The Travis: 30-Story High-Rise At 3300 Main St.

[West Timer]

Midtown. We have a skyline.

[rechlin]

From last week:

 

[bobruss]

51 minutes ago, rechlin said:

From last week:

 

Thats a great shot. Whats striking is you can  see how much of mid town is now predominantly  5-8 story complexes or taller.

It would be interesting see an aerial view of this same area from say 2000.

The density stretches from just north of W. Dallas and the Post properties all the way to 59, the Ion and Fiesta.

Now we need one facing the other way and we can make our own panoramas. Seems to me to be an impressive amount of infill in less than 20 years.

Edited October 3, 2019 by bobruss

[Highrise Tower]

On 8/13/2019 at 9:31 PM, corbs315 said:

Just curious is there any idea about the prospective tenants of this place? I'm sure I could click back a little but is it office/retail/apartments/etc?

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/3300-Main-St-Houston-TX/15916420/

 

Quote

 

This 6,663 square feet of contiguous restaurant/retail space fronting Main is ideal for restaurants or coffee shops. A 367 square foot covered patio is available at the corner of Main and Stuart and a 244 square foot patio is available at the corner of Main and Francis. The space can be subdivided to various sizes down to as little as 900 square fee

 

This 7,776 square feet of contiguous flex space fronting Travis is ideal for service orientated retail, fitness, medical, or office uses. The space can be subdivided to various sizes down to as little as 1,350 square feet.

 

 

[Highrise Tower]

[hindesky]

Main St southbound is open again.

[Highrise Tower]

[Urbannizer]

Um...Lets hope we see some sort of screening/facade for that parking podium

[phillip_white]

6 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Um...Lets hope we see some sort of screening/facade for that parking podium

 

They showed a screen in the previous renderings, so fingers crossed.

 

[Triton]

The Travis by Marc longoria, on Flickr

[hindesky]

Tower crane was hanging patio handrails on the north side of the building when I went by.

[Highrise Tower]

[hindesky]

[houstontexasjack]

Got this shot of the Sun peaking through the top floors:

 

[hindesky]

[Plokij]

[hindesky]

Tower crane is coming down, noticed it on my way to work this morning.

[dbigtex56]

Hope they can find somewhere to relocate these creepy semi-transparent people. Looks like an outtake from "The Sixth Sense".

 

 

 

[bobruss]

They do look like they could vaporize any second.

Edited December 17, 2019 by bobruss

[phillip_white]

Midtown's rapidly expanding skyline district:

 

 

[wilcal]

Kind of an asshole move with how they have the sidewalk blocked on both sides. Was walking to Tacos a Go Go the other night and came across this:

 

 

Oh, I guess I'll have to cross the street.

 

 

Cool.

 

So you have to walk west a block and cross the Travis highway without a painted crosswalk or walk back up to Elgin and go around.

 

Don't think crap like this flies in most cities. 

 

[hindesky]

44 minutes ago, wilcal said:

Kind of an asshole move with how they have the sidewalk blocked on both sides. Was walking to Tacos a Go Go the other night and came across this:

 

 

Oh, I guess I'll have to cross the street.

 

 

Cool.

 

So you have to walk west a block and cross the Travis highway without a painted crosswalk or walk back up to Elgin and go around.

 

Don't think crap like this flies in most cities. 

 

I hope they open a few sections of the fencing around the light rail like they did around Camden's project further up.

[Purdueenginerd]

Yeah, Houston contractors are really bad about sidewalk closures. Normally poorly thought out compared to other cities. Not sure if this is handled at the permitting office or not. 

[hindesky]

 

[hindesky]

[ChannelTwoNews]

From yesterday...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hindesky]

[Derek]

Website is up!  https://thetravishouston.com/

 

Only a few 1Br rates are listed - the cheapest unit going for $1900/mo. !!  

Current special is 2 mo. free on a 13 mo. lease (net effective rent $1607.69), which is more reasonable imo. Looks like Drewery Place has some competition 👀

 

Also funny they're using a picture of the Rise Lofts on their website

[brijonmang]

Edited to include a different picture that has the whole skyline.

Edited January 12, 2020 by brijonmang

[Squirrel]

So I toured this and just some anecdotes:

 

The interior finishes and appliances are great, there is actually ample closet and storage space (huge coat closets etc). There are dressers/drawers in each closet which is great. 

 

Some weird design choices are the windows are massive squares almost the size of the wall but can't open. The only fresh air you get is if you open the balcony door but there is no screen so bugs. For a concrete building on the 10th floor I could hear every car that drove by and the train is very evident, some people wouldn't mind but I thought it would be much quieter for a concrete high rise. Drewery place was silent relative. 

 

Also, I knew the HCC building would block views but its not even the biggest eyesore. Its their parking garage. On the 10th floor its right in your face on those expensive downtown view units. To not have it in your view from your kitchen or living room you'd probably have to be on the 17th floor at least. 

[Plokij]

[Urbannizer]

Horrendous parking structure 

[CaptainJilliams]

Please don't tell me they are going to leave it like that.

 

Aren't they at least going to put a screen around the garage instead of leaving it open and exposed?

[danielsonr]

On 6/1/2018 at 1:50 PM, lockmat said:

AECOM says it's 29 stories. Has a worse rendering, too. Google says it was updated seven days ago.

 

 

https://www.aecom.com/projects/3300-main-street/

If this rendering in lockmat’s post is any indication, there are no plans for screening the garage. Very disappointing. I hope PM develops a project with higher design standards at its Montrose/Westheimer site.

[jmitch94]

2 hours ago, CaptainJilliams said:

Please don't tell me they are going to leave it like that.

 

Aren't they at least going to put a screen around the garage instead of leaving it open and exposed?

 

 

I wouldn't count on it. The Mosaic Condominiums did nothing to cover their garage and their buildings are much nicer that this soviet block looking building. 

[Luminare]

10 hours ago, danielsonr said:

If this rendering in lockmat’s post is any indication, there are no plans for screening the garage. Very disappointing. I hope PM develops a project with higher design standards at its Montrose/Westheimer site.

 

Could be worse. It could still be a surface parking lot.

[MarathonMan]

The parking podium was never covered in any previous renderings.  It’s definitely not the crown jewel of Midtown, but it’s adequate infill.  I just hope they change the stucco from its current cement gray tone.  White would be nice.

 

It’s interesting to see The Travis in close proximity to Drewery Place.  It makes me appreciate the quality Cayden puts into its product!

Edited January 21, 2020 by MarathonMan

[West Timer]

At least the garage isn't really facing Main Street. Overall, this may not be one of Houston's finest looking buildings IMO, but I won't complain about it because I've wanted to see Midtown develop a real skyline for a long time and this building is helping way more than it is hurting. Plus, it makes that section of Main St. look a lot better than it ever did before.

Edited January 21, 2020 by West Timer

[Squirrel]

2 hours ago, West Timer said:

At least the garage isn't really facing Main Street. Overall, this may not be one of Houston's finest looking buildings IMO, but I won't complain about it because I've wanted to see Midtown develop a real skyline for a long time and this building is helping way more than it is hurting. Plus, it makes that section of Main St. look a lot better than it ever did before.

From what I was told the entrance to the garage is on main street which seems like a terrible idea...

[Luminare]

47 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

From what I was told the entrance to the garage is on main street which seems like a terrible idea...

 

From what I've seen being on site, and the photos/renders I've seen the entrance will be on Francis St. The retail and Lobby will all front Main St. Who told you otherwise?

[ZRFkris]

I wish screening garages would become the standard. We have real use for it here in Houston as well as it would help keep temperatures down.

[Luminare]

2 hours ago, ZRFkris said:

I wish screening garages would become the standard. We have real use for it here in Houston as well as it would help keep temperatures down.

 

I think it will become standard soon. We need to remember that this project was built before Walkable Places Ordinances were passed for Midtown. The Ion Garage is the first example of how this new standard will start affecting construction as well as the new Kimpton Hotel. So NOW its the standard. Before the implementation The Travis was the standard.

 

EDIT: Not implemented as of this post. Still in planning and seeking public comment. Boooo.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Luminare
further clarification

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

I think it will become standard soon. We need to remember that this project was built before Walkable Places Ordinances were passed for Midtown. The Ion Garage is the first example of how this new standard will start affecting construction as well as the new Kimpton Hotel. So NOW its the standard. Before the implementation The Travis was the standard.

 

 

Very cool.  Can you provide a link to the ordinance?

[Luminare]

6 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

 

Very cool.  Can you provide a link to the ordinance?

 

Seems I misspoke. I swore they passed it last fall, but it seems its been pushed back to get more public comments. My bad. I'll correct my previous comments with an edit. You know what I was probably thinking of was the passing of the elimination of parking minimums for this part of town (or a portion of it).

 

For now here is the thread where its being discussed:
 

 

Here is a recent article about it from Community Impact:

 

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/development/2020/01/14/public-has-final-chance-to-weigh-in-on-new-policies-aiming-to-make-houston-more-walkable/

 

Here is the city's page on Walkable Places specifically for Midtown:

 

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Commissions/walkable-places-midtown.html

 

It seems like a bunch of the links I'm getting a 404 error on the city website, my guess is that they have taken down stuff until the end of public comments and will then update. The city though is pretty dead set on passing this ordinance. What's interesting is that other areas can apply to become part of the program at some point.

 

With that being said, even though its not an official ordinance, the specific projects I mention should be an indication that the market is already see this passing at some point and would rather play ball than against.

 

[Houston19514]

/\   I can't find anything in those materials (or in any other materials I can find on-line) that indicates that the Walkable Places ordinance would impose screening or other design standards on parking garages.  I wish/hope they will and I think the City needs to impose design standards on parking garages city-wide.)

Edited January 21, 2020 by Houston19514

[Luminare]

19 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

/\   I can't find anything in those materials (or in any other materials I can find on-line) that indicates that the Walkable Places ordinance would impose screening or other design standards on parking garages.  I wish/hope they will and I think the City needs to impose design standards on parking garages city-wide.)

 

Hmm. Well I'm fallible. If it ends up not being something in Walkable Places then I'll own up to it. Now I'm questioning why I thought this was the case in the first place. Really strange.

 

EDIT: Legit embarrassed haha.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Luminare

[Urbannizer]

https://twitter.com/mnolangray/status/1219728171878232065/photo/2

[brijonmang]

 

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]