KinkaidAlum

"It means that the land value is based upon demand from non-residential uses, which are apparently the higher and better uses of the site from a financial position. Despite all the hype devoted to new residential construction in the area, Midtown is still far from being a wildly-popular residential enclave among the upper class--the only class that can afford the new construction. So its short-run growth prospectives are weak in comparison with the East End, where cheap land and less fractured ownership allows for the rapid proliferation of relatively-inexpensive townhomes" No. It means Houston is still unzoned and that anything can be built anywhere and at any price to the community as long as the developers think they can make a buck. Sure, it's capitalism at work and sure it may be the market doing its thing, but it isn't the best thing for the city at large and Midtown in particular. As for only the Upper classes being able to afford anything in Midtown, that's a joke. Yes, there are some $400,000 town homes, but there are MANY more priced under $200,000 and there are thousands of rental apartments in new developments as well as older properties in the area. CVS will likely build a suburban style site with a front parking lot and a drive-thru pharmacy lane because they can and because it is CHEAPER. That's all this decision means.

Ashley Paige Benton sounds like an illegal immigrant's name. We should build a wall at our borders; with CANADA.

What makes you think Washington Terrace and Riverside Terrace aren't a part of the Greater Third Ward? I think they are because... 1) Most of the old timers will gladly tell you that's where they live 2) The majority of the "Third Ward is Not For Sale" signs are located in the Terraces area 3) Each easily falls withing the technical definition of Third Ward (East of Main and South of Congress) 4) Dowling Street was the Third Ward's "main street" and it runs right through Washington Terrace 5) Texas Southern University considers them to be a part of the greater ward (www.tsu.edu/about/community/ward.asp)

Most of the Third Ward isn't ghetto. There are huge mansions in Riverside Terrace and brick bungalows and traditional two stories in Washington Terrace, Binz, and a few other hoods that would make West U jealous. There have always been solid middle to upper middle class families that OWN in the Third Ward. Of course, most folks see black people and just assume ghetto or they just assume that everything in the Third Ward must look like what they see when they drive to UH or TSU from I-45. That part is due to SLUM LORDS.

Besides the two bigtex wrote about (Houston House and 2016 Main) there are the following OWN Four Seasons Condos on the top 5 floors of the hotel Commerce Towers (actually two bldgs, one 24 floors and one 12 floors) RENTAL Post Rice Lofts Humble Tower Apartments in the tallest portion of the old bldg Apartments at the Club Quarters hotel There are many places that are in the 10 stories or under category like Hogg Palace Lofts (rent), Bayou Lofts (own), Capitol Lofts (own), Keystone Lofts (own), St Germain (changing from rental to ownership), Hermann Lofts (own), the Rise (changing from rental to own), Franklin Lofts (own), Beaconsfield (own)...

Houston Biz Journal reported today that the first lease for the new office space has been signed. 25,000 square feet to a communications firm moving from Midtown.

The Gables Upper Kirby is already open. It's just South of West Alabama and East of Kirby. Near the Volkswagon Dealership I believe...think right behind Flemings Steak House's strip center.

Cool beans. You are a God.

Niche- I agree with you about the long term future of the Plaza de Oro/Old Spanish Trail area. It has nowhere to go but up. As for busting my bubble...I don't think you did. You yourself stated the low occupancy of the Camridge building. Once they lost their major "tenant" it became a speculative office project. There's no doubt in my mind that the conditions of the surrounding areas TODAY play a major role in the difficulty of finding tenants.

Niche- All of what you say is true. I do think that the biggest difference between the Midtown location and the Plaza de Oro location comes down to the old real estate mantra... LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. For the most part, South of the Med Center is still a waste land despite the efforts to build the South Campus research spot. That part of Houston has always felt a little disconnected to me. The Main St location in Midtown however was right on the rail line, next to the Spur exit from US 59, and in an area that was already blossoming. It's also relatively close to the Park Plaza Hospital in the Museum District.

The title of this thread appears to be incorrect. Isn't it Texas Children's building this facility? The demolition of the old Methodist Diagnostic Clinic that was mentioned is to make way for the new Outpatient Care Center (next to the Smith Tower). I am out of Houston, but when you said the bank site, I hope you mean that drive-thru one-story structure. Is that right?

The locations didn't seem that odd to me. The Midtown location is adjacent to St. Joseph's Hospital. Now that that facility has been saved, it doesn't seem too strange to put a physician owned tower close by. The Main Street location did seem a little bit more strange, but with the light rail making easy connections to the TMC quite easy, I could see the niche there. Plenty of patients LOVE the quality care you can get at the TMC but HATE the traffic and parking nightmares. There are plenty of folks who would love to (and would pay for) TMC doctors in an off-site setting I would think...

AIM. Right before the bottom fell out of the market, AIM was going to build this tower as their headquarters. Instead, the market tanked, scandals broke out, Houston fell into a small Enron funk, AIM downsized in their current Greenway Plaza digs, and now we have a strip mall.

When I thought I was going to be moving back, I looked there. In my opinion, they were by FAR the nicest residences in downtown. I am not a fan of loft living. I like walls. The units are stellar as my only gripe was that they had electric ovens/stoves. The building itself is really nice. The pool deck is amazing and the amenities were nice too. At the time, you wouldn't have to pay taxes for something like 9 years because of the TIRZ or something like that. Coming from Boston, I thought the price were quite reasonable. However, they are HIGH for Houston, especially downtown. That said, the owner of the Rockets (Alexander) had a place there as did several people who work in the Med Center who utilized the rail. I looked on 5 different floors and most were half full (this was 2 years ago).

We also have St. Regis Hotel Omni Hotel off of Woodway Lancaster Hotel Houstonian Hotel Colombe D'Or Westin Oaks Westin Galleria Hotel Sofitel (nice French chain up near IAH) and the soon to open Hotel ZaZa (former Warwick)

Summit Place will have plenty of surface parking to match the dealership next door. Just think, we lost green space for this cr*p. The garage behind the strip mall is for the apartments going up behind it by Camden. The apartments are 4 stories tall but are pretty friggin' generic.

Let's give the school a small break. It's not like Incarnate Word is rolling in the cash like St. Agnes or Duchesne. Incarnate Word serves a totally different population. Also, if you are really disgusted by the design, why not use the school's website to DONATE CASH to the building campaign? They're only halfway to their $8 million goal...

That was going to be residential lofts called One Bayou Park but I think they hit a major hurdle. They then tried to do office lofts but that didn't seem to take either. As far as I can tell, nothing has been done to the building in over a year or so...

Actually, both Red and the Prez are right in my mind. While it is true that many people choose to live in a high rise for reasons like they travel, like the added security, etc... in most other cities they can also choose to live in them because of their stellar location and easy access to everything they need (without having to drive). Well, Houston doesn't have such an area and in large part that is due to our weird non-zoned growth patterns. Downtown offers a huge employment center and a growing nightlife scene, but it is completely devoid of daily essentials like a grocery store. The Med Center is a not-for-profit center and cannot have a major for sale condo unit within its physical borders. It too lacks daily amenities. The Galleria area on the other hand offers anything one might need but in a completely suburban setting. It is not rare to see someone leave the Four Leaf Towers Condos and literally drive across the street to Eatzi's because walking is not an enjoyable experience. I am most interested in seeing how the area around the new downtown park develops. If we see 3-4 hi-rises go into that area that offer amenities like sidewalk cafes, a grocery or an Eatzis type place, dry cleaners, starbucks, etc... at street level, it might prove to be Houston's best chance for a true hi-rise neighborhood. Until then, we will be forced to try and make due with essentially suburban type developments.

There are 42 member institutions today. Others include... UT Nursing UT Biomedical Sciences Prairie View ATM Nursing Texas Woman's U Health Sciences/Nursing ATM Health Science Center U of Houston Pharmacy Rice University Texas Southern U Pharmacy and Health Science Houston Comm. College DeBakey High School Harris County Hosp. District- Ben Taub and LBJ Hospice at TMC Shriner's Children's Hospital Texas Children's TIRR (rehab and research) VA Hospital Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center Ronald McDonald House Institute of Religion and Health McGovern Museum of Health

Editor- You should do some background checks on Allen Parkway Village (San Felipe Courts). That place has a bad history and the residents had every right to be PISSED at what happened. Brief synopsis 1) San Felipe Courts was placed right in the middle of the old 4th Ward but was a "whites only" facility to provide housing for veterans. Seems an odd location for a segregated facility until you realize that the city of Houston had a reputation for carving out the old 4th ward...Sam Houston Coliseum, new City Hall, Pierce Elevated, Allen Center, were all built on what used to house what would today be historically relevant African-American structures. 2) After FORCED desegregation, the name changed to Allen Parkway Village and soon thereafter, the facilities were allowed to basically rot. 3) Starting in the late 60s, the developer of Greenway Plaza and Allen Center (Schnitzer?) began a very public campaign to try and "reclaim" land around downtown for his private development. His eye was very much on the prize of the old San Felipe Courts. There's even old newsreel you can find with his brash statements about pushing people out of the 4th ward. 4) Despite Houston having one of the longest waiting lists in the nation for public housing, the city failed to used H.U.D. funds to keep up APV. Once certain buildings were deemed unsafe, the residents were tossed out and forced to move to other parts of the city and the buildings were left empty. Sure enough, crime and drug dealing sprouted up in these empty shells and the residents that remained pleaded for help which further served to erode the once vibrant 4th Ward. 5) Eventually, the developers won out. After years of deliberate neglect, most of the project was torn down to make way for a supposedly better/private development. It was only the voices of the few remaining residents that forced the city to offer up "token" amounts of public housing units. 6) If you drive by today, the most offensive aspect of all of the above might just be that the project that is there now, is AWFUL. Suburban, gated, garden-style apartments with cheap siding. That's the best we could come up with? At the very least, if you are going to remove people against their will in the name of progress, shouldn't there at least be signs of progress? In 20 years, if not sooner, those apartments will look worse than APV. It's a sad chapter in our city's history. 4)

Looks like it will fit in well with the existing neighborhood. There are some GREAT old houses back there that have been very well maintained, beautiful live oaks, and the requisite new townhomes sprouting up all around the site.

Robertson Stadium is the PERFECT venue long term for the Dynamo. The stadium has a great setting with easy access to I-45, a downtown backdrop, and just a cool feel inside. There isn't a bad seat in the house and I dig the red seats and palm trees in the corner. Further enhancements could serve the Dynamo and UH well.

I appreciate 19514's posts. He seems thoughtful and connected and uses factual information to back up his posts. More people should try that route... As for parks with underground parking and "busy" amenities, just look to Boston. The Boston Common is the nation's oldest public park. It has 3 levels of underground parking, tennis courts, a softball diamond, a dog run, two stops for the T, a frog pond that is used for iceskating in the winter, a pavilion that hosts movies and plays during the summer months, a gazebo used for demonstrations and a great lawn expanse. Across the street lies the Boston Public Garden with gardens, a pond with the famous "Swan Boat" tours, walking paths, and statues. I am not sure why a city like Boston can embrace such a park but in Houston, it's a boondoggle, a worhtless endeavour, a waste of tax payer money, a pipe dream, and all the other things it has been called. Sigh.

I agree with you Danes; we have reason to doubt. That said, the developlment team at Mosaic is top notch. Unlike the Scamrock and Orion, they are not a fly-by-night type of operation. They have YEARS of experience building these projects. Many doubted that ANY part of this project would ever take off. Go back and read this thread. Glut of apartments. Bad location. Too risky. Hurricanes. Rising cost of steel. Yet, through it all, the ground has already broken for half of the project. IF, and it is a big IF, they can secure the funding for this concept (lower priced units/smaller condos/selling location and bldg amenities), this condo tower WILL rise. I'd imagine that investors would be rewarded too. There's a market in Houston for what they are selling. It's just untested. I hope they can secure the funding because we might see more urban, well-designed mid to high rises with sane pricing pop up in the general vicinity.