livincinco

The House of Blues looks like the best part of this entire project. The office "lofts" are blah. The rest of the shopping arcade is dull. So, with a low bar set, the HOB comes out on top...

I know that HOB has changed from the original renderings, but I thought that the rest of the project was being executed as planned. Am I missing something?

If that's the final design, I'm down. It's not out of this world, but it seems pretty obvious they're going for the warehouse/urban look and if that's true, they succeeded.

One thing that no one has mentioned so far. HOB was sold to Live Nation in 2006. I'm guessing that the scaled back design probably has a lot more to do with the change in ownership than any particular disrespect for Houston.

I don't think I will put a lot of stock in this article that spells Dining with two n's and mentions Carolina Street instead of Caroline. Something up with this.

Sounds like wishful thinking. The renderings on the site look a lot like the current state of the actual building. Not sure why it's so hard to believe that they are correct.

http://www.urbanpartners.com/index.html

There's a direct link to the project as well.

http://www.westaveriveroaks.com/

I was down there this evening and I was impressed with how well they are keeping up the overall appearance of the park. It looked as good as it did when it opened. Lots of people around even though there were no events going on.

I am not familiar with all of the HOB locations, but many look like a "tin box" shack - especially its prime location on Sunset in LA. That look reinforces the HOB brand.

HOB Chicago -

HOB Houston

I'm thinking that what we see is what we get.

Any new info on this? This thing is gonna be awesome.

Houston magazine has an article this month listing that this project is scheduled to break ground next year.

"The multi-building plan includes two luxury hotels, rumored to be a W Hotel and a Le Meridien. One of the hotels is expected to be part condo, with a separate building reserved for 300 high-end apartments."

Becks replaces Clemens in mall lineup

Chain takes new tack with full-service restaurant

By DAVID KAPLAN

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Becks is on deck, and the Rocket has been benched.

In 2005, plans were announced for a Roger Clemens' Rocket Sports Grill in Memorial City Mall.

But that concept has been scrapped.

Coming out of the bullpen to take its place is another homegrown talent, this one known for mesquite-grilled burgers and shakes: Becks Prime.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5871202.html

This had so much potential...to be material for stand-up comedians across the country...

Well Transco is 64 stories and 901'. So probably in the mid 800 footer range I'd imagine.

A 60 story project is probably more realistic and still gives everyone plenty of reasons to get excited. Between this, Turnberry, BLVD Place, etc., that's a lot of cranes in Uptowns future!

I hear this project is definately moving forward but has been scaled down to 60 stories and Morris Architects is working the project.

Must be a direct result of the SAVE THE BEACON campaign.

its supposed to open near spring 2009 (according to the website) so it should start soon im guessing.

The website now lists phase 2 as opening in fall 2009. They have started work on Perry's Steakhouse though. That's listed with a Fall 2008 opening.

Is that true? I really just thought it was current fashion, nothing more. I would imagine the energy efficiency of glass would be more related to the thickness and reflexivity than the color.

So they've been saying...

Blue is the new green from Autoblog

I'm sure that fashion is a big part of it. Anyway, I attached a link on window glazing from the dept. of energy website that references color tinting. This is what I checked before I posted the original comment. Curious to hear from industry insiders...

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_h...m/mytopic=13410

I suppose your right. They are all surrounded by Historic tan colored Buildings, might as well try and keep the new ones the same.

I think that this is related to the LEEDS certification that all the new buildings are gaining. Blue is very efficient for the amount of light it allows vs. the amount of heat that it allows.

I think one area of attraction people are missing are the large business groups.

I think more companies will be more likely to hold overnight training sessions, regional/national meetings, conferences, etc. in Houston if they are located downtown because now there will be more to do for an overnight event. Not a huge target, but just another piece of the pie.

I agree. HP should give a big boost to increasing convention traffic at the GRB which should (hopefully) justify the public financing of the site. I think that this is a big piece of the pie.

I don't understand the hysteria over this. Do any of us really think Randall Davis is going to just leave this ugly blank wall on this tower, contrary to the renderings and, more importantly, while he's trying to market an even more upscale condo tower across the street? Come on. The final product may not be up to the standards of some of us (I'm not that big a fan of the Cosmo myself), but he's not going to do something that boneheaded. Cut him some slack until the building is finished and the ivy starts growing (or whatever the final product is)...

You're taking all of the fun out of this discussion.

Because "RIGHT" isn't a destination. "RIGHT" is a journey.

This is why I'm not much of a fan of master planned communities that try to build idealized town centers from scratch which are intended as permanent and that are considered in the moment to be the end-all-be-all of quality real estate. They're inflexible, presumptuous, not at all adaptable to future needs. And on top of it all, they're fashionably boring.

An urban core should not be planned. It should be totally adaptable, dynamic, chaotic. The only ingredient in its recipe ought to be 'opportunity', with eyes set upon the future, and not upon cheap imitations of the past.

Another thing, I find it outright insulting that government would subsidize the development of retail which caters to wealthy people. And on top of that, that the city is so ready and willing to subsidize the development of nice new retail downtown but nothing at all anywhere near where I live. In my view, government ought to equitably distribute its subsidy among neighborhoods and business centers so as to best serve the residents (or not subsidize at all)--instead, they invest disproportionate gobs of capital downtown to best serve visitors. But I don't care about visitors; those that do have serious self esteem issues and are a contributing factor to our city's lack of coolness.

I can appreciate your passion on this subject, but I think that its worth considering how similar projects have played out in other cities.

Early on, I saw a lot of comparison between this project and Denver Pavilions. I have not been to that development, but based on what I see from their website it seems to be a reasonably similar project in its scope and tenants. Denver is considered to have built their downtown the right way and has the tourism and convention numbers to back it up.

I would also compare this to the Metreon Center in San Francisco. I happen to think that center is completely underwhelming as a project, but it helped to revitalize SOMA.

I agree that something of greater scope would have been desirable, but I still see this as a positive.

3.) It's overrun with gang-bangers and troublemakers. Sure, there are a lot of teenagers at any mall, but this one feels seedier for some reason. When I used to go over there it felt really unsafe walking to my car.

Was that before they put the police dept. storefront in?

The Marq*E doesn't seem to bad to me. I think the closing of Vans brought down its value.

I'm new to Houston. Went to this center for the first time this weekend and was surprised by how empty it is. Can someone share some background on why this isn't succeeding?

yep with the advent on the mall, downtown shopping has declined. having some unique stores/restaurants will sure help but a sizeable portion of the visitors to discovery green won't be able to afford some of these unique stores/restaurants. it's the double edged sword syndrome.

I lived in San Francisco for a number of years, and downtown shopping is alive and well there. I think that the problem for DT here is that the destination shopping area in Houston is the Galleria, not DT. If you had the same stores DT, you would draw the people.

In my opinion, Houston is big enough to support major shopping in both DT and the Galleria if the stores are in place and the Pavilions project is a good start.

according to the new lacenterra website, perrys will be opening later this year

other stores expected to open through 2009.

Here's a more recent map showing leasing at LaCenterra. Looks like there's a lot in the pipeline.

LaCenterraPhase2.pdf

Whatever happened to word that Chuy's was coming to Katy? I don't live over there so I can't tell if one opened or not. I couldn't find any proof any where else on the net. Could someone out in Katy give me an update?

Thanks!

No Chuy's in Katy yet. There are two separate restaurant pads on the La Centerra plan and the rumour is that that Chuy's and Perry's are going into those locations, but they haven't broken ground yet on either one. All the effort is focused on grading out the area for Phase II right now.