diggity

those would be the penthouses, no?  I would imagine they would be a little swankier.  

Heard from a buddy who works at Blackfinn, they are shuttering soon.

Guess they weren't making enough money.

It was a pretty ambitious amount of space they leased up.

looking good!

I will never understand how it is profitable to have a mattress store on every block.  How often are people buying these things?

 

Anyway, this is going to take away from the uniqueness of discovery green. Just my opinion.

how so?  this one appears to be about 10% the size of Disco Green.

Hey Diggity, I hadn't heard that.  What parcels has Cathexis grabbed?  There are big empty nearby pieces:

1. North of Clinton/East if Bringhurst

2. West of Jensen

3. South of Buffalo Bayou

 

Interesting news if its true.

Just what I have heard from some land guys in the area.

Looking at their holdings, it appears that 2800 Clinton was a separate purchase than KBR but I can't be sure of that.

it does seem off that Post would run off a paying tenant when a lot of their retail at the newest phase is still empty.  I suppose it could all be locked up and they just haven't started moving forward yet.

That spot where Barcadia is will be great if the Super Block is ever developed.

I'm not sure that is true.  I've been hearing that Cathexis has been grabbing up more adjacent land rather than selling it off.

Who knows though, they play it pretty close to the vest.

Yucatan Taco Stand is going into the old Stella Sola/Bedford building.

from looking at the menu and reviews, it sounds a lot like Taco Milagro.

How old is that retail / strip mall doesn't look too old.

I want to say it's probably about 8 years old

Interesting location choice for their first foray into Texas.

pretty inaccurate thread title

is that the old Art Institute building?

I wouldn't imagine Camden is having an money problems right now.  Do you think they're waiting for the go ahead from the Midtown TIRZ before starting construction? 

well that sucks.  this project is starting to look like vaporware!

The Huntingdon, The Spires, Four Leaf Towers, Montebello, Villa d'Este, Woodway Place, The Parklane, Hermann Towers, Bayou Bend, The Bristol, The Houstonian, Regency House, the St Clair, and the St James all have tennis courts. Most of them have resort style pools too. More than half of those listed have their own grounds with things like dog runs. The buildings that don't have large grounds tend to be located next to parks (Hermann, Tanglewood, Memorial) and none of them share property with a drive-thru fast food joint.

how many of these were built in the past 20 years?  I see two, and they are in the same development.

Current land costs make sprawling complexes in high density areas impractical.  The added expense for these tennis courts and dog runs is just not worth it from a cost/benefit standpoint.

this is one of the stranger tangents this board has ever gone on.

Let's cut to the chase; the only reason this tower MIGHT be built is due to foreign buyers "investing" in this property and getting into the USA.

 

No sane resident of the USA is going to move into a Randall Davis building that shares a lot with a drive-thru McDonald's, especially at his prices.

 

I think we're going to see Houston's first "Miami" condo building. 100% sold but 30% occupied.

I think you're attaching way too much importance to what is next door.  It's not like they will be fighting with McDonald's for parking sports.

People are going to buy for the proximity to the Galleria and surrounding area.

Any if you think this will be one of the first condos in the area that has a ton of foreign owners, you haven't been paying attention.

I have a dumb question, it seems that Astoria and the McDonald's are sharing a pretty small site.  Just south of this site are some crappy 2 story apartments.  Why isn't that parcel being redeveloped.... or is there a plan in the works that we don't know about.

Don't underestimate the value of having a Post Oak address and frontage.

Also, that other parcel looks like more land than they would possibly need and I doubt the owner would subdivide.  They may be old "crappy" apartments but if they are close to fully occupied and cash flowing well, I doubt the owner is in a big hurry to sell.  

McDonalds, on the other hand, realized they could build a modern store on less land and make a bundle on the sale of the rest of the lot.  It was win-win for them.

indeed, and it is interesting to note that if someone intentionally causes bodily injury to your spouse that you as well have been assaulted, but if they spray your significant other with water in an offensive manner, your significant other might have been assaulted, but you have not.

huh?

Yeah this is just weird, though very Houstonian. Integrating the mcdonalds into the base of the tower would have made more sense. I wonder if Astoria didnt want to deal with retail, or if the rent they would ask would have been to high? I would have thought that property values in that area would have made wasting a lot on a drive-through mcdonalds less than desirable

I would imagine it was McDonald's that didn't want to be in the tower.  They need parking and a drive-thru for the heavy lunch crowds in the area.

The land is valuable, but if anyone has the money to afford expensive land, it's McDonald's.

The foorprint for the Astoria doesn't have to be that large.

hey was also an alamo drafthouse roadshow at market square park (three amigos!) and it was SLAMMED

that's a cool idea!

would you expect any less from Mcdonalds?

Possibly one of the least informative blurbs for a slideshow that I have ever read. They must have hired the janitor from Billy Madison to do recon!

The food wasn't terrible but the layout was strange and the service was pretty bad.

The staff never inspired much confidence in me that they would succeed.