CREguy13

My thought would be they are going to tear down the existing buildings, but keep the Midtown Sears building.  I think MS will be the center of this development and they will bring it back to its original structure, bring it up to building code for an office building.  I think it will serve as a large start up incubator, be the new home for Houston Exponential and others - it is approximately 200k SF.  They will likely want to start this process as quickly as possible and are in current discussions with Station Houston to try to get them to relocate to this building.  Have this first phase be the catalyst and then Rice Endowment, along with city/private officials, can carefully formulate a plan for the next phases of development.

Again, this is just my opinion butI imagine there will be more updates in the coming months.

Agreed, it would be a great addition.  I'm still not convinced that another W Hotel won't be built in Galleria, River Oaks District, or Upper Kirby at some point.

Drove by here over lunch and Crane is going up today.

Honestly, I think this will turn out as advertised and be a very well done project.  The location is too good being adjacent to Discovery Green and within walking distance to ADLA, Minute Maid and Toyota Center.  Another great thing that was not always the case, is downtown now has several high-end multi-family options that all have great amenities, service, and quality apartment finishes.

This project will have to be up to or exceed that standard of quality.  If not, then future downtown residents will live at the Star, Catalyst, OPP, MST, Aris, or any other future high-rise apartment buildings. If they produce an average or below average product and are a long-term holder it will negatively affect their rental income and cashflow and if they are a seller, it will be reflected in the Sales Price.

This should be a good one, no doubt.

so the entire building is coming up for lease..?

New five-story, 375-unit mid-rise apartment near southwest corner of Summer and Studemont set to start construction next week and expected delivery in 2019.  Alliance closed on the land in November 2017 - honestly had no idea this was even proposed, but a great addition to this area.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/02/02/exclusive-new-residential-mid-rise-to-break-ground.html

On 1/24/2018 at 7:43 PM, CREguy13 said:

I disagree, respectfully.  Everything is moving in the right direction and downtown's future is very promising.  Most of these new apartment projects have leased up quite well.  All of the new hotels being built.  The Astros and Rockets continue to have success, so the neighborhoods around them will continue to grow (I'm most excited with the potential around MMP).  The wider sidewalks and infrastructure are now there along Dallas and Main which is important.  Brookfield acquiring all of Houston Center is a good sign as they will activate the street level with retail/greenspace.  The new south downtown park will catalyze the remaining blocks around it.  

 

There is a lot going for downtown and I honestly believe we are just scratching the surface for demand to live downtown.  The great thing is a lot of the major Multifamily players got in on this first building cycle (TC, TC Residential, Hines, Finger, Camden, Marquette).  As they all achieve high occupancy and have actual market data to analyze, I think many will look at second sites and new players will enter.  

 

I understand the retail/thriving downtown isn't here yet, but it is coming.

As a follow up, from today's HBJ: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/01/31/exclusive-new-owner-shares-first-details-on.html

A few highlights:

Brookfield's vision for Houston Center, the 4.2 million-square-foot office and retail complex it acquired in late 2017, is a revitalized mixed-use development with street-level retail, outdoor event spaces and white tablecloth restaurants.

Hernandez said that until renovation plans are finalized, the team's been executing short-term renewals for the property's retail tenants. He said most of the property's retail tenants are small; the largest retail tenant is Kelsey-Seybold, which occupies 23,000 square feet.

"You have people who are extremely loyal, and who have been here a long time," Wilson said. "There were several renewals done prior to the sale with people who, even without the renovation … understand something really good is coming."

Mat Pour going on right now.

54 minutes ago, swtsig said:

 

"retail follows rooftops"

Good catch.  Definitely misstated this!

I think you nailed it on the head that the city needs to stop talking about it when they have little control outside of incentive programs.  The market will dictate and 'Retail follows footsteps' will always ring true.  Prior to this cycle retailers had little reason to look at downtown for any different use than daytime office workers.  

This project, Camden Conte, tellling  investors that they will break ground Q4 2017, rather than 2020, because of market dynamics is a good sign.  If Trammell Crow and Marquette also break ground this year, as they've stated, that will be a good sign.  Unfortunately, it is a waiting game, but the market for retail will be there.

11 minutes ago, HOUTEX said:

Energy will forever be a volatile marketplace and yet there seems no earnest public effort to plan for the future and really diversify the economy. Why?

Notably very little ambition to be better, or think big?  The amount of change that has occurred in Houston over the past several years is remarkable.  Just because the city missed the Amazon bid and has not diversified at the quick pace you had hoped for, does not mean there is no public effort for the future.  If anything the rhetoric for the city over the past few years has been all on fostering a tech community and continuing to diversify..  There are a lot of eyes on our emerging life science sector and it is bringing a lot of big industry player's attention to the TMC, - this is an extremely exciting development for our city, among others.

And any association with Houston and complacency is laughable.

With the work schedule ending October 2022, I assume they're planning to have all 3 towers built by then, so we can expect activity in this area of Midtown for the next 4.5 years?

Ahhh looks like you are right then!

I'm not sure it is... the Southhampton Senior Living was for the Northwest corner of this block and the site had already been cleared - this is the Southwest corner.  Perhaps they were needing the Senior Living Center needed the whole half block, but this could be a completely different developer.

Crazy to think parking can work on a site this small, but this project will be awesome.  

8 hours ago, pablog said:

Did you just doubt urbannizer? 

Not at all, I was just curious of the source.  This would be awesome to rise at the same time as Caydon. 

source?

Personally, I think this will do extremely well.  There isn't a venue like this downtown (that I know of), and it will pull residents from South downtown and Eado, along with the expected business travelers/concertgoers.  While this may not be the ideal use of downtown land in the long term, I think it will be great in the near term - especially considering the success that the Astros and Rockets are currently having.

I would like 100 more of these spread across the loop.

I'm guessing it will be announced when a certain large bank nears its lease expiration at a closeby building, where it has its current namesake, and such namesake will be transferred to Capitol Tower.

Question:  Does anyone know what is planned for the large cleared lot just North of West Alabama Ice House - 2 blocks East of this intersection.  Is there an existing thread for that project? 

1 hour ago, wxman said:

Between this, Capitol Tower, 609 Main and the other tower Hines just built (the one with the slanted roof), we could have put up a new super-tall. Why they keep building these crappy 30-something story buildings is beyond me. Clearly somebody thinks there's room for more office space and they're being leased or they wouldn't come out of the ground. Is there an unwritten law that nothing over 40 something stories can be built downtown any longer? It's kind of annoying...

Not that I don't wish we would build another supertall, but major players are not only focused on building height, but quality, sustainability and return for investors.  Especially not Skanska and Hines.  We should not criticize these developers that continue to provide our city with A+ assets, even though they are not 1000+ feet tall.  Capitol Tower and 609 Main were great additions to our skyline.

3 minutes ago, OkieEric said:

 

I guess I wasn't the only one listening (or trying to) listen in.  I had to listen to the motion a second time to ensure I understood it, with so many caveats listed.  Pretty exciting news, regardless

Agreed! With all of the conditions I had to go through it again as well, so you were not alone..