Spring Branch Village Center: Mixed-Use Development At 8850 Long Point Rd.

[ChannelTwoNews]

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/sarnoff/article/Former-medical-center-being-resuscitated-for-4870863.php#/0

 

Quote

Former medical center being resuscitated for other uses

 

By Nancy Sarnoff

 

October 6, 2013

The former Spring Branch Medical Center property has been sold to developers who visualize a mixed-use real estate project on the nearly 18-acre site, with housing, shops and perhaps other uses.

 

The group that purchased the property said the hospital structure is in "excellent condition," and could be saved and reused as part of a new development.

 

"There's a lot of value there," said Bruce Phillips, one of the investors.

 

The investment group, led by Houston-based BlackSwan Investment Partners, closed on the site last week. It purchased the property from a New York financial institution that had foreclosed on the development in July. The price was not disclosed.

 

The Spring Branch area has seen a large amount of growth in housing and retail. Gregory Pappas, a principal of BlackSwan, said the location near the West Loop, the Katy Freeway and Beltway 8 is a major draw.

 

"It's got great accessibility to all employment centers around Houston, and Spring Branch ISD is a great school district and attracts a lot of young families to the area. That's a trend that seems to be continuing," Pappas said. "It's happened in other parts of the city like in the Heights and Garden Oaks. This area seems to be undergoing that kind of a transformation."

 

The sale likely marks the end of the property's longtime medical use.

 

The hospital was founded in the 1950s and was closed by HCG Gulf Coast in April 2010 because of operational losses. It reopened under new ownership in 2011, but closed again last year.

 

The property, at 8850 Long Point between Bingle and Campbell, contains nearly 300,000 square feet and once had 299 beds and 19 operating rooms. Much of it was built in the 1980s.

 

The partnership that purchased the site also includes Tim Delgado, president of Read King Medical Development. Phillips is co-founder and principal of Houston-based PinPoint Commercial.

 

 

 

[SpringShadows]

Such great news. This area is booming right now.

[ArchFan]

If they can pull this off, I will be delighted.  However, while I do think this area has a lot of potential, I'm not sure the site in question would be profitable for anyone building a "mixed-use development", which to me sounds rather high-end for the immediate neighborhood.  

 

The site is 1.5 miles from I-10 and also at least 1 mile north of the upscale residential redevelopments along the north side of I-10 (mostly in the independent, zoned municipalities of Spring Valley and Hilshire Village).  

 

I'd love to be proven wrong, but I'd be surprised to see a development like City Centre be successful at that site, at least in the next 10-15 years.

[ChannelTwoNews]

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/12/hospital-to-be-demolished.html

 

 

The new owners of the former Spring Branch Medical Center plan to begin demolishing the 300,000-square-foot facility late this week, the Houston Chronicle reports.

 

An investment group bought the 18-acre site, at 8850 Long Point Road, for an undisclosed price in October 2013. The group is led by Houston-based BlackSwan Investment Partners and includes Bruce Phillips, co-founder and principal of Houston-based PinPoint Commercial.

 

The group had hoped to lease or sell the property to another hospital operator, but Phillips now tells the Chronicle that hospitals are focusing their growth in the suburbs rather than the inner city. The property is located between U.S. Highway 290 and Interstate 10 outside of the 610 Loop but inside Beltway 8.

 

The owners have not finalized their plans for the property, but they expect to market it as a mixed-use site, the Chronicle reports.

 

The property has seen ups and downs over the past few years. HCA Gulf Coast closed the facility in 2010, and Houston-based McVey & Co. purchased it in 2011. However, the center declared bankruptcy in 2012, and a New York-based firm foreclosed on the property last year.

 

[ArchFan]

It will be interesting to see what happens to this property.  I would love to see that general area come back.

 

I have many good memories of Spring Branch Hospital, at least from the early years (1960s).  The earliest were as a kid, waiting in the nurses' station for my dad to finish making his rounds seeing patients there.  Those are good memories.  Later, however, I think the quality of care dropped off as the years passed.  Years later, I had a bad expedience personally due to the negligence and/or incompetence of one of the nursing staff there.  Ironically, I later heard that the physician treating me also had lost his mother there, allegedly due to poor care.  After the hospital failed, a local physician told me that they had been bleeding money due to demographic changes in the area, which resulted in them having to provide care for people who didn't pay their bills.  

[Fortune]

Surprised a townhomes developer hasn't bought it yet, probably after the demolition.

[Highrise Tower]

Paving sitework permit for future apartments.  Do we know what branding this is?

 

[Highrise Tower]

Construction updates.