downtownian

What condo apartment balconies are visible in the photo above on the bottom of the pic??

St. Germain although what is visible is actually the shared parking garage entrance for both St. Germain and Capitol Lofts. 609 Main decimated the view of all north facing St. Germain units.

This is going to sound uncaring and impersonal but I strongly dislike cars and so I am supportive of any actions that impose additional costs on cars or drivers, especially if the actions benefit pedestrians.

Houston is a car-centric city today and some may claim that we should have policies and planning in place that reflect and support the car model. I believe that if you make driving in a car painful enough, you will incentivize people to live next to rail lines or close enough to walk to work. This type of shift will happen slowly - who knows maybe driverless cars will occur prior to the shift and reduce traffic / the cost of driving.

No activity at all on the construction cam. Does anybody know when they'll start work?

Would they hold a groundbreaking but then delay construction by a few months?

"In the Houston Independent School District, which passed a $1.9 billion bond in 2012, officials are considering delaying projects several months in hopes of soliciting lower bids from contractors. They also are weighing cost-cutting moves such as weeding out pricier materials and square footage from campuses."

CBRE Retail Exec:

"We may see one more specialty store," Lestin said, "But it would surprise me to see a big grocery store downtown over the next couple of years."

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2015/02/top-retail-exec-dishes-on-downtown-grocery.html

just saying all of this because the block of Main/Capitol/Fannin/Rusk is insanely appealing for redevelopment (assuming someone had the authority to come in and buy out the current tenants/owners on the block).

 

That would destroy my loft! Seriously though, the block is extremely mixed use with residential, office and lodging and good ground floor retail (Flying Saucer, Bayou City Theatrics, Springbok, Tabe 7 Bistro). I think it's a great block.

Any news on when the city will release an updated downtown development map?

Updated downtown residential and hotel maps posted today. No material updates from what I can tell.

Residential

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-01-28/150126_Residential_Map_1-28-15.pdf

Hotel

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-01-28/Hotels_Map_2015.pdf

Also, I realize this is fairly technical, but believe the Downtown District and not the city produces the development map. 

It looks like they're looking to build Downtown

That would be awesome. Where is this mysterious block of text from?

Sorry for the wait (and the bad news)! Had a hard time grabbing the image, but yeah....here you go guys. 

 

When I first saw this new rendering, I thought it was a finalized one of Marlowe. The original had a more, classy and modern look to it. This design looks like a slimmer; fancier version of Millennium Tower II.

 

Thanks for the info Urbannizer. A big disappointment but I liked the post because I'm always impressed at your ability to get renderings before anyone else.

So, you've already conceded that it requires more than just the relatively costless application process.  They also had to invest in land and designs. 

 

Only granting the benefit to projects that break ground is inherently unworkable.  Nobody will ever break ground without the incentive agreed and in hand.

 

Allowing one year to permitting and three years to Certificate of Occupancy might seem a little generous at first blush, but the permitting process has been holding up a lot of projects recently, so one year to permitting is not giving a whole lot of wiggle room.  That only allows an additional 2 years for construction.  Again, not really all that generous, especially if you want high-rises (other than SkyHouses).

 

As has been mentioned earlier, I can see no reason to not reassign canceled project units.  That rule is inexplicable.

I agree that the cost of the option is: 1) Application process; 2) Owning the land (if you own the land already, this is free. Mine as well apply for this incentive); 3) Designs. Not really sure how much this costs - does anyone know?

I like the idea of a fine if the project does not go through - call options have economic value so developers would still apply for the incentives even if there was a fine. You just need to set the fine low enough so that it does not discourage developers from applying but high enough so that only serious developers get the incentive.

Before too many people grab their pitchforks, it should be noted that all that has been reported about the Camden downtown project is that they are "not prepared to start that now".  AND that they are "just designing it".  They will see how the market unfold and see what happens to construction and rents.  Nothing nefarious or evil about any of that.  Keep in mind that they have a pretty good incentive to aim for a certificate of occupancy within three years.

I have a problem with the DLI being structured as a free call option to developers - if downtown residential looks good over the next few months, they build; if not, they don't build and it doesn't cost them anything other than having to go through the relatively costless application process. I would have preferred that the incentives were granted to developers who committed to build downtown or pay a penalty or that it was only granted to projects that broke ground. It seems like all you need for approval is some designs and land.

Not trying to demonize the developers - if I owned a block, I would have submitted a random residential proposal for it (maybe even a proposal for 5,000 units on my one block just so I could have the free option).

Yeah, it's kind of hard to think of a better word for it.  That is such a bad policy it's a little hard to believe it's true.  Even coming from government, that is surprisingly brain-dead.

It really hurts - takes 792 units away from the program (16% of the total).

Really?

I wonder why Finger would not go for the incentives. Are there strings attached?

The project was announced prior to the creation of the program and is therefore ineligible for the incentives. 

"Although Finger was a pioneer in the recent push to build residential in the east Central Business District, he will not get a piece of the Downtown Management District’s incentive-program pie — at least, not on this project.

One month after he released his plans, the Downtown Management District announced its Downtown Living Initiative, which the city passed Aug. 22, offering $15,000 per unit in tax rebates to qualifying developers who create homes or multifamily projects in the eastern portion of the CBD. It is intended to double the number of residences downtown and spur development throughout the area by 2016.

“It was a big secret, I didn’t know about the plan,” he said.

Finger completed the 346-unit, 37-story One Park Place development overlooking Discovery Green in 2009. His new ballpark project will be seven stories, with Atlanta-basedNiles Bolton Associates designing the complex.

Finger did not win retroactive incentives from the city, however, Houston City Council did pass an economic development agreement Aug. 15 that gave the Finger Cos. the rights to a stretch of Prairie Street that runs through the land he owns.

“I started knocking on the city’s door to request they abandon the street, and that’s a big deal for the city to close a street, especially one that flows right into the entrance to the baseball stadium,” he said. “But, it’s a street, it’s not $15,000 per unit.”

To be clear, Finger says he is not at odds with the city or the district and he may still try to take part in the incentive program if the opportunity arises before its cutoff date in 2016."

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2012/12/21/finger-dishes-on-new-project-future.html?page=all

There is also a project or two going forward without the incentives... right?

500 Crawford (Apartments at the Ballpark) by Finger are sans-incentives (380 units) and I believe the Hamilton Apartments (148 units) at the southeast corner of downtown are as well.

What currently occupies it?

It's an office building. Stubhub has its last minute ticket pick up office there.

So this essentially forces Campo's hand to build & complete within 4 years rather than delay like he's doing at the Midtown Superblock. The question for me then becomes if Camden loses the tax credit because Campo holds on the project and the Downtown Living Initiative caps out, could the lost Camden credit be given to another developer or is it just a lost opportunity at that point.

I posted this in another thread but it becomes a lost opportunity:

"In the event that an approved project is cancelled for any reason, the units previously assigned to that project by the Board will not be reassigned to other approved or unapproved projects"

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-01-12/150112_HDMD_DLI_Cap_Memo.pdf

looks cool... it'd be nice to have a slightly more classy lounge to go downtown. love the scene there and definitely love the concentration of chill spots but sometimes you want to class it up a little bit more than little dipper, deans or bad news bar.

For "classier" lounges, I've been going to Prohibition, Public Services and Main Kitchen.

Quotes like these below are common complaints I've found, but a lot of them act like the streets don't exist or they're forced to use the tunnels, or because they prefer the streets over the tunnels, the tunnels should be eliminated somehow.

 

I actually appreciate the tunnels in a way - they are such a perfect example of a non-place, that it becomes a learning tool for people to understand the concept. Sometimes I like to stroll the tunnels just to feel nothingness and to be a fugitive and wanderer on Earth.

If the tunnels didn't exist, we would have a number of fast food restaurants, dry cleaners, doctor offices, etc. located at street level and the second floor of buildings. I think that would be good for street life both during the day and after. I imagine that some of the tunnel businesses would stay open after 3pm if they could (for example chipotle and the Thai place stay open for dinner). Having a number of businesses at street level, open or closed, creates a safer pedestrian feeling. Also, without the tunnels, I bet ground floor retail rates would increase and displace the dollar stores which are a nuisance on Main Street.

Finally, the tunnels are a "non-space" similar to an airport or walking through hospital corridors. They disorient the pedestrian and provide no context for space or time since they lack sunlight. The private control of the tunnels prevent them from being used as a location of exchange or protest like how public streets can be used.

The project I was most looking forward to.  Razzle Dazzle.

This is the project I was second most looking forward to (the 1111 Rusk renovation was / is my first). I love all residential downtown but this is so completely superior to the 40-story Market Square tower.

It literally says in the recent update that they're building the garage and will wait for the tower later

Here's the source:

"Skanska plans at a future date to construct Capitol Tower on the former Houston Club Building site. In the meantime, construction continues on a 7-story parking garage with est completion of 4Q15. After a decision to proceed with the new tower is made, Skanska will expand the garage to ten floors and build the tower."

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-01-08/Downtown_Real_Estate_Update_2014-4Q.pdf

I say, when Davis gives up on this one, we should open a fly-by-night bar in the old ticket broker building and call it Marlowe and Gargoyle’s. Three of us would get the joke.

Let's hope he doesn't give up - it will just take away from the Downtown Living Initiative.

“In the event that an approved project is cancelled for any reason, the units previously assigned to that project by the Board will not be reassigned to other approved or unapproved projects”

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2014-12-29/141224_HDMD_Applicant_Memo_on_DLI_Closeout.pdf

Good info, thanks!

This info is super-dated (as always from the Chron). Refer to the first post in this thread on November 21: "District 7 Grill is taking over an empty space that spans half a block at Main and Texas."

Delays to the project due to poor building conditions but expected May opening: