Hanover Hermann Park: Multifamily At 5927 Almeda Rd.

[Dream]

"The developer said it pulled back on marketing the building because it's trying to get financing without pre-sales."

What kind of BS is this statement from the developer about the condo tower? It looks and sounds like the condo is on hold, but the apartment tower has financing and is moving forward. Good news for the med center, but I got news for you, this area is more trendy 3rd ward/almeda street than musuem district it wants to be.

Dream

[The New Juniper]

"The developer said it pulled back on marketing the building because it's trying to get financing without pre-sales."

What kind of BS is this statement from the developer about the condo tower? It looks and sounds like the condo is on hold, but the apartment tower has financing and is moving forward. Good news for the med center, but I got news for you, this area is more trendy 3rd ward/almeda street than musuem district it wants to be.

Dream

You are correct from what i hear. This will never be a true condo development. At BEST, at i am not sure how good you can consider this, it will be built to apartment standards and then converted to condos. They couldn't get presales, so they financed it as apartments and away they went.

They say the condo tower will follow. But, then again, i/we've heard that before.....

Won't happen b/c it shouldn't happen..

[hokieone]

Don't think this is such a bad thing though, I wouldn't mind that same trend in downtown. Instead of people trying to sell these $750K units on 40 stories (AKA the shamrock), it would be nice to see some mid rises (or high rises) built that were intended to be apartments and then could be converted later down the line. That's basically what post midtown did successfully.

[KinkaidAlum]

A bunch of naysayers on this board.

From the VERY beginning, MOSAIC was planned as an apartment tower and a condo tower. The companies involved are VERY experienced with building hi-rises and are bringing a NEW concept to Houston; smaller condos with a smaller price point.

That said, they are seeking financing of the condo tower without having to have a certain % of units sold before groundbreaking can begin. The thinking was that people at this end of the market (likely first time buyers) will not put money down on a unit that is 2 years away from reality. With the connections these companies have, I don't doubt that the condo tower will break ground in the next few months followed by a re-opening of the sales center.

[Dream]

Yeah, right after they change Hermann Park Golf course into a members only country club with 50k a initiation fee. Then they can give free memberships away to the people who won't buy the Mosiac condos across the street. Never gonna happen, just more apartments.

Dream

[h-townsfinest]

man just the other day i didnt even kno half of whats going on, now its seems things are running smoothly, go h-town

[danes75]

I hate to point out the obvious, but the naysayers have a foundation for their /our/ skepticism. Orion... Scamrock... both had pretty little sales centers/models/trailers and neither amounted to squat. When the sales offices mysteriously close and will reopen "soon", emails are sent out saying that floorplans and pricing aren't "available", and the website information isn't right and is "being updated", something's up.

Websites don't take months to update, brochures don't take months to print, and established pricing that's now being refigured means the plan they had isn't going to work and they're having to make changes. Sure they may be building the apartments and thats great. But I'm not going to buy an apartment/condo conversion. They're usually built on the cheap and I don't want to hear my neighbors walking around upstairs no matter what the view.

Edited March 28, 2006 by danes75

[KinkaidAlum]

I agree with you Danes; we have reason to doubt.

That said, the developlment team at Mosaic is top notch. Unlike the Scamrock and Orion, they are not a fly-by-night type of operation. They have YEARS of experience building these projects. Many doubted that ANY part of this project would ever take off. Go back and read this thread. Glut of apartments. Bad location. Too risky. Hurricanes. Rising cost of steel. Yet, through it all, the ground has already broken for half of the project.

IF, and it is a big IF, they can secure the funding for this concept (lower priced units/smaller condos/selling location and bldg amenities), this condo tower WILL rise. I'd imagine that investors would be rewarded too. There's a market in Houston for what they are selling. It's just untested. I hope they can secure the funding because we might see more urban, well-designed mid to high rises with sane pricing pop up in the general vicinity.

[citykid09]

I did not know this area existed, Looks pretty cool:

Edited April 4, 2006 by citykid09

[VelvetJ]

Citykid09, those pics are on Almeda like a minute or two from the Mosaic via car.

[citykid09]

Citykid09, those pics are on Almeda like a minute or two from the Mosaic via car.

I really don't know where the Mosaic is going up at, all I know is it's near the medical center.

[MiDTOWNeR]

I did not know this area existed, Looks pretty cool:

Well, of course you didn't...It's not in Alanta.

[h-townsfinest]

oh so this Houston Mosaic is what i saw from 288, i was headin to the Stros opening day game and saw a crane up and was like wow what are they building now, hope i was lookin at the right thing, lol

[Dream]

almeda is not cool, go see for yourself.

dream

[Original Timmy Chan's]

I did not know this area existed, Looks pretty cool:

Have you never been to the 3rd Ward, citykid?!?

In my opinion, Almeda is one of the best streets in Houston. It's got a little history, a little rebirth, a little upscale to it, and plenty of its old rural feel as soon as you get just outside the South Loop.

[citykid09]

Have you never been to the 3rd Ward, citykid?!?

In my opinion, Almeda is one of the best streets in Houston. It's got a little history, a little rebirth, a little upscale to it, and plenty of its old rural feel as soon as you get just outside the South Loop.

The only picture on that 002 page above that I think is cool is the one in the middle. It looks like an urban shopping area with parallel parking.

[TheNiche]

almeda is not cool, go see for yourself.

dream

I wholeheartedly agree with Timmy.

Any more than a few years ago and Washington Avenue would have looked like Almeda's blue-collar cousin. Development was pretty fierce in that area because land values were lower, not being near big parks, museums, or much else of cultural or aesthetic value. Almeda, in contrast, has everything going for it, including the existing raw demographics. If you don't believe me, have dinner at Spanish Village; one look at the parking lot will prove my point.

[mrell32]

beautiful!!!!

Edited April 18, 2006 by mrell32

[UrbaNerd]

Nice. Looks like the rendering here shows some ground level retail!

[kjb434]

I wish people would understand that many people who purchase highrise condo units don't necessarily live in them. Many of them are purchased as investment property (not to resale, but to rent).

This is why you can sell apartment to condo conversion units. The units still remain apartments, it just an outside invester bought the unit. The building is still managed by a separate company that can handle processing the monthly rent and handling repairs. This is very common.

[musicman]

Any more than a few years ago and Washington Avenue would have looked like Almeda's blue-collar cousin. Development was pretty fierce in that area because land values were lower, not being near big parks, museums, or much else of cultural or aesthetic value. Almeda, in contrast, has everything going for it, including the existing raw demographics. If you don't believe me, have dinner at Spanish Village; one look at the parking lot will prove my point.

I go to Spanish Village all the time. What does my 10 yr old Chevy S10 pickup have to do with anything?

Edited May 5, 2006 by musicman

[TheNiche]

I go to Spanish Village all the time. What does my 10 yr old Chevy S10 pickup have to do with anything?

I was referring to the many nice cars (BMW, Mercedes, etc.) parked in the same lot as our comparatively-crappy ones.

[musicman]

I was referring to the many nice cars (BMW, Mercedes, etc.) parked in the same lot as our comparatively-crappy ones.

There are many good cars there but Spanish Village tends to have a longtime crowd. I remember going there as a kid and then kind of returned during my college days. I bet if you asked, a lot of them wouldn't be from the area. a when me and a group of friends go, we're all from either heights/east side/west u.

It's kind of like kanomwan, people will drive there even though neighborhood isn't considered premier.

[Captain Impossible]

That looks beautiful! I've noticed there are a lot of twin type projects in Houston.

[eelimon]

That looks beautiful! I've noticed there are a lot of twin type projects in Houston.

Here is an other prospective of the work in progress...

[MexAmerican_Moose]

those power lines are fugly

[Montrose1100]

When I first saw these, I thought they were a residential rennovation of those two buildings off of the west loop(on the east side), connected by a giant parking garage. They look similar, with the main building underneith them like so.

[mls1202]

Wait....they're really happening? With all this negativity on projects around Houston, I just figured that this wasn't going up.

I guess it could still pull an Orion...

[houston-development]

Wait....they're really happening? With all this negativity on projects around Houston, I just figured that this wasn't going up.

I guess it could still pull an Orion...

its because they are building the apartment phase first and you don't need the pre-sales requirement to satisfy the lender

[goodfella]

Kinkaid,

They may be experienced, but in my opinion they have grossly overestimated the depths of the Houston condo market. Remember that every project that flopped had one thing in common - too many units. The succesful developers here build small, small buildings - Randall Davis always builds 65-85 units. Montebello is about 100 units. In 2005, only about 500 condo units sold in all of Houston, including new and old buildings. It would take them 7 - 10 years to sell 400 given that type of absorption. And the location doesn't compare to Cosmo, Montebello or 22 Kirby. It really is still a bit ghetto.