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The Americana: Mixed-Use Redevelopment At 811 Dallas St.


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On 2/22/2017 at 10:36 AM, j_cuevas713 said:

I guess this building along with the Chronicle building means we are setting up for the next big push in development. I feel this next phase, once the market rebounds, is really going to change Houston big time. 

I'm sure that's what they said in 1984-1987 after tearing down every block that could house a new skyscraper ;).

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4 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

I'm sure that's what they said in 1984-1987 after tearing down every block that could house a new skyscraper ;).

 

Not so much.  The 80s collapse was sharper and deeper, because the oil bust started right around the same time that the decimation of the banking system hit high gear.  Every single segment was way overbuilt, to the point that there were newly built out subdivisions with mostly lender owned houses, the brand new Heritage Tower downtown was see through for years, the Mickey Leland building would have been too, except that the Feds took it out of RTC's inventory, the sidewalks at the shuttered Rice were a pissoir... etc., etc., etc.  Adding to the tumbleweeds visual, Texas Eastern did the demo phase of Houston Center pretty much all at once shortly before the rug got yanked out from under everything.  It was really pretty grim for a while - things didn't even start to show small glimmers of improvement until the 90s.  My own house lost about 25% of its market value between when the prior owner bought it in 1983 (with a subsidized interest rate that was higher than what it would be now to put on a MasterCard) and when I bought it in late 1989.

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7 hours ago, mollusk said:

 

Not so much.  The 80s collapse was sharper and deeper, because the oil bust started right around the same time that the decimation of the banking system hit high gear.  Every single segment was way overbuilt, to the point that there were newly built out subdivisions with mostly lender owned houses, the brand new Heritage Tower downtown was see through for years, the Mickey Leland building would have been too, except that the Feds took it out of RTC's inventory, the sidewalks at the shuttered Rice were a pissoir... etc., etc., etc.  Adding to the tumbleweeds visual, Texas Eastern did the demo phase of Houston Center pretty much all at once shortly before the rug got yanked out from under everything.  It was really pretty grim for a while - things didn't even start to show small glimmers of improvement until the 90s.  My own house lost about 25% of its market value between when the prior owner bought it in 1983 (with a subsidized interest rate that was higher than what it would be now to put on a MasterCard) and when I bought it in late 1989.

The point being is we have no idea when the next "boom" will be and exactly how much office space it will command. These lots could sit empty for a very long time.

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17 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

The point being is we have no idea when the next "boom" will be and exactly how much office space it will command. These lots could sit empty for a very long time.

 

That's a fair point.  However, this isn't as deep a hole to climb out of as there was back in the 80s (at least yet).

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On 2/24/2017 at 2:30 PM, EspersonBuildings said:

"The 550-car garage spans both sides of the block, but the office building sits atop just the southern half. The north half of the garage will remain open during construction. "

-- This has me a little confused.  Does this mean their garage is a part of (and connected to) the old Foley's garage?  I know the Foley's garage is on the northern half (or maybe the northern third) of the block.  I remember using the Foley's garage but it seemed to be just that top part of the block.

 

that's not the only nonsensical statement in that article..  Bottom  line:  Don't try to make sense of it.  It's the Chron.  

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On February 20, 2017 at 6:15 PM, BeerNut said:

So why does the old Holiday Inn continue to stand?

Because it doesn't have a seat.

Sorry, But its almost comical that something hasn't been done about that eyesore.

I drove by it this weekend and it gets worse each time I go by. 

Especially from the southern elevation.

Philip_ White and Hindesky need to do some serious photo and drone work on this and maybe we can get someone in the city 

to finally wake up and get the owners to clean it up. I cant believe that the curtains are still up after twenty something  years of vacancy.

 

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4 hours ago, cspwal said:

Don't they have to pay property tax on the land?

Yes, they do.  And, the tax would include the assessed value of the structure. I have been told that the reason why many buildings are flattened is because the empty lot has revenue possibilities (parking) and taxes that are lowers.  The owners here may see different economics.

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On 2/22/2017 at 10:25 AM, bobruss said:

I don't think its going to happen for a while. Theres just too much unleased and sub leasable space available. 

A lot of that space has to be absorbed before there will be another tower coming out of either one of those two lots.

Skanska might go ahead with their tower due to a possible deal with Wells Fargo but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one either.

 

I disagree only based on anecdotal evidence. There's a ton of sub-lease space on the market but that's not stopping developers from getting a jump on the next building cycle. We've seen 609 Main come out of the ground as spec. Now we're seeing Capitol Tower rise with it's ''anchor tenant'' occupying a relatively small portion of the building. Now we're seeing Market Square Tower being shopped for an anchor tenant as they move forward with construction of the garage. The in-thing right now seems to be corporate relocations. One thing that does puzzle me however is why the Bank of the Southwest Tower block remains empty. You would think that nearly 30 years after the lot was cleared for construction that somebody would have jumped on that by now. It's probably THE most valuable block in the CBD with ample tunnel access and central to everything. If I was a developer, I'd be licking my chops with an empty lot, no demo costs and walking distance to the stadiums and the theatre district. 

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On 3/30/2017 at 3:01 PM, cspwal said:

Don't they have to pay property tax on the land?

 

On 3/30/2017 at 7:41 PM, UtterlyUrban said:

Yes, they do.  And, the tax would include the assessed value of the structure. I have been told that the reason why many buildings are flattened is because the empty lot has revenue possibilities (parking) and taxes that are lowers.  The owners here may see different economics.

 

On 3/30/2017 at 10:47 PM, cspwal said:

Maybe the cost of demolition is more than 5 years of property taxes, and they keep thinking they'll have a plan by then

Total property taxes on the Days Inn for 2016 were less than $110k. I would imagine demolition would be several million.

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Here's a case where the land value is astronomical compared to the improvement value ($18.7 mil v $2.9 mil, respectably). Hence the lopping off of the office tower but I wonder why they decided to keep the Macy's garage and the garage podium as Hillcorp has plenty of parking across the street. Maybe they have some ironclad contracts like the Houston Club bldg. 

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