4503 Montrose Blvd (Formerly Bridgeview Crossing)

[Fortune 897]

That's good news, I liked that design. I think it will look good from 59.

[Alec 503]

Variance request was considered July 24. I can't find the minutes, but they probably just aren't posted yet.

[toxtethogrady 813]

So is this office or residential? I would assume they don't need to worry about pre-leasing if they're building condos.

[cloud713 4052]

Don't condos typically require like ~60% pre leasing to start construction?

Edited July 31, 2014 by cloud713

[Fortune 897]

Its office.

[Urbannizer 44383]

[Luminare 6063]

Anymore news on this one? I actually like the design of it. Would be nice to see it built.

[Alec 503]

Variance requests were granted and plat approved 8/7.

[Avossos 2315]

Variance requests were granted and plat approved 8/7.

Over a month ago?

[Alec 503]

Over a month ago?

Yep.

[Urbannizer 44383]

So this is the new design...which is disappointing. Now known as "Bridgeview Crossing" by Griffin Partners. Breaks ground 1Q 2015.

 

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/Profile.aspx?LID=18857348

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[por favor gracias 630]

Just threw up a little...

 

But thanks for the info.

[cloud713 4052]

NOOOOO!!! not that M fifty nine was amazing, but the garage everything on this looks terrible. at least the bland beige stucco(?) side that looks like its straight off a 1970s hospital or some almost brutalist federal building is facing to the north/away from the highway.

Edited October 2, 2014 by cloud713

[Fortune 897]

What a downgrade design wise . . . Atleast it still has some height to it.

[Subdude 1594]

"Bridgeview Crossing"?  Sounds like some suburban strip center.  As in "The Shoppes at Bridgeview Crossing".

[Naviguessor 2213]

And it's redundant.

[Fortune 897]

"Bridgeview Crossing"? Sounds like some suburban strip center. As in "The Shoppes at Bridgeview Crossing".

It looks like a suburban office building.

[Triton 11889]

It's a downgrade but it doesn't seem all that bad to me... Not a huge huge difference from the first renderings. Glad to see an office midrise at this location.

[Avossos 2315]

It's a downgrade but it doesn't seem all that bad to me... Not a huge huge difference from the first renderings. Glad to see an office midrise at this location.

 

You're right. It really isn't BAD, but the red brick would have complimented the Montrose / Museum District vibe. Also the street interaction is much much worse.

[Triton 11889]

You're right. It really isn't BAD, but the red brick would have complimented the Montrose / Museum District vibe. Also the street interaction is much much worse.

True.

[toxtethogrady 813]

Just threw up a little... 

That's okay, MetroNational is throwing up an office building over at Memorial City.

[toxtethogrady 813]

I went back and reviewed the original proposal; the design was actually not the greatest even back then. But the nifty sleight of hand with the garage on the first few floors appears to have shrunk the leasable space.

 

And the name change sucks.

[Triton 11889]

I went back and reviewed the original proposal; the design was actually not the greatest even back then. But the nifty sleight of hand with the garage on the first few floors appears to have shrunk the leasable space.

And the name change sucks.

Exactly. This isn't all that different from the original proposal and people liked it then. I think the mood perhaps has just changed since we are now accustomed to a lot of projects going up and expect a lot more from the design. Back then, we were just happy to see something happening early post-recession.

And yes, the name is terrible.

[KinkaidAlum 2849]

Freeway architecture at its worst.

 

The glass/prettier side with the garage hidden faces the highway. The concrete/stucco blank walled garage and boring 1970s institutional hospital side faces the Montrose neighborhood behind it.

 

Total a$$hole move

[htownproud 337]

Freeway architecture at its worst.

 

The glass/prettier side with the garage hidden faces the highway. The concrete/stucco blank walled garage and boring 1970s institutional hospital side faces the Montrose neighborhood behind it.

 

Total a$$hole move

let me preface this by saying i hate the garage and stucco side of the building, and no one should be forced to look at that side.  that said, people drive both ways on Montrose, so an equal number of drivers on Montrose will see the nice and ugly sides of the building regardless of orientation.  So it makes some sense to have the nicer side to the freeway where exponentially more people will see the building (and where the view of the building will be unobstructed).  can you imagine what an ugly welcome mat this would be to downtown for folks coming from 59 South if the orientation was reversed?

 

of course, a strong argument can be made that the people that live nearby matter most.  so i'm not advocating one way or the other, but there is at least an argument that this orientation is the best.  

[monarch 3807]

this new concept look's as though the company has hereby taken a GREENER approach.  just take a really good look at the edifice itself.  very modern, cleaner lines than before, and much more greener.

[Subdude 1594]

What I like least in the new design is the big plain vertical slab facing Montrose, covering what appears to be a stairwell.  The original design had windows facing the street, and what looked like a cool red lobby.

 

 

[Avossos 2315]

Will any of these homes survive another 100 years? Even just 25 years more? Everywhere between downtown and uptown is like a serious of exploding streetscapes bleeding into the original neighborhoods... Until they are all choked out. Churches, museum campuses, apartments, all expanding and eating up homes as they go.

I'm not sure how u feel about it to be honest. I'd like to keep the neighborhoods in tact in some way shape or form

Edited October 2, 2014 by Avossos

[arche_757 855]

What I like least in the new design is the big plain vertical slab facing Montrose, covering what appears to be a stairwell.  The original design had windows facing the street, and what looked like a cool red lobby.

 

I guess I didn't notice that in my first "once over" of the new proposal.  Agreed that is a bad architectural feature.

 

This building - for those who've missed it elsewhere in town - is the typical representation of Houston speculative (and even specific use) architecture.  In that we have a featured design which turns out too expensive, or badly timed, or sold to a different developer who has a lesser eye for design, so the original design gets revamped into something similar yet far less architecturally fulfilling.

 

The name is abhorrent!  Like Subdude (I think) said above: the name sounds like a residential enclave on a suburban cul-de-sac.

[Sparrow 315]

 

Talk about a schizophrenic design--this one is all over the place. Why an attempt to conceal the parking levels on the freeway side (as poor as the treatment is), but no attempt whatsoever on the neighborhood side? No attempt whatsoever to integrate the parking levels into the overall design. Not even an attempt to use the bridge characteristics as a model for the building design--if there going to name it after something they might as well incorporate said model into the design.

 

 One of the worst designs around these parts in a while.

 

Maybe a large mural can improve the large Montrose facing wall??? A great piece of public art would keep everyone from looking at the building itself.

[Montrose1100 3766]

Will any of these homes survive another 100 years? Even just 25 years more? Everywhere between downtown and uptown is like a serious of exploding streetscapes bleeding into the original neighborhoods... Until they are all chocked out. Churches, museum campuses, apartments, all expanding and eating up homes as they go.

I'm not sure how u feel about it to be honest. I'd like to keep the neighborhoods in tact in some way shape or form

I would like to keep as many trees as possible. If the main streets get filled with high rises like Westheimer and Montrose I'd be ok with it, preserving the smaller streets. Which is slowly but surely happening. Edited October 2, 2014 by Montrose1100

[Avossos 2315]

I would like to keep as many trees as possible. If the main streets get filled with high rises like Westheimer and Montrose I'd be ok with it, preserving the smaller streets. Which is slowly but surely happening.

 

Yes the main streets are first to get dense. Hopefully some more districts pop up, preserving some homes on the smaller streets. I think it would be very cool if the main streets (Montrose, Westhiemer, Richmond, Dallas, Kirby, Washington / and to a lesser extent: Fairview, W Alabama, Waugh, Shepard) get filled up and the neighborhoods inside of them remain genuine. To me, that would be an awesome urban phenomenon! It is possible we could get that... but it is a slippery slope...

[houstontexasjack 2376]

moo. Reminds me of a DC midrise office building. 

 

[toxtethogrady 813]

Freeway architecture at its worst.

 

The glass/prettier side with the garage hidden faces the highway. The concrete/stucco blank walled garage and boring 1970s institutional hospital side faces the Montrose neighborhood behind it.

 

Maybe they'll great creative and cover the Montrose facing side with murals, a la Mexico City.   

[swtsig 2931]

A mural or LED lighting would do that side wonders.

[Avossos 2315]

I know this has been said, but... There was a time we would have jumped for joy with a proposal like this.

I still want this to happen. The drive into town is going to look so cool / dense with things like this!

[arche_757 855]

^Its not that this is a terrible building, just rather uninspired in the quality of its design.  The worst part about this particular building is that what was first proposed was a really nice building, and this current proposal is not in the same realm as that first one.

 

Which happens.  Seems it happens all too often in this city.

[KinkaidAlum 2849]

The worst part is there is a vibrant, healthy, interesting neighborhood that faces this uninspired POS. 

 

I love tall buildings. I love increasing density. But I also know when something sucks. THIS project is when I wish we had even just the most basic of regulatory standards for design. A blank, multi-level garage wall should never be inflicted upon a neighborhood street.

[Montrose1100 3766]

We lost the textile factory down the street and got a retirement condo building.

[houstontexasjack 2376]

Going off Swtsig's thought, the wall would be a good place for a mural. It would add some character to the building.

[JamesL 93]

At least it will block freeway noise for the neighborhood. There's something to be said for that.

[toxtethogrady 813]

Well, the HBJ is breathlessly announcing an "Exclusive!" on this one that we've known about for months. They're still saying Q1 start next year, opening 2016.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2014/10/exclusive-new-spec-office-building-slated-for.html

[TOMIKA! 52]

"Bridgeview Crossing"?  Sounds like some suburban strip center.  As in "The Shoppes at Bridgeview Crossing".

 

Couldn't agree more!

[Urbannizer 44383]

[toxtethogrady 813]

That's an interesting little community car garden on the roof.

[mollusk 2421]

pfffft... such low ambitions, borne out by the absence of Audis.  An A class Mercedes, a Smart, and assorted Chrysler products just don't cut it.

[toxtethogrady 813]

They need to up their game - a charging station with a Tesla S hooked to it.

[monarch 3807]

i wonder what particular garden seeds it took to grow those uninspiring automobiles?

oh heck, at least it's another first for houston...

[Sparrow 315]

 

What an absurd juxtaposition to have parked cars resting under the shade of trellised ivy while workers look upon from a much too small uncovered, unceremonious balcony.

 

[LarryDierker 3405]

I'll take the bus.