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texasboy

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Everything posted by texasboy

  1. it's not large enough. unless they are willing to settle on a few surface lots that are surrounded by the park.
  2. Richmond Rice Shopping Center SWC Richmond Avenue at Rice Boulevard Houston, Texas PROPERTY DATA Size: 20,114 Sq.Ft. TRAFFIC COUNTS Richmond Avenue 36,310 cars/day Rice Avenue 5,804 cars/day 2003 POPULATION ESTIMATES 1 mile 18,558 3 mile 185,670 5 mile 452,625 2003 AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME 1 mile $79,257 3 mile $94,332 5 mile $86,113 PARKING SPACES: 80 PARKING RATIO: 4/1000 TOTAL LAND AREA: 114,180 acres http://www.levcor.com/Images/Projects/Texas/Houston/Richmond-Render-Large.jpg http://www.levcor.com/Images/Projects/Texas/Houston/Richmond-Layout-Large.jpg http://www.levcor.com/Documents/Projects/T...chmond-Rice.pdf
  3. What if the park was surrounded by a dense wall of residential developments on all four sides across the street with street level retail. Kind of like Central Park in NYC, but of course it will not be on that scale. The fact that the park is surrounded by parking lots gives that semi proposal full potential. But the dumb poliiticians probably will not even have the slightest idea in the back of their minds.
  4. virgin is more exclusive and when i lived in san fran, it was a million steps up from the suburban mall store fye. may i ask which virgin did you visit? fye can be found anywhere, mostly in the suburbs. virgin is cool because they never fail to locate in an urban location, for the most part, and the designs of the store give true character to the streets at groundlevel. trust me, you wouldn't be disappointed. the ones in miami and chicago are pretty cool too.
  5. That is an interesting choice of tenants. I thought this was more clothing retail oriented like the one in Denver. Also I wonder what are the chances of Virgin Megastore building in downtown in this development. The one in Denver is pretty cool, but hopefully they will update the design.
  6. we really don't know yet. the new rendering is not as detailed and does not show the ground level shops.
  7. ^^ just awesome. we need more places like that dowtown while they are building this one.
  8. I don't think we should worry about the Galleria for too long. As much as I hate malls, it is above many in the country dealing with design and retailers. Regarding the G5 list hopefuly some of those retailers can head to downtown surrounding the Houston Pavilions because that is pretty much happened with Seattle when Pacific Place opened in downtown. I wouldn't put the upscale ones in downtown, but more like Diesel, Vigin Megastore, and H&M.
  9. You're on the same page as I am, as far as both questions. I hope it is a yes for your first question, and a no for the second.
  10. I would be much happier if these restaurants were going on the bottom floor of buildings kind of like Farrago in midtown, but here is one of the eateries to go in the project. What do you think? Do you agree that it would look better if it were ground level below residential or office? Denis
  11. Here is the rendering of the gateway tract on the corner of I-10 Gessner
  12. largetexas is right. i am not a fan of this development and it does look more suburban than urban. If these were flat roofs and were not gated away from the sidewalks with the cute little apartment sign at the corner they would be great. Post Midtown Square is the perfect urban development, eventhough it would be better if they were built with bricks instead of the temporary stucco crap.
  13. Here is the rendering at the site now. Are you all seriously fighting this project? There are several other projects that are going up in midtown that are not lease, plus I still do not see the big idea of why that is a negative thing. If we keep fighting projects like a bunch of nimbys, these signs will stay on the lots like Ballpark Place in downtown. If the project is gated like the rest of the CAmden crap, I don't want it built either, because that would not be an urban renewal.
  14. I sent out an email to the developers today telling them how much potential this development will have in downtown Houston.
  15. Yes I heard about that, which I am really looking forward to. IMO, a lot of Uptown needs to be re-done to get a true urban experience. Especially on Post Oak Boulevard. How are you going to have a Hermes of Paris boutique, Bailey Banks and Biddle, and a Maggianos, or whatevr it is called, in a strip center?
  16. I would rather have more midrise projects than this, plus they suport ground level retail better, but imo for uptown to be successful, they need to start from scratch again. Talk about suburban. From malls, strip malls, gated highrise condos, huge parking lots. Ugh, I give up.
  17. I kind of get where you are coming from, but it is better than what is over there now. Of course this project would be nice in downtown, but the developer does not own any land in downtown, where land prices are through the roof. Plus there is not enough land in downtown or midtown for this huge of a development. Plus if this were in downtown, the project would probably be close to 1 billion or well over considering the price of land out there. I know you do not like sprawl, from reading some of your post on here, but it would be a nice place to visit, and it is not like it is in the suburbs or anyhting. We are talking not that far from the Galleria.
  18. March 23, 2005, 11:14PM At Memorial City, a lifestyle in development Project will surround mall with residences, offices By DAVID KAPLAN and NANCY SARNOFF Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Metro-National plans to spend up to $700 million on new development along either side of its Memorial City Mall. When it's completed, what will the firm have? "A city," said Wayne Hays, Metro-National's president and chief operating officer. Complementing the existing mall and health care complex will be midrise residential units, a luxury hotel, an office building, townhomes, an amphitheater, movie theater, restaurants, 350,000 square feet of retail space and pocket parks. The project will feature multiple skywalks, connecting major buildings, stretching about a mile across the site. Construction is expected to begin within 30 days and continue for seven years. After spending $60 million within the last 90 days on multiple acquisitions in the vicinity, MetroNational now owns 200 contiguous acres of Memorial City in west Houston. The proposed development will be on two tracts of land, one west of Memorial City Mall, called the "gateway tract," and the other on the east side, called the "lifestyle tract." In addition to the acquired tracts, the original land will undergo improvements. The first project will be a six-story professional office building on the gateway tract. Then, in six months, construction will begin on the lifestyle tract for a high-end five-story to eight-story residential building with retail at street level. It will be modeled after the Aramore complex in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. Because of the road work slated for Interstate 10, MetroNational will do its initial construction on the rear side of the two tracts. Some retail experts fear that MetroNational's new project, coupled with another large development proposed for a site nearby, could create an oversupply of retail space in the market. Town & Country Mall, at the southeast corner of the Katy Freeway and Beltway 8, is being demolished to make way for an open-air development that will feature many of the same elements MetroNational is planning, including retail space. Houston-based Midway Cos., the developer, said it will begin site work on the 37-acre project this fall. 'Full potential' And Memorial City Mall still has some vacancies to fill. There's also a likelihood that Lord & Taylor will close its Memorial City location, as its parent shutters stores around the country. "What's already built out there has not reached its full potential yet," said Blake Tartt III, president of realty firm New Regional Planning. "I think they have to be very careful that they don't overbuild the market." Others say there's lots of room for more shops and restaurants in this heavily dense area surrounded by affluent Memorial neighborhoods. "There's plenty of room in the area for specialty retail, lifestyle retail and things like theaters and restaurants," said Edward Page of Page Partners, a real estate brokerage firm that will be leasing MetroNational's "non-mall" retail space. Hays is bullish on Memorial City. He noted that before his company spent $200 million to renovate Memorial City Mall, the mall was getting less than $200 per square foot, and after the remodeling, it's gone north of $400. Many local developers would shy away from creating office and hotel space because of the sluggish market. "While others are waiting for things to turn, it gives us an opportunity to act," Hays said. MetroNational decided to build a hotel, because there is a community need for it, partly because of the medical complex, Hays said. The company is in discussions with several major flagship hotels. John Keeling, a hotel analyst with PKF Consulting, said upscale hotels are attracted to outdoor lifestyle centers because guests can walk outside and be surrounded by shops and restaurants. Several restaurants are planned for the development: Denis' Seafood House and Ciro's Italian Grill, already under construction, and a Perry's Steakhouse & Grill. 'Private club feeling' In 30 days, MetroNational will begin construction on an upscale steakhouse with "a private club feeling" on the lifestyle tract, Hays said. MetroNational developed the concept. The company created and ran the Saltgrass Steakhouse chain until it was soldto Landry's Restaurants 2002. A "unique grocery component," possibly multilevel with structured parking, will eventually be added, Hays said. The 700-seat amphitheater will pose several architectural challenges, Hays said, including how to make the surrounding area most functional during the day. Another challenge will be providing good acoustics with the amphitheater positioned near Interstate 10. "It's smart of them to try to create a sense of place" with amenities like the amphitheater and pocket parks, said Richard Hodos, president of Madison HGCD, a New York-basedretail real estate and brokerage firm. A sort of 'zoning' Over the past several decades, planners have become more sensitive to what people want in a setting that combines living, shopping and entertaining, he said. Cooper Carry, the architect for the project, is reputable and known to be sensitive to creating pleasing, human-scale pro-jects, Hodos said. "Hopefully, by the time the project is over, the bean counters won't have chopped off too much of the original idea,"Hodos said. Drastic cost-cutting happens a lot with big projects. MetroNational won't cut corners, Hays said, because the company is not about buying and flipping property. Rather, it aims to create "a premier lasting community," he said. Tartt said it's important to note the amount of land Metro-National now controls in the area. "There's no one else in Houston, Texas, that controls 200-plus acres of contiguous commercial land," he said.
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