[jc281]

awesome pics

[sevfiv]

yeah, there was a handful of folks standing around watching intently. it really wasn't all that interesting, but about as slow and painful as the William Penn...





the numbers would have been a neat souvenir...

[bkjones98]

Awe, the Sport Sample Shop was in that building? I wonder where/if they moved. You could get things like athletic shorts for half-price. Oh well, bring on the Sonoma!

[talltexan83]

It appears that the health clinic on the corner of Dunstan and Morningside is staying put. I guess they refused to sell. That 2-story brick building is going to look pretty out of place as this project goes up.

[ricco67]

Here is a quick snapshot I took yesterday of the Sonoma project. seems like Demolition is underway.

[Subdude]

Ugly green-ness notwithstanding, I always sort of liked that building.

I believe sevfiv posted this original rendering a while back.

[ricco67]

Ugh.

that's all sorts of ugly! The architect was ahead of its time, unfortunately he designed it like he was in the 70's. The Decade good taste forgot.

[Jax]

Haha!

It kind of looks better in the rendering than in real life because it looks like there are balconies on each floor (I don't remember that), and I think the top floors were kind of unused and neglected, at least since I came to Houston. I think it's pretty cool that Sonoma will be the Village's first mixed use development. Maybe we'll see more.

[Subdude]

ricco67, on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 @ 9:35am, said:

Ugh.

that's all sorts of ugly! The architect was ahead of its time, unfortunately he designed it like he was in the 70's. The Decade good taste forgot.

Nah, I thought the building in the drawing is quite cool looking, in a mod kind of way. Much better than the finished product.

[Jax]

I took my own photo of the demolition:

This post has been edited by Jax: Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 9:03 PM

[crunchtastic]

Jax, on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 @ 9:01pm, said:

I took my own photo of the demolition:


Pretty much sums things up, on a lot of levels.....
Thanks for the shots. Really great work!!
P.S don't forget to get your flu shot.

[ricco67]

Jax, on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 @ 9:01pm, said:

I took my own photo of the demolition:

I know this will sound a bit mean hearted, but since I don't have a heart, I don't care. This picture makes me happy. That means that a Pharmacist that worked there isn't there anymore....she was SUCH a pain.

[longcat]

ricco67, on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 @ 8:38pm, said:

I know this will sound a bit mean hearted, but since I don't have a heart, I don't care. This picture makes me happy. That means that a Pharmacist that worked there isn't there anymore....she was SUCH a pain.

From the latest article in the chron, it sounds like that Walgreens is definitely nearing the end of its useful life:

chron article

"The buildings have come down and we'll consider our demo complete in a week or two," said Julie Tysor, vice president of the Appelt Co., general partner of Lamesa. There is still a Walgreens store standing on the site, but that will also be bulldozed to make way for the new development.

After that it will be quiet until the end of January or early February 2008 when foundation work may commence. The entire project, which will consist of two buildings with 207 condominium units, 100,000 square feet of commercial space and an underground parking lot, should take about 36 months to complete.

Hopefully the 36 months figure is for both phases of the development and the first phase will open well before that.

[lockmat]

They've got what I think is a new video. It shows the middle of the complex where the pool and spa is a lot.

http://sonomainthevillage.com/residential/...ding_Experience

[Gary]

lockmat, on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 @ 9:06pm, said:

They've got what I think is a new video. It shows the middle of the complex where the pool and spa is a lot.

http://sonomainthevillage.com/residential/...ding_Experience

Not bad i guess... Seems a little to exclusive for me. What I did find funny though is that there is an ocean in the background, while the flash presentation does a fly over to the middle of the building.

[rsb320]

Walgreen's is still there. Won't it be torn down too?

[Jax]

Go Rice, "Harvard of the South"!

[citykid09]

Has construction started?

[ricco67]

citykid09, on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 @ 10:19pm, said:

Has construction started?

as of the time I drove by (3 hours ago), no. If there was heavy equipment there, it was hidden in the darkness.

[longcat]

ricco67, on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 @ 2:45am, said:

as of the time I drove by (3 hours ago), no. If there was heavy equipment there, it was hidden in the darkness.

I drive by periodically since I live close and there has been no sign of construction starting at all. They put some marketing signs up on the corners of the fences surrounding the lot awhile back, but that's it. I noticed that one of the ad's in the paper for Sonoma now quoted a ground breaking of 'Spring 2008'

[tierwestah]

I wonder what's the hold up?

[musicman]

tierwestah, on Monday, April 14th, 2008 @ 7:18pm, said:

I wonder what's the hold up?

the current state of kirby doesn't help. you cant easily bring in equipment during business hrs.

[RedScare]

musicman, on Monday, April 14th, 2008 @ 11:45pm, said:

the current state of kirby doesn't help. you cant easily bring in equipment during business hrs.

What, it takes months to get construction equipment down Kirby?

[musicman]

RedScare, on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 @ 12:01am, said:

What, it takes months to get construction equipment down Kirby?

all i said is that it doesn't help.

This post has been edited by musicman: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 7:07 AM

[JWW]

UrbaNerd, on Monday, November 21st, 2005 @ 5:36pm, said:

Yep. It lines up, all right.

VelvetJ, on Monday, November 21st, 2005 @ 6:36pm, said:

Just looking at this project again, I could totally see a significant portion of Kirby one day looking like this from River Oaks down to the Rice Villiage. I could also see Westheimer at Post Oak having a similar type of development.

Anyway, my favorite thing about this proposal is the details in it. I love the structure around the roof. I love that the top of the far left corner of the building looks as if it could be illuminated at night. I love the lamp posts. I love the awnings. Very exciting stuff.

I only hope it can come to pass.

Design question here... Is the "structure around the roof" on the top of this rendering called an "eyebrow"? If so, is it solely for aesthetics? Also, is this a recent trend, architecturally? I believe there is an 'eyebrow' on 2727, Mosaic (both towers), and many other buildings I have seen around the country and in Dubai, if my hypothesis is accurate

[longcat]

[tierwestah]

This project seems to be slowly moving forward. They haven't even broken ground and the anticipated grand opening was supposed to be sometime in 2009.

This post has been edited by tierwestah: Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:37 PM

[sevfiv]

I moved the Times Building stuff to its own thread:
http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...showtopic=16295

[longcat]

longcat, on Monday, April 14th, 2008 @ 10:57am, said:

I drive by periodically since I live close and there has been no sign of construction starting at all. They put some marketing signs up on the corners of the fences surrounding the lot awhile back, but that's it. I noticed that one of the ad's in the paper for Sonoma now quoted a ground breaking of 'Spring 2008'

Website now says construction starting in 'Summer 2008'. Tick tock tick tock.... At least they are updating the website though.

[lockmat]

Is this the same video as before? For some reason it seems longer higher quality link

Also, page 6 of this magazine says construction should have formally started last month. Has there been progress anyone?
http://www.yellowmag...llow_May_08.pdf

[JWW]

Finalizing some lending specifics is the word...

[swtsig]

JWW, on Monday, July 14th, 2008 @ 3:41pm, said:

Finalizing some lending specifics is the word...

good news... this is actually one of my favorite projects in the city, right behind regent square. imo, the village area is already the most pedestrian friendly area in houston, and this project will only add to that. let's hope they can get their lending finalized sowe can see this thing come to fruition.

[lockmat]

Developer Breaks Ground on Sonoma

Randall Davis Co. broke ground on Sonoma, a mixed-use, mid-rise condo project near Rice University. The 578,000-sf project includes 213 residential units, 60,000-sf of retail, 43,000 sf of offices, four restaurants, an urban grocer and parking for 1000 cars (McGraw Hill Construction and Real Estate Center 06/10/08).

...just to confirm

This post has been edited by lockmat: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 9:44 PM

[Trae]

That first sentence was hard to read.

[swtsig]

beautiful

[longcat]

I drove by this morning on the way to work and there is no sign of anything going on (no equipment, no trailers other than the sales one, no workers). It looks exactly the same as it has since January.

[tierwestah]

Lockmat, do you have a source to this info?

[lockmat]

tierwestah, on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 @ 10:15am, said:

Lockmat, do you have a source to this info?

http://texas.construction.com/opinions/bet...e/2008/0806.asp

the caption under the rendering.

[rsb320]

I drove by there on Sunday, on my way to O'Reilly Auto Parts. There was no movement then, just a dirt block that's fenced.

[lockmat]

Obviously it was a phantom groundbreaking so we can't see them, duh. wait a minute...

[The Great Hizzy!]

You don't have to have a lot of construction equipment on site to have a ceremonial ground breaking. Not saying that things are a go, just that the lack of construction equipment might not necessarily be an indicator of anything not happening.

[JWW]

The Great Hizzy!, on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 @ 11:23am, said:

You don't have to have a lot of construction equipment on site to have a ceremonial ground breaking. Not saying that things are a go, just that the lack of construction equipment might not necessarily be an indicator of anything not happening.

Posting this in the Sonoma and Development and real estate threads , but we can we have a really brief conversation on what everyone knows or feels "ground-breaking" is, including on a site where there was a previous structure?

[sevfiv]

JWW, on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:30pm, said:

Posting this in the Sonoma and Development and real estate threads , but we can we have a really brief conversation on what everyone knows or feels "ground-breaking" is, including on a site where there was a previous structure?

A ceremony commemorating the fist day of construction of a building.
What seems to NOT be going on here...

[JWW]

sevfiv, on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:34pm, said:

A ceremony commemorating the fist day of construction of a building.
What seems to NOT be going on here...

So would you still technically call a ceremony before a demo of a previous structure on the site one will develop out of the ground later a ground-breaking ?

[Gary]

Went to the Gingerman yesterday evening, and can tell you that there was nothing at all going on at the site.

[sevfiv]

From the newsletter:

Heavy construction equipment should soon be moving to the site of Sonoma. A construction fence is wrapped around this ubiquitous site located at the corner of Morningside and Bolsover. The 7 story luxury mid-rise planed for Rice Village is in the final stage of financing - primary lender has signed and secondary lender is formalizing!

An announcement for a Sky's the Limit ground breaking celebration to follow! The sales center is open 7 days a week. Mon-Fri 11-5, Sat 11-5, and Sun 1-5

JWW, on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 @ 4:53pm, said:

So would you still technically call a ceremony before a demo of a previous structure on the site one will develop out of the ground later a ground-breaking ?

Nope.

[capnmcbarnacle]

sevfiv, on Monday, August 18th, 2008 @ 9:16am, said:

...this ubiquitous site located at the corner of Morningside and Bolsover. . .

I love developers. Someone explain to me how a static location like the corner of Morningside and Bolsover can be ubiquitous, meaning that it also exists everywhere else at the same time. But I have to admit it makes the intersection sound really important. More important than just saying "where Nit Noi used to be."

I think I'll file this away with the realtor description of a house in Encino, CA, and how it "looked down on the twinkling lights of the townspeople."

[jt16]

capnmcbarnacle, on Monday, August 18th, 2008 @ 11:01am, said:

I love developers. Someone explain to me how a static location like the corner of Morningside and Bolsover can be ubiquitous, meaning that it also exists everywhere else at the same time. But I have to admit it makes the intersection sound really important. More important than just saying "where Nit Noi used to be."

I think I'll file this away with the realtor description of a house in Encino, CA, and how it "looked down on the twinkling lights of the townspeople."

capn - I noticed this as well. To me "ubiquitous" is almost contrary to the description of an exclusive property. I guess it just sounds like a fancy word, and the developer assumes most will gloss right over it.

[longcat]

Update from the chronicle LINK

Apparently they are going to try and get financing to build the second phase 1st. Since phase 2 is located on the Walgreens site and their lease is not up until January, it sounds like construction won't start until early 2009.

[sevfiv]

It's sad that so much was flattened and now they're scrambling around to get anything done now