ArchitecturalPRGirl

Actually there are more residences closer to Bayou Place. I lived at the Rice Lofts and walked to the movies at Bayou Place among all of the other places around that part of downtown. There are other lofts within blocks such as Hogg Palace, Sabine Street, Franklin Lofts, St. Germain, Keystone Building and several others on nearby streets. I just wanted to point that out. I'm not sure how the Pavillions will do, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I work in a building one block from the Pavillions, so I can tell you that there aren't many restaurants in this part of downtown. We have the Park Shops and a few little quick casual restaurants in the tunnels, but there are only 3-4 actual restaurants to have lunch meetings or take clients to. We usually have to go to the other side of downtown. Some decent restaurants in the Pavillions are much needed.

I agree that the Pavilions would have been a little more self sufficient if there were actual residents on the property 24/7, the hotel would have helped also, but I do not believe it will be "Bayou Place South" simply because of its location. There are NO residents that live in the vicinity of Bayou Place and the I-45 location is not exactly inviting either which makes it a pretty dead spot in downtown. Pavilions will not succeed on its own. That is why I like the fact that there will be other soft good retail places opening in the near vicinity. The only reason this area of downtown is not the safest is because there was no Houston Pavilions there to begin with. I am looking at what Houston Pavilions will spur in its vicinity. Too bad most of the historic commercial buildings were torn down and replaced with office buildings with nothing but lobby space on the bottom floors so we will be limited on how much retail will open around the Pavilions. By the way Disco Green does not seem as connected to this development as some make it out to be. That's just my opinion.

I think it moved over to the Museum of Natural Science, called Mixers & Elixers.

They used to have live jazz/mixers every Thursday. Guess its been done away with unless your a member. This place has some great networking events going on year round, surprising how many people are unaware. Just minutes from everyone too. All ages need to be in tune with the fine arts. This woudl be a great Haif meet, serious.

Yeah they are fundraising machines, too bad they seem to do that more than interesting exhibits. One of their last shows featured dog portraits. How interesting...

Between beds and showers, downtown provides wonderful amenities. The best is the Roman Baths across from Cabo on the southeast corner of Travis and Prairie. There is a stand-up shower and a tub there.

Roche Bobois, Ligne Roset and Design Within Reach are all great for inspiration while on a tight budget. Definitely visit these stores for a good idea of modern design. Cantoni and Eurway are, well. I don't think they are as refined.

A friend of mine did the PR for the opening of BoConcept furniture on Westheimer a couple of months ago and their things look really nice and modern. It's in Highland Village where Surprises used to be. It's Sweedish but more upscale than Ikea obviously.

Like Roche Bobois, Ligne Roset on Kirby has beautiful things but is definitely high end. Didn't sound like that was the route you wanted to go, but the thing about furniture is that you keep it for some time. It's not like a seasonal fad like clothing so sometimes its worth the cost and the wait. Two months isn't that long if you love it. We get so spoiled and want everything instantaneously these days. Your friends will understand that you have a bad ass sofa on back order during your first couple of parties. Pull out the lawn chairs and be done with it:) At least no one can spill.

Wow, sorry to hear that. Well, I'd like to check them out, just to see what they have. Delivery isn't really an issue, I'm looking to pick up.

Does anyone know where the Fingers Clearence center is? I just called and no one is picking up the phones???

Thanks again, I'm going to try going after work instead of fighting traffic. =)

I'm not sure but I think I've seen some Fingers store over by U of H off of the 45 feeder. Is that it?

I'm not sure how tight your budget is, but I'm a big fan of Chic Warehouse in the Heights. It's good quality Pottery Barn/Crate & Barrel-style stuff, but lower prices. It's a small place, with only a few pieces to look at, but they have tons of catalogs and fabric samples to choose from and order.

There's also Newport Furnishings, which is appointment-only (I've never been), but they are supposed to have good deals on the same kinds of furniture.

If scratch & dent is ok, try Macy's Warehouse on 45. It's hit or miss, but you never know.

Nearby, Finger Furniture has a HUGE warehouse basement full of scratch & dent furniture (although I did hear that it was moving to somewhere out 59... you might want to call first) - but while you're there, you can visit the old Colt 45's stadium at the Houston Sports Museum inside the store, which I *loved* when I was a kid!

Target, or even Walmart. Target's furniture looks really nice, IMO.

Also, some of the larger Marshall's / Marshall's megastores have lots of furniture (in particular the Megastore on West Gray).

Hope that helps!

You're right about Marshalls, also don't forget TJ Max, they have furniture too. They had some modern chairs that went with the sofa I bought from Storehouse and were really inexpensive. I can't believe Storehouse is closed! I didn't realize that. Damn, that was a good store. Glad my house is complete, furniture shopping and house decorating is tiresome and expensive.

GOOD LUCK!

Hello everyone,

I'm about 2 weeks from closing on my new home(first time buyer). I've started furniture shopping, basically from scratch, with the exception of bedroom furniture.

I've been a little stumped when it comes to furniture selection. Can someone give me advice as to where to look?

I've been to Eurway, Ikea, Danish Inspiration, Star, Dillards, Z Gallerie, and some other small places. I'm on a tight budget, as I have to pay closing costs. So looking for some modern style furniture at a reasonable price.... any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any info,

btw, I'm located in West/Southwest Houston.

I've bought some nice pieces at Storehouse Furniture by the Galleria on Post Oak and Westheimer. Pretty good quality, modern and not cheesy and decent prices. It's better than Ikea but it's no Cantoni.

Demoliton of the Allen House is soon approaching in a couple of weeks but one pretty cool thing about it is that the developers have teamed up with Historic Houston to preserve some of the finishes like doors, fountains, hardware, etc from the old Allen House apartments to be recycled and used for other projects (Habitat, etc). Channel 11 (Doug Miller) did a story on it 2 weeks ago this Friday as his last on-air piece since he got a promotion and is now "behind the scenes."

On another note, about 50+ architects from all 5 of the national firms who are collaboratively working on the project and the developer got together in Houston a couple of weeks ago for a "design charrette" to make final design decisions on the new Regent Square mixed-use project such as brick, windows, etc. From what I saw it looks really good and is going to be a very unique "PEDESTRIAN FOCUSED" development.

I just noticed that the Chronicle is offering a reproduction service for single pages from past issues.

At first it sounded great - they seem to be good quality, or at least a big step up from microfilm photocopies...

The catch is that they seem to only be available matted and framed, and if the article runs off the first page, you have to pay extra for the remainder.

The cost of the print is about $90, but you can apparently choose the size, up to 18x24.

Anyone else used/seen have comments on this?

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/houstonchronicle/item.html

Yes this service has been around for a long time. All publications offer reprints for articles. I use this service all the time for articles I place in trade publications or stories that were written about a client or when a client gets quoted, etc. In addition to advertising, this is how they make their money. It's really a professional service to companies, etc who need quantity to distubute.

P.S. $90 is cheap. I just spent $2,500 to get 1,000 reprints from a national healthcare publication.

Is this still on schedule for groundbreaking in August?

I don't know what the traffic is like on W Dallas, but the city/Metro should really look at putting a LRT or BRT line down Dallas. That is probably the most urban area in Houston with all of the townhomes and restaurants around. Then if they could figure out how to connect it to the Uptown line, I think the amount of riders would be substantial considering tourists would probably use it to go from downtown to the Galleria.

Of course that is all very wishful thinking.

It's looking more like September. I have a meeting this afternoon to talk about the groundbreaking.

I think your idea is interesting. What if the rail connected to Memorial. Like from downtown/midtown up through Dallas and connected to Memorial then to Uptown? Interesting thought. What a nightmare though construction wise.

Actually, the sect of Hinduism is called "swaminarayan" or BAPS.

They are a conservative lot when it comes to women especially and are strict vegetarians.

The temples they build are amazing, b/c the follower have a huge amount of money in general.

They build these temples all over the world, but by most accounts the one in Houston is the best in the US. Stafford was picked b/c the land is cheaper and it is close to Sugar Land, which has a large Indian population.

They recetly constucted this temple http://www.akshardham.com/ in New Dehli which many are calling the new Taj Mahal - it is amazing.

Wow, it's like an Indian Disneyland. A little on the cheesy side to me. There is an icon to click on that says boat ride. C'mon!

Wow. There are more wimps in downtown than I thought. We need more escalators in front of our fitness centers, too.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going outside to finish building my fence. I hope I don't break a sweat.

THANK GOD FOR THE TUNNELS!!!

My office is on the opposite end of downtown where there aren't many restaurants. I also have several client meetings over on the other side as well. Anyone noticed that it has been raining for a month!!!??? I would have been screwed without the tunnels. Aside from the rain, being in a suit I would be drenched in sweat by the time I got to lunch or a meeting, then drenched again once I got back to the office. Besides the fact I don't have to smell piss and deal with pan handlers like I do when I walk on the street.

Thumbs up for the tunnels.

You've never watched the traffic on Preston at 8 in the morning have you?

Or the street before it, Prairie, trying to get on Memorial at 5. It's a cluster f#$%. Closing any of these streets would be a disaster.

My wife and I just moved to Garden Oaks, and I have been exploring the neighborhood while jogging in the evenings. The first time I ran down Wakefield I was suprised to see several icehouses.

We tried out the old gas station at Wakefield & Golf. We liked it, $1 can beer if you're wearing flip-flops, can't beat that. The patio was nice and we liked the layed back atmosphere of the place, but there were way too many kids running around.

I was wondering if anyone had been to the other places on Wakefield? One place is called the Catty Corner (Wakefield & Alba), then there is The Dutchman and a red building across from The Dutchman, think is called the Country Place. Has anyone been to any of these places? Can you tell us a little about them?

Are these cool icehouses or are they a good place to get a bottle broken over your head? Do they have nice neighborhood charm, or are they watering holes for the trailer parks down the street and the people with cars in their yard?

Are you talking about Wakefield near Bissonnet just outside of West U? If so there are two kind of cool places right near there on the other side of Kirby that have been around forever. The Volcano and Kay's. There's a new sports bar opening where Timberwolf once was but not sure of the name. It may have opened already. There's a great little quaint Italian restaurant in a house there too called Antica Osteria if you want to take her to a romantic dinner. Prices aren't bad either. It's near Greenbriar on Bissonnet.

June 22, 2007, 8:02AM

Plan offered to save 2 city icons

Panel suggests listing endangered River Oaks and Alabama sites as landmarks

By MIKE SNYDER

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4911051.html

I am a fool for thinking that Weingarten will take this into consideration, but I can still hope so.

It would just be disgusting and sick if they tore down these landmarks or OSW, etc...

I hope if the landmark proposal actually passes it will help save them, but even then it's not guaranteed. The 6th ward holds so much history as well.

Omni Houston, Hilton Garden begin construction

Two Houston hotels have broken ground on new projects.

Omni Houston Hotel broke ground Wednesday at Four Riverway in the Galleria area on what will be an expanded ballroom and spa.

When finished in June 2008, the hotel will have 26,000 square feet of ballroom space and a 6,800-square-foot spa.

The general contractor for the project is Turner Construction Co., and the architect is Morris Architects, which designed the hotel, originally built in 1981.

The spa, set to open in August 2008, will be for hotel guests as well as Houston residents.

Meanwhile, American Liberty Hospitality has broken ground on a new Hilton Garden Inn at Interstate 10 and Dairy Ashford Road.

The Houston-based company's hotel, to be completed in August 2008, will house a combination restaurant/lounge and Hilton Garden Inn's signature Pavilion Pantry offering sundries, beverages, microwavable foods and snacks.

I was one of the first residents there in 1999. The tower wasn't built yet. I had a great view of downtown until they resurrected that building. I posted earlier in the Bayou Bend post that Post cut some corners with the interiors for sure like, tile, granite, fixtures, hardware, etc. I also lived at Post Rice Hotel downtown. Although they cut some interior corners, you can't beat the location and the urban feel of the mixed-use and all of the places surrounding it. And the pools are great.

If you are young, like to be in the ox and have a pretty good income I recommend it. I have not heard of anyone who didn't like living there.

I don't disagree with either of you. It is a VERY good location.

That said, Andy is moving from Philly. He is use to having access to things that are easy to get to by foot (cleaners, restaraurants, movies, post office, grocery store) and he wont find that at Bayou on the Bend. Now, there is NO WAY to recapture that environment in Houston yet, but he can certainly do better than locating off of a major thoroughfare.

Midtown would be MUCH better.

However, I still think after reading his first post in which he specifically mentions movies, restaurants, a grocery store, and a post office, that only the West Gray area offers that while still being very close to downtown. Heck, he could just drive down West Gray to downtown in 5 minutes. The stretch of West Gray from Waugh to Shepherd has ALL of the things he requested and more. Plus, with Regent Square getting ready to break ground, that area will be even better very soon.

Now, I could be wrong about Andy, he might have just graduated from a university off the main line in the ritzy burbs of Philly, but if he went to Penn, Drexel, LaSalle, St Joe's, etc... then he will be disappointed by the lack of a true neighborhood around Bayou on the Bend.

I still disagree. He cannot expect Houston to be like Philly. That's an old city where everything is in a concentrated area. This is Texas, where everything is bigger, newer and more spread out. He is around the corner from West Gray, literally, so it's perfect with great views of downtown and the bayou. It's a great place.

And by the way Regent Square is "supposed" to break ground in August with Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed in 2010, Phase II in 2014. So that is waaaaay down the road.

Hi friends,

Thanks for all your help. I am a bit limited in my ability to choose another location because I am currently out of the country, and don't know anyone in Houston who can take the lead on finding another apartment community. I definitely cannot request my company to do so once again.

I am basically looking for a ~1-2 bedroom apartment in a nice secure, relatively newer apartment community, with basic amenities such as secure parking, proximity to stores/restaurants etc.

I was told that Bayou on the Bend would be a good choice, so I began talking with the leasing office out there. Things are pretty much final unless through our discussions here I get some options which I can pursue without being in Houston.

I am hoping that someone who either lives there or knows about the property chips in with their thoughts about the apartments, community, services, management, neighbors etc.

Please keep your thoughts coming.

Thanks,

Andy

Like Red Scare, I have to disagree with Kinkaid. It's geographically VERY desireable. The only other place that I would consider if I were you is Midtown, such as Post Midtown Square because it is a mixed-use development just blocks from your office. I used to live there and I loved it. Too bad the trolleys don't run anymore. Bayou Bend is actually a little more luxurious, Post cut some corners with tile, counters, hardware, stuff like that but you can't beat the location and the proxinity to all of the restaurants, cafes, bars and shops.

If you are unsure, I would look into Post Midtown Square. But you are in good shape at Bayou Bend.

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. It seems that the location is convenient and proximal. Sorry to be nit picky, I was wondering if there is any good dry cleaner for mens suits, shirts and pants closeby?

Any thoughts on the actual property will be welcome, I believe there are a lot of properties on Memorial Drive, any reason why this is on the expensive end compared to many other rental properties?

Have a great day!

Thanks a lot,

Andy

River Oaks Cleaners is in the same strip center as Texadelphia and Starbucks which is right next to you.

They're pretty good. It's a luxury high rise with proximity and views.

Hi,

I am considering moving from Philadelphia (just graduated) to Houston and living in Bayou on the Bend apartments on Memorial Drive in ZIP 77007. I will be living in a townhome on the top floor, with a designated garage on the same floor, so hopefully that should reduce flooding related issues.

I will be commuting to my office in the Continental Tower building (Smith Street)

Does anyone have experience living in this property or any knowledge about it?

Also, wondering what the 77007 area is like, I am single and like to keep myself busy either doing chores, dining (mostly take out or a quick bite alone until I meet people), seeing movies, meeting people.

I would also like to be proximal to supermarkets for daily needs, e.g. bread, toiletries as well as services such as a post office, dry cleaner, gas station.

I will really appreciate any help that you have.

Thanks,

Andy

I live down the street in 77007. Nice property. Easy access down Memorial to your office. It's probably 5 minutes with no traffic lights once you get out of your garage to downtown's edge.

Memorial Park is down the street. Exactly 3 mile jog. Very pretty. Great people watching, especially if you run counter clockwise like I do.

Closest grocery is Kroger on W. Gray, not far. If you're a guy you'll love it-TRUST ME. Prime Time is 5-9. haha

Hey if you're moving from Philly there is a Philly sub place next to your new casa called Texadelphia.

They had told the residents in the main buildings along Allen Parkway that they would have to be out by June, so I'm not surprised it looked empty.

The buildings along West Dallas will still be Allen House Apartments for another year or two, until they reach a later phase of the redevelopment.

The project is breaking ground in August and they are very much on schedule. The project really focuses on sustainability, especially in regard to a pedestrian friendly environment. It's going to be a really cool project actually. It's the largest of 9 mixed-use projects currently under way or already approved in Houston. The renderings you've seen don't really do it justice. It is going to have a pretty traditional look as the developers are from Boston.

Below is the project detail info.

Regent Square, a walk-able mixed-use urban village, is being completed on a 24-acre site on Houston

The strange aspect here is that River Oaks and West U are assigned to the same comprehensive high school (Lamar).

Yes but most of the West U kids I know all went to Lamar with me and the River Oaks kids I went to private school in middle school with continued in private school for high school. They don't go to HISD, even with the IB program at Lamar. A few do, but majority are at St. Johns, Kinkaid, etc. Right Kinkaid?