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Downtown Retail Market


dbigtex56

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After years of suffering from urban flight, retail is returning to downtown. The adaption of older buildings to residential units, and increased pedestrian traffic due to light rail and entertainment venues will surely bring more. What's new with retail downtown, and what do we still sorely need?

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Guest waynelorentz

Downtown needs more small eateries. Sub shops. Delis. A couple of Chinese places. Just quick food joints. But most importantly -- ones that stay open after 5pm. The most frustrating part of living in downtown Houston is not being able to get anything quick to eat after the commuters go home.

Oh, and it needs a few more dry cleaning places. Again -- places that don't cater to the commuter crowd.

You can judge the health of a city's economy by the number of cranes in its skyline.

And you can judge the residential potential of a neighborhood by the number of dry cleaning shops. They're always first in, and first out.

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Yeah,

The biggest thing DT needs is for the eateries and other businesses located there to be open after 5 and on the weekends. I would always get frustrated when I would take the train from Midtown to stroll downtown and every store to be closed. I know the business would not compare to the business they get on a tuesday at noon, but the upside potential on the weekends and afterhours has to be huge.

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  • 1 month later...

I can c it happnin. Were gettin real close 2 a live downtown. Couple more years. They've started work on stallones, bottom floor of commerce lofts. That gonna be an iteresting mix. Tha ghetto store and hobos right across tha street. Can't wait 2 c that. I barely noticed the sidewalk accessible restaurant bottom floor of magnolia hotel. Pretty nice. Once stowers is in place this is gonna b really somthin. Finally at least somewhat it'll be a downtown not considered a "ghost town" or "dead" by outsiders. Can't wait 2 c what shamrocks retail is gonna b. But back 2 the stallones area. I WANT MY F----N FOOTLOCKER BACK! And my woolworths and walgreens.

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I think midtown knows how to do ground level retailing better than downtown.  It seems like all the midrises going up in that area will have it.

I only wish that were true!

The new Collective condos may be doing that...and the Post certainly did a good job with it....but the ventana and calais are lacking in that regards.

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I only wish that were true! 

The new Collective condos may be doing that...and the Post certainly did a good job with it....but the ventana and calais are lacking in that regards.

Just look at the new ones going up. The Edge, Collective on Baldwin Park, Point at Midtown.

I don't know if the new Camden will have ground retail.

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Are city officials even trying to bring retail downtown? And I'm not talking about Payless Shoes and Walgreens. IMO with the huge amount of people who work downtown and the number of people who live in the surrounding areas and the number of people who come downtown at night, there are plenty of people who would shop downtown. Why wait for more downtown residential? If the stores came this would really attract people to live downtown.

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Yes, i agree with you 77017 for people posting other pics of different cities. Houston has it's on style, we don't won't to copying of them. So, I wish y'all stop posting these damn pics on here, casue really I don't want to see them. I know how other cities look, and houston is on the right path on getting it done, cause downtown main st looks great when i went down there last week and they still building more retail, and resturants. But 77017, i disagree with you on the city sucks, casue you looking at other pics of cities. You have to realize it, thats how they do it, thats their ways. Houston is a different city toward the others. Houston is in its own world.

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Thanks for the great pictures of downtown Seattle's retail district. It would be wonderful if we had that downtown here, and maybe some day we will. But keep in mind, some of those stores are of such a specialized nature that they will only open one or two locations in a metro area. With well-established high end retail already in The Galleria, Highland Village, and to a lesser extent Town & Country Village, getting some of those places downtown might be difficult. But it's not impossible. But even if our downtown never has Versace, Louis Vuitton, and other stores of that nature, it would be nice to see some mid-range (but not cheap like Payless Shoes) clothing retailers that reach a wider audience.

Keep in mind that downtown retail is demand-driven. The higher demand there is for this type of development retailers perceive, the more likely they are to invest in stores downtown. This demand is something that every single person on this forum who wants to see more downtown retail can have a part in. I personally try to frequent downtown retailers whenever possible; just yesterday on my way home from downtown I stopped in CVS (yes I know how many people here feel about that store) to pick up some items I needed before hopping on the train back home. I try to make purchases at the downtown Foley's whenever possible, and I have shopped at the Shops at Houston Center when I can. Saying you want more downtown retail and then not utilizing the retailers that are there when possible isn't helping create more retail businesses downtown. Do what you can to support the businesses that are already there. It will not only secure their future and keep them downtown, but it will also encourage more development as other retailers see the success of those who took a chance and were downtown early on in the redevelopment process.

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  • 9 months later...

1. This morning, there were posters put up in the windows of the Sakowitz Building on Main Street. The posters showed ladies in a variety of styles, some in jeans and what have you, while some woman was taking pictures in front of the building. I'm assuming that this was some promotional campaign. I have no idea if the posters are permanent.

2. A liquor license has been applied for by some entity (Houston Retail may know who) who will presumably fill in the space vacated by Logans in April of last year. The license was applied for within the last 30 days, which coincides with some clean up work that I saw being performed at that location in May.

3. "The Teahouse" will apparently be opening soon at the retail parcel on the southwest corner of Main @ Commerce. Finally, the renovated spaces in the building along Commerce are getting tenants.

4. More work is underway at the lone empty building on Main between Texas and Prairie, on the west side of Main (between the Rice and Grasshopper). No idea what's going on but this time they're using the accordion stairs. My guess is that they're cleaning the interior ceilings and possibly doing some painting. Again, maybe HR knows something about a potential tenant.

5. Corner Bakery is off to a great start. Every day this week, there have been large crowds both inside and on the sidewalk tables. It's helped to make Main Street Square look more like an actual square rather than just an elaborate rail station. :)

6. Unlike the Binz Bldg's previous tenant, the short-lived Mediterranean cafe (name escapes me) that doubled as a Hookah bar, Little Napoli's looks like it has longterm success in its future. They're getting excellent crowds and last night, following the Astros game, they had a line of people either waiting to be seated or trying to grab a quick bite.

7. Ha-ha-ha! The Shamrock sales trailer is as empty and desolate as the Ben Milam Bldg. Ha-ha-ha!

8. Root Memorial Square is turning out great. A really like the selection of shrubbery and flowers. They seem to fit in well with the overall design.

9. Not sure, but there may be a new tenant set for the small parcel to the south of Stallone's. Then again, Stallones may be attempting to expand. In any case, work continues on the small parcel.

10. Construction on Travis Street is progressing quite impressively, and it's turning out to be a very clean job as well. I know the retailers on Travis from Texas to Commerce can't wait for the left two lanes to be done now that the right two lanes appear to be ready to go.

11. Work has already started on the Cordish Co's project to convert the rest of Bayou Place into office space. Surprised by how aggressive they appear to be. It looks like that deadline they are facing is ironclad and they take the penalties seriously.

12. Residential lull? Been to the far northeast end of DT lately? Two buildings are being converted into some very nice looking loft projects. If you ask me, we've been focusing on the wrong stuff. The NE end of DT could be Houston's most promising downtown neighborhood in 10 years if this continues. I really like the potential of the area now that most of the streets in the section (including the sidewalks) have been redone. Looks a bit European.

13. Sadly, the homeless are hip to what's going on. They're seeing more and more people now around Main Street Square, so now they're everywhere as well. Amazing how many you see between Dallas and Walker. Unreal, in fact.

14. The Stowers is beautiful. Too bad the other six buildings that make up the block all suck. (Subdude, you'd better not have been pulling my chain about the West Bldg. renovation! :) )

15. Based on a comment a guy who works at UH-D made on the train yesterday, the university isn't too far away from going forward with their plans to expand the campus. What that expansion will include, I don't know, but I tend to believe they're going to either convert the existing bldg at the SE intersection of Fannin @ Congress or demolish it and build from scratch. I could be wrong, though.

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Not by name, no. However, they're located due north of MMP amongst a group of other conversions (on the west side of 59, around Hamilton). We've talked about them before on another thread, I believe. It's just an entirely different thing to see the work in progress and how well the future lofts will fit in with the other lofts that have been converted over the past few years. Really nice feel to it. The more I see stuff like that, the more I think there should be a limit put on the heights of new buildings in this area. A neighborhood of midrises similar to these loft conversions (3-5 floors) would be great, especially given MMP's design and location.

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Guest danax
Not by name, no. However, they're located due north of MMP amongst a group of other conversions (on the west side of 59, around Hamilton). We've talked about them before on another thread, I believe. It's just an entirely different thing to see the work in progress and how well the future lofts will fit in with the other lofts that have been converted over the past few years. Really nice feel to it. The more I see stuff like that, the more I think there should be a limit put on the heights of new buildings in this area. A neighborhood of midrises similar to these loft conversions (3-5 floors) would be great, especially given MMP's design and location.

That area will eventually be the southern boundary of the"Waterview District" if the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan unfolds as imagined.1-WATE~1.jpg

The European village feel is something we need. Walking, bikes, shops, feeding ducks and pigeons...and an actual neighborhood, not a faux-village shopping experience. We really don't have a place like that that I know of.

The Clinton Dr. area to east and north of the bayou is busy doing its part to help establish the initial residential boundaries that will eventually surround and then fill in and merge. It looks like there will be some pedestrian bridges across the bayou so northern and southern neighbors can mingle.

Of course, the Justice District will make for an interesting juxtaposition, and it wouldn't be Houston without one.

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Does anyone have any idea what those covered things are on the northeast corner of Root Memorial Square? They look like some sort of sculptures, almost like chess pieces. Guess they're waiting to unveil them.

One thing to add to your list Hizzy, looks like they've got a big crane over the site of the new downtown cathedral. Not much to see yet, but it will be interesting to see this site evolve over the remainder of the year. I'm curious to see if they put the old church under the wrecking ball.

I'm very surprised to hear that work has begun on Bayou Place. Frankly, I thought that was never going to happen.

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