Avabamse

Does this leave HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) at the original campus on 249?

I agree with Jeebus. Can you be more specific about where you drove on Gessner? I would imagine certain neighborhoods / sections would not share your viewpoint. For example, the section between Hammerly and Clay, which is right in the center of North Gessner in Spring Branch has seen quite a bit of value maintained over the years as well as new value appreciation from recent developments (commercial, residential). Likewise, if you take Hammerly east past Gessner, you will find many homes that have good valuations. These neighborhoods collectively reference themselves as Spring Shadows, but they are in the Spring Branch area. Lastly, with MetroNational's multi-billion dollar project looming on the southside of the freeway from Gessner and newer high-end commercial and residential development drifting west from the Memorial Villages on the northside of the freeway, there is great upside in the area. As I understand, MetroNational has been cobbling large land tracts in this area for years at below market values so that it can make the proper massive redevelopment once the Katy Freeway expansion is completed. Think of all of the people who work in Downtown, the Galleria, Westchase, Greenway Plaza, the Energy Corridor, but they live 20-25+ miles further west in Katy. Memorial is too expensive, but just to the north of there is a great school district (of which Memorial and Stratford are a part) with lots of land to be redeveloped as well as still existing quality neighborhoods... and, hey, best of all, you just shaved 30-45 minutes off of your commute each way! How does the Rolling Stones song go? "Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime ... is on my side. Yes, it is." But go ahead and perpetuate the myth as it makes the land cheaper for those of us buyers out there. Thanks!

Want to know something even more interesting (and my details are a bit imprecise here)? The Prince of Peace Catholic Church owned this land that you are speaking of all the way up to FM 1960 until selling it to Carson. This is information that I learned from parish management a few years back. They received it as a donation from one of the original families in the area (again this is from memory). It's too bad that they were unable to hold on to it longer to really earn some $$$. Yet, the Archdiocese did pretty well at the time. PA - I still don't see the romantic description of the AMC 24 shopping center. I have never seen anyone 'strolling around' the plaza for the heck of it. Where would one stroll from and to? Nonetheless, I would love to visit whichever shopping center that you did describe because I haven't seen what you describe.

One other thing on the trees destroyed at VP. I believe everyone here wishes the trees were better protected and saved. Yet, if you are familiar with the topography of the location, there is a clear sloping toward the gully to the east and this area was originally called "The Bottoms" when the settlers came in. I would assume that this original name was related to the area being flood-prone by Cypress Creek. Hence, the reality is ANY development would have necessitated releveling of the property to some extent. Perhaps a more complex and expensive pumping system could have solved the problem and kept more trees, but I don't know the numbers on that.

Puma, thanks! This is getting old to talk about. FYI to PA - the shopping center around AMC24 has a relatively high vacancy rate without much recent refreshing of the tenant base. For ex, the section where Expo, Mikasa et al were located is still vacant. Additionally, there are gaps all over. IMHO, this is because the demographics are not as strong in the IMMEDIATE (1, 3 mile radius) area. That means there is not much to stroll around to see other than stores (and loud teenagers) immediately near the theater. This will eventually get better though. Still this shopping center will never encourage those to walk the whole place due to the large parking lots in the middle of the center and, also, the teenagers (part of the demos) is a turn-off to high-end shoppers, me thinks. Yet, if you drive north 3 or 4 miles, the demographics are much better due to the new housing developments and the fact that your market radius drops the lower economic neighborhoods to the south (and vacant land) for higher value to the north.

Ever heard of money? It's something BUSINESSES try to earn because their INVESTORS are not called DONATORS. Oh, that's right - Vince didn't give away 70 acres for park land on the creek. He and Walter were hailed as heroes when this occurred since HP was selling the whole property to the highest bidder with no regard to land usage interests from the community.

This is BS unless you can name a few examples. Regarding all of the speculation on tenant lists, I hope everyone realizes that the developer does not maintain its website for members of HAIF to parse on a daily basis. This is called BUSINESS folks! No one is running to the IT department saying "Oh gosh! We have to immediately update our website because this new tenant was signed or it may look like a music store will sign". There are very, very few people in the world looking at their site (mostly HAIF-wits like us). For ex - who looks at the Willowbrook mall site ... EVER?!? Didn't they just tear down one of the exterior buildings to restructure this section of the mall for an upscale food or tenant list. (I cannot remember, but this is covered on a separate thread. Also, as I understand it, GGP is exploring redevelopment of the mall in RESPONSE to Vintage Park.) How about we allllllll speculate on the success potential or failure likelihood of this endeavour on a moment-by-moment basis. As a matter of fact, I will throw out the first bit of speculation - Sony, HP and the Pappas family are opening a joint venture at this super secret location where they are going to give away electronics, computers and food for FREE. All you have to do is forward this post to 10 friends to find out where the secret location is.

PureAuteur - how about passing judgement on this development's potential failure after construction is completed. It's like saying with authority that the Texans first round draft pick is a failure before he plays a down of pro football. How do you know? How do I know? I understand that it is more fun to be the first one to say it will fail so you can say that you told everyone. Patience... By the way, the Willowbrook shopping center and the mall are dawgs of sorts. The mall is OVERDUE for a redev. The shopping center is mildly successful due to location and the big box tenants. Yet, there are gaps (unleased sections) all over the place, such as the old movie theater. I go to shop at one store there and drive home. Then I may go back to another store and go home. This shopping center does not encourage people to walk the center like Uptown or Market Street does or Vintage is planned to do. Lastly, Vintage is just a name and it will become less of an 'adjective' in time just like what you think of when you think of Memorial City area. Do you think of the area of Memorial or a memorial to something or it being a city. No. You just think of the collective area.

Have you driven by this development? It is not something being thrown up overnight. Look at how well designed Uptown Park is. This place has one of the highest sales per square foot in the city. This is not a development that can be justed copied. So what if it looks faux Mediterranean?!? People shop like mad at the Galleria, Memorial City, Highland Village (palm trees in the urban corridor). I don't hear people saying "damn, now only if they tore down those palm trees, I would shop at Crate & Barrel". By the way, please define English architecture - is it a castle, a pub, tudor or what? Colorado-style - is this a lodge feel? You do know that pine trees grow in Italy and Spain, right? How about suggesting Texas hill country style if you want something representative of the area... oh, wait that could be copied too!

I agree with mr.foolsball. If you live along 249 from Tomball to 1960 (with a 3 mile corridor to the east and over 5 mile corridor west), who would want to drive to The Woodlands or in town for high-end shopping when you can be so much closer at Vintage Park. Actually, this corridor would flair out wider when you travel north. If you look on the Vintage Park website, they show their target market by drive distance. Champions shopping center (at 1960 and Champion Forest) is a nice option in general. Yet, for those who live in the wedge between 249 and 290, this is not much of a palatable option. Thus, Vintage is a prime access point for this market - at least until the new shopping centers open outside of Fairfield. With regards to some of the other retail development, I believe that the Crate & Barrel (and a few others) expectation was due to the Vintage website using this name as an example placeholder in some of its representative drawings. Now, I am the one who posted the info about the Cheesecake Factory. This and some other retailers were told to me confidentially by a CBRE rep working this account. If something has happened to Cheesecake Factory - anything is possible. You can never count a deal is done until the doors are open, IMHO. (I will try to follow up on this if possible.) I am not too concerned about Vintage because this is same money and talent behind Uptown Park. Sure - it's a different location, but sometimes a market exists waiting for a solution and sometimes a solution creates a market. You have to look no further at Fry's Electronics on 45N to see how this retailer views themselves as a destination, which is true in that it has created a market.

While your point on gun controls laws prior to / during the Nazi regime and Hitler is valid under that era, doesn't technology allow people to have access to other forms of weapons? Information via email and the internet as a "weapon" can aid a populace against fascism or dictatorial rule. In present day examples, disidents in China have more hope now than people in comparable situations 75 years ago due to the accessibility of information as a weapon. Only a handful of countries (i.e. Iran and North Korea) have been able to severly restrict information by artificial means. Even then, much of the outside world has ways to get access to what conditions are like within a closed society. I am just unsold on the idea of reasonable gun restrictions leading to severe limitations to my other freedoms. I have yet to hear a reasonable, linear argument on this topic. One of the comments that I heard from a pro-gun representative after Va Tech tragedy was that "if students had guns on campus, then someone would have had the opportunity to go get their gun and reduce the number killed." Wow! FYI - Australia has significant gun control laws and they seem to be doing okay as a society. I have yet to travel there, but no one has told me that they are ruled by fascists.

In relation to a concept that I am working on, I spoke with one the reps for CBRE. She was very delicate in what was said at that time, but per a previous thread, The Tasting Room will be here, the obligatory Charbucks (er, Starbucks), the Cheesecake Factory and a couple of other high-end stores which I'm not allowed to pass along. Yet, everything is shaping up bueno. Oh, and, if it hasn't been squashed already, there will not be a Nordstrom's. There was talks about this with CBRE, but Nordstrom's was not ready to the pull the trigger at this location at the timing of my conversation. Nords is shopping for new locations in the general region apparently though.

I think that you have to be careful as to how you read this map. The link that was provided related to one section of the crime beat. Look at this map for 2006 Top 35 Street Blocks (reported by incident). Based on what this person has on his website, I think that his data / map is generally reliable to review in comparison across the city. Houston Crime Maps and Statistics Fact is that crime happens everywhere - urban / suburban / rural (of course, the maps above only cover incidents in the City of Houston). This is something that we all deal with as we are a highly mobile city - going from job center to home to restaurant to visiting family. It comes down to being cautious and smart to avoid being victimized. Separately, I think that Spring Branch has a high upside based on the value of the neighborhoods, location and the exciting projects occurring at Memorial City and CityCentre Houston (old T&C Mall). I grew up in this area and my wife and I have family there still. I plan to personally explore investment possibilities in this area because I think this market is undervalued.