102IAHexpress
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Posts posted by 102IAHexpress
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18 hours ago, CREguy13 said:
The below two quotes + article from today say otherwise:
"Less than a year after opening, Market Square Tower, Houston's tallest residential high-rise, is now over 90% leased."
"Despite many in Houston tightening their budgets, especially in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, interest in the property, where rent starts at $2,200/month, has been robust."
Edit: Just realized @CREguy13 quoted an article talking about Market Square Tower NOT Aris at Market Square, which is what this thread is about.
But for everyone's reference, 90% occupancy at Market Square Tower is 46 empty units as of right now. That's still a lot of empty units, but hopefully it improves.
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Having to offer three months free rent was not forecasted in Aris' demand forecast when they developed this property. No developer plans on giving away three months free. The reality is demand in downtown is not what Aris projected. That's not good or bad, it's just the market reality. There's no need to go into contortions to say otherwise. Demand performance has just not delivered. According to HAIF, people should be flocking to be near the awesome downtown light rail and great restaurant scene in downtown. Or maybe not? Even putting aside the train of death and lack of restaurants, downtown developers were gifted a larger than anticipated potential tenant population caused by the largest rain even in US history and they were gifted oil making a faster than anticipated comeback yet... demand has been ehh. Lets see if a year from now this is still 'temporary' as some apologists would say.
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16 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:
These are marketing angles and has nothing to do with demand. It is about value perception and Marketing. "Free Rent" for a month usually means more expensive rent for the other 11 months. Pretty sure I figured that out when I first started renting apartments.
Again, from the article:
QuoteThe urban core, however, which had a glut of units for lease pre-Harvey, still has a fair amount of vacancy.
Nancy is suggesting the deep discounts on inventory have to do with over supply and lack of demand in downtown. Are you saying she's wrong and your expertise which you gained after you first started renting apartments is correct?
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From Nancy's article yesterday:
QuoteAris Market Square is advertising three months free rent with a 13-month lease. Catalyst, near Minute Maid Park, is offering up to two months free. Alexan Downtown and Block 334 is giving two months free prorated throughout the term of a lease.
Wow, I didn't know residential demand was that poor in downtown. Hopefully it picks up soon.
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23 minutes ago, Texasota said:
Anyway, plenty of restaurants (particularly more chef-driven ones) are closed one day of the week. Often that's a Monday, but Lucienne went with Sunday, and not even the whole day. They are doing a Sunday brunch. Their hours are actually pretty expansive - 6:30am-10pm M-F (with a mid-afternoon break), 11am-10pm on Saturday (with a mid-afternoon break), and 11am-2:30pm Sunday. In no way is that suggestive of any sort of "Nobody stays downtown on the weekends" mentality.
It's a standard hotel restaurant not the former ElBulli in Catalonia. A guest should be able to have dinner at a "luxury" hotel any night of the week, especially Sunday.
Look, it is what it is, I just don't think downtown should market itself as some plentiful restaurant destination any night of the week. To do so would be to willfully ignore facts to the contrary. It's just not there yet. Not knocking downtown, it's great for bars; restaurants not so many yet; and street level restaurants on the weekends even less than that.
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11 hours ago, samagon said:
places not open on Sunday in downtown:
1. Chic-fil-a
2. Lucienne
3. Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby serves food? I didn't know there was a Hobby Lobby in Downtown? I didn't think the restaurant scene in downtown was this bad if a Hobby Lobby counts as a restaurant. But I guess, I've seen fast food restaurants inside Targets and Wal-Marts so I guess they do count too. I've seen some fanatics regarding Costco's pizzas.
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On 10/2/2017 at 0:14 PM, Houston19514 said:
With today's opening of Hotel Alessandra, we can add Lucienne and Bardot to the long list of places to eat in the evenings and on weekends in downtown Houston.
I just called Lucienne to make a reservation for dinner on Sunday. They are closed for dinner this Sunday and every Sunday. Please add Lucienne to the long list of places not fully open on the weekends in Downtown. Very frustrating.
On 10/5/2017 at 10:08 AM, Houston19514 said:And another... Theodore Rex opens tomorrow.
Is this place even in downtown?
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That's a corporate U-Haul, not a dealer. Odd that Amerco would give up on a prime downtown location. Unless they think not that many people are moving to or need storage in Downtown?
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A380 returns to IAH in June.
https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-a380-returns-to-houston#
No official word on DFW but DFW appears to remain a 777-300ER
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1 hour ago, cspwal said:
There seem to be a surprising number of families living in SkyHouse and Houston House
Really. I didn't know that. I know those properties are mostly studio, one bedroom and two bedrooms. Does the newest skyhouse have any three bedrooms? I don't know? Though, I would imagine most families living at those properties will need more space than that as their families grow.
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12 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:
Just wondering the demographics necessary to open a grocery store. With all the apartments, lofts etc in this area, not to mention the level of affluence It would be surprising if one doesn't open and soon.
Well we have Phoenicia? But I guess you mean west of Main street? For a traditional grocery store you need a lot more people than what downtown west of main street has. You also need a lot of families, which all of downtown has very little of. Families comprise the regular weekly shoppers that grocery stores needs. I lived at Rice lofts for several years, I don't think i ever saw one family living there.
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53 minutes ago, Reporter said:
Somehow I doubt you are an authority on 'cool'.
You're entitled to have that opinion.
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@Vy65 is correct. It's a mediocre design. However, W's are really known for their architecture and design inside the hotel not their exterior design. If any thought is put on a W's exterior it's usually a cool rooftop bar. We will have to wait and see how this W compares with other W interiors. If this interior gets shortchanged, then I think that is a more fair criticism.
I'm more interested in the location and what the location says about Houston. W's operate in the cool and trendy area's of a neighborhood. The investors have objectively concluded that the convention center is the cool part of downtown! Houston does an absolute horrible job marketing itself if this is the best place for a W in Houston.
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On 1/9/2018 at 10:46 PM, wxman said:
Is this the year we end up with Air India or perhaps an African Airline? Is there anything working in the pipeline does anybody know?
Zero chance of an African Airline this year. In fact SonAir will discontinue their Houston to Luanda route as of March 28, 2018. http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/09/sonair-ending-houston-luanda-route/
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15 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:
That's a rebranded Holiday Inn, by the looks of it, not unlike our own holiday Inn/Days Inn in south downtown. Not a small property at all. There have been several W's that have done this. Notably, the former W in NOLA cbd, which was a Holiday Inn Crown Plaza in its former life.
Gotcha. You're right.
16 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:I also, think that we should stop calling W Hotels, Five Star. They are not. They are generally pretty standard Four Star properties. The market pitch for this proposal has been a little over-the-top, imo.
Yeah I stayed at this property a couple months ago. Four star at best.
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23 hours ago, Houston19514 said:
It seems unlikely it would have 400 rooms. That would be unusually large for a W Hotel (or any "boutique" hotel). But hopefully, it will also have some condos on top. My understanding from the original RFP is that the base structure was built to be able to handle a hotel "up to" 400 rooms and "up to" 15 stories.
I snapped a picture of the W outside my apartment window. W Lakeshore Chicago. It's actually 520 rooms.
Perhaps, 300+ rooms are the norm for new-construction W's? I don't know. Anyways, the one outside my window has a parking garage as its base. So W's with a base have been done before. Interesting proposed location in downtown. I'm not sure a W would fit with downtown Houston's business culture.
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11 hours ago, gmac said:
I'm in favor of a good old bloody fight to the death over this useless boondoggle.
I wasn't aware a private venture could be a boondoggle. I suppose technically it can. But what do you care? Do you have input on better ways for Texas Central to spend their own money? Is there anyone else's money you want to control too? Personally, If Texas Central wants to spend private money for this rail line, so be it. As long as no public money is used then I don't have a problem with it. If you think this rail line is a boondoggle, then what's your opinion on Elon Musk sending a Tesla into outer space?
Regarding eminent domain, as a libertarian I wouldn't have voted to extend eminent domain to certain private companies. However, libertarian or not, we live in a democracy. The people's representatives have debated it, and have enacted it into law. It's the current law of the State of Texas.
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4 hours ago, gmac said:
No way on earth they should be granted any eminent domain relief for a private venture.
On this point the people of the great State of Texas disagree with you. Private railway companies specifically have the right to exercise eminent domain. I would refer you to Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 112.002 (Vernon):
(a) A railroad company has the right to succession.
(b) A railroad company may:
(1) sue, be sued, plead, and be impleaded in its corporate name;
(2) have and use a seal and alter the seal at will;
(3) receive and convey persons and property on its railway by any mechanical power, including the use of steam;
(4) regulate the time and manner in which, and the compensation for which, passengers and property are transported, subject to the provisions of law;
(5) exercise the power of eminent domain for the purposes prescribed by this subtitle or Subtitle D;
(6) purchase, hold, and use all property as necessary for the construction and use of its railway, stations, and other accommodations necessary to accomplish company objectives, and convey that property when no longer required for railway use; and
(7) take, hold, and use property granted to the company to aid in the construction and use of its railway, and convey that property in a manner consistent with the terms of the grant when the property is no longer required for railway use.
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12 hours ago, Luminare said:
As someone who used trains extensively while in Germany (including their ICE trains (their HSR lines)) trains do not function like airports in the slightest. Airports take you next to a city because there is no real possibility to have a fully effective airport in an urban environment while a train station is a mode of transportation that can take you right up to the front door of an urban environment and further.
This is mostly false. There are over 5K public airports in the US. Not all of them are huge airports that require them to be far away from a city center. And actually some large airports are very close to the city center, like Las Vegas airport.
Many small European town train stations function like small regional airports. Both get you pretty darn close to the town's center but not right in the center.
What we have in the NW Mall "station" is similar to a small regional airport/small train town. It has just one airline/train line that flies/travels to one other station/airport several times per day fairly close to the town center, but not as close as a huge capital city train station.
I think you would be more correct if you said, -Large- airports do not function like -Large- train stations. Also, small train stations are sometimes in the town's center and sometimes are NOT in a town's center.
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If built, it will be a huge automobile hub; taxi's, uber's, rental cars. The developers are obviously trying to bring as many cars to the station as possible and this location allows for that. The brand will try to convey convenience as much as possible. I can envision television commercials advertising, easy parking and or valet options. Very doubtful someone will shell out extra cash for the convenience and speed of a bullet train to Houston, only to detrain and wait for a Metro bus or light rail train! lol.
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5 minutes ago, UtterlyUrban said:
Are Zurich, London, Vienna, and NYC spending money on light rail only for quality of life?
No. Not only quality of life. Practically speaking those cities need more rail just to sustain basic quality of life. Also, the heavy rail costs can be justified better in European cities.
From a CityLab article from just a few days ago:
Nearly all American urban rail projects cost much more than their European counterparts do. The cheaper ones cost twice as much, and the more expensive ones about seven times as much.
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17 minutes ago, UtterlyUrban said:
I would like to understand: are all cities with light rail networks thinking wrong headed?
Possibly. Depends on the underlying justification for light rail construction.
If the underlying argument is we need light rail because of the expected increase in ridership. Then we know that's been proven false in city after city. Light rail barely adds any more public transit riders that weren't already there before using public bus transit but at an increased cost of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.
If the underlying argument is we need light rail because of the expected increase in development. Then we know that's also false in city after city. Look at Dallas Dart stations, look at Metro's Red, Purple and Green stations.
If the argument instead is, we know that light rail is not worth the expense however we still want it anyways because we feel it will increase our quality of life, in the sense that public parks or public swimming pools do, then I'm okay with that. Kind of like the allure of hosting the Olympics, yeah it will be super expensive, and probably end up saddling a city with debt for generations but we still want it anyways.
As long as we're honest about it, then I don't think it's wrong headed.
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1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:
and you still have no idea what you're talking about.
ad hominem attacks are the hallmark of someone with a weak case. For some reason you will not post any data to support your wild claim that the red line created tons of new developments. I have asked in i think at least three posts in this thread, and you refuse to post your data (I think we know why).
For those who actually care about data and reason the LA Times published an article yesterday about how billions in public transportation in LA has failed to increase ridership, but offers one possible solution (hint it's not more light rail).
LA's Ridership numbers from the article:
The following posts, will be something like the following: but but but, LA is not like Houston, it's not a fair comparison, you have no idea what you're talking about.
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This article, written one month after the above mentioned article, will be ignored by the pro light rail crowd.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dart-has-spent-5-billion-on-light-rail-is-it-worth-it-8380338
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The Jones On Main: Office Building At 708/712 Main St.
in Downtown
Posted
If Conservatory is a food court for adults (dark, cavernous, beer garden, unfriendly to baby strollers) then Finn Hall has an opportunity to become a food court for families (bright, open, ice cream, easily accessible). The restaurant lineup is exciting. Fingers crossed on this one.