Houston Center Redevelopment

[H-Town Man]

57 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

 

 I wonder what this means for the 6HC site. I'd much prefer a swanky glass residential high-rise there to compliment Houston Center.

 

I would imagine whatever happens there is dictated by the market more than the owner. They are going to develop whatever produces the highest return. I'm guessing that is office. Unless the market really tanks, if you have adjacent office buildings and a way to connect to the skybridge/tunnel system, office will be more profitable than residential.

 

[swtsig]

don't think the 6 Houston site was part of the deal... that parcel is still owned by John Goff and Crescent. i'd be more interested to see if Brookfield plans to repurpose some of 4 Houston and the Shops. they'll certainly enhance the streetscape similar to Allen Center, they have an excellent track record of doing exactly that.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

The buildings acquired by Brookfield include:

 

LyondellBasell Tower – 46 stories; 1.1M SF at 1221 McKinney St.

2 Houston Center – 40 stories; 1M SF at 909 Fannin.

Fulbright Tower – 51 stories; 1.2M SF at 1301 McKinney.

4 Houston Center – 16 stories; 674,000 SF on Lamar Street

The Shops at Houston Center – 3 stories; 196,000 SF on McKinney Street.

[Urbannizer]

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

 

 

[Urbannizer]

Can't edit or get anything to embed at the moment 

 

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

 

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

[lockmat]

9 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Can't edit or get anything to embed at the moment 

 

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

 

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

 

I got your back bro, great find

 

If this is implemented as-is, it will garner a lot of national attention.

 

For those of you on a cell phone, this is viewed much better on a desktop, especially for reading the text.

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by lockmat

[H-Town Man]

9 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

https://www.facebook.com/17001257/posts/10104951724331711/

 

 

 

Huge find. This is looking east from the corner of McKinney and San Jacinto. Looks like they are narrowing the street to two lanes, replacing the garden area in front of 1 Houston Center with a retail space, redoing the Park Shops façade in glass and bringing the first floor further out, and adding some shade to it all. Big question is going to be whether they successfully encourage pedestrian movement between the ground level and second/third levels, or if this ends up maintaining/reinforcing the separation of a mezzanine-level private realm and a less desirable ground-level public realm, which has always been the mindset of Houston Center. Will pedestrians and shoppers who don't work at HC be allowed/encouraged to walk to the upper levels?

 

Not clear if pedestrians on the south side of McKinney will actually be forced to walk through the building? I would not give up that ROW if I were the city; the pedestrian realm should be protected on both sides of the street. Hopefully further renderings will clarify.

Edited June 8, 2018 by H-Town Man

[H-Town Man]

Also some interesting work to the upper facades of buildings. 4 Houston Center looks like it might be losing the beige brick and getting some sunshade fins, recalling the Tenneco and Humble buildings, a definite enhancement. 1 Houston Center looks like it will get a big interruption to its Miesian form about a third of the way up, which will disappoint purists, preservationists (this is Houston's one true Mies-style highrise), and Mies fans.

 

[lockmat]

They're essentially public buildings in the commons spaces right now. You can walk building to building via the skywalks without employee access, so my guess it would remain the same.

[lockmat]

18 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

Also some interesting work to the upper facades of buildings. 4 Houston Center looks like it might be losing the beige brick and getting some sunshade fins, recalling the Tenneco and Humble buildings, a definite enhancement. 1 Houston Center looks like it will get a big interruption to its Miesian form about a third of the way up, which will disappoint purists, preservationists (this is Houston's one true Mies-style highrise), and Mies fans.

 

 

I was just thinking before you wrote this that if these had any architectural significance they probably wouldn't make these changes. Because they are so 80's, it gives them an opportunity like this to jazz 'em up.

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, lockmat said:

 

I was just thinking before you wrote this that if these had any architectural significance they probably wouldn't make these changes. Because they are so 80's, it gives them an opportunity like this to jazz 'em up.

 

I think 1HC has architectural significance, as it is a near-perfect imitation of a Mies building. Sort of like when art museums say a painting is "in the school of Rembrandt," this is "in the school of Mies." Houston is going to see a lot of changes to its 70's-80's era buildings over the next decade or so as property owners try to make them more competitive, especially in a high vacancy market. Buildings in general are at most risk of demolition or radical renovation when they are 30-60 years old. The style they were built in has gone completely out, and it hasn't yet been revived or rediscovered.

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by H-Town Man

[Avossos]

23 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I think 1HC has architectural significance, as it is a near-perfect imitation of a Mies building. Sort of like when art museums say a painting is "in the school of Rembrandt," this is "in the school of Mies." Houston is going to see a lot of changes to it's 70's-80's era buildings over the next decade or so as property owners try to make them more competitive, especially in a high vacancy market. Buildings in general are at most risk of demolition or radical renovation when they are 30-60 years old. The style they were built in has gone completely out, and it hasn't yet been revived or rediscovered.

 

 

I am sorry, but I love Mies and I think calling 1 Houston Center a good interpretation of Mies is a HUGE stretch. I am a huge preservationist, but for years I have been calling for some sort of change to happen to the top of this building. Any value this building has dies when looking at it as a whole.

 

I welcome the change. I think it could be an incredible opportunity to take a boring building and make it special.

 

I only wish 1 Houston Center would be redone first.

[H-Town Man]

36 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

I am sorry, but I love Mies and I think calling 1 Houston Center a good interpretation of Mies is a HUGE stretch. I am a huge preservationist, but for years I have been calling for some sort of change to happen to the top of this building. Any value this building has dies when looking at it as a whole.

 

I welcome the change. I think it could be an incredible opportunity to take a boring building and make it special.

 

I only wish 1 Houston Center would be redone first.

 

What about this building do you think makes it different from a Mies? What do you want to see happen to the top of it?

 

[Avossos]

9 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

What about this building do you think makes it different from a Mies? What do you want to see happen to the top of it?

 

 

With Mies, I see stronger linear forms and the cross stitching affect. This to me is like dropping a couple drops of milk (Mies) into water (basic functional architecture). I can see the connection, but to me it is so dull and bland, it is not worth any sort of protection. I think a freshening will do this building good.

 

I would love to see a crown or point of interest happen. Something that matches the style, but doesn't push it too far our of the original vibe. I think there are quiet a few interesting crowns / top accents they can do to reinforce a clean look while covering up the lazy utility box sitting on top...

 

Imagine this with some cool lighting affects, possible linear forms stretching from crown down the top few floors.

 

[H-Town Man]

11 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

With Mies, I see stronger linear forms and the cross stitching affect. This to me is like dropping a couple drops of milk (Mies) into water (basic functional architecture). I can see the connection, but to me it is so dull and bland, it is not worth any sort of protection. I think a freshening will do this building good.

 

I would love to see a crown or point of interest happen. Something that matches the style, but doesn't push it too far our of the original vibe. I think there are quiet a few interesting crowns / top accents they can do to reinforce a clean look while covering up the lazy utility box sitting on top...

 

Imagine this with some cool lighting affects, possible linear forms stretching from crown down the top few floors.

 

 

I think Mies' stuff has maybe a little more texture, but not much. That view of Seagram is very non-reflective. Again, it's "in the school of Mies," not by the master himself. I think 1 HC has an elegant shaft that should be left alone, except for the lowest stories.

 

http://images4.loopnet.com/i2/Cy4SGw7CyOnzSkbkZLJCt8EgTj668uKBWvzy90KYsSM/112/image.jpg

 

(Not going to spend an hour figuring out why HAIF won't embed this for me.)

Edited June 8, 2018 by H-Town Man

[Nate99]

McKinney Street would look entirely different. That is a very cool concept, though the graphic design of the rendering photos is disorienting. 

[Avossos]

4 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I think Mies' stuff has maybe a little more texture, but not much. That view of Seagram is very non-reflective. Again, it's "in the school of Mies," not by the master himself. I think 1 HC has an elegant shaft that should be left alone, except for the lowest stories.

 

http://images4.loopnet.com/i2/Cy4SGw7CyOnzSkbkZLJCt8EgTj668uKBWvzy90KYsSM/112/image.jpg

 

(Not going to spend an hour figuring out why HAIF won't embed this for me.)

 

If that’s all we saw, it would be great. But the box on top visible from most views in Houston is the kicker

[H-Town Man]

38 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

If that’s all we saw, it would be great. But the box on top visible from most views in Houston is the kicker

 

That's funny, I always noticed it but never really thought about it. Just seems like rooftop utilities, hard to do much with them. A little more obtrusive than most I guess.

 

[Texasota]

You should never mess with an elegant shaft.

[H-Town Man]

This must be an alternate plan to the one posted somewhere else a few months ago. This looks much lower budget and doesn't involve the massive streetscape changes.

[UtterlyUrban]

I see signage that says “bar”, “conference”, and “coffee”.........

 

am I to assume from this that the folks converting this space are not looking to bring honest-to-goodness retail shops (clothing, home decor, etc.)?

 

Downtown bars=75 and climbing.  A place to buy a good pair of jeans=0 and staying steady.

 

 

 

 

[Texasota]

The Mckinney frontage looks substantially different. No indications of any changes on the Lamar side though. This isn't revolutionary, but it definitely seems like an improvement.

[intencity77]

Yawn...more eat/drink/food hall venues downtown?! Where is the retail?

[pablog]

1 hour ago, intencity77 said:

Yawn...more eat/drink/food hall venues downtown?! Where is the retail?

They will come. All these food halls will become the key tenants of the downtown mall (similar to what department stores are now... which are slowly disappearing) so these food halls will anchor the stores. I like where we are going with the food halls

[Moderators]

Finally The Shops have come out of it's

Rip Van Winkle coma.Someone whispered in their ears that 8,000 people live downtown now. With more coming next year. This looks great and hopefully

some soft apparel retail will follow, it's a good beginning.

[Nate99]

I wonder how accommodating these plans are of the existing tenants.  After 2pm, it's a mausoleum in there, but the existing food court hall does brisk business at lunch.  I suppose if they dress up the staff at Doozo and Chick-Fil-A in trendy outfits and place a few buzzwords on the menu boards, folks might not know the difference.  Getting bar traffic in there will be a challenge, but I've been surprised how many people Discovery Green draws in, so hopefully that carries over. 

 

I still refer to the area as "The Park Shops", maybe the third name is the charm. I had a theory that the Bennigan's that was in there failed (a decade before the whole company went down the tubes) because of the lack of alcohol sales that help to support profits of the casual restaurant biz. 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Nate99

[Elseed]

Mehh. The Houston shops has been lame just like the downtown tunnels since day one. 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Elseed

[swtsig]

1 hour ago, Elseed said:

Mehh. The Houston shops has been lame just like the downtown tunnels since day one. 

 

hence the reason they're about to undergo a major renovation. 

 

please never stop posting. 

[j_cuevas713]

When is the renovation supposed to begin?

[UtterlyUrban]

4 hours ago, Elseed said:

Mehh. The Houston shops has been lame just like the downtown tunnels since day one. 

I disagree.

 

20-years ago, the mall was full of decent stores.  There was a brooks brothers, a mid-tier jewelry store (‘corrigans” as I recall), luggage store, men’s shoe store, a fancy candy store and lots more.  How do I know this? 

 

Well..... I bought clothes at brooks brothers for myself.  Johnson and Murphy dress Shoes at the shoe store, pearl earrings at the jewelry store for my wife, an expensive Jack George briefcase at the luggage store, and my friend owned the candy store.  The mall was NOT “lame” since “day one”.... it was quite functional and a place where downtown office people actually shopped.