What Hanover Might Be Building Next in the Rice Village

A HAIF user posted this rendering of what appears to be the 12-story apartment complex that Hanover is busy making room for near the Rice Village. The demolition of the creaky Village Apartments and Garden Gate that used to stand here on the eastern half of the block bound by Kelvin, Morningside, Dunstan, and Tangley is nearly done (save for a lone tree in the middle of the site under the shade of which sits a picnic table). Hanover has said that this second building, unlike the first 6-story one, won’t have any ground-floor retail.

Rendering: The Hanover Company

16 Comment

  • Nice design, tho bland–it’s at least a clean aesthetic, void of frills–should fit nicely in the area–definite upgrade to the site

  • Wow. Those are some wide streets! Maybe they are gonna widen the streets to appease all the Signs in the Yards folks?

  • I try to avoid the Village area now since it is almost impossible to park and the four way stops are a nightmare.

    With this proposed 12 story, it seems like they are overbuilding. It will definitely make the Village even more unattractive.

  • Pretty modern and distinctive looking. That center court feature seems to be getting popular. Might prove exciting in a hurricane.

  • They used a Hanover death ray on the surrounding businesses and vaporized them.

  • Good looking building but sad to hear that the project won’t be mixed use development, i.e. one with retail on the first floor. I hope Hanover reconsiders and allows for galleries, grocery stores, restaurants, and cafés on the first floor. This has the potential to go from good to great IMHO.

  • Native Houstonian, I never have trouble parking in the village. And guess what, lots of people actually walk to the Village from West U and Southampton. Additionally, the increased density (luxury apartment dwellers) will walk right out their door to all the amenities. That is the whole point. Houstonians need exercise after all.

  • Why does everybody assume there is sufficient population density to have commercial on the first floor of every new building?

  • It wont stand a chance without first floor retail

  • I just hope they stick to this rendering and don’t produce another jail looking building like their new one on West Gray.

    @Quantum… what are you talking about? The Village is easy to get around (park in the Rice visitor stadium lot if you can’t find a space).

  • @Spoonman: If you follow many of the comments on this board, it’s become kind of an inside joke here that everything should have first floor retail. If there was an article about a cemetery, someone here would post that it should have first floor retail.
    .
    That said, I don’t know of many other locations in this city that would be more suitable for first floor retail than this one. It’s already an established shopping district, and the building is actually replacing some retail. I’m not a developer, but I would think that in a high density location like this one, retail leases would be a net financial benefit, with a higher $ amount per square foot, and lease terms much longer than the typical 6 or 12 month residential lease. However, there’s two arguments I can think of on why they have chosen not to go the retail route. First, would any new retail businesses be subject to our city’s minimum parking regulations? If so, providing garage space would have a negative impact on costs. Second, perhaps if the plan by Hanover is to convert these to condos in the next 5 years, then retail would not be a net benefit.

  • The Village area now needs a grocery store.

  • Colleen,

    Too bad the Village already had a grocery store (Rice Epicurean Market) that closed some years ago. Not sure if it’s because it was a bad match or because the Village can’t support a grocer. Funny thing is a coworker was just complaining yesterday that there was no grocery store in the Village, if he decides to move into the Hanover.

  • Native Houstonian (#3)- So, four-way stops in the Village are a “nightmare” to you? Really?…that says a lot.

  • I agree that this is the one time they are being idiots for not including ground floor retail. They’d probably have solid tenants on the first day it comes to market. But hey, it’s Hanover. They’re good about building boxes with walls at street level.

  • Ground floor Phoenicia! DO IT. DO IT. I am obsessed with their Shwarma.