uhlaw09

Why?

Because it's one of the largest Business Districts in the United States. Because it employs more people and is larger than the CBDs of many other large cities in the U.S. Because when I look at its impressive skyline, I don't think of a shopping mall--I think of a vibrant, exciting, increasingly-urban employment center where many people live, work, and shop.

Ultimately, I don't think it's a big deal. I just think that calling it the "Galleria area" isn't representative of most of the development and activity in the area. Calling it the "Galleria area"--in my opinion--is selling that part of town short.

I prefer "Uptown" too. The area deserves better than to be referred to as "the Galleria area" (essentially the surrounding area of a shopping mall).

So where is this bridge going to be? Across the lake?

According to this recent Chronicle article, the bridge will go over the lake. I too would like to see a rendering...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...es/6043258.html

Here's a brief update. I've noticed 2-3 workers on the property the past 3 days cleaning up large objects and doing some work with a blow torch (I live around the corner, so I have a vested interest). Since this is the first movement I've noticed on the site since the Allen House demolition, I stopped today to ask one of the guys what they were doing. Granted, this is from a guy at the bottom of the totem pole who may or may not have any clue what's going on.

The worker said they were doing site prep work to prepare for the ground work for the development. Said they were removing large debris that was left over from the demolition and they were cutting out some metal structures left over from the old Allen House covered parking. I asked him if they were about to start development work there, and he said "yeah, we're about to start the ground work here, but it may be a few months." He asked me if I lived around here, and he said, "It's about to get really noisy around here."

Again, take this for what it's worth. It's from a site worker wearing a hard hat who may or may not know anything. I just noticed some minor work being done on the site, so I inquired. I would welcome input from those on the board who are connected in the development community. Given the current economic outlook and credit situation, I'm worried that a lot of these projects won't get off the ground. Here's hoping that this one actually makes it...

And what's up with the name High Street? Is that a famous street somewhere?

"High Street" is a British thing.

The same images were posted already right? Are these new?

The ones toward the top are new to HAIF. They've been on the developer's site for a month or so. The pictures of "Regent Park" in the daytime and nighttime were added to Developer's site in the past week or so. Older versions of the ones in the middle were "stiched" together by other HAIF users from older marketing materials.

Also, there have been posts here and on Swamplot about the "Ghost Tower" shown in one of the images. As I'm looking at it, the newest renderings of the full development (i.e., the first image) and the Retail Leasing Plan appear to show that the "Ghost Tower" is just the condo tower proposed in Phase 2 (as opposed to a separate development or even the proposed Finger condo, as previously suggested). Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that...

Here are all of the most recent Regent Square images from the Developer's site (http://www.naberkowitz.com/project_regent.shtml):

When I drove past today, there were men working inside the fence. Looks like they are preparing to do something, although I thought Camden owned the whole superblock?

I also saw men posting a sign for the development on the Travis side of the block this morning on the way to work (I believe there is already one on the other side). It's possible that they were just moving it, I'm not sure. This was on the land outside of the fence.

I'll be frequenting HP to provide patronage. Gotta show the downtown pride! Hope we get a grocery store around here eventually; all we have is the Midtown Randall's. We're so far behind Dallas in the downtown grocery department.

Will be a downtown grocery in OPP soon enough.

Saw a gray trailer on the Travis side along the fence... did that just show up last week?

Yes, it was added this past week.

Do all the people who like a lit up skyline like the lights on top of this place? I think it looks pretty cool.

I like it.

if they can Ivy it up (ala 610 side of uptown pk by e-trade) I think it'll look nice.

I think that ivy would be key. Otherwise, it will continue to look pretty ugly.

I went to see these condos and they look good from my perspective. Only real drawback I saw was the parking. But no big deal for me. Another thing...I was told that another lender will charge more interest to finance a purchase here. Why is that? I was "recomended" to use the current bank which owns this property. Oh, why was almost every single property forclosed on? There are currently around 8 sold and another 8 or so under contract...total units are 44. So it's a very lonely building right now. Can someone post a little more history on this property?

They've dropped prices significantly since I visited last time about 3 weeks ago.

i have no knowledge of this project whatsoever... i just found that page very interesting.

So were the links working when you viewed the page? I pulled it up shortly after it was posted yesterday, and all of the links were dead.

Can anyone enlighten us as to what was so "interesting"?

I wasn't impressed (no parking, no pool and the entrance area was surrounded by beggars waiting for people to walk out of CVS). I could see if this building was in Manhattan or San Fran, but this isn't something that is going to sell in Houston. You can get something much better across the street at Commerce Tower or even the new Park Place building going up near the new park.

Anyone else have thoughts on the Kirby Lofts? One difference between these and Commerce Tower/Park Place is that there are pretty nice looking 1 BR's that are listed at around 95k-110k that aren't selling. That tells me that I could have a good shot at one for considerably lower than this.

I too looked at them during the open houses that are currently going on. There are a ton of them available that are all owned by a bank, and I'm doubtful that they're going to sell at the current pace. Despite them not selling, I think that I would really enjoy living there. With direct tunnel access, I could be in my office downtown in literally 5 minutes. Also, the lack of direct parking doesn't bother me too much. The fees for a somewhat low square-footage apartment are pretty low (for around 630, it is $270/month). 270/month inclusive of basic cable, electricity, water, and sewer is reasonable. Makes the $150/month for parking bearable.

Bottom line: I like the urban grit of downtown, and it will definitely be my kind of place in about a year from now with DG, HP, and OPP all open. Also, having Midtown a few stops away and never having to worry about driving home after drinking would be great.

All in all, I would love to live here if I could get a place that is discounted under the already low around $100k they're asking. However, I don't see them selling the condos that are for sale anytime soon (especially due to the lack of parking).

Thoughts? What are the perils of getting a very cheap condo in a development that isn't going to sell? Sounds like an awful idea, but I just don't know what happens to a condo development when none of its units will sell.

Anyone know if there have been any developments with negotiations for this project?

I want to go too, if this is true.

I don't know if there were anymore buyers. I don't think there are at the moment.

I do know that the one I looked at was 170.46 per sq.ft. (1730sqft). I think the smaller ones were 200+ per sq.ft.

Attended an open house for Kirby Lofts today. There are a ton of them that are unoccupied and for sale. Anyone have any thoughts about this place now?

I know about the no parking situation, etc. Also, the fees cover all utilities, including electricity. But this place seems like it would be really difficult to resell or lease.

I decided to drive by this afternoon in hopes of get a quick look at the park before it opened tomorrow. Once I saw that it was open and that there were so many people out there, I parked to go check it out. I ended up spending several hours wandering around the park and taking in the view.

The park is fantastic, IMO.

I think it will be a huge addition to downtown, but only time will tell.

UH needs more on-campus housing.

Speaking of on-campus housing, construction of the new graduate student dorm between the Law Center and the Business School is up to the second floor. Two cranes have been very active over the past several weeks.

Renderings on the website have a waterfall on one side of the garage and ivy or some other foliage covering the large side facing the Galleria. Definitely doesn't look great as it currently is.

Building looks awesome, in my opinion...

Taken Sunday afternoon...

Jax, where are the lights placed around the building?

I think that the blue lights are the little silver dots that you see going up each side in this picture. I've only seen them on the 288 side, but this picture seems to indicate that they're on both sides. It's pretty simple, but I like it.

The top was lit up last night.