CREguy13

The last picture with Williams Tower in the distrance. Great shot.

1 hour ago, nativehoustonion said:

If you get a chance a have a Rossini Caffe in the lobby the best coffee you will ever have.  A very nice place for a business meeting. 

I couldn't agree more, have had a few coffee meetings at Rossini and the entire project was so well done and a huge compliment to the neighborhood.  I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more small boutique office buildings with the same high quality be proposed for the area.  SFP is wonderfully done.

This is such a beautiful building.  This will have such an effect on this side of downtown during the next building cycle.

16 hours ago, lockmat said:

 

Is there a lot of open office space downtown? Surely that doesn't mean they're building the tower, does it?

Highly unlikely.  They own both former Enron bulidings and lease about 1m SF in 1600 Smith and Two Allen.

The landlord of 723 Main had stopped all new leasing activity about a year ago.  They've been trying to restructure this for sometime now.  Really happy to see they found a great flag for the immediate area.

moved to corner of Welch and Revere.  Up to 9 floors from 6.  33 units

Imagine the continued effect as 609 Main delivers next door.

I'm very excited for this project, but I think I'm more excited for the 'Hines' effect that will take place within a few blocks radius of here.  There is a lot of surface lots nearby, that will likely be hitting the drawing boards soon if they haven't already.  A lot of national law firms and high-credit tenants are trading papers on this building right now, in addition to United Airlines and Kirkland.   These projects may be 5-7 years away, but the future is bright for downtown Houston.

3 hours ago, ClutchCity said:

 

Maybe since Oxy is leasing space in Greenway, once the industry gets back on better footing they might look to build their own HQ on the site! Of course it's wishful thinking, but it does seem, at least from this cycle, that energy companies like buildings built specifically for them. Maybe this experience will push them back to leasing space  though.

That would be great, but Oxy restructured their lease for a long term so who knows whether they would hold the land.  If Apache were to be acquired, Oxy may sell the land back to the original developer.  This wouldn't necessarily be bad for BLVD Place and the area.

Maybe this has already been reported here, but I was told today that of the 31,000 SF of retail space there will be two restaurants (one high-end and one more americana) and  a food market with about 18-20 different food vendors.  There will be some additional space, but these seem to be certain.  I think the food market will do really well in this area.  Construction start is 8/16 with estimated completion 4Q 2017.

Obviously the flag is still being determined, but I would assume Ritz & Residences is of the 3.  This seems to fit their profile and being connected to the Saks/Galleria Luxury wing makes sense.  It's amazing how much this W. Alabama/Sage intersection as changed over the past 3 years.

Does anyone know who owns this land? Rumor in Southampton/Upper Kirby is it's Midway and there's another City Centre heading our way but I find that hard to believe because someone on here would have found it and leaked it!

I'm not sure who bought the land, but Midway's intention is to make this another City Centre type development.  The office and residential component were just the first projects off the ground.  If you look at the site you'll notice that a lot of the land surrounding Kirby Grove is very old and tired and likely will become attractive investments soon.  Madison Place apartments just to the east of Levy Park are 40-50 years old and no longer work for this area of town.  If you look at an aerial view you will see there is a lot of potential in the bounded area of Richmond, Kirby, US 59, and Buffalo Speedway. 

This may have been already stated, but I would love to see them recreate the highline in NYC with the Pierce elevated.  I imagine if they got the right design team and engineers, and with a private backer like the Kinder foundation, it could turn out to be incredible.  I do support the continuity of downtown and midtown, but if you had a raised park that maybe came down to ground level to fuse into Buffalo Bayou park from the Post office and then elevate back up around the bend before coming back down to grade prior to 59.  That could be transformational for Houston's urban green space

Wouldn't starting construction in a "relatively cheaper" environment be advantageous to builders? Why build when everybody is building? This way you are first to market when the local economy has rebounded a few years, no?

Construction costs really have not fallen as much as one might think, and the equity has pretty much all dried up for Houston MF at this point.  I would be very surprised if Hanover was able to secure an equity provider, this definitely seems like a hold to me.  Anything energy-related is a no no right now.  We had a meeting at our office the other week and we talked about a developer who was recently trying to get financing for a larger-scale project.  He did a control 'F' and deleted the word "Energy" throughout his entire proposal.

This has definitely been scrapped, but good to know that the owner/developer for that land has the appetite for a project of this scale.  With it's exposure to the new superblock park, proximity to MATCH and Mid Main, I'd think this will still be a high-profile development even though we may have missed it for this cycle.  I think we will see a lot fewer full-block apartment projects, and more high-rise/mid-rise developments that just take up a portion of the block (high-rise maybe full block).  Land prices are pretty level right now, but once these new residences move-in and all the amenities fill out, it will be harder to make a Pearl Midtown, or Camden Midtown economical unless you really jack up the rents.

They will not start construction on the office component until they secure a lead tenant that will lease 50% of the building.

Chase - 1,980,000 SF

Wells Fargo - 1,833,760 SF

 

The plot thickens...

 

(I'm not sure if that's TOTAL sf or just usable - My calculations were based on what I could measure on foot  )

Chase tower - 1,656,529

Wells Fargo Plaza - 1,721,242

Yes I am in the industry. And no offense, but there's always someone more knowledgeable, and not as knowledgeable, than each of us...just be smarter. And yes, Hines' new 609 Main client is a fraction of total square footage, but it's 'major' because it's a coup to have landed them to a spec building in a slowdown-- OVER A YEAR BEFORE COMPLETION! That's 'major!' And it's good you say you're not a Houston hater, although they do lurk about HAIF.

Well HTXUSA, I really enjoy your optimism then.  I am in the commercial office market, and the last 12 months have been rough and 2016 will be worse from a transaction standpoint.  Keep up the great attitude!  

Holy cow. Are new AA buildings really commanding that kind of rent downtown? In the current environment, why would anyone pay $60/ft in Houston?

On the top floors of this project, you bet.  This is going to be an incredible building, and the types of tenants that want to be here are the Kirkland Ellis's of the world - large national law firms that are used to paying these rents in SF, NYC, CHI, LA.  Also we will likely see Large Institutional Banks, Investment Banks, PE groups, and possibly your Lead Tenant energy company (although that may be a little ways off). 

Top two floors? I assume the price per square foot increases the higher the floor? I wonder how much they're paying...

It will be about $60.00/SF all-in

Checked the webcam and this building is already gone.  That was fast.

You're right, achieving critical mass is Houston's new trump card in the oil slump and sluggish US economy...we didn't have it in the 80's. Great diversification the last 30+ years allowed us to avoid collapse this time; we're 35% oil now vs 75% in the 80's. When you factor in the explosive population growth of an additional 3M people since then, hitting critical mass has not made us completely immune to the slump/US slow down, but it has greatly mitigated its effects. That's why we continue to grow in spite of whatever oil does. Many developers/businesses understand this and continue with business as usual, some are slow to understand and may regret it. And of course Houston haters everywhere like to spew oil fears as if it was 1980 again to try to bring Houston down. But haters be damned: ground continues to break...and cranes keep flying.

Yeah we've got to stop acting like everything is still bursting at the seams and just because the city is diversified doesn't mean O&G isn't the driver.  We can reference GHP and Mayor Parker, but it's their job to tout Houston in a way that is keeping investors interested.  While there is still activity in the market, ask anyone in the industry, particularly office, and they will tell you it is getting bloody and will only get worse.  2016 will be BRUTAL from a commercial office standpoint.  2012-14 everyone was doing 10-year deals (contracting more space than they needed) and lead-tenanting new buildings, now everything is short-term, short-term, short-term and for less space.  More new construction is delivering that is very little pre-leased or even 0% pre-leased and more subleases flood the market every week.

It will ramp back up eventually, but right now some folks are really hurting.

With the city spending so much to renovate Dallas and the huge task force that did numerous case studies and said how important Greenstrert is numerous times.

If greenstreet flops it's bad for downtown houston plain and simple. Market square isnt going be a hotbed for retail, maybe theyll land a grocery store but that's the most that'll happen

I agree Greenstreet is important, but I'm not sure why you're so certain the area of North Downtown couldn't support a lot of retail.  

heard they had a deal with sephora but they backed out.....i really hope this doesnt become a flop. if greenstreet fails after all this renvo and boost then we can almost kiss retail in downtown bye.

 

greenstreet sucess is so vital

I don't agree with this at all.  The organic growth that is occurring around Market Square could be a hotbed for retail in future years.  I love all the initiatives the city is taking with what they're trying to do with Dallas St., but I personally have always been a proponent of the invisible hand of the market.  I would rather walk out my front door and have everything within a few blocks walking distance rather than walk several blocks to the center of CBD.  I hope I'm wrong, but I really don't think Greenstreet and Dallas St. will work as quickly as most HAIFers want it to.  I think it will continue to lease to entertainment venues and restaurants because that is the demand for the surrounding population of the project.

Although that is ROCC straight ahead and not Memorial Park, this picture reminds me how important of an asset the park is to this city.  To have this large of a public greenspace in the heart of the town is pretty awesome.  I'm excited to see all of the bordering areas continue to develop over the years and make MP even more desirable.