Drewery Place: Multifamily High-Rise At 2850 Fannin St.

[Brooklyn173]

2 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

Brooklyn 173, Is the long planned residential tower you referred to 1810 Main or something else?

3300 Main

[bobruss]

Just north of MATCH.

[MarathonMan]

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

This is much higher quality development than Skyhouse, which builds the same building over and over. This also synergizes with the Superblock park and the nearby bar and treatment center district. With downtown, you have high parking demand which makes those blocks hard to develop with anything other than towers.

 

In addition, there’s the simple difference in physical scale between Downtown and Midtown to consider.  Because Downtown has so many tall office buildings already, the two Skyhouse towers (along with the forthcoming Camden, Marlowe, etc.) end up almost invisible.  They don’t make a big impact.  Conversely, Caydon and District I & II (600’+ and 400’+ tall, I think) will have a huge visual impact in Midtown because they’ll be the big kids on the block, so to speak.

[Sanjorade]

The street enclaves with restaurants, etc. remind me of some of the developments in Singapore. 

[MarathonMan]

1 minute ago, Sanjorade said:

The street enclaves with restaurants, etc. remind me of some of the developments in Singapore. 

I hope it becomes the “standard” for future development in Midtown and beyond.

[bobruss]

I was reviewing the renderings and it appears that the development stretches across Main Street.

The reason I say this, is it appears there is some kind of structure overhead that runs across the rail line on Main. It would have to be connected to another part of their development. I just don't see where they could connect. Something has to be be screwed up with the first rendering, that shows the two beams running above the rail line and across Main Street. The only open lot on Main is the parking lot between HCC office building on Elgin and the park in the Camden development.

Anyone have an answer?

[phillip_white]

2 hours ago, bobruss said:

I was reviewing the renderings and it appears that the development stretches across Main Street.

The reason I say this, is it appears there is some kind of structure overhead that runs across the rail line on Main. It would have to be connected to another part of their development. I just don't see where they could connect. Something has to be be screwed up with the first rendering, that shows the two beams running above the rail line and across Main Street. The only open lot on Main is the parking lot between HCC office building on Elgin and the park in the Camden development.

Anyone have an answer?

To me it looks like they are just creating a covered walkway across Main. The mostly likely reason would be to connect their retail development to the huge retail-less Camden McGowen Station. With regard to the rail station looking different, keep in mind that Midtown may be in the early stages of considering closing Main to vehicular traffic. And one of the renderings (https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/default/files/images/projects/33510/33510-114337.jpg) shows Kim Tai and the Greesheet buildings dwarfed by that gym/parking/office/rooftop park building. Also, I never noticed the hotel component before...

[HoustonIsHome]

On 8/20/2018 at 8:51 AM, bobruss said:

Lets keep Randall out of Midtown.

I actually don't mind Randall in midtown.

 

My grief with the superblock project was that it was a super block and it got squandered.

 

The Aussie took 3 separate blocks and proposed a district.

 

It's like they wanted the super block to match the Camden Travis development instead of a development geared to the future of the area they developed to what was there years before.

[bobruss]

Midtown is definitely going through a huge growing spurt and one of the good things is that it has finally started developing on the east side of Main Street.

I wish that they had done a better job with the use of the super block but I think it will take some time to see how this incredibly dense area and what will come with all of this growth i density. I only  wish the Cadillac dealer didn't own all of the blocks surrounding his dealership. 

[TheSirDingle]

Wasn't able to snap a Pic, but the high rise is becoming pretty prominent from i-10

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, bobruss said:

Midtown is definitely going through a huge growing spurt and one of the good things is that it has finally started developing on the east side of Main Street.

I wish that they had done a better job with the use of the super block but I think it will take some time to see how this incredibly dense area and what will come with all of this growth i density. I only  wish the Cadillac dealer didn't own all of the blocks surrounding his dealership and wasn't an a-hole. 

 

fixed it for ya

 

[quietstorm]

Was in Sydney a couple weeks ago, and this rendering really does reflect the "look and feel" of their architecture.  

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by quietstorm

[bobruss]

Thanks

[MarathonMan]

4 hours ago, bobruss said:

Midtown is definitely going through a huge growing spurt and one of the good things is that it has finally started developing on the east side of Main Street.

I wish that they had done a better job with the use of the super block but I think it will take some time to see how this incredibly dense area and what will come with all of this growth i density. I only  wish the Cadillac dealer didn't own all of the blocks surrounding his dealership. 

For whatever reason (probably short-term economic) Camden doesn’t design for the greatest good of the neighborhood.  Rick Campo could have at least taken a note from the Post residential/retail at Bagby and Gray, but he didn’t.  Apparently the ROI for residential-only development is higher, but it does nothing for the vibrancy of the neighborhood.  He’s got several developments in Midtown and they’re all lifeless.  I hope Caydon’s concept becomes the new standard for development in this town, because it’s superb! 

[brijonmang]

From Friday night (8/24)

 

[Twinsanity02]

8 hours ago, brijonmang said:

From Friday night (8/24)

 

Very impressive. With the other two adjacent high rises and 3300 Main, these all will create an affluent urban feel to what use to be a wasteland in the 1990's

[Timoric]

-

Edited July 12, 2019 by Timoric

[HoustonIsHome]

43 minutes ago, Timoric said:

With P.E. coming down it is almost time to redraw the boundaries of Downtown Houston, I think it will become one of the largest CBDs in the United States putting distance between other currently comparable cities - Phill, Atl, Dal, San Fran, Miami, DC, Boston and being a tier down from Chicago and New York City 

I think leadership that pushes ideas like the Innovation Corridor and the Downtown Residential Innitiative will help with this.

 

Downtown had grown so much despite Oil Giant after Oil Giant moving out to the burbs.

 

I have always wanted to see a large entertainment draw in midtown and more educational facilities. 

 

It would be nice if St Joseph's gets revitalized and some of the TMC institutions set up shop around that area.

 

My friend was in the Mid Main area last and was commenting on how he likes the feel in that area. Mid Main understands the benefits of the rail stop and built with an attempt at improving the activity in the area inside and out. The Aussie development kiss to be doing the same. 

Campo had an even bigger opportunity having the stop and the park and squandered it. I was expecting a hybrid of Discovery Green and Main Street square at the super block but it seems instead we are getting the same old dead Campo development

[bobruss]

Speaking of Mid Main apparently they have some major structural issues. They have some serious issues with tension rods exploding and if you drive on Holman you can see one of the rods that has shot out. Apparently one of them broke a window out. I don't know what this means but there are suits and inspectors pouring over the site. If thats the case I don't know what the solution might be. I also noticed a problem on the residential building just east of the new whole foods residential building being built on Elgin. If you drive east on Elgin the corners of the decks sticking out now have two by four supports holding them up. It looks like they had some sort of failure. I hope this isn't the new construction norm in Houston.

[swtsig]

1 hour ago, bobruss said:

Speaking of Mid Main apparently they have some major structural issues. They have some serious issues with tension rods exploding and if you drive on Holman you can see one of the rods that has shot out. Apparently one of them broke a window out. I don't know what this means but there are suits and inspectors pouring over the site. If thats the case I don't know what the solution might be. I also noticed a problem on the residential building just east of the new whole foods residential building being built on Elgin. If you drive east on Elgin the corners of the decks sticking out now have two by four supports holding them up. It looks like they had some sort of failure. I hope this isn't the new construction norm in Houston.

 

ummm that doesn't sound good. in fact it sounds bad.

[H-Town Man]

4 hours ago, bobruss said:

Speaking of Mid Main apparently they have some major structural issues. They have some serious issues with tension rods exploding and if you drive on Holman you can see one of the rods that has shot out. Apparently one of them broke a window out. I don't know what this means but there are suits and inspectors pouring over the site. If thats the case I don't know what the solution might be. I also noticed a problem on the residential building just east of the new whole foods residential building being built on Elgin. If you drive east on Elgin the corners of the decks sticking out now have two by four supports holding them up. It looks like they had some sort of failure. I hope this isn't the new construction norm in Houston.

 

Technology. It's great when it works.

 

[Angostura]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:06 PM, MarathonMan said:

For whatever reason (probably short-term economic) Camden doesn’t design for the greatest good of the neighborhood.  Rick Campo could have at least taken a note from the Post residential/retail at Bagby and Gray, but he didn’t.  Apparently the ROI for residential-only development is higher, but it does nothing for the vibrancy of the neighborhood.  He’s got several developments in Midtown and they’re all lifeless.  I hope Caydon’s concept becomes the new standard for development in this town, because it’s superb! 

 

In the US, the ratio of residential square footage to retail square footage is around 28:1. That's largely because we have an insanely high amount of under-utilized retail square footage in the US. In Australia, it's almost 50:1. In the UK it's about 99:1. 

 

Taking the Australian ratio as a target, and assuming 5-story buildings, for every block with GFR, you'd expect 9 without it. That lines up pretty closely with dense, walkable neighborhoods around the world, where the number of buildings without GFR far outnumber the ones with. That said, either by tradition or by zoning, retail in those places is often concentrated on specific streets, such that some streets have essentially 100% GFR, with surrounding blocks having close to 0%. One would expect a street like Main St in Midtown to belong in the former category.

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, Angostura said:

 

In the US, the ratio of residential square footage to retail square footage is around 28:1. That's largely because we have an insanely high amount of under-utilized retail square footage in the US. In Australia, it's almost 50:1. In the UK it's about 99:1. 

 

Taking the Australian ratio as a target, and assuming 5-story buildings, for every block with GFR, you'd expect 9 without it. That lines up pretty closely with dense, walkable neighborhoods around the world, where the number of buildings without GFR far outnumber the ones with. That said, either by tradition or by zoning, retail in those places is often concentrated on specific streets, such that some streets have essentially 100% GFR, with surrounding blocks having close to 0%. One would expect a street like Main St in Midtown to belong in the former category.

 

I assume this is across everything (urban, suburban, rural) and not just urban areas? The large supermarkets and big box stores in the U.S. probably lower the ratio quite a bit. You'd think our large houses would raise the ratio but I guess they don't. Testament to our large purchasing power.

 

[Angostura]

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I assume this is across everything (urban, suburban, rural) and not just urban areas? The large supermarkets and big box stores in the U.S. probably lower the ratio quite a bit. You'd think our large houses would raise the ratio but I guess they don't. Testament to our large purchasing power.

 

 

Probably a lot of factors at work. Off the top of my head:

 

• Overbuilding of large shopping malls in the 80's.
• Municipal incentives to attract big-box development in the 90's.
• Lots of REIT/MBS/CDO money looking for places to invest in the 00's.
• Higher suburbanization (and more road building, and higher rates of car ownership) in the US compared to other countries making more large greenfield sites available for retail.
• Development rules that favor large projects over small ones.
• Municipal authorities generally favoring commercial development over residential development (sales tax plus property tax > just property tax).
• Local homeowners being less likely to oppose retail densification than residential densification.
• Etc.

[Texasota]

Because so many of our neighborhoods and cities are so absurdly low density, I'd imagine we need more retail per residence just to keep places from being completely retail-free.

[rechlin]

Found on reddit, from /u/rudygardea, a short timelapse of them working:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/9bc5ba/watching_the_storms_roll_in/

 

Direct link:

 

https://v.redd.it/af0npsmzx2j11/DASH_9_6_M

 

 

[Urbannizer]

https://www.virtualbx.com/construction-preview/houston-midtowns-art-supply-on-main-moving-to-museum-district/

 

Caydon’s project followed a trend of higher-density, high-end development spreading from downtown into the adjacent districts. When Caydon acquired the Art Supply and Art Square Studios’ block as part of a three-block master planned development, Russell and Trammell had to make moving plans.

 

“What I understand is they’re going to put a hotel on our site,” Trammell told VBX, adding she had was passing on an unconfirmed rumor. There have been reports that Caydon bought land next to the 2850 Fannin site, including a parking lot next to the Greensheet Building, for future development.

[rechlin]

Interestingly, the renderings are still online here:

 

https://skyrisecities.com/database/projects/district

 

https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/houston-the-district-192m-s-caydon-gensler.28817/

[Angostura]

Planning commission will present today the plan to extend the CBD exemption from parking minimums to Midtown (up to the Spur/59) and Eado (the triangle between 45, 59 and the UP tracks). 

 

https://twitter.com/HoustonPlanning/status/1034919312962797568

[Texasota]

Oh dang! That would be a great step.