Sellanious Caesar

Hooray they're back! For what its worth, I actually always liked the design they had for this but still thought the Titan was the best looking proposed skyscraper outside of Downtown that Houston has seen in decades.

The designs not bad at all, just a bit more on the bland and tacky side. Actually to be frank, I like the renderings more than the ones I've seen for BLVD Place, even though its scaled back dramatically. I think people who are criticizing the project now are those that feel snubbed of what it could have been if they kept the original plans.

Like I said earlier, Houston is a fast growing metro and believe it or not its growth actually stayed steady and slightly accelerated since the start of the recession. The economy will get better and is showing signs of it getting better, you can expect more nice projects to sprout up in Houston the next 20 years.

This project is in a suburban business district, in Uptown Houston. It's not downtown, Greenway Plaza, nor Texas Medical Center and its outside the loop. Although I would like to see less parking lots between sidewalks and storefronts and more garages or parking lots behind the shops, it wont be taking place in Uptown. Uptown is primarily suburban, you know it and Houston knows it.

I do like this project though, I'd support shopping there over the Galleria if I were to be in the neighborhood to shop.

I like this development best of all the Houston projects and even though I'm pulling for it to happen as it is now in the renderings, I am prepared for the worst. This project even without the high rises is still a great one and urban neighborhoods and walkable areas like this would be exactly what Houston needs. Infill, Houston's getting plenty of that and more to come.

Honestly I never had high hopes for this project from the start and I think of it as just infill, its neither good nor bad from my point of view. I don't care how upscale it is or even if they get the best stores I wouldn't ever shop there. It looks bland, tacky, and replaceable. I knew the high rises would be cut out from the final plans but I have to say that I'm still very disappointed regardless. Oh well haha, you win some, you lose some. Houston is still a maturing city and will be getting lots of nice and also not so nice high rises in the coming 20 years, many will make up for the loss on this and many will make you wish they left it as a vacant plot.

Just my $0.02 anyway.

Edit: more images, not sure if these are the winning design though. http://bey-design.com/work-experience/commercial/

How old would this link be?

The link you posted yesterday about the project coming out of the "on hold" phase didn't seem to mention the hotels and high rises at all.

Safe to assume they're cancelled? Haha.

New Office Building Development in The Woodlands:

The Woodlands Development Co. plans to break ground in four to six months on its next Class A office building following the recent Newfield Exploration Co. lease that fills the remainder of 4 Waterway Square

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/04/29/newfield-hq-move-prompts-new-office.html

News about 4 Waterway Square:

The landlord confirmed this week that Newfield leased 91,000 square feet in the 216,000-square-foot building — taking the nine-story property up to 99 percent full.

Read more: Newfield HQ move prompts new office development in The Woodlands | Houston Business Journal

http://assets.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/Clear-Lake-Hospital.jpg?v=1

Bay Area Houston Regional Medical Center Hospital Development:

Quote

Medistar Corp. is partnering with Surgical Development Partners to build the 248-bed Bay Area Regional Medical Center in Webster.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/04/29/new-hospital-coming-to-webster.html

Dinerstein cracks Galleria area with first multifamily complex:

Dinerstein’s third Millennium-branded apartment project in the Houston area will rise at 2525 McCue, on the north side of the Galleria. The 237-unit complex is adjacent to the site of a 380,000-square-foot office building under development by Redstone Cos

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/04/29/dinerstein-cracks-galleria-area-with.htmlhttp://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/04/29/dinerstein-cracks-galleria-area-with.html

Some more information, will quote in pieces to address points separately.

Updated to 22 floors from previously stated 20 floors:

The building at 2200 Post Oak Blvd. will have 22 stories, not 20 as previously reported. Plans call for 312,000 square feet of rentable office space on 12 floors.

Read more: Redstone reveals plans for new BBVA building | Houston Business Journal

Ground Floor to feature restaurants:

The ground-floor retail space will feature two restaurants with outdoor seating, according to Kim Phillips, Redstone’s vice president of marketing and special projects.

Read more: Redstone reveals plans for new BBVA building | Houston Business Journal

Construction details:

Construction will start in May, and be finished in April 2013.

Read more: Redstone reveals plans for new BBVA building | Houston Business Journal

The rest:

The office building is part of a 6.5-acre project that’s called Perennial on Post Oak subdivision in documents submitted by the developer to the Houston Planning Commission. Project plans show a second office building, a hotel with residences and parking garages.

I also found out that the area around the construction site also will undergo some changes.

Read more: Redstone reveals plans for new BBVA building | Houston Business Journal

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/2011/04/other-changes-planned-around-new-bbva.html

I am confused by this... I am assuming this will be the office tower portion of Redstone's mixed-use proposal? Or, has Redstone dumped their plans for hotel, condo, and office space and settled on just another boxy office tower with a large parking garage?

Here is another source, this one is from Bizjournal- Houston and it states that the other tower, the residential's, and the hotel will also get built too along with this tower.

From Bizjournals.com/Houston:

The 20-story building is part of a redevelopment that is expected to include a second office building, a hotel with residences and parking garages.

Read more: BBVA Compass to anchor new Galleria-area office tower | Houston Business Journal

Read here: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2011/04/13/bbva.html

Negotiations for a new (much needed) grocery store and another restaurant most likely. I' very impressed how in 2 years (roundabout) they drew a residence population of 1,200 yet at the same time saddened how our downtown only has slightly double that number with 2,500 residences.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/2011/03/citycentre-grocer-to-help-feed-masses.html

Lockmat, in your first post did you find those renderings or did you make them yourself with autocad? If you made them yourself why in that design instead of one or maybe two 25-32 story towers?

I've been reading HAIF for well over 3 years now, long time reader, first time poster. I don't like to post very often and when I do, it's only on something I find exceptionally interesting. The redevelopment of East End/East Downtown (I wont ever call it that horrid name EaDo) is possibly one of my main interests in Houston, alongside with Regent Square, Jennings Island Towers, & Snow Mountain Texas Indoor Ski Resort/Earth Quest Adventures.

Now I haven't ever seen the renderings to Dan Nip's developments before, but I am hoping for something original. He's been trying to redevelop "Old Chinatown" for so long now and I like where his ideas are headed, to make it seem more authentic and not so bland and un cultural.

April 18th, 2009: The meeting to discuss their visions of where East End/East Downtown should be headed: http://www.houstonlwsforum.org/designCompetition/Urban%20Redevelopment/TIRZ15Perspective.pdf