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I have seen a lot of activity at the warehouse on the north side of the Dowling-Polk intersection. They have replaced all of the windows and the upper level has been given a new stucco exterior finish with green-toned paint. Looks like it could be highrise lofts or something like that. Anyone know for sure?

Was originally planned as condos, but I forget whether it was being developed by Caspian Enterprises or another entity. It's nice to see progress again.

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That building was once owned by the Houston Chronicle, built as a small distribution center for the paper. It was rumored, mostly by Houston Post employees across that street, that the only reason the Chronicle operated out of that building was so they could keep an eye on the comings and goings at the Post.

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I have seen a lot of activity at the warehouse on the north side of the Dowling-Polk intersection. They have replaced all of the windows and the upper level has been given a new stucco exterior finish with green-toned paint. Looks like it could be highrise lofts or something like that. Anyone know for sure?

That project started about 5 years ago. It's sure been open to the elements for a long time.

For a while, they were competition with Live Oak Lofts, nearby. I was told that Live Oak was marketed to investors from the east and west coasts but most of the units then went into foreclosure.

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  • 6 years later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • The title was changed to New mixed use building at Polk & Dowling in East Downtown?
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Just a note of caution... as we've seen many times, a retailer's name appearing on a developer's site plan does not necessarily mean much.  Note that the Lovett flyer says they have "retail, office and entertainment spaces available" but the site plan does not appear to show any available retail (or entertainment) space. It only shows the space labeled Sprouts and CVS.  Also, the rendering (which is labeled "Option 2") does not seem to match up with the site plan.

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sprouts, trader joes, aldi, lidl whatever other small grocer. I don't care who comes in. some grocery competition in the area is needed. Randalls in midtown and Kroger in the east end are it, and both have some big downsides that make me wish for more competition.

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  • 4 months later...
7 hours ago, Eastdwntwn said:

Someone on Nextdoor spoke with Liz Jacobs of Lovett Commercial and they were told that the Sprouts and CVS deal fell through. Looks like this side of town will continue to be a food desert.

There's still Kombat Kroger and Phoenicia in close distance. Not exactly a food desert.

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8 hours ago, Eastdwntwn said:

Someone on Nextdoor spoke with Liz Jacobs of Lovett Commercial and they were told that the Sprouts and CVS deal fell through. Looks like this side of town will continue to be a food desert.

That's a pretty big blow to the area.

 

I hear there are plenty of grocers looking, but these things take a long time to come together.

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  • 5 months later...

http://www.khou.com/article/news/local/east-end-kroger-management-admits-to-rodent-problem/285-530515356

 

This area needs a another grocery store in the worst way. There has been a lot of activity here the last few weeks. The attached photo was taken from next door. The truck is Arc Abatement, and from a quick google search, they specialize in asbestos abatement. They also have had crews taking off all of the graffiti on the emancipation side of the building. Not sure what any of this means, but some activity is better than none.

Polk street.jpg

Edited by Eastdwntwn
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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

From Nextdoor:

 

"I just spoke to Mr. Clay Mealy with Lovett Commercial, one of the agents on the listing brochure for this property. He confirmed to me that there is currently no tenant for the building. He said that they had talked to Sprouts a while back but nothing came of it, and have presented the plans to other grocers. He said the asbestos abatement was something the owner knows has to be done anyway, so they are just getting it over with. The site plan appears to anticipate some sort of parking structure on Charles street so I imagine that is what the variance request is for. Any commercial use at that location will have parking issues so a parking garage would be a necessity. He was very nice and I thanked him for his continued efforts in presenting the property to potential tenants so that we can have some more options on the east side."

 

 

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23 hours ago, Eastdwntwn said:

From Nextdoor:

 

"I just spoke to Mr. Clay Mealy with Lovett Commercial, one of the agents on the listing brochure for this property. He confirmed to me that there is currently no tenant for the building. He said that they had talked to Sprouts a while back but nothing came of it, and have presented the plans to other grocers. He said the asbestos abatement was something the owner knows has to be done anyway, so they are just getting it over with. The site plan appears to anticipate some sort of parking structure on Charles street so I imagine that is what the variance request is for. Any commercial use at that location will have parking issues so a parking garage would be a necessity. He was very nice and I thanked him for his continued efforts in presenting the property to potential tenants so that we can have some more options on the east side."

 

 

Well at least they're prepping the building for a tenant. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I blame Lovett. IMO, they seem fairly inadequate and inexperienced in securing any big name national retail tenants for their projects, especially for any of their hoards of empty and derelict properties they own in the East End & EaDo.  I shudder at the thought of their purchase of the former downtown post office complex. That project could have been so much more had a bigger, more experienced developer won the bid. It will likely remain empty for years or at the very most, be a very mediocre development in the end....a lot like this once promising project is heading toward. 

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3 hours ago, intencity77 said:

I blame Lovett. IMO, they seem fairly inadequate and inexperienced in securing any big name national retail tenants for their projects, especially for any of their hoards of empty and derelict properties they own in the East End & EaDo.  I shudder at the thought of their purchase of the former downtown post office complex. That project could have been so much more had a bigger, more experienced developer won the bid. It will likely remain empty for years or at the very most, be a very mediocre development in the end....a lot like this once promising project is heading toward. 

Even with more people living in the area, there's no chance that Sprouts, or any other grocer of any size, would put in a store at this location. There just aren't enough potential customers to justify a store.

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On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 10:03 PM, CrockpotandGravel said:


Great. Another failed project to be. This breaks my spirit. Isn't Lovett Commercial about repurposing old buildings?

 

This worries me about all the other lots they have in the east side, like the old Frankel's.

 

Is there anything we can do to stop this stupid parking lot from being built? This is a serious question.

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