10 Projects that Changed Houston in the 00s

[lockmat]

CultureMap and Ralph Bivins made up this list.

Thoughts?

http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/12-27-09-a-decade-of-development/

[Urbannizer]

Where's Discovery Green on that list?

[editor]

I think Reliant Stadium/Minute Maid Park/Toyota Center should make the list as a single project because they symbolize Houston breaking away from the nostalgia of sacred 1960's era architecture (symbolized by the Astrodome) and into the modern era of sports stadia.

I'd also put 1500 Louisiana on the list because when combined with 1400 Smith it created a critical mass that is so visually compelling that this little corner of downtown Houston can be seen in ads just about everywhere, expanding the influence of the city and helping refine its presence in minds around the world. It is helping cement the notion that Houston=Glittering Energy Capitol and helping erase the lamentably persistent idea that Houston=Cowboy town.

[bachanon]

i agree. discovery green has not only brought new development, but given many more people reason to come/hang-out downtown for no particular event. the entry for sharpstown is a stretch. i do not think the history of sharpstown mall is that significant when discussing the last ten years of houston's development.

I think Reliant Stadium/Minute Maid Park/Toyota Center should make the list as a single project because they symbolize Houston breaking away from the nostalgia of sacred 1960's era architecture (symbolized by the Astrodome) and into the modern era of sports stadia.

I'd also put 1500 Louisiana on the list because when combined with 1400 Smith it created a critical mass that is so visually compelling that this little corner of downtown Houston can be seen in ads just about everywhere, expanding the influence of the city and helping refine its presence in minds around the world. It is helping cement the notion that Houston=Glittering Energy Capitol and helping erase the lamentably persistent idea that Houston=Cowboy town.

is it too late to create a haif top ten?

[UrbaNerd]

i agree. discovery green has not only brought new development, but given many more people reason to come/hang-out downtown for no particular event. the entry for sharpstown is a stretch. i do not think the history of sharpstown mall is that significant when discussing the last ten years of houston's development.

is it too late to create a haif top ten?

Why not? Go for it, I say!

[crunchtastic]

I agree that Discovery Green is much more deserving, but my guess is the author would say that without the convention center Hilton, we wouldn't have had the park.

What an odd list. Bridgeland??? I can't figure out this guy's angle.

[IronTiger]

I would disagree with his comment on Sharpstown. First off, the development hasn't really happened yet. Officially, the name is still Sharpstown, JCPenney is still empty, and so on. After all, back when I actually paid to attention to retail developments, Summit Place Mall in Waterford, MI was this close to changing its name to "Festivals of Waterford" until the proposed enclosed waterpark did not happen and the deal collapsed soon after. It was Summit Place Mall when it closed last year.

Case study #2 is Forest Fair Mall, which was to be Forest Fair Fashions, until The Mills bought it and renamed it Cincinnati Mills.

Sharpstown really should be removed. If he wanted to keep a retail development, why not talk about CityCentre or Memorial City Mall? OK, beginning of 2000:

TOWN & COUNTRY MALL: Three-story mall with JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Dillard's but not popular and losing stores rapidly.

MEMORIAL CITY MALL: Middle-of-the-road mall with Mervyn's, Foley's, Montgomery Ward, and Sears.

Now CityCentre is a really cool urban development with fitness clubs and trendy sushi bars, while Memorial City Mall is one of Houston's premier upscale malls.

Or he could've mentioned more transit: while MetroRail was good what about the "sinking" of US-59? The widening of I-10?

[Jeebus]

My top ten list working from dowtown out:

1. Minute Maid Park - I think this is what convinced everyone who didn't already work downtown that it was safe to return downtown.

2. Randalls - As the writer states, it helped bring stability to Midtown, allowing the newly developed townhomes and apartments to hold their occupancy, and finally reversed the donut effect of the last 30 years.

3. Hilton Hotel Americas - Everyone wants to give Discovery Green all the credit but it was this Hotel that anchored the GRB Hall E expansion, helped the Baseball district, brought the Toyota Center, and most recently Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, One Park Place, and the Embassy Suites.

4. METRO Redline Lightrail - Has helped establish Houston as more than just another post WW2 car and freeway town. Its slow going - but it is going.

5. Reliant Stadium - brought us to the modern age in sports arenas and brought us a Super bowl which helped fuel the early completion of the first segment of the metro light rail, main street redevelopment from UHD to Braeswood, and the redevelopment of the downtown entertainment district along Main street.

6. Westchase District - The creation and branding of this district helped bring in more major business to one area that any other part of the city. I think its organization and results is what secured the home sales and retail in the Andreu Airpark aka Royal Oaks neighborhoods/shopping centers. Even if all those living in the Royal Oaks country club don't work in Westchase, it surely helped sell the security of the new neighborhood.

7. Gulfgate Shopping Center - Breathed new life into a dying area's antiquated mall, and has since been used as a model for Northline and I suspect eventually Sharpstown.

8. Woodlands Market Street - Unless I'm mistaken, this was built before the Sugar Land Town Center. It should be the one that is given credit for ushering in a new age for the shopping experience by attempting to more accurately recreate the urban, pedestrian friendly retail/entertainment district.

9. Westpark Toll & Fort Bend Toll - Unlike any freeway redevelopment or expansion, these two were created from nothing, allowing other ways to connect to Houston's fastest growing suburbs, no doubt fueling that growth - as is evident all along and at the ends of each tollway.

10. Alamo Draft House - Because I didn't have a tenth development, its an awesome movie theater, and its spawned many imitators - which ultimately gives us all more options.

[bachanon]

My top ten list working from dowtown out:

1. Minute Maid Park - I think this is what convinced everyone who didn't already work downtown that it was safe to return downtown.

2. Randalls - As the writer states, it helped bring stability to Midtown, allowing the newly developed townhomes and apartments to hold their occupancy, and finally reversed the donut effect of the last 30 years.

3. Hilton Hotel Americas - Everyone wants to give Discovery Green all the credit but it was this Hotel that anchored the GRB Hall E expansion, helped the Baseball district, brought the Toyota Center, and most recently Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, One Park Place, and the Embassy Suites.

4. METRO Redline Lightrail - Has helped establish Houston as more than just another post WW2 car and freeway town. Its slow going - but it is going.

5. Reliant Stadium - brought us to the modern age in sports arenas and brought us a Super bowl which helped fuel the early completion of the first segment of the metro light rail, main street redevelopment from UHD to Braeswood, and the redevelopment of the downtown entertainment district along Main street.

6. Westchase District - The creation and branding of this district helped bring in more major business to one area that any other part of the city. I think its organization and results is what secured the home sales and retail in the Andreu Airpark aka Royal Oaks neighborhoods/shopping centers. Even if all those living in the Royal Oaks country club don't work in Westchase, it surely helped sell the security of the new neighborhood.

7. Gulfgate Shopping Center - Breathed new life into a dying area's antiquated mall, and has since been used as a model for Northline and I suspect eventually Sharpstown.

8. Woodlands Market Street - Unless I'm mistaken, this was built before the Sugar Land Town Center. It should be the one that is given credit for ushering in a new age for the shopping experience by attempting to more accurately recreate the urban, pedestrian friendly retail/entertainment district.

9. Westpark Toll & Fort Bend Toll - Unlike any freeway redevelopment or expansion, these two were created from nothing, allowing other ways to connect to Houston's fastest growing suburbs, no doubt fueling that growth - as is evident all along and at the ends of each tollway.

10. Alamo Draft House - Because I didn't have a tenth development, its an awesome movie theater, and its spawned many imitators - which ultimately gives us all more options.

market street in the woodlands is a private development in a larger commercial district called the woodlands town center. at some point in the last decade, the powers that be decided that any new development in town center would be mixed use. i do not know if this came after the success of market street or if it came about with the woodlands waterway. i would expand on your eighth item to include the completion of the woodlands waterway and the determination that all new development be mixed use in the woodlands town center.

great list.

[UrbaNerd]

Why no love for the continued massive expansion in the TMC? Or is that epic enough to warrant its own category?

[bachanon]

Why no love for the continued massive expansion in the TMC? Or is that epic enough to warrant its own category?

the texas medical center is not one single project. the current "critical mass" is simply because it has outgrown the area set aside for it. i don't think it's growth merits a place on the top ten developments, impressive as it is.

[TheNiche]

the texas medical center is not one single project. the current "critical mass" is simply because it has outgrown the area set aside for it. i don't think it's growth merits a place on the top ten developments, impressive as it is.

I beg to differ.

* Baylor's $1 billion and one-million-square-foot teaching hospital

* TCH's $1.38 billion capital expansion program yielding 1.2 million square feet of new space in three buildings

* Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, a 1.5-million-square-foot medical office tower, the largest of its kind in Houston

* Methodist Outpatient Care Center, a 1.4-million-square-foot hospital facility

* UT Research Park, which was touch-and-go for many years but finally got developed and will support 12 buildings with 1.5 million square feet of lab, office, and support space.

What is significant about these facilities is not only their size, not only their extraordinarily high cost, not only their ridiculously high economic impact, but that they are visited every day by people in life-or-death circumstances seeking some of the best treatment in the world...rather than a few dozen times per year by crappy teams (and the victors) that extorted taxpayer subsidies from us and then proceeded to disappoint on an ongoing basis.

IMHO, these unsexy TMC projects should crowd the list. ...and not just because the list was a dumb idea to begin with.

[Indeed]

Sharpstown really should be removed.

"Removing" Sharpstown (PlazAmericas) is not feasible. Consider:

The property has at least five different owners, including the owners of: the mall, former JC Penney, former Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory, and the Jewelry building. "Removing" the mall would require purchasing all of these properties separately, and if you didn't get them all you would be out of luck. Several of these are operating businesses, and the Jewelry building is fully occupied. So you would have to spend a lot just to acquire the property.

Then you'd have to deal with hundreds of existing leases, some of them long term. You can't just tell a tenant to leave because you want them out.

Then you would have to spend millions to physically tear it down.

Then, probably several years and tens of millions of dollars later, you would be left with a large vacant parcel in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood with crummy retail all around. You would have to sit on it (= no return on all the money you just spent) or seek financing to develop a brand new "something." Whatever that "something" would be (retail, residential, mixed use, etc) would cost hundreds of millions to build.

Even with new market tax credits, TIRZ support, City support, community reinvestment act credits, and any other enhancements you could find, the prospects are minimal that you could pull off a new development any time soon. And if you did, my guess is that it would include at least 80% of the kind of things that are already there, to wit: retail, services, office, food.

People talk about "bulldozing" the property, but never seem to address the realities of i) how to get that done, ii) what to build after, and iii) how to pay for it.

And finally: this is a very visible, prominent deal in town. Every developer knows about it, but even with the mall itself being marketed through bankruptcy and both the JC Penney and Macy's being heavily advertized for sale, nobody has made a run at it. Given that the entire professional development community has passed on this prospect, the commenters should get the message that it just isn't going to happen.

[TheNiche]

"Removing" Sharpstown (PlazAmericas) is not feasible.

He meant that Sharpstown Mall should be removed from the list of '10 Projects that Changed Houston in the 00s', not physically removed.

[Indeed]

He meant that Sharpstown Mall should be removed from the list of '10 Projects that Changed Houston in the 00s', not physically removed.

Ah - makes more sense. Now I see it. Thanks for correcting.