The Woodlands Gate Mixed-Use Project

[wxman]

Fresh from the rumor mill:

 

It is my understanding that the shopping strip where Popeye's, Crabby Daddy's and others will be torn down in 2015 to make way for a high rise.

 

How do I know this? Well, my aunt got to chit chatting with one of the owners of a business in that strip center and they said that they were going to be moving soon to a new location because the landlord of that strip center is no longer signing long-term leases. They, the businesses, were notified a few weeks back that the center will be razed and replaced with a high rise office building.

 

I have nothing more on this but upon hearing it I had two immediate thoughts. 1: it couldn't be in a more awkward spot. 2. Traffic is already horrendous at the 45/Rayford intersection. It'll be a total cluster in that area if this is true. Seems like such a strange spot for a tower, yes?

Edited April 24, 2014 by wxman

[digitalmeatloaf]

Well something is going up there.  J Beard Represented the buyer. Apparently it is "mixed used":

http://impactnews.com/blogs/the-woodlands-impacts/coming-soon%3A-woodlands-gateway-plaza/

[Urbannizer]

presentation.pdf 

 

http://impactnews.com/houston-metro/the-woodlands/eb-5-program-offers-options-for-local-business-ventures/

 

 

The Best Development Company is developing the Woodlands Gate project, a mixed-use development with 220 multifamily units and 17,000 square feet of retail space located along Hwy. 242 and FM 1488, said Jose Villamediana, BDC owner and Greater Houston Investment Center founder and principal. Villamediana said BDC is also developing three other future projects in The Woodlands area.

 

 

 

 

 

[monarch]

lovely.  now where exactly is this located?

[Houston?]

I'm loving this!!!!! This is in an odd location, but it will work eventually!

Edited October 21, 2014 by Houston?

[BigFootsSocks]

More like this damn this looks sick

[BigFootsSocks]

Also in the pdf it says it's off of I45?

[wxman]

WOW, this looks amazing!!! So is this at 242 and 45 or 1488 and 45? The two aren't close together. So gotta be one or the other.

[Texasota]

I like the look of this. Shame about the location.

[Texasota]

Based on the site map its on the east side of 45 north of rayford. not even actually The Woodlands.

[Texasota]

The more I think about this the more it irritates me. The first step in good development is site selection, and this is an absolutely terrible site. The brochure crows about this thing being pedestrian oriented, but where exactly are these pedestrians coming from? There is nothing even remotely pedestrian scaled for miles around this site. 

 

Now if it were actually in the Woodlands, particularly if it were connected to the riverwalk area and Market Street, then it could actually build off of existing complementary development and contribute to a walkable district.

As it stands, this is the pedestrian oriented equivalent of greenwashing. Just another place for people to drive to, walk around and shop, then drive home. 

[wxman]

I just looked at the map. This will be buried along the edge of The Woodlands in the woods at the corner of 242 and 1488. This won't be seen at all from 45 and will be pretty well hidden unless you intentially travel along 1488.

[BigFootsSocks]

The impact news article says 1488 & 242 Buuut the pdf says 45

[cloud713]

Wow, what a crappy location for such a neat project.. :/

[Luminare]

Holy flurf!!! This came way out in left field o.o

 

I do agree...not the best location, but it looks like national/international trends might be pushing into Houston finally...

[Sparrow]

I thought somewhere I read that the retail center at the northeast corner of I-45 and Sawdust/Rayford was to be redeveloped as an office building, which the link shows. Perhaps the local community newspaper misquoted the gentleman. The article does discuss several different projects. The schematic clearly shows the development pictured above at 45 and Rayford where Crabby Daddy and Popeyes Chicken are currently. This location would really be the "gate" of The Woodlands. 242 and 1488 would be the "back door".

 

The same newspaper also has a story about the Camp Strake property and a Sam Houston State medical school by the way.

[cloud713]

 

 

IntroducRon

  to

  the

  Woodlands

  Gate

  EB-­‐5

  Project

  

The

   Woodlands

   Gate

   Project

   will

   develop,

   construct,

   and

   convert

   approximately

   3.82

   acres

   of

   real

   property

   located

   at

   25192

   Interstate

   Highway

   45,

   The

   Woodlands,

   Texas

   into

   a

   222,000

   square

   foot

   mixed-­‐use

   commercial

   project

   containing

   neighborhood

   retail,

   extended

   stay

  Hotel,

  and

  professional

  office

  space.

idk why the quote was pasted so weird, but it looks like this may actually be on i45, in which case this is a much better location. lol. Sparrow appears to be right that its planned for where the Crabby Daddy and all that is.

http://greaterhoustoninvestmentcenter.com/the-woodlands-gate/

Edited October 21, 2014 by cloud713

[toxtethogrady]

That is a swell-looking building. Beats the average wrap by a mile.

 

I just hope the developer doesn't look at his budget and decide to do some value-engineering.

[Urbannizer]

This site says the developers have already found a tenant for the office portion:

 

http://www.penberaparis.com/ghic.cfm

 

 The GHIC's first approved project --Woodlands Gate-- was submitted and approved with the regional center application, and consists of 220,000 square feet of commercial, class A office space, extended stay hotel, and retail shops along highway 1-45, at the entrance to The Woodlands and proximate to the new Exxon Mobil campus. The total project cost is $66.7 million. The project company is Best Development Company (BDC), The Woodlands. The major tenant will be Lukiven, International, one of the largest gas and oil equipment, supply and service providers in Latin America. PenberaParis owns the GHIC and acts as the General Partner to BDC projects.

[lockmat]

So we still don't really know the exact location

[toxtethogrady]

This really wants to be somewhere between the Town Center and Hughes Landing.

 

And look, it's being advertised as an EB-5 opportunity!

Edited November 9, 2014 by toxtethogrady

[cloud713]

So we still don't really know the exact location

Huh? I thought we determined that to be on the east side of i45, on the south side of the woodlands, across from that Academy and the chain food places?

[toxtethogrady]

At this point, I don't even think GHIC knows. Which is to say they don't have a property locked down. They say 242 and 1488, but that kind of in the middle of nowhere.

[BigFootsSocks]

No I'm pretty sure we do know and you're still going off that misquoted Community Impact article, who are known for not getting their reports 100% correct.

[bachanon]

So, it was said at the annual Economic Outlook Conference in February that an EB-5 development would be going in at Robinson Rd. and I-45; Woodlands Parkway turns into Robinson Road on the east side of I-45.  This would be in line with the sentence in the Penbera Paris notice that states: "The GHIC's first approved project --Woodlands Gate-- was submitted and approved with the regional center application, and consists of 220,000 square feet of commercial, class A office space, extended stay hotel, and retail shops along highway 1-45, at the entrance to The Woodlands and proximate to the new Exxon Mobil campus."  "....at the entrance to The Woodlands.." Being the key part of the statement.

 

My bad!!!  There's more than one.  Woodlands Gate looks like it is at 1488 and 242.

[wxman]

So, it was said at the annual Economic Outlook Conference in February that an EB-5 development would be going in at Robinson Rd. and I-45; Woodlands Parkway turns into Robinson Road on the east side of I-45.  This would be in line with the sentence in the Penbera Paris notice that states: "The GHIC's first approved project --Woodlands Gate-- was submitted and approved with the regional center application, and consists of 220,000 square feet of commercial, class A office space, extended stay hotel, and retail shops along highway 1-45, at the entrance to The Woodlands and proximate to the new Exxon Mobil campus."  "....at the entrance to The Woodlands.." Being the key part of the statement.

 

My bad!!!  There's more than one.  Woodlands Gate looks like it is at 1488 and 242.

 

The only place that 242 and 1488 intersect is at the back of The Woodlands. If that is indeed the location, that is nowhere near I-45. So something is off here. And what is the "entrance to The Woodlands?" Is it 1488 on I-45 south? Is it Rayford/Sawdust on I-45 north? Is it Robinson Rd. to the east at the beginning of The Woodlands Parkway? None of it makes sense to be honest with you.

 

I made a post in another thread about an office building to be erected at the corner of I-45 and Rayford. Crabby Daddy's along with Popeyes and all the other shops in that strip center got notices last year that that property is going to be razed to make room for a highrise. At the time, I didn't give it much thought. A year later, those businesses are still thriving. Since I now live in Florida (although I'm back in The Woodlands often) somebody should stop in to Popeyes or Crabby Daddy's for lunch one day and ask if they are indeed being forced to vacate soon. I'd be interested in knowing if something has changed or not.

 

Here's the thread I created back in April...

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/30183-rayford-highrise/

 

This article on "Woodlands Gatway Plaza" was posted back in April:

 

http://impactnews.com/blogs/the-woodlands-impacts/coming-soon%3A-woodlands-gateway-plaza/

 

Edited November 10, 2014 by wxman

[bachanon]

something doesn't add up here...

 

[toxtethogrady]

If you think something doesn't add up, take a look at the company profile for the local office of Lukiven International. It sounds like a small outpost. Exactly how much office space are they taking? The most solid tenant in the place so far is Cambria Suites.

 

I'm still hoping this happens, but it sounds like early days...

[Urbannizer]

SubdivisionPlatPDF_Woodlands Gate.pdf

[toxtethogrady]

I have the nagging suspicion this will look nothing like the rendering. Color me jaded.

[wxman]

Looks like a lot of shops in that strip center close to the corner of Rayford and the North Frwy (where Krabby Daddy's is) are beginning to close up and leases aren't being renewed. I'm not sure if this development is moving forward or not.

[Urbannizer]

Came across some revised renderings that are also more detailed. An article from September 2015 mentions the developer had an early 2016 groundbreaking in mind. Not sure if it's still in the works.

 

http://prismrenderings.com/portfolio/

 

 

 

[cloud713]

As with the St Thomas science building, the roof trellis was axed. Still a nice looking development. The office (or hotel?) portion looks a lot like a larger BLVD Place.

Edited May 17, 2016 by cloud713

[The Pragmatist]

1 hour ago, Urbannizer said:

Came across some revised renderings that are also more detailed. An article from September 2015 mentions the developer had an early 2016 groundbreaking in mind. Not sure if it's still in the works.

 

http://prismrenderings.com/portfolio/

 

 

 

It's an interesting development, but that's one odd location for a development like this. It is reminiscent of that exercise in discontinuity that is the Memorial City area.

[Urbannizer]

Construction now planned to begin in 2017 and take two yrs to complete.

 

http://nmdnomadas.com/mixta#/woodlandsgate/

 

 

 

[lockmat]

On Ziegler Coopers website now. Drove by there the other day and most of the spaces of the current shopping center are empty.

 

http://zieglercooper.com/confidential-mixed-use-development-4/

 

This seems really out of place for this location. It will be interesting to see if other sites nearby redevelop too.

[Urbannizer]

10 hours ago, lockmat said:

On Ziegler Coopers website now. Drove by there the other day and most of the spaces of the current shopping center are empty.

 

http://zieglercooper.com/confidential-mixed-use-development-4/

 

From ZC's webpage:

 

Located at the intersection of I-45 and Rayford Road – the first exit north of Houston that serves The Woodlands and the new Exxon campus, this mixed-use project is significant to the area’s development. The 3.8-acre master-planned site comprises a 127,000-s.f. office building, a 700-car parking garage,17,000 s.f. of retail, a 13,000-s.f. entertainment venue, restaurant and a140-key hotel. The small, urban-scaled site and visibility provide the opportunity for creating a destination location. Seamless mixing of the seven restaurants, upscale food market, hotel, venue and office offers a 24-hour  environment. The project has two levels of plazas tied together with overlooks, stairs and escalators. A shade structure, lushly landscaped outdoor seating and water features create an oasis from suburban traffic. The center will generate programs, concerts and social activities, with the central entertainment venue serving as a focal point for events and create energy and activity within the development.

[wxman]

So is this still happening, not happening? I haven't heard another word about it and business seems to be thriving at the strip mall that currently sits in its spot.