Tag: New Construction

Uncategorized
04/07/10 12:46pm

Memorial City Parking Garage Tree Multiplier

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28 Comments

Robert Boyd snaps this photo of the new mural on the side of the parking garage for the Fountains at Memorial City condos. The 13-story building is under construction at Gaylord and Bunker Hill, next to the new Cemex headquarters building just east of Memorial City Mall. Writes Boyd:

The mural . . . is nothing especially clever or innovative, but it looks nice and it’s a lot more than most builders do for their parking garages. And it works well with the real trees in front of it.

Photo: Robert Boyd

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Buying and Selling
03/26/10 1:22pm

Memorial Drive Scrape: The End of Otto’s and Bibas Greek Pizza

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Cancellations and Delays, Commercial Real Estate, Memorial, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Military, Shopping Centers
3 Comments

How cheaply did the Ponderosa Land Development Co. pick up the 1.3 acres of land under Otto’s Bar B Que on Memorial Dr.?

“I won’t be able to ride off into the sunset with what I’m getting,” Otto’s co-owner June Sofka tells Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal. And that’s our only clue. Well, that and the fact that the shopping-center developers still had enough money left over to buy the property next door.

A new 2-story building on the 1.8-acre site between Asbury and Reinicke, on the southern border of Rice Military, is being designed by Kirksey.

The portion with Memorial frontage that will also be torn down to make way for the new project is owned by two sisters, one of whom is Wanda Greb. Their property contains Bibas Greek Pizza, M-T Nails, Memorial Barber Shop, Rich Cleaners and the hamburger restaurant segment of Otto’s, which is leased by the Sofkas.

Ponderosa intends to scrape the entire site and develop a 22,000-square-foot center with retail, restaurant and possibly some boutique office space. The project is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million, not including the land cost.

But wait, maybe not all of those businesses are disappearing from that location!

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Construction Materials
03/22/10 12:42pm

Heights Home Composting: The Amazing Disappearing Waterhill Townhomes

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Construction Problems, Demolitions, Houston Heights, New Construction, Townhomes
20 Comments

Okay, tell us what was the plan for that block south of W. 8th St. along the new Heights Hike-and-Bike Trail, between Nicholson and Waverly?

This large, open space will be available for community gardens, both cultivated and natural, think edible weeds. Small animal husbandry, such as goats, chickens and rats could also be sustained. Compost houses flank the development to show clientele how their homes will indeed return to their natural state a lá the second law of thermodynamics, or something like that. Between the back row of Compost Homes are the E-condos. These models reflect real world living as they do not have plumbing or electricity.

Huh? Well, it’s not even a year since Houston Indymedia reporter Keefski tried to explain it all . . . but the Waterhill Homes at the Heights development is at last seeing some action!

What kind of action?

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Houston Heights
03/05/10 11:12am

H-E-B Plans To Build a Montrose Grocery Store at Wilshire Village

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Lancaster Place, Proposed Developments, Retail
59 Comments

No, H-E-B isn’t just buying the former site of the Wilshire Village Apartments at the corner of Alabama and Dunlavy as a real estate investment. H-E-B Houston president Scott McClelland tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Allison Wollam that the company expects to open its Montrose store on that site next year:

We . . . have a site tied up at Alabama and Dunlavy in the Montrose area that we’re finalizing. I think that it’s far enough from our recently opened Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway store and it will be a good new market for us.

Okay, while we’re at it . . . what are H-E-B’s plans for the Heights?

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Lanier Place
02/17/10 1:19pm

What Could Possibly Take the Place of Chicken N Egg Roll?

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New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
9 Comments

A hungry reader writes in wanting to know about the new concrete-block building going up at 2802 S. Shepherd, just across Harold St. from the Houston Wine Merchant. Half of the lot is the site of the former Chicken N Egg Roll. Because the neighboring house on Harold was carted away, the new lot is twice as deep.

I have confirmed that it is a commercial establishment, but can’t find any additional info. Do you know? It looks too small to be a restaurant, but one can hope . . .

Here’s one clue our reader will be happy to hear: The original demolition report from last April listed the owner or occupant of the property as Toyama Japanese Restaurant.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Institutional Buildings
02/08/10 10:04am

Taniguchi’s Asia Society Texas Center Gets Into the Ground

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Museum District, Museums, New Construction
2 Comments

A reader sends in photos from the mudfest last week on the large block at Southmore and Caroline in the Museum District, where construction has at last begun on the new Texas Center headquarters building for the Asia Society. An elaborate groundbreaking ceremony for the 2-story, 38,000-sq.-ft. building featuring dancers, drummers, and noted local restaurateur Yao Ming took place more than 20 months ago. Meanwhile, architect Yoshio Taniguchi continued tinkering with the design, and the organization continued its fundraising efforts.

More muddy views of what’s going on, plus a look at the latest model:

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New Construction
01/28/10 11:20am

That East Garage Spirit: Pride of Parking at the University of Houston

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Parking, Real Estate Marketing, University of Houston
5 Comments

Chron columnist Lisa Gray takes note of the new UH East Parking Garage:

On the Spur 5 edge of campus, the University of Houston recently finished a garage that takes garage pride a step further. It’s trimmed in jazzy vertical strips of Cougar red and white — a parking pep rally, a garage that serves as a billboard promoting its institution. If Renu Khatour, UH’s chancellor and tireless promoter, were a parking garage, this is the garage she would be.

Oh, it gets better . . .

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Art
01/18/10 2:54pm

Comment of the Day: This Time, Some Real Groundbreaking at Taniguchi’s Asia Society HQ

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Comments, Institutional Buildings, Museum District, New Construction, Quicklink
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THIS TIME, SOME REAL GROUNDBREAKING AT TANIGUCHI’S ASIA SOCIETY HQ “Construction has begun! It’s been a while in the making but it appears that progress is now rapidly occurring. I first noticed activity on the site about a week ago and as of this morning there were at least two construction trailers and several earth-movers on the site. Much of the two plots have already been cleared.” [Ned Dodington, commenting on More Images of the Asia Society Headquarters Design]

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Development Regulations
12/21/09 11:17am

Light Rail Construction and the Gorillas’ Last Stand

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New Construction, Quicklink, Retail, Signage, Transportation
21 Comments

LIGHT RAIL CONSTRUCTION AND THE GORILLAS’ LAST STAND The latest idea from Metro: Create official signs, flags, and banners for businesses along light-rail construction routes, to show they’re still in business, and to guide cars into open parking areas. Only problem? “Some of the proposed flags would flutter afoul of the city’s newly tightened sign ordinance, which bans certain types of ‘attention-getting devices.’ City Council may have to approve a small change in the city’s sign law to allow temporary banners to stay up for longer than the allotted seven out of 30 days, according to city public works official Andy Icken. . . . The city’s new sign ordinance kicks in on Jan. 1. It bans the giant inflatable balloon animals and other eye-catching gizmos that you often see on Houston’s highways and roads. So enjoy the giant ‘For Sale’ gorillas while you can. Also, the dancing wind socks along the side of the road, the silver and blue streamers at car dealerships, and the other pennants, pinwheels and puppets meant to pull your gaze from the road to the roadside.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

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First Ward
12/21/09 10:58am

Rail Removal Program Complete for the Year: Heights Hike and Bike Trail Opens

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Houston Heights, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Transportation
38 Comments

Sometime after this photo was taken at the start of the month, the missing rail on the rebuilt trestle bridge over White Oak Bayou was installed. But the rest of the rails are gone! A 5-mile segment of the MKT Trail through the Heights, named after the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad tracks that used to run along it, opened over the weekend. The trail starts at 26th St., runs down Nicholson to 7th St., east along 7th for a bit, down and across the bayou. It ends at Spring St. and I-45. When will it connect to Downtown, or new trails to the north?

Four other bike paths opened in 2009, making 15 new miles in all:

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Comments
11/30/09 10:17pm

Comment of the Day: Commodity, Firmness, and Notoriety

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Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Medical Buildings, Memorial City, New Construction, Office Buildings, Quicklink
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND NOTORIETY “The design can’t possibly be that bad. People are talking about it. When was the last time anybody remarked on the designs of Energy Tower III or Energy Crossing II?” [TheNiche, commenting on There Will Be No Tours of the Death Star, and Other Details About the Hospital in the Belly of the Memorial Hermann Tower]

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Commercial Real Estate
11/30/09 9:55am

There Will Be No Tours of the Death Star, and Other Details About the Hospital in the Belly of the Memorial Hermann Tower

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Highrises, Medical Buildings, Memorial City, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space
35 Comments

Hospital executive Adam Lane tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson that the easiest patients to move into the new Memorial Hermann Tower on I-10 will be . . . the babies, “because they don’t know where they’re going.”

Also, it sounds like some of the interiors might prove a little disorienting for suburban kids:

A hospital floor dedicated to children has been elaborately designed as a town center. The hallway is made to look like a street with curbs, grass and storefronts.

Fortunately, more familiar surroundings will be nearby: the building is connected by skybridge to the Memorial City Mall.

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Commercial Real Estate
11/16/09 1:03pm

Kiddie Party on the Plaza: A Discovery Tower Construction Update

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Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings
No Comments

A reader sends in photos of the new Hess Tower, formerly known as Discovery Tower, under construction adjacent to Discovery Green Downtown.

You can see the tower isn’t quite finished yet but it sure looks like that plaza in front of it already is! Though really, all those office workers look a little young, don’t you think?

More pics:

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Downtown
11/10/09 2:38pm

Raising Funds for the New Houston Ballet Building: Just Wait Until Nutcracker Season

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Financing, Institutional Buildings, New Construction, Theater District
4 Comments

An article on Bloomberg.com forwarded by a reader provides an update on the progress of fundraising efforts for the Houston Ballet’s new building Downtown planned for the block surrounded by Congress, Smith, Preston, and Louisiana streets. You’ll remember that back in August, Ballet managing director Cecil C. Conner told the Chronicle‘s Molly Glentzer that the board had raised “about 70 percent of the funds” needed for the $53 million building — which the organization hopes to have ready for move-in by 2011.

What’s the latest news, 3 months later?

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