Jump to content

Sugar Land Town Square Developents


UrbaNerd

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...

kudos to sugarland.

these new "downtowns" will take cars off of the freeways. for instance, why live in sugarland and come to the galleria to shop when you have high-end retailers closer to these new concentrations of wealth and residences. consider the woodlands' residents who used to travel to the galleria area several times a month who now go there less because of the stores opening in the woodlands.

there were some surveys done (pre-market street) of woodlands area shoppers. they found that more than 80% were shopping in houston at least twice a month. more than 95% said they would not drive in to houston if the same stores were here. several of the stores listed as favorites are now here: urban outfitters, cheesecake factory, william sonoma, pottery barn, sur la table, storehouse, smith & hawkin, etc.

unfortunately, i could not find the survey to provide a link. i believe it was linked through the market street website or town center.

Woodlands Town Center

this is good for the environment and may eventually provide the format for less intracity travel. think "outlying urban villages" that will eventually be connected to the central city by commuter rail. in my perfect world, the vast acreage that would begin to be available between these centers of activity could be returned to natural habitats, farms, etc.

ok, coming back to earth now. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kudos to sugarland.

these new "downtowns" will take cars off of the freeways.  for instance, why live in sugarland and come to the galleria to shop when you have high-end retailers closer to these new concentrations of wealth and residences.  consider the woodlands' residents who used to travel to the galleria area several times a month who now go there less because of the stores opening in the woodlands.

there were some surveys done (pre-market street) of woodlands area shoppers.  they found that more than 80% were shopping in houston at least twice a month.  more than 95% said they would not drive in to houston if the same stores were here.  several of the stores listed as favorites are now here:  urban outfitters, cheesecake factory, william sonoma, pottery barn, sur la table, storehouse, smith & hawkin, etc.

unfortunately, i could not find the survey to provide a link.  i believe it was linked through the market street website or town center.

Woodlands Town Center

this is good for the environment and may eventually provide the format for less intracity travel.  think "outlying urban villages" that will eventually be connected to the central city by commuter rail.  in my perfect world, the vast acreage that would begin to be available between these centers of activity could be returned to natural habitats, farms, etc.

ok, coming back to earth now.  ;)

I totally agree. I think this would be awesome if that would happen with each of these suburbs turning into their own little urban village. I know living here in LA it is somewhat like that with Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank, Long Beach, and Anaheim each having their own little downtown. Then those suburbs are all linked to downtown LA and Hollywood by metrorail. I hope something like this will eventually happen to the Houston area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.downtownsilverspring.com/index.shtml

Can someone tell me this is not an exact replica of downtown Silver Springs, in DC?

[edit: Of coarse this came first, or atleast I am sure it was of no influence. Just a funny coincidence.]

It does look quite similar to the town center project in Sugar Land but honestly would you expect anything different from the suburbs. Everything there looks exactly the same anyway. Regardless, I still think it's great that these suburbs are building their own "downtown" so there can be some centrally located area that these people can congregate. Hopefully the rest of this project when finished will look just as nice as what is already completed. I hope that project on the other side of 59 tries to make it as urban as possible. I would hate for the property fronting that creek to be turned into another strip shopping center. Hopefully one day these suburban "downtowns" will connect with Houston downtown and Uptown/ Galleria by rail. Wouldn't that be cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope that project on the other side of 59 tries to make it as urban as possible.  I would hate for the property fronting that creek to be turned into another strip shopping center. 

This is what I thought too. These developers have prime spots along the creek and they are wasting them with building just generic strip centers with their back facing the water. Couldnt they think of a water-front development with cafes, restuarants fronting the creek?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I shared with other posters a somewhat cynical view of SLTS and other similar attempts in the Woodlands and Friendswood, until this weekend when I actually spent some time there. Residents and visitors were actually using the place like a real town center--there were people everywhere, shopping in the stores, dining in the restaurants, drinking in the bars and wine bar, snacking at Ben and Jerry's, milling about the hotel (there are always tons of people at that Marriott, and I cannot figure out why they are all there). Beyond all this, Saturday evening the City set up a big projection screen in front of City hall and showed an animated family movie on the town square. The square was quite full of families enjoying the show together. I must admit I was very impressed at how quickly SLTS has become a part of life in Sugar Land. We'll see what happens when summer hits. I'm still not sure if the success these mixed use projects have had on the west coast will translate so well to cities with climates such as Houston's. I think it would be a good idea to add a movie theater to the mix--perhaps a two-story job like the Edwards inside the loop to give that urban feel. Sugarland has always reminded me of Orange County, CA--particularly Irvine, and there are Edwards theaters everywhere you look there--some of them in very similar developments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We'll see what happens when summer hits. I'm still not sure if the success these mixed use projects have had on the west coast will translate so well to cities with climates such as Houston's

I think there are open-air establishments in cities as Denver and those in the north east. Winter isnt easy in those cities but apparently they seem to be doing fine. Also, I think that SLTS and other such places usually get busier in the evenings which shouldnt be too bad (although I havnt lived in Houston long enough to experience evenings in summer).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It should do fine in the summer. Ever been to River Oaks, Rice Village or Highland Village in the summer? Upper 90s with high humidity during the day with the night temps being around mid 80s and same humidy and people are still filling the stores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I shared with other posters a somewhat cynical view of SLTS and other similar attempts in the Woodlands and Friendswood, until this weekend when I actually spent some time there. Residents and visitors were actually using the place like a real town center--there were people everywhere, shopping in the stores, dining in the restaurants, drinking in the bars and wine bar, snacking at Ben and Jerry's, milling about the hotel (there are always tons of people at that Marriott, and I cannot figure out why they are all there). Beyond all this, Saturday evening the City set up a big projection screen in front of City hall and showed an animated family movie on the town square. The square was quite full of families enjoying the show together. I must admit I was very impressed at how quickly SLTS has become a part of life in Sugar Land. We'll see what happens when summer hits. I'm still not sure if the success these mixed use projects have had on the west coast will translate so well to cities with climates such as Houston's. I think it would be a good idea to add a movie theater to the mix--perhaps a two-story job like the Edwards inside the loop to give that urban feel. Sugarland has always reminded me of Orange County, CA--particularly Irvine, and there are Edwards theaters everywhere you look there--some of them in very similar developments.

Well, hold on. The Woodlands have a 20 screen tinseltown theater across the way from the new 6 screen cinema they building in market street. So, I guess it would work in sugarland town center, but they have to built it smaller, like 5-6 screen theater.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest danax

Houston Business Journal - 2:55 PM CST Monday

Office building planned for Sugar Land Town Square

Jennifer Dawson

Houston Business Journal

Planned Community Developers is building what the company calls the first Class A office building in Sugar Land.

The developer is building a six-story, 150,000-square-foot building in Sugar Land Town Square that will have 140,000 square feet of office space with 10,000 square feet of retail on the first floor.

The building will be part of the 32-acre Sugar Land Town Square development at the Southwest Freeway and Highway 6 that has high-end retail stores, condominiums, restaurants, office space and a hotel. The new structure will be next to Town Square Plaza and Sugar Land's City Hall.

Lee Mitchell of Ambrose, McEnany and House Architects, is the lead architect for the building, which will have a steel frame, brick veneer and exteriors with precast concrete, granite, metal panels and glass.

Planned Community Developers is also planning to build a two-story, 60,400-square-foot building and a one-story, 47,000-square-foot building near the larger office building. Both of the smaller buildings will have a mix of office and retail space.

The new facilities are part of the second phase of development at Sugar Land Town Square, which is expected to be completed within five years.

Planned Community Developers, which developed the First Colony master-planned community in Sugar Land, is also building a 370-acre community in Richmond called River's Edge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good news, and atleast its 6 storys high.

Exactly,

too bad SL developers cannot take a leap of faith and build something akin to the Williams Tower in SL.........not as big and tall, maybe........... but a 30-40 storey building right in the middle of the low-rise developement......what a monolithic type beacon for that area.

m.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I love Sugarland Town Square. My only gripe so far is that the bell tower on the City Hall building is out of scale. Its way to small for the building. Is should be at least 50% bigger, I mean it does represent the Government of Sugarland. Also the "condos" above the retail, I went into the sales office and checked out some models and they are terrible, unimaginative spec type apartments! I swear, they must have found some floorplans from the 80's and reused them. What's funny is the biggest selling "feature" they had in the brochures was the use of bamboo wood flooring!!! Whoever was responsible for that should be banned from designing again. Also the facade is totally out of character from what they are trying to do with Town Square. Its like they designed in without regard to surrounding buildings! The Marriott is a much better piece of Architecture than the condos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just put some wood floors in and looked at the bamboo, it was fantastic. It's harder than oak and much more dense, although with this comes very expensive cost per square foot. The bamboo I looked at was about an inch thick and simply beautiful. It had different stains and the finish was a pristine gloss.

I wished I could have afforded it but I ended up with oak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...