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H-Town Man

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Everything posted by H-Town Man

  1. H-Town Man
    It is a pity that this entire block is pretty much condemned to never having ground floor retail or office uses. In the past you could have just bought more flood insurance and done what you wanted... there are new retail developments all over the U.S. in Flood Zone AE. If you could make it work economically, it was your choice. But the Harris County city law that any new construction must be four two feet above the 500-year floodplain makes that impossible. Even the buildings facing Market Square like La Carafe would be impossible to build (or rebuild) under the new law. The I.M. Pei-designed drive-thru bank would also be impossible, and any future development on that block will have to elevate the site considerably if they want GFR. https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search?AddressQuery=802 commerce st%2C houston%2C tx#searchresultsanchor Interestingly, the entire French Quarter of New Orleans is in the 500-year floodplain. https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search?AddressQuery=802 commerce st%2C houston%2C tx#searchresultsanchor
  2. H-Town Man
    Maybe not a "boom" just yet, but office leasing in Houston is turning things around. Here is Costar's summary of the office market: Office leasing volume in Houston rose significantly during 22Q1, eclipsing the 4 million SF mark, something not seen since 19Q4. Helping bolster leasing volume was the 293,000-SF lease signed by Enbridge during 22Q1. The midstream pipeline company signed a 14-year sublease at Energy Center V and will be moving from the Galleria/Uptown area to the Energy Corridor later this year. Leasing demand from the oil and gas industry has slowly picked back up over the past couple of quarters. During 22Q1, Linde PLC committed to nearly 41,000 SF at the Sierra Pines Business business park in The Woodlands. Also in 22Q1, Cox Oil signed a 24,000 SF lease at the recently renovated Lyondell Basell Tower in the CBD. Houston's office market experienced 630,000 SF of net absorption over the past 12 months as of 2022q2, and annual net absorption has been positive for the past three consecutive quarters. Furthermore, CoStar is anticipating 3.4 million SF of positive net absorption during 2022 — the highest level since 2015. This relatively bullish assessment draws on the rebounding economy at both the national and regional levels. While encouraging, the market is still facing significant headwinds. The vacancy rate has shifted by 0.8% to 19.0% over the past year, which compares to the five-year average of 16.8%. This ranks Houston among the highest out of all U.S. metros in terms of vacancy rate. Compared to nationally, office vacancies stood at 12.3%. Another headwind is the amount of sublet space available in Houston, which is currently at approximately 8.1 million SF — about 2.3% of the metro's total inventory. This is up from about 5.1 million SF at the start of 2020. However, it remains below the figure of 11.2 million SF, recorded during the oil bust during 16Q4. The CBD alone accounts for more than one-third of all of Houston's available sublease space. Houston benefits from business-friendly regulations, its relative affordability, strong talent pool, and the presence of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and despite the aforementioned headwinds, the metro has landed some major corporate tenants since the start of the pandemic. For example, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a Fortune 500 technology company, relocated its global headquarters to the Houston region from San Jose, California. The headquarters is located at the company's new 440,000-SF state-of-the-art Springwoods Village campus, which opened in early 2022.
  3. H-Town Man
    Exciting to see some FINE-GRAINED DEVELOPMENT happening on a small lot. A little disappointing that the first floor is a parking garage, albeit a very nice one. Gotta Houston a little bit, I guess.
  4. H-Town Man
    I guess that would explain the Spartan design.
  5. H-Town Man
    I don't agree with many of your posts but this one makes sense.
  6. H-Town Man
    Too much parking. Our parking minimums don't allow urban synergy.
  7. H-Town Man
    That is good to hear. Horrible to hear that there will be a skybridge.
  8. H-Town Man
    Yes, the pandemic dealt them a blow.
  9. H-Town Man
    Nice project. Also a nice historic house giving way to it. Built in 1913 for some baron, 4,248 square feet (!). Had been an office for awhile.
  10. H-Town Man
    If it failed open, I guess your car would have been ok, just taken a while for the engine to warm up. We had one in '86 where there was accumulated snow. I'm too young to remember '83, although I do remember Hurricane Alicia in '83.
  11. H-Town Man
    What is the benefit of sinking freeways, outside of looks? That is kind of like, what is the benefit of removing graffiti, outside of looks? I mean, that's the benefit. But it's a substantial one! Along with noise, another benefit. And no places for the homeless to camp out.
  12. H-Town Man
    I thought that the looming recession and tech downturn might put this one "on hold" and eventually kill it but it doesn't look like it. The one consolation for Houstonians sad about losing the state's tallest is that no one ever seemed to notice or care before who had the tallest, and so nobody will probably care now. On the other hand, when Austin holds the title, don't be surprised if it suddenly becomes important, just like fresh-delivered cookies and cheese shops suddenly became important when they got them. We can expect Texas Monthly to do a special feature on high-rise architecture in the next couple years, with Austin singled out as the leader.
  13. H-Town Man
    Apparently when this was broadcast they actually had "Na Ga Da" written on the cue card.
  14. H-Town Man
    To those neighborhoods that have not, even what they have will be taken away. Hope it turns around soon, esp. before inflation, interest rates, and possible recession make new construction unfeasible.
  15. H-Town Man
    Just when you thought Montrose Blvd was turning into Post Oak Blvd, you see it's actually turning into North Shepherd.
  16. H-Town Man
    The point is, what is the effect on Montrose Blvd? If you care about Montrose Blvd being a great boulevard, then the end result facing the street is all you care about. If you can put a detached garage away from the street, that is always better than a parking podium on the street. Would the Rice Hotel look better if it had ten levels of parking between floors 1 and 2? No, it looks better with the parking in a separate garage facing Travis and Prairie. Most people on this forum just want to see Houston have as many tall shiny buildings as possible. Some of us have come to the realization that Houston has a ton of tall shiny buildings (fourth most in the U.S.) and yet we're not a city that many people want to visit, or that has many neighborhoods where lots of people are outside walking around. So something besides tall shiny buildings is needed. We've got the tall building ingredient. We need some other ingredients. Montrose is one of the most aesthetically pleasing streets in the city, and yet it's dead to pedestrian life. What is the problem? How do we fix it? Do we fix it by building highrises with stacks of parking looming over the street and cars zipping in and out of curb cuts all day?
  17. H-Town Man
    Strake Jesuit, St. Thomas, etc. don't seem like such bad places, esp. compared to the public schools around them. Clamor of families trying to get in.
  18. H-Town Man
    I said there was no modern precedent for "new residential construction downtown." The Randall Davis stuff was renovations of older buildings, which is much easier to pull off financially, and it did pave the way in a sense. But the two proposed high rises that died before breaking ground - Ballpark Place and The Shamrock (the one you're referring to) - were basically blood in the water that served as a warning for developers trying to build new residential downtown.
  19. H-Town Man
    At the time, there was no modern precedent for new residential construction downtown. Marvy Finger's One Park Place was in process of development in a much better location, and even Gerald Hines gave Finger credit for "creating a market" where few thought one could exist.
  20. H-Town Man
    I tried to make this same point in regard to hotel vs. residential a few months ago and the chorus of respondents said that residents would have better taste in where to eat out than hotel guests. Shrug. I agree, a mix of both.
  21. H-Town Man
    I do have high hopes for those developments and for Westheimer in general. I don't have much hope for the ground floor of this. Maybe a 2,000 SF retail space would be par.
  22. H-Town Man
    Do you see it becoming more comfortable anytime soon with what's being built on/proposed for it? Fortress-like towers/garages and afterthought retail...
  23. H-Town Man
    Thought Question: As Montrose Boulevard transforms into Post Oak Boulevard II, will there be any net increase in pedestrian activity?
  24. H-Town Man
    Cool shot. I still don't know how I feel about the diagonal orientation. It looks like it's photobombing the rest of the buildings.
  25. H-Town Man
    Possibly high-rise apartments? I would certainly think so...
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