Tag: Land Sales

02/08/11 10:47am

Get Ready for a Studemont Kroger

Commercial Real Estate, Industrial Properties, Land Sales

63 Comments

Kroger has bought 8.5 acres of former industrial land on Studemont, just south of I-10, the Chronicle‘s Purva Patel reports. The land, which was once part of Houston’s Sixth Ward, sits just north of Arne’s Warehouse and Party Store and across the street from Grocers Supply. Kroger closed on the larger portion — a 7.2-acre cleared parcel at 1400 Studewood, listed for sale at $15.7 million — just last week. A spokesperson for the grocery chain wasn’t ready to announce a new store on the site, but did say the company had already taken possession of 1.3 acres just to the south, at 1200 Givens St. If Kroger does build a new supermarket there, the parking lot would have 450 ft. of frontage on Studemont; other industrial properties, many of them accessed from Summer St., would still be sandwiched between it and the Sawyer Heights Target.

77007, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Grocery Stores, Industrial Areas, Land Sales, Sixth Ward

02/02/11 10:31am

The Discounting Has Begun: Idylwood Walmart Already Marked Down 25 Percent!

Development Strategies, Franchises and Chain Stores, Idylwood, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Retail

14 Comments

Just as Swamplot was reporting on the leaked site plan showing that a new full-size Walmart SuperCenter is being planned off the Gulf Fwy. at South Wayside Dr., Councilmember James Rodriguez comes back from a meeting with the company waving a slightly different site plan. And look, this one shows the proposed East End store between Idylwood and the freeway has already slimmed down by 58,000 sq. ft.! Does that qualify as a rollback? Plus: This plan (shown above, again rotated to fit Swamplot’s format) features 13 more parking spaces! Meanwhile, Walmart spokesperson Kellie Duhr tells the Chronicle the new store would be “about 150,000 sq. ft.” and feature a full grocery. That number jibes with the plan above. Also included this time, at no additional charge: an extra Tire and Lube Express next to the Garden Center on the south side. One curious detail, though: Both this plan and the one featured in Swamplot’s story on Monday are labeled with the same date.

What’s going into the lot at the corner of Maxwell Rd. and the I-45 feeder next to the driveway at the southwest corner of the site, labeled “Outlot 1” on both plans? A source tells Swamplot it’s being eyed for a gas station from Walmart sidekick Murphy Oil.

Wal-Mart eyes East End
Previously on Swamplot: Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houstonâ€™s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter

Plan: Doucet and Associates

77023, Big Box Stores, Idylwood, Idylwood Walmart, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Retail

01/31/11 8:09am

Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houston’s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter

Franchises and Chain Stores, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

110 Comments

The first-ever inside-The-Loop Walmart SuperCenter will be built near the corner of South Wayside Dr. and the Gulf Freeway, a source tells Swamplot. The 28-acre site sits between Idylwood and I-45; according to a preliminary site plan currently making the rounds in that neighborhood, the store’s main entrance will be from Wayside, which also serves as the freeway entrance to a few other eastside neighborhoods, including Country Club Place and Forest Park.

According to Swamplot’s source, a real-estate entity connected to Walmart has an 8-month option to buy the property, home to 6 vacant warehouse buildings that once served as a distribution center for Oshman’s — as well as the former corporate offices of the defunct sporting goods company. Walmart has been completing its analysis of the property and is less than 30 days away from completing the land purchase, for a price of $35 a sq. ft., the source says.

Isn’t Walmart already planning its first Inner-Loop store on the other side of Downtown — just south of the Heights? Yes, but that store won’t be a SuperCenter. The Idylwood store is expected to measure approximately 210,000 sq. ft. — almost 60,000 sq. ft. larger than the planned Washington Heights District location. The site plan of the Idylwood store, which is not final (and which we’ve rotated to fit below), shows an asphalt parking lot with 722 spaces, plus a garden center on the store’s south side:

77023, Big Box Stores, Commercial Real Estate, Idylwood, Idylwood Walmart, Industrial Properties, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Retail

01/28/11 10:16am

How Springwoods Village Will Earn Its Lunch Money, and other Secrets of the Great ExxonMobil Frontiers

Development Stategies, Land Development, Master-Planned Communities, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Investing, Springwoods Village

7 Comments

The HBJ’s Jennifer Dawson picks up an interesting detail about Springwoods Village, the mysterious eco-themed community being planned by a mysterious company for 1,800 mostly forested acres just south of the Woodlands, at the intersection of I-45, the Hardy Toll Road, and (someday) the Grand Parkway. Coventry Development, still won’t talk about the project’s connection to the rumored but not-yet-announced corporate campus ExxonMobil appears to be building next door, which is expected to consolidate most employees currently based in Houston and Fairfax, Virginia. But it sure looks like Coventry is banking on something big close by: Development director Keith Simon tells Dawson that

Coventry will develop commercial parcels in Springwoods before the residential acreage. The companyâ€™s strategy is to build commercial first to create tax value that will funnel money through the tax district to fund infrastructure.

Building standalone office parks and strip centers in the middle of a forest is, of course, a time-honored Houston development tradition. More often these days though, the sprawling houses go in first. But if the major centralized campus of the second-largest publicly traded company in the world is going to bring in thousands of workers nearby pretty soon anyway, yeah — what’s the point?

77389, Buying and Selling, Development Strategies, ExxonMobil, Houston History, Land Development, Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Office Parks, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Investing, Springwoods Village

11/16/10 2:51pm

Children’s Kirby Assessment: Bike Barn Site Bank and Drive-Thru

Demolitions, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Retail, Rice Village

9 Comments

A 2-story Frost Bank with a drive thru will take over the Kirby side of the former Village Plaza shopping center between Dunstan and Bolsover — once the demo company finishes smashing the Bike Barn, Mattress Giant, and the shells of a few other stores its been chewing on, reports the Village News. Frost bought the 35,000-sq.-ft. leftover portion of the center at 5925 Kirby earlier this month from the Children’s Assessment Center. The CAC plans to expand its Rice Village “campus” (named after attorney John M. O’Quinn) and build a parking garage on the back half of the property.

77005, Banks, Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Land Sales, Rice-Village, Shopping Centers

Development Strategies

10/08/10 7:02pm

Who’s Behind Springwoods Village, Anyway?

Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Springwoods Village

3 Comments

The development director of the New York-and-Denver-based firm that just announced it would be creating a new eco-themed 1,800-acre community immediately south of The Woodlands — and directly adjacent to a 400-acre parcel Exxon Mobil has been eyeing for a giant new consolidated corporate campus — is sure being kinda vague about the identity of the property’s owner, Springwoods Realty. Keith Simon tells the HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson that Coventry Development and Springwoods Realty share some officers (including him), but that the two companies are “not affiliated.”:

Coventry handles all of the real estate holdings for a privately held umbrella organization that Simon would not name. Springwoods Realty is under that umbrella.

Other entities under the umbrella own approximately 1,000 acres of undeveloped land by Baybrook Mall. Coventry has developed approximately 1 million square feet of retail property around the mall over the past 25 years.

â€œItâ€™s really a confusing puzzle,â€ Simon admits.

Adding to the mystery surrounding this corporate . . . uh, “shell” game: Simon’s statement earlier in the week that Springwoods Realty had sold off approximately 400 acres of its holdings — not to Exxon Mobil, but to an entity named Palmetto Transoceanic.

Coventry developing new community near likely Exxon campus [Houston Business Journal]
Springwoods Village coverage [Swamplot]

Site map: Coventry Development

77389, Development Strategies, Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Office Parks, Proposed Developments, Springwoods Village

10/05/10 2:56pm

Is Springwoods Village the New Exxon Mobil Eco-City?

Development Strategies, Land Sales, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Springwoods Village

34 Comments

Coventry Development’s senior VP Keith Simon wouldn’t answer media questions today concerning the possibility that the new 1,800-acre mixed-use community his company wants to develop just south of The Woodlands might have the newly consolidated headquarters of the largest oil company in the world as its very first neighbor. In January, the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reported on plans shown to her — apparently prepared for Exxon Mobil — showing an “elaborate corporate campus, including 20 office buildings with 3 million square feet, a wellness center, laboratory and multiple parking garages” on a 400-acre site near the intersection of I-45 and the Hardy Toll Rd.

Meanwhile, an informant tells Swamplot about a real-estate “study” Exxon Mobil has reportedly been conducting of all the properties it owns and leases in Houston: “the old Humble building at 800 Bell downtown, the Chemicals complex at Katy Fwy. and Eldridge, the lovely Greenspoint campus across from Greenspoint Mall, the research facility on Buffalo Speedway, and others.” The company is considering vacating all these sites — as well as its large and valuable Fairfax, Virginia campus outside Washington, D.C. — and consolidating all employees in the new megacampus just south of The Woodlands. (Baytown refinery employees, don’t worry — you’d get to stay put.)

Writes our informant:

Although the company is telling its understandably concerned employees who happen not to live in Spring or The Woodlands not to worry, that this is still just a study, there is already work being done to prepare the site for building.

Where might have Exxon Mobil have come up with those 400 acres?

77389, Buying and Selling, Development Strategies, ExxonMobil, Land Sales, Office Parks, Proposed Developments, Springwoods Village

Cinco Ranch

09/24/10 12:37pm

School-District Manifest Destiny

Development Strategies, Katy, Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Quicklink

14 Comments

SCHOOL-DISTRICT MANIFEST DESTINY Cinco Ranch — recently named the fastest-growing residential community in the country by a real-estate consulting firm — will keep expanding west. Newland Communities just purchased 492 acres west of neighboring Pine Mill Ranch, way out near Firethorne between FM 1463 and Katy-Flewellen Road; the company plans to have new Cinco Ranch-branded homesites available there within a couple of years. Further west, there’s even more land available for cheap: the 742-acre Tamarron Lakes subdivision was foreclosed on in April. Kirk Laguarta of Land Advisors Organization, who’s marketing that property for $19K an acre, tells the Houston Business Journal that the property that Newland just bought is considered more valuable that that, in part because it’s zoned to Katy ISD. But Newland may not be interested in expanding Cinco Ranch into Tamarron Lakes — that development belongs to the Lamar Consolidated ISD. [Houston Business Journal]

77494, Cinco Ranch, Development Strategies, Foreclosures, Katy, Land Development, Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Schools

Schools

09/10/10 5:44pm

The Academy of St. Agnes in the Fields

7 Comments

The 18.7-acre vacant former site of the Gillman auto dealership on Bellaire Blvd. at Fondren will soon become an extension campus of a Catholic girls’ high school down the road. The main campus of St. Agnes Academy will remain at 9000 Bellaire Blvd., next to Strake Jesuit between Gessner and Ranchester, which the school calls “landlocked.” This new site a little more than a mile to the east — purchased just Wednesday — will likely become the new home of the school’s athletic facilities, to allow for expansion on the main campus. If that happens, the Catholic school’s sports teams will play on fields across Bellaire Blvd. from Plazamericas — formerly known as the Sharpstown Mall. St. Agnes Academy moved to its current site in 1963, after almost 60 years in Midtown.

77074, Land Sales, Schools, Sharpstown

Eminent Domain

09/10/10 1:12pm

92 Eminent Domain Cases on 3 Lines: Metro’s Light Rail Land Acquisition Scorecard

Quicklink, Southeast Houston, Transportation

3 Comments

92 EMINENT DOMAIN CASES ON 3 LINES: METRO’S LIGHT RAIL LAND ACQUISITION SCORECARD Nick Boulos’s former Shell station on the corner of MLK and Old Spanish Trail “is among 133 pieces of property [Metro] has acquired along the Southeast Corridor, including 27 in which Metro invoked eminent domain. Of those, 21 (including Boulosâ€™) were settled by negotiation. Another 7 remain to be mediated or possibly settled in court. In the East End, METRO has obtained 135 parcels, filed 47 eminent domain cases, and settled 33 by negotiation, leaving 14 for mediation or the courtroom. On the Northside, METRO has acquired 113 total pieces of property, filed 18 eminent domain cases, and settled 16 by negotiation, leaving 2 for mediation or the courtroom.” [Fox 26] Rendering of Southeast Line on MLK between Griggs Rd. and OST: Metro

77021, East End, East End Line, Eminent Domain, Land Sales, Light-Rail, Metro, Metro Rail, North Line, Southeast Houston, Southeast Line

Bankruptcies

07/27/10 11:42am

Where the Royce Land Went

Cypress, Foreclosures, Land Development, Land Sales, Quicklink, Tomball

7 Comments

WHERE THE ROYCE LAND WENT The Bryan farm-lending coop that ended up with 618 acres near Tomball after the collapse of Royce Builders has finally sold the property — to the Caldwell Companies, a land development and investment firm. Royce had planned 1,261 home lots in Cypress Lake Crossing, which is northeast of the intersection of Telge Rd. and Boudreaux and only a couple miles north of the sprawling Cypress home of former Royce president John Speer. (Speerâ€™s Royce-built compound off Telge Rd., pictured above, now serves as the home address of one of his new ventures, Vestalia Homes.) â€œBill Heavin, a land broker at Grubb & Ellis Co., says Royce Homes had completed quite a bit of development work on the tract, such as soil and water testing and the establishment of Harris County Municipal Utility District #416. Royce Homes began seeking an investor or joint venture partner on the large tract in late 2006 or early 2007. . . . the asking price was $30,000 an acre, or $18.5 million.â€ [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]

77377, 77429, Abandoned Subdivisions, Bankruptcies, Cypress, Foreclosures, Land Sales, Royce Builders, Tomball

Apartments

05/19/10 4:51pm

Early Exit: The Fire at the Downtown Y

Demolitions, Downtown, Institutional Buildings, Land Sales

14 Comments

A reader sends us this view from the scene of the YMCA on Louisiana and Pease Downtown. A fire broke out in a resident’s room on the 9th floor of the 67-year-old building early this afternoon after someone left a lit candle unattended, according to news reports. YMCA officials tell Channel 2 News that 16 residents will need to be relocated as a result of the damages.

Of course, all 135 residents of the YMCA will need to be relocated after the new YMCA down the street at 808 Pease St. (at Milam) opens this October. The YMCA plans to demolish the Louisiana St. building, then sell the vacant 85,000-sq.-ft. property to Chevron, which owns the shiny former Enron building next door. The new Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA now under construction contains no residences.

Late Update: Our correspondent sends in a later photo from the scene:

77002, Apartments, Demolitions, Downtown, Fires, Institutional Buildings, Land Sales

03/04/10 12:09pm

H-E-B: Yes, We’re Buying the Wilshire Village Site

Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Proposed Developments

18 Comments

A representative of H-E-B confirms to the River Oaks Examiner‘s Mike Reed that the grocery company is buying the 7.68-acre site on West Alabama in Montrose — across Dunlavy from Fiesta — where the Wilshire Village Apartments once stood:

H-E-B spokeswoman Cyndy Garza-Roberts said she could not disclose a proposed purchase price.

â€œRight now, we are doing our due diligence,â€ she said. â€œWe are in the very early stages.â€

One part of Swamplot’s due diligence, of course, might be figuring out who H-E-B is actually buying the property from. Some sort of transaction related to the property appears to have already taken place. We’ll have more details on that later.

Update: A few details from the Chronicle.

H-E-B confirms effort to buy Wilshire Village property [River Oaks Examiner]
Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]

Photo of Wilshire Village Site from Dunlavy St., South of West Alabama: Carl Guderian [license]

77098, Buying and Selling, Grocery Stores, Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Wilshire Village

01/22/10 9:38am

Skanska Post Oak Tower: We Don’t Need a Bank To Build This

Financing, Galleria, Highrises, Land Sales, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

2 Comments

An executive with Skanska USA tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson that the American subsidiary of the Swedish project development and construction company will build and finance this new freeway-side Galleria spec office building all by itself. Design work for the 14-story tower and 8-story parking garage, though, was farmed out to Kirksey.

Where will it go? The 2.3-acre former site of Tony’s Ballroom at 3009 Post Oak Blvd., across the street from the Water Wall Park. Metro will likely want a piece of that property too: A thin, mostly triangular sliver along the property’s western edge is needed to accommodate the new Uptown Line set to run down Post Oak.