Camden Conte: Multifamily At 1515 Austin St.

[j_cuevas713]

9 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

The previous owners (JP Morgan Chase had it for awhile I think and someone else in the past ten years) were just interested in investing and then selling as the market improved. Brookfield on the other hand has expressed interest in making renovations and enhancing amenities to keep it competitive. Judging by what they've done in Allen Center, that means enhancing the street. It's no secret that millennials want an interesting streetscape and Brookfield is following that trend. But street retail in Houston Center won't happen until there are renovations, because right now there is no place to put them. You have pretty gardens in front of 1201 and 1301 McKinney that something can be done with, and The Shops at Houston Center (old Park Shops) is at 78% occupancy, which screams "Repositioning time!" It was last renovated in 2003 to be more open to the street when interest in urbanity was just beginning and I am expecting something big now. Get rid of the brick, glass it up, lose the skybridge, etc.

I don't understand why they don't just open up Houston Center with more floor to ceiling windows. Make that thing a glasshouse. It's not visually or aesthetically pleasing for retail. 

[bobruss]

I understand the concept of following rooftops in the new subdivisions and outlying areas, but when you have a daily live audience of 150,000 people working from 8-5 don't you think that those bodies would account for a few rooftops. Those people get out every day and walk the tunnels to eat and shop. You can't tell me that if there were popular options to shop at the worker bees wouldn't cut over to the shops after lunch to pick up something they need at home or work to avoid doing it after work. Those thousands of potential shoppers are in each one of those 40, 50, and 60 story rooftops. That has to count for something. They have cash and credit cards also.

On the other hand brick and mortar stores are fighting a losing battle with online shoppers right now so I'm sure retailers are taking a wait and see attitude about the future of shopping as it now stands.

[H-Town Man]

Just now, bobruss said:

I understand the concept of following rooftops in the new subdivisions and outlying areas, but when you have a daily live audience of 150,000 people working from 8-5 don't you think that those bodies would account for a few rooftops. Those people get out every day and walk the tunnels to eat and shop. You can't tell me that if there were popular options to shop at the worker bees wouldn't cut over to the shops after lunch to pick up something they need at home or work to avoid doing it after work. Those thousands of potential shoppers are in each one of those 40, 50, and 60 story rooftops. That has to count for something. They have cash and credit cards also.

On the other hand brick and mortar stores are fighting a losing battle with online shoppers right now so I'm sure retailers are taking a wait and see attitude about the future of shopping as it now stands.

 

Yes, lots of potential wallets downtown, but downtown office workers are still in a stay-in-the-tunnels, drive-home-at-5 mentality, so they're not helping yet. I do think that if downtown residents were the catalyst, you would see some of those people emerging from the office buildings and getting in on the action. We have seen this with Phoenicia and some of the restaurants. The traditional downtown office worker mentality is "the streets are nothing but homeless people, you don't go out on the streets," and you still meet some people stuck in the 90's with this mindset. But as downtown residents change the neighborhood and older office workers are replaced by younger, things will change and they will start coming out.

 

Another thing to keep in mind for retail is the example of downtown Austin, which is a complete success with a huge residential population, people on the streets, tourism, everyone wants to live there, etc., and there has been very limited entry from national retailers. You have some big local stores like Book People and Waterloo Music and of course the grocery stores, but there is no Target, no Neiman Marcus, a little bit of mall-type retail on 2nd Street, but not much. Thousands of food options though. It's just not a good time for retail. But grab a beer and some tacos and forget about it. A watched pot never boils.

 

[Timoric]

_

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Timoric

[bobruss]

3 hours ago, swtsig said:

 

"retail follows rooftops"

 

until there is a critical mass of permanent residents downtown, retail will sit on the backburner. putting some sort of arbitrary "24 month" deadline on whether retail will ever make downtown or not is silly - retail will come when the density demands it. there's no magic fairy dust we or the city can sprinkle over downtown to change that. just give it time.

As an example look how long it took the east side of downtown to take off after they built GRB and Minute Maid. There were people bad mouthing the projects for not creating a  rush of development, which it finally did, but just not as fast as some wanted.

[UtterlyUrban]

I am not buying the “office workers stay only in the tunnels” arguement.  They don’t.  Go to any  non-tunnel connected restaraunt at lunch. Lots of people. Walk over to discovery green.  Lots of people.  Etc.

 

as for retail following rooftops, yes, I understand.  However, as I mentioned, there are 100,000 well paid office workers that come to Downtown M-F.  There are thousands more that fill hotel rooms/conventions and thousands more that come to downtown to “hangout, entertain, whatever”.  Downtown is about one mile x one mile.  All those people....... all those walets..... in one square mile..... No retail in a decade of trying........

 

 

[H-Town Man]

14 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

I am not buying the “office workers stay only in the tunnels” arguement.  They don’t.  Go to any  non-tunnel connected restaraunt at lunch. Lots of people. Walk over to discovery green.  Lots of people.  Etc.

 

as for retail following rooftops, yes, I understand.  However, as I mentioned, there are 100,000 well paid office workers that come to Downtown M-F.  There are thousands more that fill hotel rooms/conventions and thousands more that come to downtown to “hangout, entertain, whatever”.  Downtown is about one mile x one mile.  All those people....... all those walets..... in one square mile..... No retail in a decade of trying........

 

 

 

They don't "only" stay in tunnels, but that mentality is prevalent. Otherwise you would see 150,000 people on the downtown sidewalks on a given day, and Louisiana and Smith Streets would be the most active. A small fraction come onto the street.

 

[bobruss]

Our downtown workers, for the most part are a bunch of homogenized wimps. I don't understand they're mentality. 

They willing to risk their lives driving to work for 30- 45 minutes on our freeways, living in the highest rated crime areas - the suburbs, and yet they're either afraid to walk on the streets or maybe have to deal with the  weather. They're like gerbils or hamsters in their tube cities. Don't they know that sunshine and vitamin D are good things and a little fresh air never hurt anyone. I don't know of any other city in America that has this kind of a paranoia. 

I know there are a few brave souls that do get out but its not a very high percentage. I know that if there were more opportunities and things for people to do it might have  a

positive affect. The city needs to promote outdoor activities at lunch, maybe scavenger hunts pitting companies against one another and force the buggers outside.

Outdoor Concerts in Discovery Green or Allen center. This all comes back to the issue of more retail space on the surface that will draw people to them.

I bet an Apple store downtown would do great business.

 

[Nate99]

1 minute ago, bobruss said:

Our downtown workers, for the most part are a bunch of homogenized wimps. I don't understand they're mentality. 

They willing to risk their lives driving to work for 30- 45 minutes on our freeways, living in the highest rated crime areas - the suburbs, and yet they're either afraid to walk on the streets or maybe have to deal with the  weather. They're like gerbils or hamsters in their tube cities. Don't they know that sunshine and vitamin D are good things and a little fresh air never hurt anyone. I don't know of any other city in America that has this kind of a paranoia. 

I know there are a few brave souls that do get out but its not a very high percentage. I know that if there were more opportunities and things for people to do it might have  a

positive affect. The city needs to promote outdoor activities at lunch, maybe scavenger hunts pitting companies against one another and force the buggers outside.

Outdoor Concerts in Discovery Green or Allen center. This all comes back to the issue of more retail space on the surface that will draw people to them.

I bet an Apple store downtown would do great business.

 

 

There's an element of all that going on, sure, but most people don't care enough to be afraid. They're downtown because someone pays them to be there, and they are going to spend as little time there as they possibly can. If people chose a job downtown when they had a choice to be elsewhere, it's as likely that they did so for the park and ride as it was for anything else. They're not there because they want to be.  It's no secret that Houston isn't exactly leading the charge on extra exercise, but even putting that tendency aside, most folks are either going to zap a Lean Cuisine in the office microwave or go to whatever Alonti-esque place is in their building and leave 10 minutes earlier than they otherwise would had they strolled around more.  

 

People will choose to live downtown more as some price/commuting pain inflection point. That will get things changing, and it's moving that way.

 

 

[HoustonIsHome]

I love our tunnels. I don't think the lack of signage helps though.

 

It's bad enough that the restaurants are below ground but with no signs of you don't know they are there then...

 

I would not discourage new tunnel access but I would definitely discourage new retail in tunnels. 

 

The activity underground is crazy. I think if the downtown worker mole people activity was visible on the surface that would entice non mole people to hang around downtown more. 

 

The surface is overrun by vagrants. Not until the mole people dilute the visibility of the vagrants will the non mole people enter the maze. 

 

New Orleans for example had tons of homeless in their business district. But they are less noticeable because there are so many workers on the street.

 

And signs. We need signs. It's so freaking hard giving people directions to Whataburger. It shouldn't be so hard. You can hardly find a seat in that thing during lunch hour. They would make a killing with a street location in that big Whataburger building on 609 main

[bobruss]

Okay, it's almost 10:00 P. M. on Sunday night , I'm watching Chuck Berry video, and I'm waiting for my weekly fix of Hindesky's illustrated marathon of Houston's construction sites .

I don't know about you, but I'm addicted. See what you've done H.

 

 

    Or is it tomorrow?

 

[hindesky]

23 hours ago, bobruss said:

Okay, it's almost 10:00 P. M. on Sunday night , I'm watching Chuck Berry video, and I'm waiting for my weekly fix of Hindesky's illustrated marathon of Houston's construction sites .

I don't know about you, but I'm addicted. See what you've done H.

 

 

    Or is it tomorrow?

 

Sorry, but I had to work all weekend, making bank but I'd rather be on my bicycle checking out the construction sites and getting exercise.

[CREguy13]

On 1/24/2018 at 7:43 PM, CREguy13 said:

I disagree, respectfully.  Everything is moving in the right direction and downtown's future is very promising.  Most of these new apartment projects have leased up quite well.  All of the new hotels being built.  The Astros and Rockets continue to have success, so the neighborhoods around them will continue to grow (I'm most excited with the potential around MMP).  The wider sidewalks and infrastructure are now there along Dallas and Main which is important.  Brookfield acquiring all of Houston Center is a good sign as they will activate the street level with retail/greenspace.  The new south downtown park will catalyze the remaining blocks around it.  

 

There is a lot going for downtown and I honestly believe we are just scratching the surface for demand to live downtown.  The great thing is a lot of the major Multifamily players got in on this first building cycle (TC, TC Residential, Hines, Finger, Camden, Marquette).  As they all achieve high occupancy and have actual market data to analyze, I think many will look at second sites and new players will enter.  

 

I understand the retail/thriving downtown isn't here yet, but it is coming.

As a follow up, from today's HBJ: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/01/31/exclusive-new-owner-shares-first-details-on.html

 

A few highlights:

 

Brookfield's vision for Houston Center, the 4.2 million-square-foot office and retail complex it acquired in late 2017, is a revitalized mixed-use development with street-level retail, outdoor event spaces and white tablecloth restaurants.

 

Hernandez said that until renovation plans are finalized, the team's been executing short-term renewals for the property's retail tenants. He said most of the property's retail tenants are small; the largest retail tenant is Kelsey-Seybold, which occupies 23,000 square feet.

 

"You have people who are extremely loyal, and who have been here a long time," Wilson said. "There were several renewals done prior to the sale with people who, even without the renovation … understand something really good is coming."

[EllenOlenska]

From the Toyota Center Garage

[H-Town Man]

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 9:02 AM, CREguy13 said:

As a follow up, from today's HBJ: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/01/31/exclusive-new-owner-shares-first-details-on.html

 

A few highlights:

 

Brookfield's vision for Houston Center, the 4.2 million-square-foot office and retail complex it acquired in late 2017, is a revitalized mixed-use development with street-level retail, outdoor event spaces and white tablecloth restaurants.

 

Hernandez said that until renovation plans are finalized, the team's been executing short-term renewals for the property's retail tenants. He said most of the property's retail tenants are small; the largest retail tenant is Kelsey-Seybold, which occupies 23,000 square feet.

 

"You have people who are extremely loyal, and who have been here a long time," Wilson said. "There were several renewals done prior to the sale with people who, even without the renovation … understand something really good is coming."

 

Boom.

 

[j_cuevas713]

44 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Boom.

 

Thank God. The potential of that place to tie in to Discovery Green is huge! Maybe my idea of more glass will be part of the renders. 

[H-Town Man]

40 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Thank God. The potential of that place to tie in to Discovery Green is huge! Maybe my idea of more glass will be part of the renders. 

 

Actually I'm thinking they'll stay with the beige brick and hope it comes back in vogue.

 

[j_cuevas713]

5 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Actually I'm thinking they'll stay with the beige brick and hope it comes back in vogue.

 

I really hope you're wrong lol

[UtterlyUrban]

On 1/31/2018 at 9:02 AM, CREguy13 said:

As a follow up, from today's HBJ: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/01/31/exclusive-new-owner-shares-first-details-on.html

 

A few highlights:

 

Brookfield's vision for Houston Center, the 4.2 million-square-foot office and retail complex it acquired in late 2017, is a revitalized mixed-use development with street-level retail, outdoor event spaces and white tablecloth restaurants.

 

Hernandez said that until renovation plans are finalized, the team's been executing short-term renewals for the property's retail tenants. He said most of the property's retail tenants are small; the largest retail tenant is Kelsey-Seybold, which occupies 23,000 square feet.

 

"You have people who are extremely loyal, and who have been here a long time," Wilson said. "There were several renewals done prior to the sale with people who, even without the renovation … understand something really good is coming."

This is great and I hope that it works!  But, frankly this sounds exactly like midway’s pitch for greenstreet 4 years ago.... “outdoor concerts and event space”, “vibrant retail”, “dining”...... blah, blah, blah.  4 years later, is Greenstreet humming with hugely increased activity and lots of newly attracted  traditional retail?  No.

 

Two blocks away from greenstreet is the parkshops.  hopefully Brookfield can take this “mall” that is now essentially a food court and medical facility and turn it into a true retail experience.  20 years ago this mall had a brooks brothers, a quality jewelry store, a shoe store selling Johnson and Murphy, and a luggage store among many others.  How do I know this?  Simple: as a downtown worker/commuter, I purchased shirts, jewelry, dress shoes, and a briefcase during various lunches.  And, a personal friend of mine also owned a small boutique/high end candy store in the mall.  All gone now replaced by doctors and nachos.

 

 

[H-Town Man]

5 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

This is great and I hope that it works!  But, frankly this sounds exactly like midway’s pitch for greenstreet 4 years ago.... “outdoor concerts and event space”, “vibrant retail”, “dining”...... blah, blah, blah.  4 years later, is Greenstreet humming with hugely increased activity and lots of newly attracted  traditional retail?  No.

 

Two blocks away from greenstreet is the parkshops.  hopefully Brookfield can take this “mall” that is now essentially a food court and medical facility and turn it into a true retail experience.  20 years ago this mall had a brooks brothers, a quality jewelry store, a shoe store selling Johnson and Murphy, and a luggage store among many others.  How do I know this?  Simple: as a downtown worker/commuter, I purchased shirts, jewelry, dress shoes, and a briefcase during various lunches.  And, a personal friend of mine also owned a small boutique/high end candy store in the mall.  All gone now replaced by doctors and nachos.

 

 

This is at the base of major office towers while Greenstreet is separated from office towers by a row of parking garages. Greenstreet also has the homeless all around, this doesn't. It's really a big difference.

[UtterlyUrban]

On 2/1/2018 at 11:24 PM, H-Town Man said:

This is at the base of major office towers while Greenstreet is separated from office towers by a row of parking garages. Greenstreet also has the homeless all around, this doesn't. It's really a big difference.

There are homeless all around downtown including the park shops.  These include the certifiably insane  guy who sits in rags at the bus stop at Austin and McKinney 24 hours a day and packs of grifters who come and go.

 

The homless have not been a problem for any of the restaurants at greenstreet.  They are always crowded.  Nor have the homeless impacted the show goers at HOB.  And the folks who like to bowl, they see to go to the alley in droves.  But, 4 years millions spent on pedestrian improvements, lots  of fancy buzz words ...... and no new retail.

 

maybe Brookfield will figure it out.  I hope so.  But then again, 4 years ago, I thought that midway would have figured it out too given their amazing track record.

[BigFootsSocks]

This the kind of take that HAIF was missing for awhile

[mollusk]

This was in the lobby of 811 Main for a while after it first opened.

[hindesky]

Daytime pic of the tower crane base.

[cspwal]

Note to self: go to root square for lunch and watch construction

[Avossos]

On 12/28/2017 at 0:21 AM, Urbannizer said:

 

Fairfield Rsidential received an extension of for 1810 Main, but I dunno any new info regarding Marquette's proposal.

 

I am so hopeful this one happens.

 

I believe this will be the critical mass point for that area... any new info here is appreciated!

[Urbannizer]

 

[Urbannizer]

255'

 

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=357520810&row=6

 

Quote

Work Schedule: 12/26/2017  to  04/09/2020

 

[hindesky]

Tower crane  is going up this weekend.

Friday, February 23 (Midnight) – Monday, February 26 (5 am) 
Complete continuous closure of the 1400-1500 blocks of Austin St. (between Leeland and Clay) for placement of a crane.
Detour: Motorist will turn right onto Leeland, left on Jackson, Left on Polk and right back onto Austin.

 

Friday, February 23 (Midnight) – Monday, February 26 (5 am) 
Complete continuous closure of the 1400 block of Bell St. (between La Branch and Austin) for placement of a crane.

Edited February 23, 2018 by hindesky

[hindesky]

Stopped by on the way home from work, they finished the tower crane and it appears to be tall enough so that they won't have to jump it later.