Regent Square: Mixed-Use On Allen Parkway At Dunlavy St.

[hysinger]

^ This is why I love HAIF so much. ^ On sight reporting as it happens. Thank you, hysinger. This sounds very encouraging. HAIF's team of spies are everywhere. The Chronicle was never this on the ball.

Keeping fingers crossed that it is what it looks like it is.

One other bit I forgot to add - signs for JE DUNN were on the lot, next to the trailers (though not setup on posts yet). I should have looked before my last post, but they apparently are the company managing the construction of Regest Square.

http://www.jedunn.com/project_details/C-69322-4

clh

[swtsig]

schweet!

[lockmat]

Regent Square was in the Planning Commissions agenda last week for "consent." Anyone know what that means?

http://ataps1.pd.ci.houston.tx.us/DRC/PC+M...ng+Calendar.nsf

[capnmcbarnacle]

Regent Square was in the Planning Commissions agenda last week for "consent." Anyone know what that means?

http://ataps1.pd.ci.houston.tx.us/DRC/PC+M...ng+Calendar.nsf

Found a blurb in the Press that discusses a November start date. I did see all of those construction trailers off of Dallas this weekend. It is substantial -- looks like they plan on being on that site for awhile.

Regent Square Update in Houston Press

[lockmat]

Found a blurb in the Press that discusses a November start date. I did see all of those construction trailers off of Dallas this weekend. It is substantial -- looks like they plan on being on that site for awhile.

Regent Square Update in Houston Press

Cool, thanks for that. Good read

[uhlaw09]

Here are all of the most recent Regent Square images from the Developer's site (http://www.naberkowitz.com/project_regent.shtml):

Edited September 24, 2008 by uhlaw09

[uhlaw09]

Edited September 24, 2008 by uhlaw09

[Trae]

The same images were posted already right? Are these new?

[uhlaw09]

The same images were posted already right? Are these new?

The ones toward the top are new to HAIF. They've been on the developer's site for a month or so. The pictures of "Regent Park" in the daytime and nighttime were added to Developer's site in the past week or so. Older versions of the ones in the middle were "stiched" together by other HAIF users from older marketing materials.

Also, there have been posts here and on Swamplot about the "Ghost Tower" shown in one of the images. As I'm looking at it, the newest renderings of the full development (i.e., the first image) and the Retail Leasing Plan appear to show that the "Ghost Tower" is just the condo tower proposed in Phase 2 (as opposed to a separate development or even the proposed Finger condo, as previously suggested). Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that...

Edited September 24, 2008 by uhlaw09

[roadrunner]

Does anyone actually think this thing is going to get off the ground in the next 18 months with the economy the way it is?

[TheNiche]

Does anyone actually think this thing is going to get off the ground in the next 18 months with the economy the way it is?

The smart money says: I don't know.

They're having trouble getting financing in place. But so is everybody else. And anybody that thinks that they know when the capital markets will kick back into gear has no idea what they're talking about.

[lockmat]

Their sister project in Atlanta looks a little bigger: http://www.highstreetatlanta.com/indexFlash.html

And what's up with the name High Street? Is that a famous street somewhere?

[uhlaw09]

And what's up with the name High Street? Is that a famous street somewhere?

"High Street" is a British thing.

[x_gd]

Why do you think they did not buy the 3 sets of townhomes here:

Do you think it good or bad for those owners?

[roadrunner]

Why do you think they did not buy the 3 sets of townhomes here:

Do you think it good or bad for those owners?

If I were the owners, I would be thrilled. You're thrown right in the middle of this exciting multi-use development. Unfortunately, they will probably deal with 4-8 years of empty lots and construction.

[x_gd]

Agreed, I did notice that 8 JEDunn construction trailers were placed right across the street.

Not sure I'd want to look at those everyday.

[banking214]

Does anyone actually think this thing is going to get off the ground in the next 18 months with the economy the way it is?

50/50

There was a good article in the Wall Street Journal today talking about the credit crunch. Projects that were to have been started have either been delayed or cancelled altogether.

[Montrose1100]

This project would be perfect!!! Too bad AIG is in a crunch, maybe they could have developed that huge grass lot that borders Montrose, Dallas, and Waugh.

[sowanome]

This project would be perfect!!! Too bad AIG is in a crunch, maybe they could have developed that huge grass lot that borders Montrose, Dallas, and Waugh.

That huge grass lot that borders Montrose, Dallas, and Waugh is where the Whole Food's and a small mixed use project will take place. Check out the Montrose n.hood topic list.

[Montrose1100]

That huge grass lot that borders Montrose, Dallas, and Waugh is where the Whole Food's and a small mixed use project will take place. Check out the Montrose n.hood topic list.

Really? Hot dog!

[uhlaw09]

Here's a brief update. I've noticed 2-3 workers on the property the past 3 days cleaning up large objects and doing some work with a blow torch (I live around the corner, so I have a vested interest). Since this is the first movement I've noticed on the site since the Allen House demolition, I stopped today to ask one of the guys what they were doing. Granted, this is from a guy at the bottom of the totem pole who may or may not have any clue what's going on.

The worker said they were doing site prep work to prepare for the ground work for the development. Said they were removing large debris that was left over from the demolition and they were cutting out some metal structures left over from the old Allen House covered parking. I asked him if they were about to start development work there, and he said "yeah, we're about to start the ground work here, but it may be a few months." He asked me if I lived around here, and he said, "It's about to get really noisy around here."

Again, take this for what it's worth. It's from a site worker wearing a hard hat who may or may not know anything. I just noticed some minor work being done on the site, so I inquired. I would welcome input from those on the board who are connected in the development community. Given the current economic outlook and credit situation, I'm worried that a lot of these projects won't get off the ground. Here's hoping that this one actually makes it...

[lockmat]

Thanks for sharing the info! Hope he's right.

[capnmcbarnacle]

Thanks for sharing the info! Hope he's right.

Keep hope alive.

I drove past this morning and the lot where UHlaw posted the photo above had about a dozen cars and trucks parked in it and there were new signs posted that said it was J.E. Dunn construction parking only. Now, despite seeing the cars and trucks parked there, I saw no people. I did not go by the offices/trailers that had been set up a few blocks away, so maybe they were down there. But I'm going to go out on a limb and venture that there were a number of folks taking a snoop at the property and having a meeting about it today. We've heard November start, so maybe this thing is really going to go. Either that or they were discussing the fact that everyone was fired. Time will tell.

[uhlaw09]

Keep hope alive.

I drove past this morning and the lot where UHlaw posted the photo above had about a dozen cars and trucks parked in it and there were new signs posted that said it was J.E. Dunn construction parking only. Now, despite seeing the cars and trucks parked there, I saw no people. I did not go by the offices/trailers that had been set up a few blocks away, so maybe they were down there. But I'm going to go out on a limb and venture that there were a number of folks taking a snoop at the property and having a meeting about it today. We've heard November start, so maybe this thing is really going to go. Either that or they were discussing the fact that everyone was fired. Time will tell.

Drove by at around 6PM today to look at this. There were no cars and no people on the lot, and I didn't notice any significant changes to the lot from before. I did notice a couple of small signs attached to the entry of the lot, so those are probably the J.E. Dunn construction signs you mentioned (which is good news).

However, as I was driving by I did notice 2 small dozers tucked away on a lot across the street. So I circled back and parked in the lot to see if I could find anything linking these to the J.E. Dunn / Regent Square.

This is the building and parking lot at 1203 Dunlavy--which is immediately across the street from the empty Allen House lots (this is not where the group of construction trailers are located. They are located further away at Rochow, I think, between W. Dallas and W. Clay).

I have no information about this development that isn't available here, but the recent activity (trucks on site, new signs, etc.) is encouraging:

Edited October 27, 2008 by uhlaw09

[x_gd]

What I was told is that the Rochow trailer park is the management office and that 1203 Dunlavy is the construction/hiring office.

The management office seems fully staffed and is buzzing with activity everyday.

[uhlaw09]

What I was told is that the Rochow trailer park is the management office and that 1203 Dunlavy is the construction/hiring office.

The management office seems fully staffed and is buzzing with activity everyday.

^ That would make sense.

There was a lot of activity around the site today. About 15-20 cars parked on the former Allen House lot, and across the street the bulldozers pictured above tore up the entire parking lot for 1203 Dunlavy. There were a lot of workers on site and workers were up on the roof doing some sort of work most of the day. I'm not sure what the roof and parking lot work is for.

No changes noticed on the Allen House lots yet.

Edited October 28, 2008 by uhlaw09

[Houstonian in Iraq]

"High Street" is a British thing.

Yep

Asked the wife about that. She said just about every town has an "High Street"

It's kind of like our Main street.

Usually trendy shopping on High Street

[rsb320]

Yep, High Street-Main Street-Front Street-Fore Street are all pretty much the same - retail activity.

...and I always thought High Street is where you went to blow a doob.

[capnmcbarnacle]

^ That would make sense.

There was a lot of activity around the site today. About 15-20 cars parked on the former Allen House lot, and across the street the bulldozers pictured above tore up the entire parking lot for 1203 Dunlavy. There were a lot of workers on site and workers were up on the roof doing some sort of work most of the day. I'm not sure what the roof and parking lot work is for.

No changes noticed on the Allen House lots yet.

The building at 1203 was used as warehouse and storage. Maybe they are doing a few things to make it suitable for use as construction offices for the next few years. And I also saw them dropping off some graders and one of those nubby steamroller things this morning. So either this is a big project to resurface the parking lot of the vacant 1203 Dunlavy building, or they are fixing to get going.

[kjb434]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard the site went under archeological study (doesn't mean digging for bones) a while back. Only after the exhausting research and approval from the state could the move forward.

The existing land under the project had various activities happen on it dating back to earliest days of Houston. Allen House was built at a time when this type of study wasn't performed.