The Great Hizzy!

I don't think downtown can support two theatres, unless the other is an adult theatre!

Exactly! Let's not forget, just b/c a store isn't coming to Pavilions doesn't mean it won't now come to Downtown. American Apparel is opening up right next to Pavilions.

What's the name of the other retailer that's joining American Apparel? I can't remember for crap.

well now that bayou place is finally going to rent some of the space west of bagby (earthlink or whoever was moving there) things are at least improving there too. that space has been empty since its inception.

It was certainly an eyesore. Kind of embarrassing, too.

You know, now that you mention it, I forget where the original blurb came from. HBJ article? In any case... this is very much how the Turnberry project was reported last year: speculation, then later a couple of confirming articles and then months later (like last week, in fact) an actual image.

think we can say this will be a step above Bayou Place. Bayou Place may be in the Theater District but the aea is dead even when the 9-5 crowd is around. Those three parkng lots almost had more ped traffic Monday through Friday than Bayou Place.

LOL! Sad but often true.

Nah.

I'm thinking it might be too early for that. Seems that this is one of those speculative deals, like the Turnberry was around this time last year. Hopefully more concrete details will emerge over the coming months.

Stucturally this will not happen, you can't support the same weight with supports designed for a lighter weight, and it would not be cost effective to have heavy duty supports for a future expansion that will never happen, especially after all the tenant settle in would complain of dust and noise scaring customers away.

Oh, agreed. But I was talking about the project evolving to another block, such as the one with Josephine's on it (I know, I know, blasphemous) but still...

I truly believe the residential boom in DT Houston will be the results of a continuing strong economy, the growth of the Discovery Green area and the Pavillions area. That's an ideal critical mass of amenities that, along with the convenience of LRT, could make developers willing to "go get it."

We'll see.

If the population base from those mere two residential midrises was going to have that much of an impact on the success of this project, then this project was/is doomed anyway. Like with Denver Pavillions, the development is looking to tap into the existing downtown population of workers, visitors and residential. I agree that it would be nice/cool to have the residential component at opening--and maybe it will eventually spawn an expansion some time after the grand opening--but the true success of this project--as it is/was with Denver--will come from the Pavillions' ability to lure workers, tourists and casual visitors downtown.

This thread has taken a sad and tragic turn. From optimism to fatalism in a matter of hours.

That said, it's my understanding that not all of the retail space has been filled, so maybe some of you will get your Nike Town or what have you, and then you can later complain about aspects of THAT, too.

Not only that, but it seems there's the incessant need to delicate flower for the sake of bitching. My god...

First it wasn't going to get built and "Woe is me!" and now the stores (not even the full compliment of stores at that) aren't cool enough.

They should have a store called Waaahh!

Ironically enough, Forever 21 is sitting right there on that list, so it being announced today as an offical tenant shouldn't have been a surprise.

Typical.

Books-A-Million isn't as ballyhooed as Barnes & Noble (a staple of the uber-urbanistas) but it's not some B. Dalton joint either. It's a notch below and a notch above, as it were.

I know nothing about Forever 21 and ain't losing sleep over it.

Looks like about 50-100 people under the tent.

it was the new guy eric james who knows nothing about houston so his stories tend to sound serious.

I figured as much. I'd never seen him before.

You stole my thunder. They had some clean cut dude holding a mike and looking "really" serious and stoic, but you could tell that deep inside, he couldn't wait to throw on some bowling shoes and hit Lucky Strike when it opens up.

San Antonians: "moo, you and your tall buildings..."

Wouldn't it be shocking to see that Treasures has signed on as a tenant?

Don't worry about it. It's usually just a bunch mumbo-jumbo anyway. (j/k)

Alright, that was so biased one way, I might as well try to bring it back the other way.

I think the diversity of Dallas' buildings works amazingly well to give downtown a distinction and character that Houston's completely lacks.

ROTFLMAO!!

There's a passing comment on the Superblock site in that Washington Avenue article talking about Camden's continued desire to develop their project on said site. That's what Subdude was referencing.

Like a lot of clubs, it started out okay but then word got around and of course... you know how it often goes after that.

The main point is that we'll be able to spend hours nitpicking the tenants and their clientelle, which is better than spending hours arguing over whether the project is even going to get off the ground.

Wee!

That said, I tend to believe as WG believes that not all tenants listed will actually come to be. Most of them? Sure. All of them... not quite as confident. For example, does Hard Rock Cafe really want to move? Possible but not sure.

And I'm also a little concerned about Red Cat's ability to support two locations downtown. Sure, the RC is one of the few places DT that has good business 7 days a week but even so, two locations less than a mile apart seems like a stretch to me.

And I think the big contributors to the development WILL BE the bookstores, music stores and specialty shops.

Hooray!

It depends on saturation and the desire to live DT first. I think even with the onset of several high rise condos in DT, the prices would be more dependent on the level of demand. If demand is still high in lieu of all that construction, then I don't think you'll see a negative affect on property values. OTOH, even with a small number of highrises, if the demand dips, then so will the property values.

The good thing is that for all of our laments concerning the swaths of parking lots and unused lands in and near DT, it does allow for numerous developments in the even that demand does become exceptionally high for highrise urban living.

Widespread development isn't the problem in Houston. There's tons of developments all around the city. The problem is that a segment (read: HAIFers) of the population so desire to see an expansion and evolution of the TYPE of development found in the core that they anxiously await them and immerse themselves in every detail.

There was a massive retail complex that finally opened up in NE Houston, but that's NE Houston, and it's strippish in nature, so we here at HAIF shrug our shoulders at it. However, a large, mixed-use development inside the Loop?

Ha-cha-cha!!