htownproud

This thread is now over 10 years old.

Best economy in 30 years in this town and,,,,..... It still ain't built.......... And here comes the crunch......

Perhaps they will start or perhaps they will wait for the next cycle.....

Agreed. Could have been posted in regent's too . . .

I'm not sure you all are disagreeing that much. If a retailer needs $10 to make a profit, and is only getting $8 based on normal traffic then he fails. Now if he has a hotel and residential tower over him he makes $7 extra dollars. So now he is very profitable ($15). Of course if all he had was the hotel and residential ($7) then he would still fail, but with both the normal traffic and the hotel/residential he becomes profitable.

they kill street life.  compare downtown houston street life pre- and post-tunnels.  

i also think they kill decent lunch options.  if restaurants are on the street, they can be nicer b/c they don't exists for only 2 hours a day.  but because we have the tunnels, we pretty much are stuck with hundreds of fast food places and an occasional decent restaurant on the street (and no bars to speak of in most of downtown).  

From that article, they say how the med center is a hedge against oil since it's insulated from it. I wonder why other developers haven't noticed this and built more near the TMC? They'd be able to rent to oil and gas types, as well as med center workers... thus a pretty high chance of always pulling in more expensive rents.

Perhaps because the City changed the economic equation with the downtown incentive program.  Instead of the market deciding where new high rent housing should go, the city put its foot on the scale so that a hefty chunk of it went downtown.  (That said, I'm excited about the new residential in downtown, but I would have also been excited about more residential in midtown, museum district, Herman Park, and TMC as well.)  

Thanks for the pics.  I think this building is good awful ugly.  Hopefully it will look better when it's done, but I think Hines really dropped the ball with this one.  

I would like to see another one go on the Ashby High Rise location.  

I live in the area so really looking forward to this. Those hours suck though. Hopefully they extend them soon. I realize it's off season, but it's also grand opening season.

Should this thread still be in "going up"?

What I meant was, this exact block specifically, in front of the former Macys and Sakowitz, is the epicenter of all homeless congregation in downtown, along with the homeless paradise one block away where metros light rail waterwall failure is.

I dont have a problem with the homeless in particular, I live in midtown and have dealt with them my whole life.

All I was pointing out is that this is the bullseye of all central downtown homeless camping/loitering.

They can move somewhere else a few blocks away.

Agreed.  The area around the convenience story on the corner is very bad.  It is also really bad in the far SE corner of downtown (and of course at Main and Wheeler, although that is Midtown).  

I suppose you can always improve on something, but what area of town is more pedestrian friendly?  There are two-way roads on a grid of shops and restaurants with relatively small surface parking lots.  People are always walking around, including across roads.  Because of this, people drive slowly and carefully.  Getting rid of the parking lots altogether would improve walkability, but that's not realistic.  

All of that said, I do think a stop sign on University in front of Urban Outfitters would help things.  

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Rice-owned-Village-Arcade-shedding-its-suburban-5933655.php#/17

Thanks for sharing. Im surprised to hear people say that if only it was only more like Highland Village, then it would be cheaper and more pedestrian friendly. Perhaps we should also petition the city to make University a seven lane road to make the area more pedestrian friendly as well.

I think anything would be a net improvement for the neighborHOOD.  Exhibit A: screenshot from Google Maps streetview.

 

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Looks like someone cut down a tree in the ROW there.  I hope they had a permit or else folks from Swamplot will get their pitchforks!

I was reading that to mean on top of a 6 story garage.  But you're right -- I think it's a 6 story existing building.  I guess it's the building with the Wells Fargo on the ground floor . . . .

This is great! I wonder if it might go across Main. You would need another sky bridge, but otherwise it seems they will need to knock something down.

Sounds like someone is in here simply to stir things up -.- I thought it was a genuine update and not someone arguing for the sake of arguing.

Sorry but if people can fawn for page after after page about spec renderings with no real update, I ought to be able to make known my displeasure towards a developer who made the best entrance into downtown look like crap by destroying fine, reasonably priced apartments. Sorry if that makes you angry.

Coming up on eight years since this project was announced.  I think it's safe to say this project is never going to happen, or at least it will be nothing like originally envisioned.  I read thread after thread about Houston being a boom town -- if these guys can't build in this environment, it's not going to happen.  Too bad -- I'll pour some of my forty on the ground this weekend to the dead real estate project that was Regent's Square.  

Does not sound good.  It may be those skyscrapers that never get built.  Last year it made national news and bring lots jobs to Houston.  Chevron was so committed to Houston.  Now it sits as a piece of grass.

My understanding is that the employees were relocated here anyway.  They just aren't in a shinny new building.  

What would this block cost in 2004?

Anyone have any idea

Don't know for sure.  In 2005, the land value between Taft and Montrose and Gray and Dallas was  just less than $200k per 5000 sqft. (approximately).  Perhaps there would have have been some premium paid for the large piece of property and for being right on west gray, although back then the housing just to the south of this was still very sketchy (albeit changing rapidly), so any premium may have been lost b/c of the immediate area.  

Agreed. If Dillard's was smart, they would move...they would get a premium for that premier site. Then use some of the money to build a fresh modern expression of itself nearby.

Maybe configure themselves into BLVD Place in a deal with Wulfe & Co. or the Uptown Park redevelopment. They're clearly out of place with that old tired store in the midst of all that extraordinary Galleria development. The Dillard's tract is a waste of land, as that store doesn't fit the location anymore. It's now a relic and BUTT UGLY.

I'm not saying they need to get out of town, just away from the Galleria. Something fabulous and iconic could be built there...something Williams Tower-ish.

Agreed.  The Dillard's really detracts from the beauty of the Zone D'erotica building.  

Different strokes for different folks.  If you want the W right along side the West Loop, more power to you.  I would just prefer downtown or in a walkable area, meaning something more than the stores in the strip center/parking lot surrounding it.  On the plus side, it is closer to the gentlemen's clubs.   

Agreed -- this is good news.  This was an awful location for this.  Perhaps 20 years ago it would have worked, but it is no longer in the community it aims to serve.  That said, I'm hoping this isn't more apartments. . . . 

I think there is a big difference between being right on the freeway (like this proposed location), and several blocks away like it would be if it was in downtown Houston (or as it is in most other locations).  And a chain wine bar and a club I thought closed six or seven years ago is not the nightlife that I would think a hotel like the W would try to associate with.  

The one in Dallas is next to a freeway so it's o.k.

Isn't this going into a $1.2 billion development? I bet there will be something else to do in the area that won't require a cab. Isn't the BRT and maybe the LRT going to be right in front of this location, eventually?

I didn't think the W in Dallas was literally on the freeway like this one, but it's been five years since I stayed there. In any event, I hope this hotel does well, but I will be sending out of town guests downtown.

I don't like the location.  Being next to a freeway is not all that glamorous, not to mention being in the middle of a big parking lot with no real nightlife nearby.  I know there is a champs and some other bars/restaurants nearby, but pretty much you are going to be getting in a cab to go anywhere fun.  I guess they know their bar will have the market cornered this way.  

I vote for not changing the village. It's the most walkable area in town. Why are we going to redevelop it?? And in terms of parks, one mile away is Herman park, connected by a walking path through a gorgeous university with great shade.