jhjones74

I've always wondered the story on why there are two separate facades on this building. Was there a renovation on just half of the building at one point?

Apparently the top floor was at one point the largest cotton trading floor in the world

4 hours ago, editor said:

I confused how he can owe back taxes.  Except for when it's closed, I don't think I've ever walked by and it hasn't been absolutely packed.  I don't know what kind of marketing that place does, but it works.

https://abc13.com/taste-bar-and-kitchen-bagby-unpaid-taxes-houston-restaurant-closed/12184023/

I have to imagine he no longer owes back taxes. From the article above published in September of 2022, it sounds like Bowie was making good money at the Midtown location but just wasn't paying the sales tax he collected, which would be a felony for the amount he had unpaid ($206k), and in theory should have lead to jail time for him. Not to mention he wasn't paying his landlord rent for all of 2022, which is eventually what led to his eviction.

Bowie claims that it was his landlord locking him out of the restaurant during lease negotiations in early 2022 that set him back, leading to the taxes going unpaid. I'm very curious though how Bowie seemingly got out of these allegations scot-free. Did the city/state cut a deal with him where he could simply pay the taxes, likely with a penalty, and avoid jail time? I wonder this in the context of him moving into the new space on Main St, having been vacant for so long in a key part of the city, could there have been some deal reached between the city/state (maybe Central Houston?), Bowie and the landlord at 420 Main? Regardless, given all the facts and anecdotes I've read, I conclude that Bowie is shady at best and a criminal at worst - I have no desire to support his restaurant.

This was several months ago, but one of the bartenders at the current True Anomaly had mentioned that they were hoping to move into this new space on Navigation sometime around June or July 2024. I had actually heard earlier this year from the same bartender that they planned to move into this space at the beginning of 2024, but with delays on NHHIP they were no longer in a rush to leave. The drainage work that will tear up Saint Emanuel will then start right around the time they'll be moving out

29 minutes ago, jermh said:

I don't think this place will be busy enough to last for several reasons. I think it's bizarre that such similar concepts have opened so close to each other on Main. I expected it to be much more crowded than it has been since it opened (almost a full year after they remodeled the space). It's mostly empty every time I walk by it.

I definitely don't think that it's a coincidence that such similar concepts have opened up so close to each other. As I had commented previously in this thread, this is the fourth black owned business to open up on main street recently. I don't know if it's fair or even politically correct to imply that downtown Houston is becoming the go-to spot for black Houstonians to go out, but take a walk down main street on a Friday or Saturday night, then go to 19th or 20th Ave in the heights and you'll see wildly different demographics. Personally I'm not a fan of this on either side - what's effectively self segregation. It exists to a degree in every city, but one of the things I've come to love about Houston is how integrated the diversity is generally. To have the heart of the city then not reflect this would be a bummer for Houston imo

Taste Kitchen + Bar on Main Street had the fifth most health code violations from January to October of this year of any restaurant in Houston, as reported by the Chronicle. This was a problem also documented at their previous midtown location.

Interestingly the number of inspections at Taste during this period was higher than any other restaurant, which I would guess could have something to do with previous issues, as well as the sour history Don Bowie has with state and local authorities. Quite honestly, every time I walk by this place knowing its history, I'm confused how they're even allowed to remain open given Bowie's past legal issues and back taxes owed. I'm happy the space is no longer vacant, but how this place remains busy and retains a loyal customer base in light of every anecdote and story I've heard about Bowie is shocking to me. I have yet to try Taste, though I really don't have much desire to at this point

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2023/houston-restaurants-violations-map/

26 minutes ago, BEES?! said:

I’m curious to know how Lyric is doing, speaking of food halls. I always like the way they do their lighting displays. It seems they’ve have at least some turnover, but I don’t know how many of their current concepts are original from when they first opened. Definitely it has a different atmosphere and vibe compared to POST, and the two are fairly close, distance-wise. 

I think overall it's doing okay. I go here at least once or twice a week for lunch. Has definitely been some turnover - one of the stalls, formerly a good bbq spot, has been sitting empty now for probably a month. In general the place is usually about half full during peak lunch hours. This is probably one of the few food halls besides Post though that actually sees decent business during the evenings, with people eating here before shows. That said, it's not nearly as busy, even on a percentage basis, as Post.

1 hour ago, Texasota said:

Eh, Bravery is also doing fine. Both Post and Bravery have a higher quality tenant list *and* Post is distinctive enough to serve as its own draw. 

There's a ton of parking so people use it, but I actually don't think that's really the reason it's overall doing well.

Bravery, particularly Kokoro, always has a great lunch crowd during the weeks. Kokoro and Drunken Pho are both top notch. Evenings are hit or miss though. I was there right before one of the ALCS games this year and there was like two other couples. I honestly don't know how the oyster place has remained in business, I've never seen a single person eating there. Obviously turnover too with the Thai restaurant recently replacing the Mexican restaurant that was previously a steak/sandwich place. When there were headlines on the crowdfunding campaign for Bravery defaulting last year, I wasn't surprised. Hines will probably find a way to always keep this place open though

21 minutes ago, BEES?! said:

That said, you have POST which appears to be doing very well. There’s been some turnover, but honestly nothing I’d consider unusual for the cutthroat world of F&B. But they are absolutely packed to the gills with programming (they blow up my inbox all the time with new events and stuff, haha) and offer something pretty unique that draw a lot of people in from all over.  

They also appear to market very aggressively (I went to their Christmas artisan market last week and there were even highway signs advertising it. The whole place was really busy).  I wonder if these other places can’t learn a thing or two from Lovett on this one. 
 

The only thing I’d say POST has struggled with is office vacancy. (It’s over 50% IIRC) But they’re converting some of that to restaurant space, which may signal that they’re willing to   adapt and be flexible when their plans may not have gone as envisioned. 

The unfortunate difference between Post and any other food hall downtown? Ample, easy parking. 99% of people who go to any of these places will drive, and Houstonians have gotten way too comfortable with developments catering to their cars to imagine any parking experience that isn’t seamless. While the majority of us on HAIF complain about surface lots, broader Houston almost becomes uncomfortable without them. I write this as I’m looking at Post’s majority vacant parking lot that serves no purpose during non-peak hours

On 12/5/2023 at 8:00 AM, wilcal said:

I think the places in the tunnels are getting crushed, too. I think it was Downtown District that put out a survey and average weekday occupancy is like 60-65%. Has to be a fraction of that on Mondays and Fridays. 

This has been ongoing now for several years since COVID. I wonder what lease terms are like for many of these vendors. If Niko Niko's and Common Bond are any indication, there could be more chain businesses that decide to exit downtown once their leases are up. Who would blame them? This has to be something the folks at central Houston are paying attention to. I'm not totally sure what can be done though. Programming helps, but doesn't really change hearts and minds to get people to come to downtown in the first place

Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere, but the Common Bond in understory is closed from what I can see. It's listed as permanently closed on google, though I can't find any announcement on this. 

That was a place I always wished would stay open on the weekends. From what I could see, the bakery was always pretty busy during the week days. Curious if the brasserie concept has something to do with them closing - I never saw or heard of anybody really going there. Without knowing all the details, this seems to unfortunately suggest that despite the incremental population that's moved in downtown, even in probably the busiest food hall the support isn't there to make a concept like this work. Though to be fair they never seemed to make an attempt to cater to anything other than the lunch/business crowd

8 minutes ago, editor said:

I'm always surprised that people feel unsafe downtown.  Just because someone asks you for money doesn't mean it's not safe.  It means that there are poor people in the world.  When I see an item in the newspaper about a murder, it's usually  in Conroe or San Jacinto County.  It's almost never downtown.

There was a guy on the train a couple of days ago ranting about "Man, downtown is hard. It's so hard. It'll eat you up.  It's just not safe without a gun."  I wanted to say to him, "Dude, calm down.  It's Houston.  It's not Atlanta.  It's not Chicago.  It's not that bad.  Get a grip."

I always find it funny when people try to give Houston more street cred than it deserves. Unfortunately though I have to say, at least anecdotally I feel like downtown has regressed some the last 6 months. I'm still proud to call it home and have no plans to leave, but it's not the homeless I'm ever worried about. It's the seedier crowd that's making their way into downtown now, which is new to me having lived here for the last ~5 years. Not sure if it's a function of the turnover/newer bars, but either way the late night crowd downtown has a much higher desire for fighting and causing trouble than I've seen before. Case in point the guy shot and killed two weeks ago by Phoenicia. I don't walk around late downtown as much as I used to, but I had a situation a few weeks ago with two drunk guys looking to just fight randomly that could have gotten really ugly.

Obviously this underbelly will be present in any city, particularly around bars/nightlife - I think though to entirely dismiss crime as an issue (particularly when it comes to public perception) in downtown or anywhere isn't fair

Amazing to see all of these developments in the works east of downtown - I'm very curious though how the expansion of I-69/NHHIP may or may not have factored into Pagewood/Wile Interests investment decision. I feel like this entire area could be a mess for a whole decade, if not more. St. Emanuel street is supposed to be torn up starting in 2024, with drainage improvements completing in 2027. Then the widening/burial of I-69 alongside Eado is set to start in 2031, not completing until 2038, with adjacent work on I-69 starting in 2024. I can't imagine this area being anything other than a nightmare to get to from downtown or anywhere south/west of downtown from 2024 potentially all the way through 2040.

9 hours ago, steve1363 said:

If the Astros are looking at Texas Live or the Battery, then that’s their problem.  Why look at a suburban development for an urban stadium?  That makes zero sense.

Nailed it here. The answer is probably because this is the environment most Houstonians feel most comfortable, as another user previously pointed out. I lived in Midtown Atlanta when the Braves stadium moved from downtown to the suburbs. We can be thankful that this isn’t on the table likely due to Houston not having a real directional bias to suburban wealth, but ultimately that decision was made in Atlanta paying attention to the demographics of who was going to and spending money at Braves game. A bet on catering to a demographic that’s currently in the minority is not one I’m sure I’d want to make in Houston right now

54 minutes ago, samagon said:

even without your well thought and reasoned response, what things on that list of the Mets maybe amenities don't already exist in close proximity to MMP?

This is a fair argument, though if we already have all of these things, why is it that almost every place you listed sees hardly any increase in traffic before or after games? Aside from a couple of the spots right by the stadium, I've never seen a big increase come from Astros games.

It could be because none of these places are actually catering to or built for the Astros, though there's no doubt that Houstonians aren't used to urban/walkable experiences like New Yorkers are - a majority drive 30+ min to downtown, park, enjoy the game, and drive 30 min back to their house. As much as I hate to say it, this could be one of the reasons the Astros are hesitant to actually invest in making this area more like what a lot of us HAIFers are envisioning, particularly bars where people would stay to have 4-5 drinks and then have to drive back to the Woodlands...

22 minutes ago, houstontexasjack said:

Since 2017: 2 World Series; 4 American League Pennants; 6 AL West titles (every full season since 2017); 7 consecutive American League Championship Series appearances (a division series era record).

The Mets…..well, . Mets.
 

 

Which is why you really have to question why Houston owners seem to lack the vision that they could have given how good the Astros have been. Reinvest the billions that have been made the last several years so that even when/if the team falls off there’s still a good reason for people to want to come to and spend money around games.

I think this would be the fourth black owned business to open up on Main Street recently - others I can think of are Taste, Bungalow, and Off the Record, which are also 3/4 of the new restaurants/clubs I can think of opened on main street in the last ~year.

2 hours ago, steve1363 said:

I’m curious what does your dream development include and why?  There are already plenty of restaurants and bars within walking distance of MMP.  What else is needed.  
Instead of manufacturing some entertainment complex like Texas Live or Atlanta, or St. Louis I would hope for something more organic along the lines of Wrigleyville or Boston, or Baltimore.  What am I missing?

Would definitely cheer for something having more character/organic to the area, though the difference Houston has with Chicago, Boston and Baltimore is that it's a much younger city that unfortunately can't pull from historic buildings surrounding the area. The last thing I'd want is this district to feel like memorial city, or any of those (in my opinion) bland, car centric developments. But new construction has to happen, making it difficult to replicate what any older city has.

Compared to any other MLB stadium I've been to, and I've been to more than half, there's not yet a compelling enough reason to stay downtown right now before or after games. I was at Bravery chef hall before one of the ALCS games this year and it was basically empty. Again, too far to be in the conversation as cspwal pointed out. Building a hotel won't change this, there needs to be a larger vision for the whole area that I hope Astros owners are still considering.

19 minutes ago, steve1363 said:

The Twitter post was deleted.  😂

Such whiners on HAIF…. ugh!

Haha what are the odds the author saw this thread? I could see central Houston not wanting that leaked from the event too

4 minutes ago, shasta said:

Is it one building...not a village?

Doesn't look very baseball-ey (i.e the district around the St. Louis Cardinal's stadium

That rendering suggests a new building and a parking garage - definitely good to see progress here but as you can see below that's only a small dent in the surface parking lot oasis that surrounds Minute Maid

22 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Not sure why- but it’s Houston. Maybe to throw off one who discovers the flip book? Or just mistaken for another project he may be working on? 2811 Kirby is the name of this development and there’s no Kirby street in Austin.

Probably just put Austin in his portfolio thinking that’s a more recognizable city internationally. Even though Houston has probably 3x the number of highrises. 
 

Uneducated guess, it’ll be a year before this breaks ground, if they get the construction financing.

15 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

^  Interesting.  Thank you.

 

From the looks of it, I'm thinking this might be intended to be temporary.  They didn't even make an attempt to maximize the number of spaces...  make a little money for the rest of the Astros season and then . . . 

God I hope so. Will be very curious to see how much they charge people for parking during Astros games and if people actually park on this dump.

I actually hunted down who likely owns the property - the address comes back to the personal residence of a CEO/founder of a very good sized private oil and gas producer in Houston. My bet is he's doing what many other parking lot owners are doing downtown - parking money in these lots effectively risk free at a ~8% leveraged return annually, covering the tax burden with parking revenue. Hopefully I'm wrong and this lot sees development, but in this interest rate environment I wouldn't hold my breath.

46 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

What cities are prohibiting surface parking lots from being built?

Cincinnati has recently created explicit laws banning new surface parking lots.

NYC has prohibited surface parking from being built in Lower and Midtown Manhattan since the early 1980s.

Chicago requires a permit for new surface parking to be built, with specifications that this lot most definitely would not meet.

Numerous other cities have laws that would prohibit this hastily built heat island from existing. And it looks much worse from above:

Thanks, I hate it.

This is probably a better illustration of the cracks in Houston’s zoning and development policies than I’ve ever seen. As every serious city is getting rid of surface parking lots, even prohibiting them from being built, Houston is adding more. And I probably could have painted better lines myself even after a long session at Main Street bars. At least downtown has more parking now! /s 

On 5/9/2023 at 11:43 AM, hindesky said:

"The owner of TC Energy Center, a distinctive feature of Houston’s skyline, has stopped making payments on its loan, according to S&P Global which also cited two other Houston properties atop its list of largest national delinquent loans in March.

M-M Properties as an outstanding balance of $133M on loans for TCEnergy Tower a 1.3M SF, 56-story office building at 700 Louisiana St., according to information from Trepp."

https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/office/one-of-houstons-most-recognizable-buildings-is-delinquent-on-its-loan-and-it-has-company-118862

How is it possible that Houston has some of the largest delinquent loans when back to office stats are in the top 3 for US cities? Is it just that the the vacancy rate was so high going into COVID that the back-to-office vs pre covid stat is distorted?