jdbaker

Hey, long time first time.

Any updates on this? I work downtown and can see this building from my office. Needless to say I am VERY eager for something to happen with it. During my lunch break I walked by the building and it looked as though there was zero activity. I did see a bulldozer parked in a loading dock, but that's it. I don't think I've seen anything remotely resembling activity since I started working downtown (january 2009)

I live nearby and am also interested in the status of this project. It seems like the project is dead as there has been no activity is many months.

Let's ask Suze Orman what she thinks would be the better deal...

I agree that a highrise is not a better deal. My point is that when you compare the true cost of a highrise to the true cost of owning a single family home, it's closer than it looks like it is if you were to just focus on the maintenance fee. Many, but not all, of the same costs (e.g. insurance, periodic capital repairs) are duplicated with a single single family home it's just that they are not as visible as a maintenance fee.

If that's true, high-rise living sucks.

$7000 - $14000 for water/trash/landscaping/front desk/valet/security/common area/pool/gym. . .

No thanks.

The higher maintenance figure is correct, however, it includes more than the things that you have listed. It also includes insurance, capital repairs (e.g. roof, plumbing, elevators), a reserve fund, and perhaps a doorman. It's a lot of money, but owning a single family home carries a number of hidden monthly costs as well.

Oh I'm definitely not saying it's a bad thing. I might even enjoy it. It'll just be a weird adjustment. Unless it's way expensive, then I'll go bowl with the poor people and drink beer out of a plastic cup.

It is way expensive as compared to a conventional bowling alley.

And a problem common among downtown buildings is that visitor parking is always inconvenient. If you have more cars than you have bedrooms, you may need to work out an arrangement for a parking space on one of the surface lots around the building.

The visitor parking situation around the Houston House is actually not bad relative to the rest of the downtown area. There is ample street parking in the immediate vicinity and there are several surface lots nearby that offer inexpensive parking.

Oh, I was thinking of a GlobeSt.com article.

But the building has not been sold, is not (yet) under contract to sell, and the firm mentioned in that article is not going to buy it.

Do you have any other info to share (or info that you cannot share)?

No. Condos don't make sense anymore and that was what had been planned.

I would peg the probability of renovations starting sometime in 2009 as being 'very high' (>90%) but as rental apartments, and certainly not done by the same people that were talking about it in the article you mentioned.

I think the previous poster is referring to a different article than the Niche is referring to. There was an article in the Chronicle near the end of last year stating that the Houston House had been sold and would remain a rental building, but it would be remodeled with new windows, exterior paint, and upgraded common areas.

Update: the article is here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/busine...ff/5270371.html

She's a beaute.

It looks like someone finally bought this building. When I walked by today, scaffolding was going up around the awning and there were construction workers going in and out of the building. Has anyone heard what is planned for this space?

The tunnels connect to lot more than The Shops. If I was renting a luxury apartment downtown, I'd want tunnel access.

Why? The tunnels are closed after 5 pm and are also closed on weekends. Since most downtown residents are at work during the hours in which the tunnels are open, tunnel access from your apartment is essentially useless.

What do you think will happen to the Savoy? It looks like it actualy has two sections an older one and a newer one.

The original Savoy is a virtual twin to the Beacsonfield, which is next door. Like the Beaconsfield, it was a high-end apartment building built in or around 1908, a few years before the Beaconsfield. The front facade of the original Savoy faces the newer Savoy building, which means that you can't really see the facade from the street. I assume that this contributes to the lack of interest in this building, which is, or was, one of the more significant residential buildings in Houston before it was allowed to decay so badly.

As for what will happen to the original Savoy, my best guess is that the western most portion will finally collapse sometime in the next few years. The roof is completely gone over a large portion of the building as are many of the floors. I'm not a structural engineer, but it looks very, very bad. I think someone here mentioned that the Newer building has extensive asbestos problems, so I would not look for much action there anytime soon.

I can't find any permits issued for that address yet (or the surrounding three streets or any address number on those four blocks). So either they are brand brand new, doing work that doesn't require a permit, or doing it without permits.

Is there anything posted on the walls/windows?

The only other ones were from last September when the sidewalk canopy was worked on, and one for demolition of non load-bearing/non fire-rated walls (which would be the ones in the garage).

Yesterday, it looked like they were doing something with the electrical service panels on the western most side of the parking garage portion of the building. There were several workers wandering around when I drove by.

That's got to be from at least the mid-80s because there's Hakeem Olajuwon in a Rockets uniform on the brochure showing different attractions (Hakeem represented the Summit)

Hopefully this might be the start of something good on the south side of Downtown.

There was definitely more work going on this afternoon at the Holiday Inn. Has anyone figured who bought it yet?

can someone help me out.

What is the name of the new Parking garage, at San Jacinto and Prairie Link to google maps

And what is their daily rate? Can you park there overnight?

The parking garage in question belongs to Christ Church Cathedral. I think the daily rate is $6. I'm not sure about overnight parking.

At this point, an implosion would be a positive alternative should the deal fall through.

I saw a large red construction dumpster in the parking garage level last week, which would seem to lend some credibility to this thread.

The Greyhound station isn't going anywhere...you people should quit getting your hopes up. The Midtown Redevelopment Authority doesn't know what the hades they are doing anyway, so its futile to deal with them regardless.

I've heard rumblings that the Greyhound Station may be moving to North Main near Metro's planned intermodal terminal at some point in the foreseeable future.

Actually, the Huntingdon was the same way when it was built. The owner bought the shell and was responsible for finishing it out.

Apartments listed in the Huntington are currently priced in the $500 psf range, finished. Thus, even if one wanted to start from scratch, it would be much cheaper to buy something in the Huntington at $500 psf and gut it than it would to spend the $900 psf that Trunberry is asking.

True about those with money could affort it, BUT still, 2 ML seems pretty steep for an unfinished condo. in Houston....albeit nice. Not to dog my hometown, but H-town is no NY, Chi-Town or LA. Nor is it London or Paris. Those rates are par for the course there. BUT, in Houston. Hmmm. I would guess some pricing modification will occur when the units do not fill up so quickly.

It's difficult to understand why anyone would pay Turnberry's asking price when one could buy in an existing ultra-luxury building, such as the Huntington, for a fraction of that price.

Does anyone know what the occupancy rate for it is?

According to the Chronicle article the Houston House is at 90% occupancy. I live across the street in the Beaconsfield, and judging by the apartments in the Houston House, which are lit in the evening I think 90% is a credible number.

I went through an open house at Franklin Lofts last year and the woman who was showing us around said that there were 11 or 12 years left on the historic tax exemption. I figure that 10-11 years of not paying $6,000+ a year sounds good. I also looked up who the owners of the units are and it looks like Franklin Limited Partners own about 10-12 units. What I'm wondering is if they go under, what would that potentially mean for me?

The Historic tax exemption only exempts you from city taxes. This means that you still pay taxes to Harris County, HISD, and various other taxing entities. In other words, the Historic exemption will reduce your taxes by approximately 20%.

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and was just looking for insight on Franklin Lofts. I've been through one of their open-house events and was pretty impressed overall. The building is beautiful and has a lot of pros in my mind. I'm considering trying to buy there but just wanted some feedback before I start making any serious decisions. This is what I've come up with so far:

Pros:

1.) Location

2.) (Relatively) Low HOA fees

3.) Historic tax exemption

4.) Spacious floorplans/hardwood floors

5.) Parking, etc.

Cons:

1.) Good Value??

2.) Cheap looking cabinets, kitchen area

I keep finding myself going back and forth so any opionions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

It's a quality building, however, my understanding is that a significant portion of the units are owned a by a single investment group (e.g. not the developer), or possibly a bank at this point as I've heard rumors that this group was in foreclosure.

I've never lived in a condo, but I'm thinking about it some day. Is that sort of HOA fee pretty standard, or is it much higher than the average HOA fee for highrise condos in Houston?

That's fairly standard. In fact, for a full service (e.g. doorman) building, it's on the low side. However, it's not unheard of for a developer to keep maintenance fees artificially low while they're trying to market their units.

After watching The Aviator, I wondered if there were any lasting architectural remnants of Howard Hughes' short life in Houston? Where did the Hughes live? Is his old house still standing? What about the old Hughes Tool building? I know about his gravesite, but little else.

Howard Hughes' family lived in the Beaconsfield for at least a portion of his childhood. It's still standing and is located at 1700 Main St.

A month or two ago this happened to me at home in Meyerland. It was around 6:30 in the morning and the helicopter stayed over my house for abut 10 minutes. I was scared to even go outside, thinking there was some convict on the loose. Tried to find out about it, but to no avail.

This happened almost weekly when I lived in DC. It's probably safe to assume the police were looking for someone.

44 cents/sq. ft. seems pretty steep to me. I don't need valet parking and a concierge.

My understanding is that this building does not have parking.

wow. Is that in large part due to land cost, or is that construction only?

It's overwhelmingly construction costs. A prime CBD block in Houston would only cost 10-15 Million.