Tag: Proposed Developments

Proposed Developments, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor

18 Comments

Local planning firm Asakura Robinson has released a 250-page study on the past, present, and future — as they would like to see it — of the Washington Corridor. The study seems to stem from Better Block Houston, a kind of experiment the firm performed in a vacant lot near their mural-stained offices on Washington and Silver: The street was transformed into a pop-up plaza: Food trucks rolled in, bike repair stations set up, and local retailers spread out. The study imagines this kind of pedestrian life happening along the entire length of Washington, from Westcott to I-45 and between I-10 and Buffalo Bayou.

77007, Development Strategies, Proposed Developments, Urban Planning, Washington Ave., Washington Corridor

Apartments

06/05/13 11:25am

Mom’s Letter Leads City To Raze Derelict Fifth Ward Housing

Demolitions, Fifth Ward, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Housing, Quicklink

17 Comments

MOM’S LETTER LEADS CITY TO RAZE DERELICT FIFTH WARD HOUSING Yesterday, this Komatsu finished the job that Hurricane Ike started, taking out 63 damaged units of the Houston Housing Authority’s Kelly Village Apartments at 1119 Grove St. in the Fifth Ward — and at least one of the residents is happy to see ’em go: “Lacrecha St. Jules,” who wrote a letter to the Housing Authority requesting that something be done, reports the Houston Chronicle, “spent plenty of sleepless nights worrying about her four children as drug dealers and thugs made themselves at home in [the] vacant buildings. . . . ‘It was dark, and there were rapes back there . . . It was a bunch of negatives, and I just wanted to turn it into a positive.'” North of I-10 and east of U.S. 59, the apartments, which showed up in yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report, date to 1930; the city says it plans to build an $800,000, 3-acre park in their place, with room for a jogging trail and garden. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: KHOU via Facebook

77020, Apartments, Demolitions, Fifth Ward, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Housing

Proposed Developments

06/04/13 2:00pm

UH’s New Off-Campus Private Dorm

77021, Proposed Developments, Student Housing, University of Houston

University of Houston

29 Comments

Only Cougars allowed: Prime Property is reporting that Fountain Residential, a Dallas developer, will build, own, and operate this residential complex for students immediately southwest of the University of Houston campus. The 5-story, 347-bed dorm being called The Vue on MacGregor — which will indeed provide aÂ vue of Brays Bayou — will be up by the fall semester of 2014, standing where there’s now a boarded-up gas station at the corner of S. MacGregor and Calhoun. This is just one of the many projects underway on campus, as the Robertson Stadium replacement continues to go up, along with another residence hall, student apartments, and a restaurant and retail space near Elgin St.

Rendering: 5G Studio Architects

Commercial Real Estate

06/03/13 11:30am

Making Way for the Law in the East End

Demolitions, East End, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

2 Comments

The unkempt homes that used to obscure that towering yellow pole on the Gulf Fwy. feeder were undone last month, after 2108 and 2110 Sunnyland St. showed up in the Daily Demolition Report in late April; architect Tim Cisneros, whose firm is named on the variance request, says a 2,000-sq.-ft. law office will be built to replace them. In the East End, the lot faces the feeder between Telephone and Wayside, nearÂ where the 2nd inside-the-Loop Walmart is under construction.

77023, Demolitions, East End, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Uncategorized

05/30/13 11:30am

Skanska’s New Downtown Office Tower

35 Comments

Once the old 18-story Houston Club Building here at 811 Rusk is out of the way, and someone or something agrees to set up shop inside, this is the Gensler-designed office tower Skanska has said it will begin building Downtown. Tentatively named the Capitol Tower — since the main entrance will be moved from Rusk, on the south side of the block, to Capitol — the 700,000-sq.-ft., 34-story building (and a parking garage, too) will go along with a cavernous lobby designed to connect the recently vacated tunnels to the streets above.

77002, Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Apartments

05/29/13 10:10am

Could This Be Downtown’s Next Residential Highrise?

Downtown, Highrises, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Renovations

18 Comments

A plan on the website of Hnedak Bobo Group, ~~a developer~~ an architecture firm based in Memphis, showcases this rendering of a shinyÂ 38-story residential tower named (for now, anyway) “Houston Luxury Apartments,” standing behind the Texaco Building at 1111 Rusk St.

This view shows the lot bound by Capitol, Fannin, San Jacinto, and Rusk, where the 13-story Texas Company Building — said to be the first major oil company headquarters in Houston — and its add-ons has stood since 1915. The few details Hnedak Bobo mentions indicates that that building would be maintained and renovated into age-appropriateÂ apartments, as well.

And there’s more:

77002, Apartments, Downtown, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail

Demolitions

05/28/13 2:00pm

Assisting the Living in the Heights

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Senior Living

20 Comments

Here’s a view of the senior living and memory care facilityÂ that will go up in place of the Heights Fiesta that’s now coming down at 14th and Studewood:Â Though what’s being called the Village of the Heights was initially described to the Leader by “boutique senior living developer” Bridgewood Properties as “Craftsman style” with 80 units, descriptions accompanying this rendering omit any mention of style — and add 23 units. Either way, it’s supposed to be up and runningÂ next summer; Real Estate Bisnow reports that money to get construction going is in place.

Meanwhile, the sacking of thatÂ long-standing Fiesta continues:

77008, Demolitions, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Senior Living

Houston Landmarks

05/28/13 10:00am

‘C’mon. Knock It Down. I Dare You’

Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park

48 Comments

‘C’MON. KNOCK IT DOWN. I DARE YOU’ Writing in the New York Times, sportswriter JerÃ© Longman tries to raise Houston’s burgeoning “are we really gonna demolish it?” moment to a level of national concern: “. . . it was despairing to hear that the vacant Astrodome might be torn down and its site paved over as Houston prepares to host the 2017 Super Bowl. Demolition would be a failure of civic imagination, a betrayal of Houstonâ€™s greatness as a city of swaggering ambition, of dreamers who dispensed with zoning laws and any restraint on possibility.” [New York Times; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

77054, Astrodome, Demolitions, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Real Estate Marketing

Proposed Developments

05/22/13 11:15am

Rudyard’s Owner Building Bigger Bar in Shady Acres

Quicklink, Restaurants, Shady Acres

13 Comments

RUDYARD’S OWNER BUILDING BIGGER BAR IN SHADY ACRES The owner of Rudyard’s British Pub in Montrose has announced that she’ll be building TikTok, aÂ bar, restaurant, and venue for live music in Shady Acres — and, apparently, this new one will be a lot more building than what you get at Rudyard’s. Owner Leila Rodgers tells the Houston Business Journal that TikTok “is expected to have a capacity of 750 to 800 people. She said she expects to be able to host 450 to 500 people in the performance area and 250 to 300 in the restaurant area.” Rudyard’s is at 2010 Waugh Dr. When it opens next summer, TikTok will be at 1412 W. 20th St., near the intersection of W. 20th and T.C. Jester Blvd. — that’s just around the corner from the Hubcap Grill. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Panoramio user hermieb

77008, Bars and Clubs, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Shady-Acres

Comments

05/21/13 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: Bring It On

Development Strategies, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

22 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BRING IT ON “As we all learned from the Ashby debacle, anyone who lives within a 2 mile radius of a proposed project has the right to go all NIMBY on it. Well, I live within a 2 mile radius of this project, and Iâ€™d like to declare myself to be a BIMBY — Build In My Backyard. I purchased inside the loop so that I could be in a dynamic urban environment; that includes high density housing options mixed in with single family; that includes the associated traffic; that includes noisy bars letting out at 2am right in the middle of neighborhoods; that includes Ferraris wailing at 120db at 7am on Sunday even if theyâ€™re only going 15mph. Bottom line, Iâ€™d love it if the Heights became more like Greenwich Village or Tribeca. While the Heights, or Montrose, arenâ€™t likely to get there in the near future, projects like this (and Ashby) help get us just a little bit further in that direction. And I consider that to be a good thing. BIMBY!” [Walt, commenting on A Land Use Counterattack from the Yale St. Alexan Heights]

77007, Apartments, Comments, Development Strategies, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Traffic

Apartments

05/21/13 11:15am

A Land Use Counterattack from the Yale St. Alexan Heights

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

33 Comments

A LAND USE COUNTERATTACK FROM THE YALE ST. ALEXAN HEIGHTS Though the variance for unrestricted use that Trammell Crow had sought to make way for the Alexan Heights apartments along Yale St. was denied, other amendments to the existing single-family restrictions on that lot bound by Yale, Allston, and 6th that the developer is now seeking might allow theÂ 366-unit complex to go up after all, reports The Leader. And, besides this play in the land use game, it seems as though Trammell Crow has also responded, in part, to the first round ofÂ objections coming from neighbors: “TCR has restricted the projectâ€™s driveway on Allston Street to be a service exit, left turn only, to divert traffic away from the neighborhood,” reports Cynthia Lescalleet. “[And] if the city will approve a HAWK signal — a crossing signal controlled by pedestrians or bicyclists — at the bike trail adjacent to the . . . site, TCR will fund and build it.” This revised application will go up in a public hearing Downtown this Thursday. [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Trammell Crow Residential

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Land Use Restrictions, Proposed Developments

Commercial Real Estate

05/20/13 1:00pm

A Look Around San Felipe at the Randall Davis Condos and Planned Hines Office Building Site

Development Strategies, Land Development, Neighborhood Disputes, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Vermont Commons

10 Comments

Here’s a second rendering of that new office tower Hines tells the Houston Chronicle it hasn’t announced it will build. Of course, a different story is coming out of this neighborhood near River Oaks, where the 35,000-sq.-ft. property on the corner of Spann and San Felipe, purchased in November by an entity connected to Hines,Â has been cleared of its garden home and staked with flags, as the photos after the jump show:

77019, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Vermont Commons

Comments

05/17/13 1:45pm

Comment of the Day Runner-Up: How To Memorialize a City of Open Spaces, Once All the Vacant Lots Are Filled

Landscape, Parks, Public Art, Quicklink, Tourism

8 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW TO MEMORIALIZE A CITY OF OPEN SPACES, ONCE ALL THE VACANT LOTS ARE FILLED “. . . Iâ€™ve been saying for a long time that the city should be actively acquiring and developing one lot in each neighborhood as a pocket park with some kind of unique sculpture or statue as its centerpiece. Some kind of consistent theme of that sort could form the basis for grassroots tourism of a unique variety. Sort of a park crawl rather than a pub crawl . . . or perhaps both at the same [time]. Houstonâ€™s best assets, after all, are our neighborhoods. We should show them off.” [TheNiche, commenting on Headlines: Vargoâ€™s Comes Down; The Honeywood Trail House of Honey]

Comments, Landscape, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Tourism

Neighborhood Disputes

05/16/13 11:32am

Hines Plans a Shiny New 18-Story Office Building Across San Felipe from River Oaks

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Vermont Commons

56 Comments

Hines is planning to build an 18-story office building on a 3-lane section of San Felipe between Shepherd and Kirby, across the street from tony River Oaks. The site is the 35,000-sq.-ft. former lushy garden and grounds of a Vermont Commons home, which features several trees and at least one giant oak. “No one knows anything about this,” a source tells Swamplot. “They think a few nice townhouses are about to rise from the earth. That is the story that’s circulating the hood.”