uhlaw09

EDIT:  Already covered above.  However, still very excited about this.  Will be interesting to see what this "Phase Two" will look like, given the comments in the articles below.

GID Development Group announced today details of the highly anticipated Phase Two of Regent Square, a 24-acre, 4.2 million square foot mixed-use development located in the heart of the Inner Loop off of West Dallas. Phase Two will include the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a sophisticated residential project featuring 160 apartments, and 15,000 square feet of restaurant spaces. Construction on Phase Two is slated to commence late 2013.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gid-development-announces-dynamic-phase-two-of-regent-square-development-2013-02-14

The 4.2 million-square-foot Regent Square project, already under construction, will include a 21-story luxury apartment high rise at 3233 West Dallas and other retail and residential components.

 

The Alamo Drafthouse, part of the project's phase 2, will begin construction later this year.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/New-cinemas-in-Houston-give-luxury-a-starring-role-4276779.php?t=863144c6ed

It will be interesting to see the extent to which that development ties into the prior Regent Square plans (if at all).

By the way, as someone who works a couple of blocks away and has watched the progress of this construction on a daily basis.... MainPlace really turned out to be an awesome building. The skin, curvature, reflections, etc. are stunning. Among the buildings Houston has built in recent memory -- this one truly is a gem. You guys should come check out the (near)-finished product from ground level if you haven't had the opportunity yet.

Saturday, Oct. 16 -- 11:00AM:

Dozers are on site doing dirtwork -- things are under way. But honestly... it's just a car wash.

Nancy has a brief update:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sarnoff/7217466.html

I drove by the site this morning, and there is a large excavator on the site, along with a dumpster and fuel tank. They seem to have started breaking up the concrete pads just south of W Dallas near the cemetery. Perhaps this is to comply with the tax rebates they are seeking. For some reason a start date of October 2010 comes to mind.

I've noticed this too, but I wouldn't read much into it. They've been doing pretty minor work on the site sporadically for the past couple of years, yet it still looks virtually the same as it did in 2007. They've also marked the Dunlavy / W. Dallas sidewalks for ramps and improvements at the intersection.

My guess, however, is that the original "stimulus" deal with the tax rebate is dead. It required infrastructural improvements to begin by October 2009 and private development to begin by October 2010 (as reported by Chron).

Latest word (cited above) is that private development may start in 2012 (http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/08-09-10-montrose-fields-forever-theres-a-billion-dollar-regent-square-project-among-those-weeds/). I may be misinterpreting what the original deal was, but I wouldn't think that a 2012 (or later) development was what everyone had in mind when the City was trying to "stimulate" its way out of the bottom of the recession in early 2009.

I believe it is supposed to be "high-end" retail. There's been comments about it in some posts here, just don't remember where.

Aqua Car Wash. Sign went up on the lot fairly recently, I believe.

Also discussed here: http://swamplot.com/swamplot-street-sleuths-parking-lot-special/2010-08-17/

I'm very pleased with the change in both name and design. This bridge is going to be a huge benefit to the area.

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that it's Wells Fargo, and the one LED piece constantly changes color, just going through the spectrum. It could be a new LED or the LED that was already there just on the fritz (which wouldn't surprise me given the trouble they've been having with those). I thought the lights were neon too until I went to a function at the top of One Shell a few months ago when Wells Fargo's lights were actually on. You can actually see the little lights that make up the LED strips.

Yeah, I'll verify this too. The rumor somewhere on here was that the LED on Wells Fargo was damaged by Ike, and the small LED piece that came on was probably malfunctioning due to the damage. I have noticed recently, however, that the same small LED piece has been cycling through different colors. I never saw it cycle through colors when the entire top of WF was lit.

Pretty small floor plates.

Yeah, and it looks like part will not rise past the 2nd or 3rd floor:

I'm surprised I don't see more work on the site given that deadline.

I'm with you on that one.

This is a drive-by HAIFing showing the fast progress being made on the top structure.

Taken Friday, November 6th:

I can finally see the tops of the cranes from my vantage point. Does anybody know how tall MainPlace will be compared to the surrounding buildings in this photo (besides the Chase building)? Just wondering how much of an impact it will make on the skyline viewed from my hood.

According to Emporis.com:

MainPlace will be: 630 feet

1 Houston Center is: 680 feet (black box on right of photo)

2 Houston Center is: 580 feet (black box in the right-center that is mostly blocked by the white building with indentations [First City Tower])

So, according to info on Emporis, it should be exactly in between the height of 1 and 2 Houston Center.

For reference, MainPlace is 1 block North and 1 block West of 2 Houston Center. This rendering provides some context: http://mainplacehous...20and%20WF.html

All of this is to say that yes, I think you should have a pretty good view.

Article here: http://politicalblog.abc13.com/2009/09/big-changes-coming-to-market-square.html

...and the morning after:

Any word on any concrete pours yet?

Concrete pour is going on as I type, at 2AM on Friday night. I happened to drive by the site on the way home tonight and noticed the armada of cement trucks.

I snapped some pictures as I drove by, but the construction cam provides the best view:

I believe that in order to get certain kick backs from the city they must prove that they have started construction by the end of the year. If anything they are beginning to do the infrastructure work but not necessarily to start construction on the project.

Agreed regarding the infrastructure work. To get the City's stimulus money, they have to start infrastructural work by October 1, 2009, but they don't have to start the private development until October 1, 2010. So I wouldn't expect the actual development to begin until mid-2010 unless conditions change. I'm just glad to finally see activity on these huge lots that have been empty and untouched for the past 2 years.

There is activity on both blocks of the Regent Square site today. There are 3 pieces of heavy equipment and about 10-15 workers on the site. The workers are surveying, spraypainting/flagging, and digging on the lots.

Given that the developers are supposed to begin public improvements by October 1, it appears that the work began today. I'm optimistic that this is the first step toward the ultimate construction of Regent Square. Regardless, the Regent Square corridor (W. Dallas from Rochow to Tirrell) is seeing a lot of construction activity, shown below:

Workers on the Regent Square lots:

This building at the corner of W. Dallas and Rochow was demolished this morning. It was directly across the street from the developer's lot of trailers. The land is planned to be used as part of Phase 2 of Regent Square, so I don't know why it was demolished.

Before:

http://tinyurl.com/lqmv3g

After:

Also, this land is not related to Regent Square, but the neighboring office building at 3410 W. Dallas has been under renovation for a few months. It will serve as the new Norwegian Consulate, as confirmed by Swamplot: http://swamplot.com/...ian/2009-09-14/

Before:

http://tinyurl.com/nb2658

Current:

Picture from chron.com shows a good view of the progress from the grand balcony of OPP:

good news....just wonder when this project will advance faster....

Local media reports back in May/June indicated that their "stimulus" agreement with the city requires them to begin public infrastructural (utilities/streets) improvements by Oct. 1, 2009, and to begin private development by Oct. 1, 2010. My guess is that we'll begin to see some infrastructural work in a couple of months, and I would also guess that they would hold off on the private development as long as possible (depending on leasing).

A similar process is going on nearby at the Fingers/Whole Foods lot at Waugh/W. Dallas. They began utility work 6+ months ago and are still working on new roadways and concrete work on the property. It doesn't appear, however, that they are in any hurry at all to begin to actually build out the development. If GID is going to comply with the guidelines proposed by the City, I would expect a similar timeline: begin infrastructural work in a few months, then maybe begin to build out the development in 12-15 months.

This is lay opinion from tracking these developments in person and online.

Today's daily demolition report on Swamplot includes the 4 condos on Clay St. that are fenced-off to be demolished for Regent Square construction.

http://swamplot.com/daily-demolition-report-barry-alive/2009-07-09/#more-10423

I can only speak for myself, but the freedom to live off campus was a primary factor for me going to UH instead of a different second-tier school.

I can't imagine that UH has plans to force all Freshmen to live on campus in the future. I haven't deduced that from anything that I've read, and it makes very little sense that they would try to force people to live on campus. UH is--and has been for a long time--largely a commuter school. Furthermore, it's located in a terrible part of town, and the university hasn't been very successful in mitigating the effects of living in such an undesirable area.

Thus, forcing all all freshmen to live on campus? Makes very little sense.

But, building more dorms and greatly improving the "livability" and safety of campus? Makes a lot of sense. And that's how most universities (that I'm familiar with) do it. I would imagine that is UH's goal as well, but admittedly I do not know.

Anyone know what's going on next to the Federal Reserve on Allen Pkway?

I've been wondering the same thing. Anyone have some insight?