swtsig

that is absolutely the type of older building that would get converted in other cities.

can you have patio space within the 25' setback?

On 11/26/2017 at 0:20 AM, j_cuevas713 said:

Wait a sec, so all that land fenced off is just what... for parking???

iirc the tract with westheimer frontage will be parking with the bar in the back. odd configuration unless they have future plans for the parking lot which is possible i suppose.

8 hours ago, CREguy13 said:

Question:  Does anyone know what is planned for the large cleared lot just North of West Alabama Ice House - 2 blocks East of this intersection.  Is there an existing thread for that project? 

it was supposed to be an 8 story apartment complex, can't remember the developer. there's a thread for it somewhere.

i'd much prefer they appropriate it to the city who in turn converts it into greenspace, mostly bc i could then cut across it to get to WAIH.

don't think the 6 Houston site was part of the deal... that parcel is still owned by John Goff and Crescent. i'd be more interested to see if Brookfield plans to repurpose some of 4 Houston and the Shops. they'll certainly enhance the streetscape similar to Allen Center, they have an excellent track record of doing exactly that.

Lots of momentum in this area and a lot of it is now coming from very established proprietors. Construction will certainly have some affect but Polk through street isn't going anywhere and it's looking more and more likely that the park will be a reality. Don't be shocked to hear of yet unannounced multi family and hospitality developments too. 

"roughly" 25 stories - rendering attached is roughly 31-32 stories.

hoping it's the latter.

it would be interesting to know if the city would have allowed them to do away with spots 14-16 and just extend the patio... that additional 15-18' of patio space would give it a much stronger pedestrian presence.

great spot for a large craft brewery.

jesus that place is massive... almost too massive haha

they better be open early for euro and premier league matches though, otherwise what's the point? ain't no one going there en masse to see MLS games.

 i wonder if this is being formally listed... what's the address?

edit: nvm, found it. 1302 Houston Ave.

They've kicked around densifying their Post Oak property for quite a while... had a friend do some work for them on it at least 7-8 yrs ago, maybe 10. Glad they don't think their TJ property on west bama/shepherd is a candidate... a large redevelopment and subsequent high rise would be a nightmare there. 

Did we we know they bought the chase bank building site on west gray next to Krogers? 

C'mon man, how is it not obvious what they're marketing it as? Unless you think being in the "wet part of the heights" and next to a "high volume Kroger and presidio" is somehow relevant to places of worship, never mind the obvious question of why would a church need a marketing flyer to begin with?

Re: the render itself, looks awesome to me. Kudos to the Heights really stepping up in the quality development game. 

I actually think the concept is pretty neat. And one HAS to assume the cafe has a bar component... liquor sales would absolutely be necessary for any concept like that to succeed. 

4 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

From the article:

 

“HFF helped secure debt and equity financing through Bank of the Ozarks and Invesco Real Estate. The HFF included senior managing director Matthew Kafka and analyst Dustin Selzer.”

 

equity and debt “financing”?

 

it sounds to me like the equity was syndicated?

 

 

maybe next time i'll read the article haha... he definitely didn't pony up like he originally said and ended up going the institutional route. not that it should make a huge difference as this is the way most deals make. but still, not quite the confidence he initially had and probably more likely that costs will be reined in more than anticipated.

sorry hit send to quickly. there are two components of any RE deal (or a lot of other investments really) - equity and debt. equity will come from you and/or your investors and the debt will be provided (typically) by a bank. in this case, caydon is providing all the equity needed to secure a construction loan from the bank (or other financing instrument) without having to seek outside investors. equity requirements vary from bank to bank but they usually require something like 25-35% down of the total project costs. what caydon didn't have to do was drum up investors (institutional groups like insurance companies, private equity, private investors, etc.) to help secure financing which can be a big hurdle in a market like Houston.

few would self-fund an entire project - it ties up too much of ones own capital when there's relatively cheap access to money readily available. of course he takes on a lot more risk but the reward is all his as well.

5 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

Didn’t the developer originally say that we was going to use his own money?  I guess he decided to use OPM?

thats not what that means.

Assuming the original Art Deco structure can be salvaged it'd be awesome to incorporate it into a large scale redevelopment - perhaps as a ground floor market with a WeWork type coworking office space above. Add some green space and then some vertical component with strong activation with the rail and surrounding area. A large scale redevoplmwnt of these sites would spur a tremendous amount of additional activity in this area, particularly with proposed (approved?) 59 trenching. 

Very exciting news. 

I love the idea of an innovative, adaptive reuse and redevelopment... definitely the type of development downtown Houston needs. That said I would love to see some vertical component to this. A boutique hotel would go great in this kind of project. 

brass has been popular for awhile and if done correctly i think it can look really good - this just reminds me of the 5 POP lobby though, which isn't so much a good thing. i'll wait to see it in person before casting final judgement though.

pretty sure the gordy's own most if not all of those properties.

Mala Sichuan in downtown is super clutch. Their dry and aromatic chicken and dry fried green beans are two of my favorite dishes in the city. 

That lighting scheme is awesome. Can't wIt to check out the rooftop bar.