'Stonian

Wasn't that Target built around 2003? Am I right? Any chance of it being redeveloped anytime soon?

No.., That target has been there since the 90s.., I worked there around 93-94.., so it's at least 20 years old.., maybe more.

On Friday? Maybe the author made a mistake.

 

 

 

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/retail/article/Tourism-proposal-draws-opposition-5372194.php

I think they meant next Friday 4/11

Fabulous design. Looks like what I would expect the W Hotel to make a splash with in Houston..., who knows, maybe this thing will get re-branded. 

I wouldn't say is a Miami feel. I think it's just different. Towers will go in around it one day, I'm not worried

Difference of opinion I guess, but that's the beauty of an architecture forum. It certainly has that Miami, exotic look to me where the glass balconies ARE the most prominent architectural feature. You look at the building and immediately think residential condo/apartment tower. 

Is there any love for this tower any longer? I found it barely breathing on the second page of the forum. They're up to the 31st floor now and have adjusted the webcam upward. I dunno about you, but I think this building is falling victim to another project where the rendering was a thousand percent better than what we're getting. 

I'm still super excited about this building! It will probably have less glass than I first imagined from the rendering but the non-glass facade is being painted a unique aqua color which is very similar to the color of the glass and I think it will look fabulous.

As far as being in the middle of nowhere, sure its not clustered amongst other towers but it's much more visible than it would be downtown, even at 40 stories. The absolute best view I've seen of it is driving east down Westheimer and right past the railroad tracks at Highland Village I could swear I'm in South Beach. 2929 Weslyan definitely has that Miami-esque feel to it. (I'll post a pic on a clear sunny day soon).

There are so many daily comments on HAIF about projects going on all over the city right now that being on the 2nd page is still saying a lot. I've found BLVD Place, River Oaks District, and 609 Main on the second page in the past couple of months.

Actually a 15-story building will replace the Luby's being demolished.

In addition to the fence now up around the old Luby's in City Centre - which is about to be demolished to make way for another 8-10 story tower.

That side rendering looks an awful lot like the Anadarko II tower out in the Woodlands as well.

Wow! This is really unattractive.

Can't please everyone..., but oh well. 

Maybe I stand alone, but I don't have any problem whatsoever with townhomes here (gated or not). If it wasn't for the high end townhomes that turned this area around then we would not be even discussing a "Westcreek" or a "River Oaks District".

Retail follows rooftops and luxury retail follows luxury rooftops. How soon we forget that this area was all Target parking lot and 50-60 year old (albeit well-maintained) apartments just a few years ago. My point is the townhomes got the ball rolling, now we're all "ooh, nasty gated townhomes". Personally, I appreciate the diverse residential offerings here. Everyone does not prefer to live in a high-rise or midrise with the concierge all in your business and neighbors complaining that the base in your speakers are vibrating their walls.

I love the uniqueness of a lot of Houston's townhomes. We are a spread out metropolis, even within the loop. If every new residential building was a 300-unit highrise, it would take forever to build this place out.

Once River Oaks 'district' is up and running you will not be able to distinguish it from High Street, Mid Lane, Westcreek, Highland Tower, etc. It will all be known as "The River Oaks District".  High Street is far from a failure, rather genius if you ask me. They will get all of the benefits of being next to upscale shops of ROD because they had the foresight to develop first out of the recession and knew ROD was coming. 

The connectivity issue that others have mentioned is way overblown IMO. If you can walk to each individual development without having to cross major thoroughfares like Westheimer, San Felipe or train tracks, then its all fairly 'connected'.

The existing Target will most certainly be redeveloped within the next few years (if their real estate folks have half a brain). That parking lot takes up way too much high dollar land and acres of parking is not it's highest and best use. Maybe they can rebuild a more urban store as they have in other cities. 

I love the intimate feel this area is developing (organically). It will have a City Centre feel to it, only better because it's seated within Houston's "it" area (Uptown/Galleria) AND there has been a mix of developers and architects contributing to it over time which gives it a more authentic feel. ROD probably more accurately represents the center of Houston and is still within the "loop". 

Just my 2 cents, I've been watching this area come together for 3-4 years.  Actually ROD, Regents Square and everything happening Downtown/Midtown are the urban developments I am most anticipating!

Who really knows what the article was referring too. Associating the apartment on Gulfton as Galleria Area" make excellent marketing sense for an area that doesn't have such a definable or positive marketable identity. The Hines development at Westheimer and Shepherd however could be marketed as "River Oaks" "Montrose" or "Upper Kirby" even. I believe that these marketing locals would more residential selling power than "Galleria Area" which could mean Gulfton. No one from Hines would call this development Galleria Area, and neither would anybody else...at least not any more. What I believe the comment is referring to is the development by the Waterwall, which is A Hines Project. And apparently as the comment was plural. It makes sense to assume that there may be more than on such development planned. Reasonable to assume.

My comment was not intended to be matter-of-fact, hell if I know, I was only speculating.

Go back and re-read the article. It referred to the Waterwall Place development as the 4th project under development THEN mentioned three other projects (implying one in the "Galleria area", one in the Museum district and one Downtown). If they were not referring to the Cafe Adobe site, now that would be an important 5th development that they neglected to mention. Some of you commentors on Haif are too smart for your own good sometimes. Use a little deductive reasoning my friend. 

Additionally, this article was written by a Bizjournal's reporter and was not necessarily a marketing piece from Hines. My friends from college simply referred to their neighborhood as the 'Galleria area' as a landmark and who knows (or cares) if the apartment complex marketed it as such.

So naviGUESSor.., your guess is as good as mine...

The story mentions that Hines has another development in the Galleria. Does anybody know anything about that?

The Bizjournals story most likely was referring to Hines project at Westheimer and Shepherd (old Cafe Adobe site).

Technically not what I would call the Galleria area but that term has been used more loosely than "River Oaks" for decades. I had friends in college who had an apartment in the Gulfton/Bellaire/Hillcroft vicinity and would always say "Galleria Area".

No one misunderstood arche_757's comments.  He/she was pretty clear in saying exactly what they meant - that Chevron could "go either way" - as in possibly not doing the downtown tower in favor of a Woodlands campus. So yeah they invited scrutiny of those speculative comments based on a silly rumor they supposedly heard from a "friend".

Although you can no longer copy/paste, simply googling the headline still works..., although you must type it in.

I live right across the street from Skyhouse South in Atlanta that's currently topping out with the more 'boxy' roof design and looks tons better than the curved airport hanger imo as well.

Initially I thought the curved top would be preferable, but it really looks like an after thought and does not scale well with the rest of the building.

I find it interesting that public architecture in Houston is rarely splashy, in contrast to our our neighbor to the north.  When they needed more space for their municipal offices, they went to I.M. Pei for a flashy building to replace their small, but cute classical city hall.  More or less at the same time, we decided to preserve our mediocre (in my opinion) Art Deco city hall and just build an annex in the Brutalist style, which was fashionable at the time.   Ironically (correct me if I'm wrong), but our annex seems like a cheap imitation of Pei's Boston City Hall.  Not that I'm such a big fan of Brutalist architecture, I just think it's interesting to consider the attitudes of our two cities, in terms of how strongly we are willing to pony up to pay for prime examples of whatever architecture fads are considered "cool" at the moment.

 

I like it that the recent museum designs in Houston (Piano's and Moneo's) get good reviews from some educated sources, despite not being flashy.  I like them, too.  But ... the relict teenager in me still yearns for a Kodak-moment (read postcard) edifice sometimes.  Is this feeling necessarily a bad thing?  I recall someone north of us referring to their Calatrava bridge as their city's Eiffel Tower.  Comparisons like that can sound kinda silly (especially when taken out of context, like here), but having comparisons like that does seem to fulfill a common human need.

No, this 'relic teenager' yearning/feeling for post card edifices is not a bad thing in any way. Houston definitely needs some more splash but dear God I hope THIS? isn't what they have in mind with the inverted triangle design for the new Glassell School of Art building.

That's interesting.  I prefer a nice, wide sidewalk all the way to the street, like this.

 

Kinda wish every sidewalk in Houston were standardized like this, it'd make the city a lot more walkable.

While I prefer wide side walks (min 8ft) that invite walking, there really should be a grass and tree buffer between the sidewalk and the street curb for pedestrians - especially on major thoroughfares or higher speed traffic streets like Post Oak.

Sidewalks should NEVER be placed right up against the street curb. Sure this makes for easy landscape maintenance since there's no little strip to maintain but the grass and tree buffer provide a perceived safety zone for pedestrians. That's Urban Planning 101!

Not sure if this was ever confirmed during all the 609 Main height discussion..., but this appears to be a definite confirmation of 47-stories directly from a Hines rep.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2013/09/three-top-real-estate-professionals.html

Mooz with Hines

Mooz began with his comments on the state of the market as it relates to the energy sector, and with that, Hines’ plans for its next projects:

• Hines plans to break ground on its 47-story downtown skyscraper at 609 Main in the first quarter of next year. Mooz said the company is in talks with several large tenants, but a lead tenant was not mentioned.

 

Demolition of old Macy's and Galleria III, newly rebuilt Saks 5th Ave moving to an expanded 2-level store in Macy's/Galleria III space. Total renovation of existing Sak's space into 35 smaller shops and restaurants. Completion scheduled for Fall 2015.

(Possible 300-unit highrise at West Alabama and Sage!)

Galleria project aims to up glam factor

Simon Property Group

Rendering of the space currently occupied by Saks Fifth Avenue that will house about 35 new stores and maybe restaurants

When demolition and reconstruction of what is now the Galleria III is complete, scheduled for fall 2015, an expanded Saks flagship will open in the space now occupied by the Macy's facing Sage and other shops.

 

Contis said a 300-unit residential high-rise - with an outdoor pool and an indoor connection to the Galleria - is envisioned for the corner of West Alabama and Sage.

He said Simon is still in the planning process, studying infrastructure and construction issues, "but we think it can get done."

 

This is really good work, thanks for posting.

 

I think Phase II of Regent Square will be 160 apartments and 15,000 sq ft of retail.

In addition to the 35,000 sq ft Alamo Drafthouse at Regent square.

Yes..., great work.., Thanks Urbannizer!

Apt but can be converted to condo in the future.

So swtsig - is that the motive of these developers currently building highrise apartments since the capital is flowing to multifamily rental right now?

I ask because I don't ever recall 20-40 story highrise apartment buildings going up in Houston as we are experiencing now.  With the exception of a couple of galleria area towers in the early 2000's (1200 Post Oak & Whitco's apartment building on McCue), in previous cycles the highrise multifamily buildings were generally condo units to my knowledge.

Maybe with high end finishes, projects like Hanover's BLVD Place, 2929 Weslayan, Hermann Place, Hines Market Square all plan condo conversions in the future. Quite clever if you ask me - build what the banks are currently financing (apartments) only to convert to what you really wanted to build in the first place (condos) later - possibly even before finishing construction?

This, in my opinion, has to be one of the best modern day Houston developments. Not only is it downtown but it fits into the old school fabric, directly butting against buildings. Retail is just icing on the cake.

I'm with you lockmat! ..., & yeah let's pump those brakes please.

GOD would have built our 102 story mixed-use (retail/restaurants/apts/condo/hotel/office) tower with a 150,000 sqft Macy's/Bloomingdales on the first 6 floors and a Spire/Crown lit up at night (every night). "Heaven on Travis"

Gerald's a good dude though.., but just a man

Chevron said in their press release that it would be 1.7 million sqft.

"Chevron U.S.A. is planning to build a new downtown skyscraper for its growing Houston workforce

The energy giant said this morning it will build a 50-story tower with 1.7 million square feet at 1600 Louisiana St. at Pease."

I was just about to come on here and mention this because I remember the discussion that was going on about it last week. I wouldn't be surpised if more stuff in the area gets torn down and becomes apart of the City Centre/Town Centre development.

City Centre is growing! 

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/08/citycentre-to-include-sheraton-hotel/?cmpid=hpts