Tag: Hotels

East Downtown, Hotels

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Ivy Lofts Retail Listing Images, September 2016

Update, 9/23: Ivy Lofts PR director Jared Anthony tells Swamplot that another even newer design is in the works following an architect switchup — more info here.

Ivy Lofts Rendering, Leeland at Live Oak, East Downtown, Houston Is this theÂ newÂ look planned for the Ivy Lofts? A fresh LoopNet listing is now using the topÂ rendering (and another view from the back) to advertiseÂ retail spaceÂ on the yet-unbroken ground at 2604 Leeland St. The images show a building with roughly the same J-shaped double tower proportions seen in the original Ivy Lofts renderings, but with a smoother, gently curved facade and some vertical green striping.

Novel Creative Development VP Wen Pin Tsai did tellÂ Paul Takahashi back in July that there were major condo-hotel-hybridization-related changesÂ being hashed out for the planned highriseÂ after the initialÂ buy-up went more slowly than planned: the 550 units got attention from only 68 buyers — most of whom were actually investors looking to lease outÂ the condos to that same covetedÂ young professional set that wasn’tÂ signing up to purchaseÂ them.

Most of the renderings and details up on the Ivy Lofts’ marketing webpage were taken down some time in the wake of theÂ missed June groundbreaking date, and not many new onesÂ been posted yet — butÂ aÂ newÂ floor planÂ is included with the retail leasing info, showingÂ distinctÂ condo and hotel lobbies:Â

New Angles in East Downtown

77002, Condos, East Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments

08/26/16 5:45pm

The Mixed-Use Towers That May Rise from the Ashes of Allen Parkway’s Former Waste Incinerator Site

Fourth Ward, Proposed Developments

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A look at what could be headed for the rest of thatÂ 10.5-acre Gillette St. former city park-slash-brownfield propertyÂ comes from Tianqing Group, the Chinese firmÂ involved withÂ DC Partners’ recently announced mixed-use development at the site (to be funded via the EB-5 investment-for-greencards program). The northern 6 acres of the property (which at various points in its storied history has housed San Felipe Park, a SWAT substation, and the Gillette St. garbage incinerator) wereÂ sold to a then-unnamed investorÂ last year, and DC Partners snagged the land in May.

The view above, displayed on Tianqing’s description page for the project, shows 3 highrises and 2 midrises in place at the edge of Fourth Ward, with the Downtown skyline visible in the distance to the right.Â Another ofÂ the renderings includes slightly clipped logo marks from both DC Partners and architecture firm Gensler; that rendering (below) providesÂ a closer look at the towers from the west, as well asÂ some green rooftop terraces:

West of Downtown

77019, Fourth Ward, Highrises, Hotels, Midrises, Mixed Use, Office Space, Office Towers, Proposed Developments, Residential, Retail

08/12/16 12:45pm

Vacant Downtown Days Inn To Get a Total Facelift, Become Whatever Hotel It’s Becoming

Hotels, Quicklink, Renovations

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VACANT DOWNTOWN DAYS INN TO GET A TOTAL FACELIFT, BECOME WHATEVER HOTEL IT’S BECOMING 801 Saint Joseph Pkwy., Downtown, Houston, 77002 SFK Development’s Nadeem Nasir tells Craig Hlavaty that the owners of the long-vacant hotel highrise at 801 Saint Joseph Pkwy. are, in fact, currently “in the process of rehabbing the building,” though they’re still “waiting to get on the same page as a hotel franchise.” Hlavaty writes this morning that the group won’t answer questions about which hotel franchise that might be, but that the structure will be getting a full strip-down and facial reconstructionÂ as part of the process (in the face of a minimumÂ $25-million cost to tear the structure down and build new). Swamplot’s readerÂ onÂ the sceneÂ sends fresh word from a worker earlier this week that the site mayÂ become a Sheraton — a story which matches up with a fewÂ previous rumors — but no official nods or confirmation have come from either the owners or the hotel chain. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 801 Saint Joseph Pkwy.: Garrett Robles

77002, Adaptive Reuse, Downtown, Hotels, Renovations

08/10/16 1:30pm

Up Close and Personal with Downtown’s Foremost Former Hotel and Vedic University

Hotels

5 Comments

Is this time the charm for the long-vacant all-but-freeway-sideÂ former hotel atÂ 801 Saint Joseph Pkwy.,Â on at least its 3rd round of intended redevelopers since it was vacated inÂ 1998? The building began its career in the early 1970s as a Holiday Inn, later becoming a Days Inn before being turned into Heaven on Earth hotelÂ by a group founded by embraced-then-renouncedÂ Beatles spiritual advisor Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.Â That group eventually shut down their increasingly dilapidatedÂ hotel and turned the place into a Vedic school before code violations forced the structure’sÂ not-just-for-summer vacation; the spotÂ has been courted by fickle would-be-remodelers on and off ever since.

But some workÂ permits have been issued this year to the most recentÂ owner, SFK Development, which bought the site in late 2012 per county records, and Catie DixonÂ reported last fallÂ that the building will be turned into a SheratonÂ (an assertion backed up by some more recent tidbits from the structural scrutinizers over at HAIF).Â Meanwhile, reader Garrett Robles reports that the site is now the most active he’s seen it in 5 years of wandering around the area.Â RoblesÂ sends thisÂ set of recent photos peering at, around, and into the ground floor of the structure:

Rebuilding Heaven on Earth

77002, Adaptive Reuse, Downtown, Hotels

06/29/16 1:00pm

Imperial Sugar Refinery Mixed-Use Redo Plans Now Crystalizing Along Hwy. 90

Sugar Land

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Imperial Market, Sugar Land, TX 77478

Johnson Development, the companyÂ behind that sugar-company-themed master-planned community in Sugar Land, announced yesterday thatÂ it hasÂ officially handed over the land for the project’s refinery-centric Imperial Market mixed-use district to the folks who will develop it. The 26Â acres freshly soldÂ are along Oyster Creek just north of the crossing of Hwy. 90 (visible on the far left of the rendering above, which faces south). That’s Kempner St. running directly alongsideÂ the proposed development and crossing the creek as well;Â a pair of former railroad bridges currently upstream of KempnerÂ are shown replaced with car and pedestrian bridges respectively.

Plans for the development incorporateÂ structures from out-of-use former facilities of the Imperial Sugar Company. TheÂ refinery’s silos (instead of becoming an art space) are marked toÂ host a couple of fast-casual restaurants; the 1925 char house, where huge quantities of carefully burnedÂ animal bones were once used toÂ whiten and filterÂ cane sugar syrup, will become a boutique hotel. Both structures are more prominently visible in the southeast-facingÂ view below — the boxy brickÂ char house appearsÂ to the left of the single-pour-concrete silos:

Refining Sugar Land Master Plans

77498, Adaptive Reuse, Apartments, Historic Buildings, Hotels, Mixed Use Development, New Construction: Residential, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Retail, Sugar-Land

06/10/16 4:00pm

Where Loews Might Plant Its Uptown Hotel on Post Oak Blvd.

Highrises, Proposed Developments, Uptown

ZC Renderings of 2120 Post Oak Blvd.

Following this week’s report from the HBJ that the Loews hotel chainÂ is currently considering an Uptown locale, aÂ sharp-eyed reader points toÂ a lot previously markedÂ for 2 more towers to keep the BBVA Compass building company, just north of 2200 Post Oak Blvd. The land has beenÂ owned byÂ Loews since 2014 (or by someone using the address of the company’sÂ NYC headquarters); a tipster separately tellsÂ SwamplotÂ that the company has been pricing out construction workÂ on thatÂ particular spot, though nothing was officialÂ as of mid-May.

Architecture firm Ziegler CooperÂ has postedÂ someÂ renderings (including the one above) ofÂ a mixed use projectÂ apparently designed for the same BBVA-adjacent land (though labeled only as Confidential Hotel &Â Mixed Used Development).Â TRC Capital (formerly The Redstone Company) currentlyÂ has some very similar renderings more prominently displayed on its website, once again labelingÂ the residential piece of the project as theÂ Perennial Hotel and Apartments, along with another office tower marked as 2100 Post Oak:

Newly Perennial

77056, Apartments, Highrises, Hotels, Mixed-Use Properties, Proposed Developments, Retail, Uptown

04/07/16 3:15pm

Don’t Look Now, But the Galleria Is About to Sprout a New Residential Highrise

Galleria, Highrises, Proposed Developments

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Proposed 30-story tower on former Macy's site, Galleria, Houston, 77056

This morning Simon Property Group released renderings of a planned residential highrise in the Galleria,Â shown here at the corner of W. Alabama St. and Sage Rd. in what’s left over of the landÂ previously occupied by the mall’s second Macy’s.Â The tower is slatedÂ for the same spot previously coloredÂ purple for “future retail/office residences”Â on one of the developer’sÂ Galleria redo maps back in 2014. (That mapÂ didn’t mention a highrise specifically, but previous info on the redevelopment plans floated the idea.)Â Simon says it plans to break ground on the tower by the end of 2017, with aÂ 2019 or 2020 opening in mind.

The rendered viewÂ above looks northeast over the Berachah Church across W. Alabama at the glassy highrise, which may hold somewhere betweenÂ 75 and 100Â residential units atop 220Â hotelÂ rooms (with separate amenities areas for permanent and temporary residents). The design showsÂ 2 pool decks; the nearby Westin Galleria’sÂ existing pool can be spotted on theÂ right,Â past an existing parking garage.

Here’s the view fromÂ the other side, looking south down Sage across Westheimer Rd. over the newÂ Saks Fifth Avenue buildingÂ (set to open at the end of the month):

One Tower to Live Above the Mall

77056, Condos, Galleria Area, Galleria Mall, Highrises, Hotels, Proposed Developments

04/06/16 12:15pm

Blossom Hotel To Sprout Up Next to TMC’s Proposed Double Helix Site and That One Last Corner Townhome

Texas Medical Center

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Proposed Blossom Hotel on Lehall St. at Bertner Ave., Cecil Street Courts, Houston, 77030

Here’s a preview ofÂ the 9-story hotel planned for the stretch ofÂ now-mostly-cleared land alongÂ Lehall St. at Bertner Ave. south of the Texas Medical Center. The land slated to hold the Blossom Hotel Houston isÂ right across Bertner from where the TMC wants to build aÂ double helix park and collaborative campus;Â Zhejiang Blossom Tourism Group has been buying up lots on the east and northeast of the block, which have held a mixture of homes, a commercial building, and nothing over the last few decades.

Not shown in the rendering: Â the loneÂ house still standingÂ right on at the corner of Lehall St. and Bertner Ave.:

Last One Standing

77030, Demolition, Holdouts, Hotels, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Texas Medical Center

Demolitions

02/25/16 3:00pm

Solvay Now Dissolving Behind New Office Highrise at Richmond Ave and Buffalo Spdwy.

Greenway Plaza, Proposed Developments, Uncategorized

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Demolition of Solvay America Building, 3333 Richmond, Greenway Plaza, Houston, 77098

A rainbow sheen hangs at the foot of the Solvay America building as it crumbles back into the 3333 Richmond Ave dust from whence it came. A reader sends the above shot of the newly-stripped structure getting the ol’ hose-and-wrecking-ball treatment just before high noon today. The 1992 office building had its demo permit issued in late December; the building’s garage got one yesterday, just in time to join in on the fun.

The soon-to-be-formerly 8-story building is backed up against the 18-story office tower at 3737 Buffalo Spdwy. which wrapped up construction in November. Solvay has already shifted its offices over into the upper stories of the new tower, making way for construction of that 20-story hotel-slash-apartment highrise that was planned for the demolished building’s spot.

Meanwhile, the grove of oak trees northwest of the new construction seem to have weathered the construction as intended, and now stars prominently in PM Realty Group’s leasing brochure:Â

Breaking News

77098, Apartments, Demolitions, Greenway Plaza, Highrises, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Trees

02/24/16 10:30am

Expectations Lowered Another Notch for Rising Hotel Alessandra’s Floor Count

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Construction of Hotel Alessandra, Fannin St. at Dallas St., GreenStreet, Houston, 77002

Here’s the latest glamour shot of Hotel Alessandra, looking sharp at the northern edge of the GreenStreet complex (and being photobombed by the former Sakowitz building from across Dallas St.). The hotel — initially planned around a 25-story question mark before it was reigned in to a less introspective 21-story design — was issued a set of floor-by-floor building permits at the end of January following its September foundation pour.Â Only 20 floors-worth of permits were issued, though, and Midway’s partner-in-highrise Valencia Group has updated its online description of the hotel’s specs to match the lower number since last spring.

Growing at GreenStreet

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Houston Pavilions, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

Apartments

02/04/16 11:30am

Stars Align To Bring Apartments Back into Medistar’s Med Center Hotel Plans

Hotels, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center

Proposed Apartment Tower at 6750 Main St., Medical Center Area, Houston, 77005

Greystar plans to squeeze a 375-unit apartment highrise on the same 1.35 acre lot at 6750 S. Main St. as an in-the-works hotel from Medistar. That Medistar project, which was originally planned as a 220-unit hotel-slash-apartment building on the same spot, will now be a 357-room just-hotel, and will share a lobby with Greystar’s apartment towerÂ on the southern half of the block between Travis St. and S. Main at Old Main St. (across the street from the Texas Women’s University building.)

The two towers (rendered above styled as 1850, seemingly in reference to the Old Main address) will slip in between a Best Western and a Wyndham Hotel, and would total in the neighborhood of 800,000 sq.ft. of floorspace, Greystar’s David Reid tells the HBJ’s Cara Smith.Â The apartment unit floorplans range significantly in size— the largest 2 suites measure in around 3,800 sq.ft., and the smallest bottom out at an Ivy-Lofts-esque 349 sq.ft.

Old Main St. at Main St.

77030, Apartments, Highrises, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Southgate, Texas Medical Center

East Downtown

01/22/16 10:30am

What’s Filling Up East Downtown’s ‘East Village’

Proposed Developments

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Rendering of Chapman & Kirby, 2118 Lamar St., East Downtown, Houston, 77003

A clearer picture is emerging of Ancorian’s East Village development, headed for 2 blocks along St. Emmanuel St. in East Downtown between Lamar and Polk Sts. A Houston branch of the Swedish Our/Vodka distillery project plans to move in at the corner of Lamar and Hutchins St.; a block of office space in the complex has been claimed by Three Square Design Group, whose past work includes projects for Buffalo Bayou, Fort Bend, and Karbach breweries. On Polk St. at the other end of the development, The Secret Group’s not-so-secret comedy club has been under renovation for some time.

Investor-geared materials on the development also name Dallas’s Truck Yard as a planned occupant — the food-truck friendly beer and cocktail bar currently sells drinks out of an open-air building, an Airstream trailer, and a treehouse at its existing location up north.

Meanwhile, renderings have been released of the Chapman & Kirby gastropub, headed for the warehouse at the corner of Lamar at St. Emanuel St. The building was occupied until the start of this year by Asian-American restaurant supplier Kitchen Depot (which has moved out to a location on Harwin Dr. at S. Gessner Dr. near Beltway 8); the East Downtown space will be renovated and made over per designs by MÄk Studio.

The front of the building is depicted with nearly a dozen new windows or entryways:

Added To The List

77003, Adaptive Reuse, Breweries, East Downtown, Hotels, Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail

Demolitions

01/19/16 9:45am

A Glimpse of the Hidden Pecan at 509 Louisiana St., Now That the Building is Out of the Way

Downtown, Quicklink

A GLIMPSE OF THE HIDDEN PECAN AT 509 LOUISIANA ST., NOW THAT THE BUILDING IS OUT OF THE WAY Demolition of 509 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002 While much of the 1906 structure that formerly stood at 509 Louisiana St. was still on site as of early afternoon yesterday, the pieces had mostly been rearranged. A couple of excavators can be seen picking them over in this shot sent in by a reader. The once-secret pecan tree is also hanging out in the open as it waits for the axeÂ — look for the branches peeking out around the corner of the Calpine Center parking garage entrance, on the left edge of the shot. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jack Miller via Swamplot inbox

77002, Demolitions, Downtown, Historical Buildings, Hotels, Houston History, Parking-Lots, Theater District

01/13/16 4:58pm

A Quick Houston Ghost Story, Before 509 Louisiana St. Gives Up the Ghost

by John Nova Lomax

509 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002

517 Louisiana St. is down — the former haunt of the Longhorn Cafe (509 Louisiana, to the right of the hole in the above photo) was still standing as of 2 PM this afternoon, along with the pecan tree in its once-secretÂ courtyard. Both have permits lined up to follow 517 into the Great Beyond, to make room for surface parking on the block.

The hidden pecan tree is purported to harbor a ghost, rooted deep in some Republic of Texas history: