swtsig
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Posts posted by swtsig
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1 hour ago, Luminare said:
Some insider knowledge about putting renderings together. A lot of these things are up to the designers discretion in regards to fleshing out or filling out a "scene". More than likely the PM, PA or project designer told the person doing the render to find a "contemporary" sculpture to place in the scene. If you look in this render below:
You will notice that the sculpture is different which means these scenes were developed at different points during the design process while they were discussing what should be placed in the scene. As a matter of fact, its funny, I've used that exact bubble sculpture in a render for house for a client who likes contemporary art in their front yard. My boss gave me certain parameters and that lead me to that sculpture.
Definitely a possiblity. Though in look at this its very well developed to be simply "conceptual". Just look at all the diagrams, and sqft's, and detail in the renders. This is an actual proposal with my professional eyes, but of course just because its proposed doesn't mean its going to get built (like anything proposed). With that being said, the fact that something like this is being proposed does change the game for what people might expect for what is possible on this site. Even if it changes this could have a profound effect on the land owners mind of what is possible. This is why these proposals exist, and its why architects exist because we can see things that others can't or are too stuck in their reality to see what is possible. Everything that I see in this render is very doable, and actually is very much in line with contemporary approaches to site and aesthetics.
To me this feels a lot like aesthetically its trying to be like Michael Hsu, and in proportion and scale its trying to be like BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). There are of course other architects that do these things, and probably different people they pulled inspiration from, but those are immediate examples to pull from.
well said and i agree. nothing about this site plan seems overly ambitious other than the overall # of mixed use components, but the design and scale seems plenty achievable. it certainly has a BIG vibe to it, especially the schematics, but also seems very approachable. I also think it would play off hsu's design at montrose collective very well.
fingers crossed the project ends up as shown or a very similar facsimile thereof.
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Madison Marquette, formerly PMRG.
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do we have any idea if this the actual design or simply a conceptual or proposed design?
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On 1/13/2020 at 1:11 PM, Houston19514 said:
Address is on LBJ Freeway in Dallas.
5420 LBJ FREEWAY STE 1310
Appears to be MetLife.
Appears to be owned by MetLife. But whoever owns it, they would almost certainly it in a "special purpose entity".
metlife has had numerous conversations w Hines on a multi-family or mixed use development at BLVD Place in the past. my understanding was that it was for the northern most parcel fronting san felipe but it certainly may have been this site. either way, metlife will almost certainly develop.
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14 hours ago, citykid09 said:It's a nice building. But I'm curious, is this the first high rise built in a suburban shopping center? Does it look out of place, or is it an improvement for the area?
it looks fine imo and they have plans for future high rises here so it will probably have some neighbors in the not too distant future.
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13 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:
Grew up in Klein and never ever heard it addressed as willow without the brook.
same. spent many a summer near willowbrook mall, specifically shannon's skate shop... never heard it referred to as the willow haha
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i dig it.
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1 minute ago, Avossos said:
Impressive pre-leasing numbers. How much of that has to do with the location, and how much has to do with the design?
I think @bobruss said this in another thread. Montrose blvd desperately needs to be redone (like Kirby) so this can be a grand street.
probably more design driven than location but the office tenant is a particularly good fit for this part of town a well. purely from a location standpoint, though, this isn't the easiest spot to get to if you have employees coming from all over town.
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1 hour ago, Twinsanity02 said:
Hate to sound like a curmudgeon ( though I am sometimes), but I don't see a "Champs Elysees" anywhere in Houston ever developing. South Post Oak can become like an Avenue Montaigne and Montrose Blvd. a Paseo del Prado in Madrid , but the Champs Elysees is a non duplicating avenue. Too much history and culture.
ya let's not go overboard here. Post Oak can certainly become our mini version of Park Ave. or Rodeo Drive but Houston will never have anything that compares to the Champs Elysees.
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On 12/30/2019 at 9:22 AM, crock said:
all i see is that it's going to be harder for me to casually get southside coffee on saturday mornings.
I'm also really unsure who is going to come here? Montrose has already been effectively priced out for millennials, so it doesn't have the same sort of foot traffic as even areas of the Heights do. Haven't two shops already closed in the brand new strip center across from Uchi already in less than a year?
montrose has just as much foot traffic as any part of the heights or any other part of the city... what are you talking about? two restaurants closed but how many more have opened?
btw about 75% of the office space for this project has already been preleased as has some of the retail space so clearly they think some folks will show up.
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11 minutes ago, bobruss said:
Thats too bad. It seemed like a fairly nice design in an area that is getting quite dense.
Back to the drawing board.
to clarify, this may still be their plan i just know those renders have been around for awhile. the post oak hotel isn't even shown.
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that's a very old rendering so not sure those are still their plans. that listing has been up for 2-3 years I believe.
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2 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:That Target parking lot is killing me
rumor has it they're at least considering a densification of their site. that's all the info i have.
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https://product.costar.com/home/news/1654779263?tag=1
Construction is set to start soon on a project being developed by Hines for a Houston energy company relocating its headquarters about 7 miles west to reduce commute times for employees as well as save money.
Marathon Oil Corp., a publicly traded producer, plans to start building its 15-story headquarters in CityCentre at 990 Town & Country Blvd. this month, said Curtis Ryland, vice president of special projects at Marathon Oil. When the tower is completed at the end of 2021, Marathon Oil expects to relocate into the roughly 440,000-square-foot building from its current home at 5555 San Felipe St. in the Uptown-Galleria area, where it’s been for 35 years.
The new multimillion-dollar project comes as energy companies are under pressure to ratchet down spending amid falling oil prices and concerns of a slowdown in the energy sector and the economy at large. However, Marathon Oil officials say building a new tower from the ground up is actually more cost effective than staying in the current office and will boost efficiency and shorten commute times for hundreds of their employees in the Houston area.
While the move provides a glimpse at the steps companies under pressure take to cut costs, it also gives an insight into the decision facing all growing corporations at some point on whether to expand or relocate. The Marathon situation is a study how companies look at a transforming city, an industry facing fluctuations and the challenges in trying to project industry and economic trends for the next 35 years.
With Marathon Oil’s lease at 5555 San Felipe set to expire at the end of 2021, the energy firm evaluated options and decided it was more cost-effective to relocate rather than pay for renovations of their space and deal with the disruption of construction, Ryland said.
The new location in CityCentre at the southeast corner of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 will also drastically reduce commute times for many of its employees, Ryland said. More than half of Marathon Oil’s nearly 1,000 local employees commute to the Uptown-Galleria area from the quickly growing west side of Houston and Katy.
CityCentre will also give employees access to restaurants and other amenities, he noted. The 50-acre mixed-use district developed by Midway Cos. has 400,000 square feet of restaurants and retail space, a movie theater, a gym, and a bowling alley.
"We wanted an environment to provide balance to employees and CityCentre is highly sought-out in terms of its connectedness," said Ryland in an interview.
It will also give Marathon Oil a chance to create a more modern workspace to improve efficiency, promote collaboration and give employees better access to upgraded and reliable technology, executives said.
"The building we are in was built in the 1980s and it's very much a traditional office that was designed before the internet and before computers were on every desk," Ryalnd said. "Now when you have teams at work and the types of spaces they need, we’re trying to create a more active workspace. Flexibility and choice are key aspects of our design."
`Project Thunder' Estimate
Marathon Oil held a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month commemorating the start of the project and the selection of its general contractor, D.E. Harvey Builders, but the project's construction will start sometime this month. Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc. is the architect on record for Marathon Oil's new tower.
Last year, Marathon Oil purchased the land for the new tower from Midway through a financing agreement known as a synthetic lease. In that type of deal, Marathon Oil leases the land from SMBC Leasing and Finance Inc. but essentially acts as the owner, Ryland said.
Marathon Oil did not provide an estimate for the total construction costs, but initial filings with the state for a project at the same address called "Project Thunder" show the shell of the building was estimated to cost $109.6 million and the interiors were estimated to cost $60 million.
Marathon Oil had a blockbuster year for earnings in 2018 when capital efficiency and a 24% jump in oil production boosted its profits from $1 billion in 2018, compared to posting a $5.7 billion loss the year earlier. But like the rest of the oil sector, tepid crude prices this year have dinged Marathon Oil’s profits, which fell 35% year-over-year in the third quarter to $165 million, according to its latest earnings report.
The phrase "capital discipline" was cited often on company earnings calls with investors as executives emphasized their efforts to keep spending in check. Despite planning to boost oil production by 10% this year, Marathon Oil has planned to keep its capital budget flat at $2.6 billion.
Meanwhile, at Marathon Oil's space at 5555 San Felipe, the owners of the 41-story tower are in the midst of significant remodeling to modernize the building, which is known as Marathon Oil Tower.
Elsewhere in CityCentre, Midway is planning to build a 300,000-square-foot office tower called CityCentre Six directly south of the Marathon Oil project. A Midway spokeswoman told CoStar News that Midway has launched the CityCentre Six project, but did not immediately respond to a phone call and email requesting more information about the project's timeline. Midway recently sold a majority stake in CityCentre Five, a 15-story office tower anchored by Amazon Web Services at 825 Town & Country Lane.
Farther west down I-10, Harvey Builders has reportedly halted construction on the buildout of McDermott International's space at 915 N. Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor, according to the Houston Business Journal. McDermott, an oil field services company, leased the entire 525,000-square-foot office building last year for its headquarters.
Harvey Builders filed a lien against the property in October, citing McDermott owed the contractor $14.2 million in unpaid bills, according to a filing with the Harris County Clerk.
Another lien was filed in October against the property by Trio Electric, an electric subcontractor, citing the owner of the building, TCH Energy Corridor Venture LLC, owed Trio Electric $4.7 million for unpaid work for McDermott's space, according to the Harris County Clerk. TCH Energy Corridor Venture is a joint venture between Dallas-based Trammell Crow and Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Real Estate Investors. It was not immediately clear what company owed Trio Electric the funds.
CoStar News reached out to McDermott, Harvey Builders, TCH Energy Corridor Venture and Trio Electric for additional comment.
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^^^ and that's how the power of the internet can be used for good. i bet someone could start a gofundme or crowdfunding campaign to help get this restored, assuming the city or someone else w the funds available doesn't simply step up to the plate. hell, if i'm an adjacent property owner i'd give consideration to this. a historical restoration would do wonders for the property and who knows could lead to a repurposing to something other than seedy convenient store (no offense to Mr. Iqbal). i'm sure the current incarnation is a cash cow for him, though, so who knows.
either way, at least there's some hope.
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On 9/6/2019 at 7:40 PM, crock said:
trying to imagine the nerve/gaul/ignorance required to call something Founders District thats nowhere near the founding of anything.
you do realize they are calling it this because the term "founders" refers to the startup founders they are catering to, right?
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On 9/18/2019 at 4:17 PM, wilcal said:
Well now y'all are getting me excited. Although no one tell Vinny's I may start cheating on them. They're new revised pepperoni is sooo goood
the beautiful thing about this is that Vinny's is a completely different type of pie so both can live together in harmony. plus Vinny's being attached to Miss Carousel can't easily be replicated or replaced.
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10 hours ago, CrockpotandGravel said:
Home Slice Pizza is opening a satellite location in Houston. It's going in Mid Main in Midtown at 3600 Main St.
Home Slice Pizza is a pizzeria restaurant from Austin with pies by the slice.
Three weeks ago, Home Slice Pizza registered Home Slice Pizza Houston Mid Main LLC.
http://www.homeslicepizza.com
whaaaaaa??? some of the best news i've heard all year! home slice is my favorite pizza joint in austin and we go regularly. what a glorious announcement!
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23 hours ago, htownproud said:
At least in my building, the 51st floor is where the elevator bank for the higher floors is, so I could certainly see increased costs related to elevators (among others). Don't know if that is universal though.
this is my understanding - at or around 50 stories requires another elevator bank which not only adds mechanical costs but also requires additional square footage.
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Do we have a render of this one?
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8 hours ago, mattyt36 said:We have gone from having relatively few public recreational areas to having so many on the drawing board that I shudder to think of the long-term implications regarding upkeep. (Not necessarily with this one, as it will be privately operated, but in the same vein I question their business model.)
With all that is conceptual on the drawing board for downtown and environs, I hate to say it but it seems like total overkill. Some concepts include cap parks from 45-10/59 interchange to the Spur, along with a “High Line” on the Pierce Elevated. And the downtown master plan includes the “Green Necklace” (or whatever it’s called) circling the inner core of downtown. And whatever East River is going to try to do. Certainly looks beautiful on paper but good Lord (1) how will such acreage be “populated”; and (2) who the hell is going to maintain it?
I guess, though, if I had to choose between this and how things were 20 years ago in re lack of imagination, I’d choose now.
Mine of the best features of a city like London is that it is awash w parks, many quite large, that make enjoying and traversing the city quite spectacular. Houston, especially central Houston,
lacks natural reprieves from the concrete... I fully support surrounding downtown w a green oasis.
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18 hours ago, Triton said:For some perspective, Chase Tower downtown is 2.2 million sqft at 75 floors.
chase is only 1.65m sf
currently designed, this project will span both blocks with a common amenity deck. Office about 15 stories and mf about 30-35. i'm sure that's subject to change, though.
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this will be a fine looking development... i'm sure renders will make their way out soon enough.
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7 hours ago, Urbannizer said:
I'm betting Michael Hsu is the architect, them and Radom Capital have paired together in the past.
Edit: Also, how many floors?
2 or 3 floors of office over 2 floors of retail. CBRE will be leasing the project. Excellent addition to the neighborhood. As @CREguy13 said it will be very well received. Very distinctive.
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Brava: 46-Story Residential High-Rise At 414 Milam St.
in Downtown
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it'll do both.