312

I found this link within another section of the HAIF from KTRK:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7297507

It seems that other areas of the city are getting concerned...The video goes on to mention that they will interview a business owner who has already lost 2 businesses as a result of lt. rail construction and who is concerned about losing a 3rd business !

mainplace is most definitely not looking good to them, i assure you that much. the delta between what they'll be paying with a renewal/expansion and what they would get at mainplace (even with a significant discount from hines) would be huge. apples to oranges.

With regard to mainplace, I kind of think one of the main differences is the image,appeal, and prestige associated to a certain extent of being a tenant located in a Hnz property over other office buildings, especially one that looks like its going to be a real show stopper from an image standpoint...For example, Williams Twr is a great example of a building with perhaps similar allure. They really know how to come out of the ground with awesome looking buildings...

HBJ

Alan Atkinson of AVA Ltd., owner of the Americas Plaza mixed-use development near KBR’s site, puts the potential in broader perspective. Atkinson says the Clinton Drive tract is superior in size to the urban waterfront redevelopment projects touted in national real estate publications, which typically range from 20 to 40 acres. He adds that the portion of Buffalo Bayou east of downtown has cleaner water and is wider and deeper than in other areas of town because of its unique history. The bayou was dredged all the way into downtown to allow ships to navigate to Main Street during the city’s infancy. “Its location on the former Ship Channel, Houston’s largest waterway, is a remarkable development opportunity,” Atkinson says.

This was a very interesting part of the article to me. I have long thought that if we made the ability to bring yachts and docking them in downtown more attractive that it might help in procuring more superbowl events to the city. Being able to dock yachts downtown, the amenities of the area, and light rail connecting downtown to Reliant I believe might strengthen the appeal of Houston in the selection process. Miami sure seems to get a lot of superbowls and the NFL owners love to be able to show up on their yachts...

In the tunnels, around the corner from Wells Fargo Plaza (in the orange tunnel, I believe, near an intersection) there's a place I like, but I can't remember the name of it...

I was always amazed at how good the sushi at Benihana was, but once I learned they also owned Ra Sushi it made sense.

it just the contradiction. refusing to pay $5 for a taco and then paying $6 bucks for overrated sliders.

Who has the best non sequitur-sushi in the downtown area anyway ?

Tex-Chick is definitely Puerto Rican - "Comida Puertorriqueña" used to be prominently painted on the front window, not sure if it's still there as I haven't been by there in a long time.

The Latina Cafe is (or was - another place I haven't been in too long) reliably good. It has got to be one of the oldest continually-operating Cuban restaurants in Houston - it was originally Cardet's Cafe, named after the Cuban family who owned it, up until the mid-80s or so, at which point it was purchased by Koreans and renamed (the Cardets now own and operate the Texas distributorship for Goya Foods). I have a fond memory of sitting at a table in Cardet's in 1981 with my closest friend, who is Cuban, and filling out our respective applications to Rice while chain-smoking and sucking down multiple demitasses of _muy fuerte_ Cafe Bustelo.

Sev: not very Central/SE, but as far as good & cheap Cuban, I've heard very good things about Manolo's Cuban Cafe. It's located near Hillcroft and 59 (6015 Hillcroft #3700). Haven't been there yet but am dying to try it. Cafe Piquet on Bissonnet is quite good, but it's gone upscale considerably since its origins as a few tables in a Cuban grocery store (Piquet Market).

I loved that L.Cafe place growing up...They have awesome soup on Fridays !

806 has the Dominos, not the sandwich shop. The sandwich shop building is an active parking garage.

got it. Thanks !

Long gone. Everything was packed up and moved (presumably to offsite storage) before they started the going-out-of-business sale. The home plate from Buff Stadium was left in place, however - not sure if it's still there now.

That was a neat museum. It was the last place I expected to find a museum.

Read my post again. It is offensive, in that it attacks the flawed premises of your arguments, and the random recitations of statistics as some sort of proof of downtown's potential, while ignoring the reality of attempting retail in a downtown environment. For instance, virtually all of those 140,000 workers leave at the end of the day, which happens to be the prime revenue producing hours for a restaurant. Most restaurants derive 10% or less of their sales from lunch, due to the fact that lunchtime diners eat smaller, less filling meals and usually do not drink alcohol. Downtown restauranteurs are forced to do the opposite, attempting to produce all of their revenue during this low revenue period.

Your attempts to paint downtown as a wonderful bar market are also filled with random and relatively useless stats. Again, during the prime alcohol selling hours, 140,000 downtown workers are in the bars near their homes enjoying happy hour, while downtown bars are serving the 5,000 or so downtown residents. Sure, some downtown bars attract patrons from outside of downtown, but these patrons must be attracted by intense marketing efforts. People do not simply drop by downtown, as they would the bars in their own neighborhoods.

Far from being a detractor of downtown, or of light rail, I am a big fan of both. I thoroughly enjoyed my years as a downtown businessman, and wish the best for those still there or considering entering the market. My "defensive" posts are merely frustration at your over reliance on irrelevant statistics and urban legend in describing downtown retail. Most retailers that have left did so for the usual reasons, poor business plans, bad management, underfinanced, and changing markets. I have been one of those downtown merchants. I know what the challenges are. This is why I am able to challenge your faulty logic.

Good luck in attracting a tenant to your building. (I mean this in all sincerity.)

Read my post for once...What I was suggesting is that more could probably be done in my opinon to concentrate on retaining those people in the area that frequent downtown daily an that it could go a long way towards creating more interest in the downtown area. I don't understand what urban legend you are referring to,and don't get how you believe that the statistic about how many people frequent downtown is irrelevant. If in fact those people were to remain in the area that come down here to work, then I think we would have a stronger downtown. I think that the idea is pretty simple to understand, so I don't understand where the problem is here ? There is a lack of things for people to do downtown on a daily basis in my opinion. Having more places and things to do say from 2pm- until the evening like shopping for example could translate into more people remaining later and through happy hour and dinner as you suggested. I respect that perhaps you don't agree with this suggestion as a means to build upon the area, but strongly believe on trying to make the most of positives. I think that having so many people work in the area on a daily basis is a big plus, and I foresee that number increasing which will help. I believe that if people had more options and things to do downtown they might actually hang around a bit instead of head out. I think that the liquor sales of the establishments in the area is interesting. I was not suggesting and in fact agree with you that relying primarily on trying to attract conventions/people outside of the area and making that the main focal point of attracting business doesn't seem like a long term plan which has a lasting benefit for the entire area as a whole or makes the large amount of people that frequent the downtown area want to stay after work or want to live here either. In fact from what I can tell many people would really like and enjoy having more amenities in place downtown, so maybe if more existed already in terms of retailers people are used to having access to then more people might be willing to stay and live downtown, where they work. Also didn't follow your comment about all the retailers and you being a merchant. I don't agree with your assessment that every business that was ever located downtown moved or didn't make it because they were all inferior operators and/or were all undercapitalized, but think it probably doesn't matter anyway. Afterall what exodus of retail-merchants could you possibly be talking about anyway that doesn't have to do with bars and restaurants? I am not discussing retail in the area dating back to the city's beginnings, but am discussing retail in recent years. I think that a majority of the retail downtown consists of bars and restaurants and so that's what I discussed. I believe that they probably represent the majority of first tier/original retailers (starting from recent years) entering this area just as they were prior to light rail. What kind of intense marketing efforts would you recommend ? I also asked you a question and didn't receive a response to it in the previous post.

Well, that makes us even, as I have not understood any of your posts on the subject of the historic district or Market Square. Simply put, Market Square is a park. Taking up too much space to build a full size restaurant defeats the purpose in two ways. One, it leaves less room for the park...its primary intended use...and two, is much more direct competition for the existing restaurants surrounding the park, as opposed to complimentary.

Market Square is 62,500 square feet. Discovery Green is approximately 10 times that size. A full size restaurant and a hamburger stand do not overwhelm the primary nature of the space, namely, a park. A full size building on Market Square would overwhelm the space.

All of your posts appear to begin with a premise that the Historic District is being slighted by the City, METRO, the Downtown associations, and various individuals. This preoccupation with the persecution of the Historic District makes your posts disjointed at best, and flat out wrong at worst. There is no conspiracy against the Historic District or its businesses. And, Downtown is not the gold mine of retail that you claim. Many of the bars, restaurants, clubs and stores that have left have done so precisely because the market is so tough to operate in. Frankly, your posts sound like real estate agent puffery more than an accurate assessment of the Historic District and Downtown business climate. I should know. I operated businesses in Downtown and the Historic District for 10 years, and walked those streets and sidewalks before, during and after construction. I knew many of the proprietors of the businesses in the area personally. I know which ones struggled AND why. Rarely, if ever, was it attributed to rail construction or City or METRO conspiracies.

Thanks for your interest and also for reading "all of my posts". I thought the primary nature of the park is what was trying to be improved upon at Market Square, and as you know it's already a park and I never disputed that point. I really thought that the park was being discussed and not my posts.If you disagree that downtown has a lot of potential, well I have no problem. Speaking of the business climate you mentioned it is interesting to be in the 4th largest city in the US and perhaps even the 3rd largest city once the new census #'s are released and to have such a sluggish retail base especially with the healthy office market that it has and the 140,000 people that I hear are frequenting the area on a daily basis. A lot of areas have a whole lot less to work with in terms of procuring and developing business. I did however suggest that more could be done to promote the entire area as a whole. If you read all of my posts then you would have realized that I am pro-rail and glad to have it in place. Ask the businesses along Main if rail had an impact on their business or not because the proprietors that I know, and knew back then certainly believed that it did, this in addition to seeing the impact of it first hand as well.I still think that a 1.6 acre park could have a full size restaurant among other things and that 400 sf +/- place seems really,really small. Your post seems really defensive.Maybe I could ask you a question. Who subsidized hpavlions,and/or has an interest in the hlton located next to the convention center ? Couldn't this be a reason that it gets so much attention ?

I'm sure Discovery Green's size of 14 acres (versus about 1.6 acres for Market Square) has very little to do with it.

Correct, I'm sure that it doesn't...Unless you really believe that getting 400 sf for a deli shack out of an entire city block consisting of 1.6 acres is all that difficult ? Surely, I'm missing your point.

I like the view from I-10 Hov.

It's going to be a neat building.

Yeah, but the Discovery Green offers way more than a playscape. There's dancing fountains, entertainment, seasonal ice skating, playgrounds, a pond for remote control boats, etc... that's a destination park.

I like the dog run and love the idea of bringing an "outdoor Niko Nikos" to Market Square, but I'd rather them leave more green/open space then add another feature. I guess you could argue that mom's might take their little tykes there to eat and let them loose on the playscape ala Lupe Tortillas though...

I like the idea of having a restaurant, but I was told that it would be 400 sf which sounds more like a deli in a building instead of a restaurant...I guess it's something but it doesn't seem like a real draw when scaled down to that size. It seems like there could be more done to create some excitement, like what was done at Disc. Green which I believe has 2 nice size restaurants built on it.

I'm more of a going to shows guy than a club guy (and I really don't like cover charges), so I don't really know, but Isis seems to get business. Never been inside.

Thanks for the feedback regarding club Isis. Glad to see this place open again. I saw a picture of Isis and it looks pretty sharp. With regard to Club 112, I read that it has two separate levels with music for the younger crowd on 1 level and 40's music like Sinatra and Tony Benet in the basement, but am not sure about cover charges...

That's interesting because I had a taco at el rey this am and when I pass by there daily it is always open ? I can't figure out if you guys/gals are getting it confused perhaps with another place that I heard about opening and closing downtown perhaps in that new pav project? I found this link:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/houston-pavilions-houston

I didn't get any pings on club Isis opening in the old Mercury room location at Main/Prairie and if they served food or not. I seem to remember Mercury room serving food. Also learned about Club 112, which opened at 112 Milam in the previous Toc location which moved right across the street from 112 Milam. Has anyone stopped by Club 112 ? Any feedback...

I wonder if the other three locations are still okay? I tried to go to El Rey downtown several times and they were never open their stated hours. Sometimes they were even closed on Friday night.

That's interesting because I had a taco at el rey this am and when I pass by there daily it is always open ? I can't figure out if you guys/gals are getting it confused perhaps with another place that I heard about opening and closing downtown perhaps in that new pav project? I found this link:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/houston-pavilions-houston

One example:Main Street Square and Market Square.Couple the similarity in the names along with the placement of a statue about Market Square displayed in Main Street Square and if someone didn't know any better they might think that they were in market square.Also factor in that I don't believe that Market Square has even been designated as a district.Instead I believe it's called the Historic District.I know where Market Square is and appreciate the historical and cultural significance of the area along with the rest of downtown.It seems like a lot of effort is centered around placing attention on the Main St.Square,HP,GRB,Hltn hotel area.I bet that entire area is all in the same district,imagine that.

Great area for the stadium. I enjoyed reading the posts.

ps- do they serve food ?

If this block is as lucky as all the other blocks downtown it might get a neat banner promoting the convention center area too...

I was just trying to understand what district this building will be associated with since there are so many districts within downtowns 1 mile radius. Once banners get posted on every corner to advertise the convention center area will our CBD get renamed GBD ?...Perhaps a year round banner for GB will be hung at the corner where this building is being built.I thought there was 1 downtown...

http://houstondowntown.com/Home/GeneralInfo/About/Districts/

http://houstondowntown.com/Home/GeneralInfo/About/Districts/

Has anyone checked out club ISIS which I believe opened in the old Mercury Room location? It's at Main@Prairie close to Byrds store.

That was a large and really cool space...

ps- do they serve food ?

why was that old rendering posted?

Narrowing down the districts a bit, and took Main Street Corridor off...remaining possibilities appear to still be Historic District,Market Square,Skyline,and the Theater district within downtowns 1 mile radius...

Click the link in the original post.

A 100-year-old office building recognized as the city’s first downtown skyscraper has been acquired by a developer for conversion into a hotel.

I actually did but wasn't sure if they meant the transaction was closing on Feb. 15th when I initially read the article. I was under the impression that the bldg. was already "closed" un-operational for years excepting a small sandwich shop at street level connected to the tunnel system.

Status please...did they close on this bldg. thanks

Very good news for downtown!! I wonder which district it will be placed in when completed,cuz it sure looks close to Historic District,Market Square,Skyline,and the Theater district within downtowns 1 mile radius...