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Mixed-Use Development At 1111 Main St.


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http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2015/03/30/city-seeks-developer-for-mixed-use-project-at.html

 

The Downtown Redevelopment Authority is looking for a team to develop a major project downtown.

The 35,579-square-foot site at 1111 Main St. is expected to be developed into a multifamily residential and/or hotel mid- or high-rise tower with retail on the lower floors. The DRA issued a request for qualifications on March 30 for interested development teams.

RFQ submissions are due May 26, according to the DRA's document, and deal is expected to be executed in February 2016

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The primary objective of this process is to create a successful mixed-use project that includes signature retail with residential or hotel along with parking by the redevelopment of 1111 Main and the retail space(s) at 1010 Lamar. 

 

Demolition of the existing Garage Facility portion of the Site and the construction of a replacement building (the "Replacement Building") where the Garage Facility was formerly located;

 

 

From that I assume they will demolish the building entirely (also by the graphic on page 24). Shame.

Edited by Montrose1100
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My hope is that this project would keep at least the skin of the old building. It's nice that the office building on the block will open up the lobby/lower levels for retail. 

 

Will be interesting to see what this project produces.

 

It looks like they envision demolition of the old building.  The requirement for glass area at the streetscape level probably makes re-use impractical.

 

 

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what.png


why am i so completely stunned?


i was always under the dire impression, that this particular edifice was to be updated / upgraded / renovated to become a prominent lead anchor retail establishment.


now they are proposing to incorporate a mix used scheme involving lodging / hospitality.  (from the old sakowitz department store)


it is now quite evident to me, that they are having much difficulty attracting a top level department store brand back to downtown houston, since the departure of macy's.


should this be so, then this is quite sad / terrible news indeed.....

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*sigh* another one bites the dust. Would be nice if they could incorporate the original facade into the new design, but I highly doubt it. All I know is if they do plan on demolishing this then they better get this right and it better be an awesome looking building and no some scaled back cheesy crap.

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what.png

why am i so completely stunned?

i was always under the dire impression, that this particular edifice was to be updated / upgraded / renovated to become a prominent lead anchor retail establishment.

now they are proposing to incorporate a mix used scheme involving lodging / hospitality.  (from the old sakowitz department store)

it is now quite evident to me, that they are having much difficulty attracting a top level department store brand back to downtown houston, since the departure of macy's.

should this be so, then this is quite sad / terrible news indeed.....

 

 

Not really.  Traditional large downtown department stores are a dying breed.  I can't imagine that any one of the remaining department stores would take the risk that this location entails.  

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*sigh* another one bites the dust. Would be nice if they could incorporate the original facade into the new design, but I highly doubt it. All I know is if they do plan on demolishing this then they better get this right and it better be an awesome looking building and no some scaled back cheesy crap.

yup and hoping its a high rise 

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why am i so completely stunned?

i was always under the dire impression, that this particular edifice was to be updated / upgraded / renovated to become a prominent lead anchor retail establishment.

now they are proposing to incorporate a mix used scheme involving lodging / hospitality.  (from the old sakowitz department store)

it is now quite evident to me, that they are having much difficulty attracting a top level department store brand back to downtown houston, since the departure of macy's.

should this be so, then this is quite sad / terrible news indeed.....

 

I can't remember the exact year, maybe 2004, the building was going to have American Apparel instead of their current location on Westheimer. After they didn't open up in 1111 Main, numerous renderings have surfaced all the way up until the recent Dallas Street Retail plan to have the building's lower floors converted into usable retail space. A poster dropped Bloomingdale's name in another thread. 

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Well as depressing as it is that the city wants to tear down the Sakowitz, imagine if Midway co developed the site (I'd imagine the city isn't looking at tackling this venture all on their own) as an expansion of GreenStreet. Bam! The fabled GS residential component.

I also like th mention of "no height restrictions". Heh..

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With all of this investment, GreenStreet had better turn into one heck of a jewel.  It'd be nice if GS were up and running with all of its tenants in tow.  That way, it'd be easier for us HAIFers to visualize/fantasize about this block.  As it stands now, I don't know what to make of it.

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I'm hoping for a nice residential tower with ground floor retail with higher end stores and a nice restaurant or two. Then I hope they do something with the corner store on the other side of the block.

Edited by Nole23
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This is a done deal, you know this is going to happen, for better or worse:

 

Public sector incentives may be available for the project, but public incentives will only be available in PROJECT PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS PAGE 24 REQUEST FOR DEVELOPER QUALIFICATIONS PROJECT PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS the event that the Chief Development Officer and the Authority board approve redevelopment plans and any incentive offered.

 

 

and is this a good or bad thing?:

 

Respondents will be evaluated on the following criteria: The design quality of the project

 

 

Edited by lockmat
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It looks like they envision demolition of the old building.  The requirement for glass area at the streetscape level probably makes re-use impractical.

 

Well, the Sakowitz Building probably meets (or could meet) the glass area requirements listed in requirement no. iii.  The clue that demolition is contemplated is really in requirement no. i:

 

"Demolition of the existing Garage Facility portion of the Site and the construction of a replacement building (the "Replacement Building") where the Garage Facility was formerly located"

 

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Can't we just repurpose instead of demolish for once, God damnit

 

They did so with this very building as a garage.  It didn't really help The Greater Good, as near as I can tell. 

 

The Rice, Magnolia, Icon, State National, 806 Main and Texaco were all saved, Great Southwest looks to have a future too; heck, someone is even rehabbing the Central Square building in Midtown. That's seven big buildings that were/will be rehabbed from bad shape off the top of my head.  Houston Club, Foleys, Texas Tower, Incarnate Word, Montagu/whatever was on that block didn't make the cut. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

I can't really decipher if the are intending to do so or not here, but, re-repurposing a former department store turned parking garage in to a third iteration that ends up as a cost effective investment for the redevelopers is walking a tight line, though I suppose more "incentives" could probably fill the gap, as they always can. If anyone has ideas that investors will buy into that fit that criteria, you might save some money versus a tear down.

 

The marble is nice, I guess, but this building is otherwise a minimally adorned box. A new build could easily be better looking, though it could just as easily be worse.  As the base of a tower like the Hearst example in NYC, this one would be a bad candidate, IMO.

Edited by Nate99
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Given the central location, I could see the new structure also incorporating a prominent street-level gateway to the tunnel system (via 1111 Travis and 1010 Lamar).  People have always said that the tunnel system needs more of an interaction with the street, and given the proximity to two hotels and the light rail and the desire to foster a retail district on Dallas, this seems one location where it could be pulled off (the Louisiana-Walker-Milam-McKinney block would be better, but that's another story).  

 

 

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Given the central location, I could see the new structure also incorporating a prominent street-level gateway to the tunnel system (via 1111 Travis and 1010 Lamar). People have always said that the tunnel system needs more of an interaction with the street, and given the proximity to two hotels and the light rail and the desire to foster a retail district on Dallas, this seems one location where it could be pulled off (the Louisiana-Walker-Milam-McKinney block would be better, but that's another story).

Genius! A grand entrance would be cool.

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Given the central location, I could see the new structure also incorporating a prominent street-level gateway to the tunnel system (via 1111 Travis and 1010 Lamar). People have always said that the tunnel system needs more of an interaction with the street, and given the proximity to two hotels and the light rail and the desire to foster a retail district on Dallas, this seems one location where it could be pulled off (the Louisiana-Walker-Milam-McKinney block would be better, but that's another story).

I adore this idea.

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