure.

“If those people like it so much, where have they been?” she asks. “Why don’t they frequent our restaurant more? We still have our faithful that come in three times a week, but other than that, we’re stressing out each and every day to pay our bills.”

Maybe folks stopped coming by because there’s no chance they’ll run into Marvin Zindler there anymore? Anyway, it’s likely June and Marcus Sofka won’t have to stress about their bills for too much longer:

Real estate sources predict the land will sell for a minimum of $150 per square foot and say the highest and best use for the land would be a high-rise residential tower.

The Otto’ses in Sugar Land and Downtown are franchised, and will not be affected, reports Wollam, who also leaves us with this strange — but quintessentially Houstonish — image:

Another franchised Otto’s is scheduled to open next year in Chase Tower, and Sofka says the barbecue pits behind the original restaurant will be moved to the new Chase Tower location.

Family sale signals farewell to Otto’s [Houston Business Journal]
Two Tracts Just off Memorial Drive [Cushman Wakefield]

Photo: Flickr users Bob & Lorraine Kelly

77007, Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Highrises, Land for Sale, Land Prices, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

12/05/07 12:23pm

The Fairmont on San Felipe: Close Enough for Comfort

Briargrove, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Retail, Strip Centers

Site Plan of The Fairmont on San Felipe, Houston

Sure, there’s Post Properties, the Sonoma in the Rice Village and all those tired old buildings downtown, but most Houston developers won’t put apartments on top of retail unless they’re dragged kicking and screaming. And really, the idea of living next to a strip center evokes a much warmer, more folksy feeling. Isn’t that what Houston is all about?

The latest: The Fairmont on San Felipe, on the southeast corner of San Felipe and Winrock. A couple of apartment courtyards, connected by a central garage, behind two strips ready for 41,500 square feet of retail. It’s now under construction, on the site of the old Regency Arms apartments, which burned last year after it had already been vacated for demolition.

Update, 2/14/08: Looks like they have been dragged!

The Fairmont on San Felipe (PDF) [Hunington Properties]
Regency Arms Apartments, @San Felipe and Winrock [HAIF]

77057, Apartments, Briargrove, Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Retail, Strip Centers

Buying and Selling

11/19/07 11:52am

Metro Chief Very Excited About Sprawl

Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Freeways and Toll Roads, Katy, Land Development, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Investing, Sprawl, Transportation

Aerial View of Wolff Companies Projects Along I-10

Sure, Metro talks a lot about transportation in this city’s central districts. But a Houston Business Journal profile shows us Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman David Wolff is also enthusiastic about Houston’s westward spread:

Many developers are building various types of commercial properties west of Houston and beyond.

The city of Katy, with an estimated population of 205,000, sits square in the path of Houston’s westward growth pattern.

“The whole city is going that way,” Wolff says. “I think Katy is going to be the next Sugar Land.”

He recalls the creation of Park 10, and how much the area has grown over the last three decades.

Says Wolff: “It was just rice fields. That was really the edge of the world then.”

After the jump, the METRO Board Chairman’s exciting projects way out west, plus how to get folks in the “next Sugar Land” to build freeway on- and off-ramps for your developments!

Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Freeways, Katy, Land Development, Metro, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Investing, Sprawl, Transportation

11/19/07 10:04am

New Market on the Market: Super Liquor!

Retail, Third Ward

Super Liquor at 4215 Dowling St., Houston

For sale on Dowling, in the Third Ward: Super Liquor. Super cheap! After the jump, the inside scoop.

77004, Businesses for Sale, Commercial Real Estate, Retail, Third Ward

11/16/07 1:23pm

Sugar Land Whole Foods: Water on the Roof, Sweet Peas Inside

First Colony, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sugar Land, Uncategorized

Whole Foods in First Colony, Sugar Land, Texas

Is all that blue stuff that looks like it’s on the roof of this drawing of the new Whole Foods Market in Sugarland supposed to be water, or are those architects just coloring outside the lines again? The giant leaf-shaped structure in front is part of a rooftop rainwater-collection system, but with gravity and all, you’d expect the water to spill into that non-blue-colored round area of the roof to the left.

Oh, but maybe we’re looking at this picture the wrong way . . . that’s right, the blue stuff isn’t water on the roof, it’s the water in Brooks Lake, right behind the store. D’oh! That’s where rain that misses the roof will go. Brooks Lake is shaped a lot more like a river than a lake, but that sure comes in handy when you’re hawking waterfront property.

The 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods will anchor Planned Community Developers’s Lake Pointe Town Center at the intersection of Highway 59 and Highway 6 in First Colony. The store opens December 5th.

The rain collected from the roof will be used for watering the extensive parking lot and plaza landscaping. The store’s Sweet Peas Clubhouse will take children aged 3 to 7 off your hands while you shop.

Update, 12/5/07: It’s open. Anyone wanna send us a report?

Whole Foods Market to open in Sugar Land [Houston Business Journal]
Retail: Lake Pointe Town Center [Planned Community Developers]

77478, 77479, Commercial Real Estate, First Colony, Openings and Closings, Rainwater-Collection, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sugar-Land, Whole Foods

11/15/07 11:36am

Stuck in Traffic? Pull Over for a Philly Cheesesteak by the Wayside

Development Strategy, East End, New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers

New Shopping Center at the Northeast Corner of I-45 South and Wayside, Houston

The Lenny’s Sub Shops continue their Houston conquest. The franchise is now up to seventeen stores, with eleven opening soon, including one in this new shopping center about to begin construction on the Gulf Freeway feeder just north of Wayside. That’s almost a third of the way to the company’s goal!

The I-45 (northbound) and Wayside property developer is Bobby Orr, who complained to the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff about the glut of suburban strip centers back in June: “We’re going urban,” he said. And really, the Orr Commercial properties are all over the map. But don’t be fooled by the side-of-the-freeway location and strip-center layout on this one: Luring hungry drivers out of inner-loop freeway traffic jams is an important part of Houston’s urban spirit.

NEC I-45 at S. Wayside [Orr Commercial]
Franchise Sub Leases To Blanket Houston [Swamplot]
Shopping Center Update: Franchises, Anchors, and All Those Nail Salons [Swamplot]

77023, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, East End, Fast Food, Franchises, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Traffic

11/08/07 1:49pm

High on Westheimer?

Commercial Real Estate, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

Drawing of Proposed High Street Development at 4410 Westheimer, Houston, near Highland Village

Trademark Property has released this new image of its High Street development, slated for the site of the demolished Central Ford dealership at 4410 Westheimer, just west of Highland Village. So . . . is it really gonna happen?

The project had been on hold. It’s now described as “a 6-acre, pedestrian-oriented urban village featuring 93,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space combined with Class A offices and urban residences.” The Fort Worth developer — who also developed Market Street in the Woodlands — had planned to break ground this past spring. Instead, the company has leased part of the site to the sales trailer for the Highland Tower, and politely thrown a picture of that condo building into the background of the new drawing as well.

Don’t confuse High Street with the River Oaks District, a similar but larger project planned for next door.

Continue reading for a site plan and lots more images!

77027, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Highland Village, Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, Westheimer

Attractions

11/06/07 11:38am

I-10: The New Route Beer?

Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Fifth Ward

Current St. Arnold Brewery on Fairway Park, Houston

In a comment on Off the Kuff, Christof sends us a bird’s-eye view of the (unconfirmed) new site for the Saint Arnold Brewery:

As far as I can tell, this is the building in question.

It’s visible from I-10, so there’s some good signage potential (as a counterpoint to the big Budweiser signs at I-10/east loop and I-10 Washington).

New Digs for St. Arnold’s Located? [Off the Kuff]
Move may be brewing [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of current Saint Arnold brewery: Gary Hunt

77020, Attractions, Breweries, Commercial Real Estate, Fifth Ward

Chinatown

10/30/07 2:51pm

Park 8: The Land of Oz Comes to Houston

Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Medical Buildings, Mixed Use, Parks, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers

CEO David Wu told the Houston Business Journal last year, “It’s the sort of thing you’d see in Taiwan or Hong Kong, but we’re putting it here in the U.S.”

That’s a good description of Park 8: The Land of Oz. Here’s another one, from the project website:

The Park8 is carefully designed over and over again, improving to its perfect design today. More important, it nicely put urban life and nature together with equal force. With itâ€™s high quality exterior finish, and itâ€™s splendidly designed floor plans, the Land of Oz emphasis on unrestrained openness and convenience. Every penny is well worth for its consideration on security and safety issues, recreational areas, leisure activity clubhouses and beautiful landscaping design.

Wow.

How about a third try: three 26-story condo towers and a couple of parking garages on 17 acres next to Beltway 8, south of Bellaire Blvd., bounded by Arthur Storey Park on one side and parking lots for two two-story retail strips on the other. Also part of the project, but not shown on the plans: a new Chinatown General Hospital.

The first phase is under construction. And condos are for sale! All come with good Feng Shui and karaoke, courtesy of the 3CmyBox included in every unit. If you like the project video above, you’re going to love the development’s website, which includes a “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” soundtrack and prominently features six videos for the feature-packed 3CmyBox in the Photo Gallery section.

The project’s tagline:

A union of Western an Chinese Culture. A combination of fantasy and reality.

After the jump, off to see the Wizard!

77072, Chinatown, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Hospitals, Medical Buildings, Mixed Use, Parks, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers

Buying and Selling

10/30/07 10:03am

Sugar Land: New O.J. H.Q.

Commercial Real Estate, Fort Bend County, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Sugar Land

Minute Maid is moving to Sugar Land. The Minute Maid Building near the Galleria has been sold.

Should we expect added sweeteners in our O.J.?

Cameron Management, Wachovia Bank and a group of local investors recently purchased the 351,000-square-foot office building at 2000 St. James Place for an undisclosed amount.

Minute Maid, a Houston-based division of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, will lease back 150,000 square feet of space until its new home is ready in late 2008. Coca-Cola is negotiating a lease for 120,000 square feet in an office building that Planned Community Developers Ltd. began constructing last July in Sugar Land Town Square at U.S. Highway 59 and State Highway 6.

Why not . . . Pearland? Probably less appealing.

And what will happen to the empty building on St. James after the juice is gone?

In preparation for Minute Maid’s move-out, Cameron is marketing the 12-story building, located between Westheimer and San Felipe, as the largest block of contiguous office space in the Galleria area.

Sweet.

Coca-Cola sells Minute Maid Building [Houston Business Journal]
Cameron, Coca-Cola Bless 350,899-SF Leaseback [Globe St.]

77056, 77479, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Fort Bend County, Leasing, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Sugar-Land

10/29/07 12:30pm

Demolition Watch: Greenbriar Chateau Apartments

Boulevard Oaks, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Real Estate Investing

Greenbriar Chateau Apartments, 4100 Greenbriar St., Houston First, they came for Maryland Manor. And then: the Greenbriar Chateau apartments? Just what is happening to the great Mansard apartments of Houston? And what will be next on the chopping block: that birthing place of Bushitude, Chateau Dijon?

No 23-story tower has been proposed for the Greenbriar Chateau site—yet. But think of the stylistic possibilities: a Tuscan shopping center . . . or taller, vaguely turn-of-the-century New York-ish apartments. Sure, it’s more than three-and-a-half acres at the northern edge of Boulevard Oaks, but really, it’s those mansards that have to go.

A local investment group has obtained a $10-million loan to buy the 145-unit Greenbriar Chateau in the near southwest submarket. Given the location, it could end up as a conversion into a higher-density project.

Bammelbelt LP bought the complex, built nearly 40 years ago at 4100 Greenbriar St., a prime infill location within minutes of Rice University, Hermann Park and the Texas Medical Center. Sources familiar with the area say rising land costs for infill sites could prompt similar deals by investors buying aging properties as land plays.

Swamplot readers: is this your home? When you get that little slip in your mailbox, let us know.

Pre-Emptive Strike Takes 145-Unit Infill Asset [Globe St.]
Home builder tries commercial [Houston Chronicle]

77098, Apartments, Boulevard-Oaks, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, George W. Bush, Real Estate Investing, Style

10/25/07 8:00am

The Strip Center Apartments on O.S.T.

Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Parking, Retail, Strip Centers, Texas Medical Center

Kirby Old Spanish Trail Apartments

Isn’t mixed use great? On Old Spanish Trail at Kirby, where Target and Garden Ridge used to be, Simmons Vedder is ready to go with this exciting version of a retail-and-residences mix. They company is leasing the land back from the Texas General Land Office.

Yes, that’s three stories of apartments above a brand new strip center facing O.S.T. No need for fake towers at the corners on this one!

Residents won’t have far to travel for shopping: just walk to your car in the seven-level garage, then pull out and park in front!

Not pictured: the drug store with drive-thru next door. See the full site plan after the jump.

77054, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Leasebacks, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Parking, Retail, Strip Centers, Texas Medical Center

10/22/07 8:02am

Big! Lots for Small! Fry

For Sale by Owner, Real Estate Investing, Shopping Centers, Sprawl, Strip Centers