CREguy13

I recently moved to the Heights and agree with your enthusiasm on how great this is turning out.  No doubt these sidewalks and bike lanes will be flooded with people that will feel safe and enjoy walking to businesses and restaurants along Shepherd. While still early, 11th Street has been a major success in this regard and is much smaller in scale.  

Didn't realize that about all the streets between Shepherd and Durham having large sidewalks, but that's fantastic news.

An incredible catalyst and blueprint for the continued transformation of Houston.

Hines is developing the project on behalf of their client, SCI.

SCI Capital Holdings, Inc. is the specific entity that owns this land.

6 hours ago, BeerNut said:

Why not integrate housing and retail into a transit center now?  Seems like a missed opportunity for additional revenue to be used for transit.

It's a good question. Metro may not have thought that far ahead, or talked to local real estate relationships and were advised against including it in the RFP, or something else entirely...

Personally, I'm not sure the immediate area is currently attractive enough and lacks required metrics to warrant the investment.  That could change a few years from now.

On 12/21/2023 at 7:56 PM, BeerNut said:

Needs housing and retail.  

I think it's safe to assume both will follow in time. This can't get built quick enough, the amount of workers that don't have a parking spot downtown that may opt for this option will be interesting to follow. Should really increase weekly ridership immediately.

15 hours ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

Thanks for the update, @CREguy13.

I'm not familiar with every design of other St. Regis Residences. How does the design of the Houston location, which may be located at 100 Asbury Place (100 Asbury Pl) or 102 Asbury Place (102 Asbury Pl), compare to others?

Yes it does, as @LosFeliz notes. The views of Memorial Park, River Oaks, BBP, Uptown, Downtown will be something from those balconies 🤩

6 hours ago, LosFeliz said:

It definitely fits the St Regis model which is surprisingly modern for their residences (Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, Boston,  Chicago). 

 

10 hours ago, strickn said:

By the rules of order, we have to have a motion seconded before a project can be officially jinxed.  Does anyone second his evaluation?

so moved.

Nah this is moving forward soon. 

Kokoro is great, I used to go to the Bravery location frequently and they are great operators.  Good sushi should do well with all of the tenants and visitors to the ION district. Glad that they still show the next phase kicking off in 2024 in these recent leasing materials. 

Securing a great innovative 'corporate tenant' across the plaza to kick off the office and getting the MF on Fannin financed would really set this area in motion.  Hopefully we get an update on the schedule for Phase II when they publicly announce Kokoro is joining the district.

9 hours ago, __nevii said:

That post genuinely confused me as well. Is something bad happening regarding this project (and TMC³ as a whole?). Would be quite sudden if so, given the branding + proposed missions.

 

Nothing bad is happening.  Phase I has delivered, MDA and UTH are now under construction on their buildings.  We shall see when the remaining institutions start building, and the other "industry" buildings by Beacon Capital will obviously be driven by demand which there's barely any new Office buildings getting capitalized around the country right now.  I expect the hotel mixed-use will get legs when rates and prices come down.

Dallas has nothing that comes close to the scale and magnitude of a project like this from a life science front.

On 11/2/2023 at 3:35 PM, goofy said:

From x:

https://x.com/iammarybenton/status/1720151483025362995?s=42&t=fsBYoidunkKl3Yr6apX4AQ

 

at the state of downtown address, the astros showed off renderings of the mixed use plans and said “soon”

Just an observation, but I find it interesting the new garage planned on West side of ADLA shows a skybridge to the large parking lot that butts up against the Marriot Marquis... I forgot who owns that lot, but would be really neat if Crane had his eyes on that huge parking lot for future expansions.  

Hopefully Hines is consulting a masterplan beyond just this initial 2-acre phase.  Bummer construction isn't expected until after next season at the earliest, but hoping final renderings get released somewhat soon now that more detailed plans are public.

On 10/27/2023 at 9:55 AM, downtownian said:

Want to place a bet on whether or not they construct a new tower? I am extremely, extremely confident they will not. There is a lot of available Class A (or A+) space downtown for cheap. 

Ha sure. *IF the HQ is moved here, I'm betting they will opt for new construction opposed to leasing nearby space on a long-term basis. Short-term leases are irrelevant, as there may be an immediate desire to consolidate employees in same area, time to plan long term strategy, and/or being patient for the building market to become more favorable.

We may all be a bit longer in the tooth by this time, but my friendly wager is new construction will commence prior to mid-2026, I believe that is roughly when the current Hess lease is set to expire.

7 hours ago, downtownian said:

Least likely is building 1600 Louisiana. There is a 30% vacancy rate in downtown. I doubt they would add to supply.

Respectfully, this is the wrong take.  One of the largest and most profitable companies in the US is not concerned about contributing to a downtown's vacancy.  Attraction and Retention of talent is #1 and a state-of-the-art corporate campus helps with recruiting top talent.  This is the crux of my argument for new construction.

On 7/14/2023 at 7:56 AM, CREguy13 said:

Chevron is definitely moving their headquarters here, just hope it is sooner than later.

Also, someone on HAIF previously mentioned Corebridge Financial (AIG spin off) is likely to join the list for 2023 after its first full year of reporting/operating as an independent company.

Chevron buying Hess all but solidifies the inevitable HQ move to Houston iyam. Houston is Hess's largest employee base, not New York, and aside from all the clear advantages to bringing the combined company here, it really makes zero sense for a new "Mega Major" energy company to be headquartered in New York or California.

On 10/15/2023 at 11:22 AM, Houston19514 said:

Great news!  This seems like it might be a good deal bigger than the customer service hub awarded to Dallas 

Haha indeed! Although, they're not even worthy of comparison.  The DOE hub is many many billion dollars of direct private capital that WILL be invested into the region, jobs, etc. then all the indirect jobs, impacts of this can't quite yet be quantified. This is really big deal and nothing short of an absolute game changer for Houston.

17 hours ago, Fortune said:

I hope they don't plan on demolishing the three towers.  

I'd say there's a 0% chance they keep all 3 and a close to 0% chance they keep any of them. Unfortunately, these buildings have underperformed for many years on the office front (just lost Apache for a considerable portion of the complex) and I don't see a bunch of capital injected into them to remain an office asset. Then how much $$ do you put into a conversion to MF or hotel and how would they expect those to compete with all the new MF and hotels in the area? I've always admired Phillip Johnson and his work, but my gut is Post Oak Central's days are numbered

I'm guessing the only reason they put this deal together was for a total demolition of all or nearly all existing structures. However, you could see some short term leasing activity in the near term to generate some additional income before the future plans move forward. Just my take.

If Autry Park could land a large lead tenant or build-to-suit tenant that would really stabilize and accelerate this area even more.  The restaurant/retail and MF demand is palpable, and should really become highly attractive for companies and their employees that want this parkside, walkable, dense dining environment. 

The issue of course is new construction will likely require the highest rents in Houston to pencil and may have to be all or nearly all equity on Hanover's side.. but there has to be a few companies or firms that are in or soon to be in the market that may be up to it..

Total shock. Sick to my stomach that our leaders couldn't get this done. I really don't understand how Dallas makes more sense than Houston given all of our strengths and advantages in this area.  Total failure of leadership from the TMC, city, etc.

"Houston originally submitted an independent application but later joined the Dallas-led coalition, said Matt Crommett, who helped lead the statewide effort."

If Texas wins the 2nd Hub, I'll be SHOCKED if it's Dallas and not Houston.  Hub No. 2 is focused on enhancing clinical trials for diverse patient populations.  I'm pretty sure TMC performs more clinical trials than anywhere in the world and we're the most diverse city in the United States.

I have to assume that all the hospital presidents, major TMC stakeholders, and our represented officials at every level of government are pushing hard because of the opportunity and how perfect a fit Houston is.  I don't think Dallas can win this one