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The Fountains At Memorial City: Multifamily At 9870 Gaylord Dr.


lockmat

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just thinking some questions out loud here.... . ..

who is their target market with these?

where will most of the inhabitants likely work? (the new hospital, where else nearby?)

why would anyone considering this development choose it over t&c citycentre? (t&c is certainly marketed better. looks to be more close knit and a better project in general--ie. starting from scratch and not just adding on around a mall nucleus (thank god)

it seems set back a bit from the freeway.. doesnt look to be 1st flr retail... perhaps it could attract an older market -- i guess this could be the case with any condo project outside the loop?

i just cant see any young professionals considering this one. even with the e.corridor booming and bringing them in by the truckloads.

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just thinking some questions out loud here.... . ..

who is their target market with these?

where will most of the inhabitants likely work? (the new hospital, where else nearby?)

why would anyone considering this development choose it over t&c citycentre? (t&c is certainly marketed better. looks to be more close knit and a better project in general--ie. starting from scratch and not just adding on around a mall nucleus (thank god)

it seems set back a bit from the freeway.. doesnt look to be 1st flr retail... perhaps it could attract an older market -- i guess this could be the case with any condo project outside the loop?

i just cant see any young professionals considering this one. even with the e.corridor booming and bringing them in by the truckloads.

What this has going for it is 1) visibility--T&C always had a problem that approaches to it had views blocked by features of the freeways, so people didn't know that what was there was there, and this isn't going away, and 2) access--people not intimately familiar with the layout didn't know which exits to take or how to best approach it, and it was easier to get turned around.

By having better visibility and access, the project's location is a billboard unto itself. Aside from HAIFers and the real estate community, most prospective condo buyers aren't aware of when condo projects are constructed and have to be educated on the subject. When a condo project is adjacent to a freeway, literally millions of people become educated just by driving by as the project is getting built. You can't buy advertising like that.

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What this has going for it is 1) visibility--T&C always had a problem that approaches to it had views blocked by features of the freeways, so people didn't know that what was there was there, and this isn't going away, and 2) access--people not intimately familiar with the layout didn't know which exits to take or how to best approach it, and it was easier to get turned around.

By having better visibility and access, the project's location is a billboard unto itself. Aside from HAIFers and the real estate community, most prospective condo buyers aren't aware of when condo projects are constructed and have to be educated on the subject. When a condo project is adjacent to a freeway, literally millions of people become educated just by driving by as the project is getting built. You can't buy advertising like that.

Hard for me to follow that logic.

You're right T&C visibility sucks from 10, basically nonexistant. However, from both sides of BW8, driving 70mph, its plain to see something BIG is going on. Access is ridiculous and probably always will be.

This mem city condo projects visibility is better from 10 but not great. The proportion(size) of development is much smaller and as I mentioned its set back. So if people were looking (most are oblivious) they would have to look past the Bally's/starbucks + Ciro's/Guadaljara centers. I didnt notice it til I saw this thread and consciously looked

Regardless, T&C has potential--Great new restaurants, Valencia hotel (big deal and not discussed enough here. yes SA has one, but look at the other, a keypoint in one of the nation's most notorious mixed use projects-santana row), offices, the brownstones(eghh), etc.

Memorial City, to me of course, is still that old shopping mall, where I got my first skateboard and hair butchered by visible changes, that has had way too much invested to it and still not anything special.

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Hard for me to follow that logic.

You're right T&C visibility sucks from 10, basically nonexistant. However, from both sides of BW8, driving 70mph, its plain to see something BIG is going on. Access is ridiculous and probably always will be.

This mem city condo projects visibility is better from 10 but not great. The proportion(size) of development is much smaller and as I mentioned its set back. So if people were looking (most are oblivious) they would have to look past the Bally's/starbucks + Ciro's/Guadaljara centers. I didnt notice it til I saw this thread and consciously looked

Regardless, T&C has potential--Great new restaurants, Valencia hotel (big deal and not discussed enough here. yes SA has one, but look at the other, a keypoint in one of the nation's most notorious mixed use projects-santana row), offices, the brownstones(eghh), etc.

Memorial City, to me of course, is still that old shopping mall, where I got my first skateboard and hair butchered by visible changes, that has had way too much invested to it and still not anything special.

I'm not going to argue with you about which is better, but perhaps that you're biased by experiences that are your own. Advertising isn't about appeal to you as an individual, but about awarenesss. I'd submit to you, also, that one reason that you weren't aware of this until recently was that it only recently broke ground. Cranes draw attention that a vacant lot can't.

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  • 2 weeks later...
just thinking some questions out loud here.... . ..

who is their target market with these?

where will most of the inhabitants likely work? (the new hospital, where else nearby?)

why would anyone considering this development choose it over t&c citycentre? (t&c is certainly marketed better. looks to be more close knit and a better project in general--ie. starting from scratch and not just adding on around a mall nucleus (thank god)

it seems set back a bit from the freeway.. doesnt look to be 1st flr retail... perhaps it could attract an older market -- i guess this could be the case with any condo project outside the loop?

i just cant see any young professionals considering this one. even with the e.corridor booming and bringing them in by the truckloads.

I respectfully disagree. Those condos are being built in a prestigious part of town that currently lacks high-rise condo options. While City Centre will offer new retail and entertainment choices to the people who choose to live there, the Memorial City condos will offer a mall that has been significantly upgraded in the last decade, Bally's, a number of stand-alone restaurants and the potential for even more significant development to the east as well as north of the freeway. In fact, I would expect both sides of I-10 from Echo Lane/Blalock to Wilcrest to look significantly different in five years. Plus, this is Houston. Most people don't choose to live somewhere based just on what they can walk to around it. Nearly everyone has a car and a place to park it. I also think that those condos being a couple of miles further in on I-10 might be a reason for someone who works downtown or near the Galleria to consider the Memorial City condos over the City Centre condos. Finally, there are lots of young singles living in the apartments behind those condos. Maybe none of them who choose to live there as renters would choose to live there as owners, but I think both projects have reasonable chances of success.

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I-10 is exploding with development... I was on the freeway Monday and counted 12 cranes from Memorial City to the Energy Corridor, and that's not counting the four or so that have come down recently from completed projects.

Pictures.......please, please, please!!! i am in LA until the summer and cannot see this stuff yet.

i am so excited to see that area. My sister and her partner are going on an extended vacation to Florida, and i get to housesit for them in Copperfield. I cannot wait to take a day or two and drive around the fair city and catch up with all that is going on.

m. B)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

More info here from the Houston Business Journal: http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...26/daily20.html

From what I understand, the office building is going to be 14 stories and CEMEX will only be its primary tenant. There will probably be others, along with the ubiquitous bank-in-lobby. ;)

The construction on the building is going amazingly fast. I guess it has to if they're expecting tenants to move in starting in Spring 2009... :o

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So, is the building under construction this 14 story office building or is it the mid-rise condo project?

Yeah, I'm a bit confused myself. Is the office building under construction or is it the mid-rise condo? I was under the impression that it was the latter, and if that's the case, the did the HBJ get their info wrong or is that building going up very nearby and I've just not see in it?

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So, is the building under construction this 14 story office building or is it the mid-rise condo project?

The building going up right now is indeed the office building. The mid-rise condo will be next door and hasn't progressed quite as far yet. HBJ was correct in their article. :) I've seen the 3D models of the site and it looks interesting. The condos appear to have some retail space below and will be connected to the office building by a skyway. Perfect if you happen to live and work right there, but otherwise...a little strange.

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The building going up right now is indeed the office building. The mid-rise condo will be next door and hasn't progressed quite as far yet. HBJ was correct in their article. :) I've seen the 3D models of the site and it looks interesting. The condos appear to have some retail space below and will be connected to the office building by a skyway. Perfect if you happen to live and work right there, but otherwise...a little strange.

So the office building is 14 stories now? I ask because I remember going into the sales office for the condo project at the end of the last year and on their layout of the site, it mentioned "Cemex Center", before the lease had been signed and that it would be 11 stories.

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So the office building is 14 stories now? I ask because I remember going into the sales office for the condo project at the end of the last year and on their layout of the site, it mentioned "Cemex Center", before the lease had been signed and that it would be 11 stories.

it's 14.

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New pictures of the building!

2592797877_d6735e464c.jpg

2593635166_278186153b.jpg

2593635216_db61448763.jpg

The last one was taken from my office window, so pardon the glare. But at least you can see the location of the new building with respect to Memorial City Mall and I-10.

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  • 2 weeks later...

More cranes!

That's becoming a little crowded with them now.

Get to work! LOL

So Memorial City is clawing there way to become Uptown II. Now if just Greenspoint could get a bug up there ass to clean their neighborhood. I know the management district is trying a few things, but all the apartments nearby doesn't help.

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  • 1 month later...
More cranes!

That's becoming a little crowded with them now.

Get to work! LOL

So Memorial City is clawing there way to become Uptown II. Now if just Greenspoint could get a bug up there ass to clean their neighborhood. I know the management district is trying a few things, but all the apartments nearby doesn't help.

Amen- i think Greenspoint and surrounding area have so much potential. i can just see a 20-30 storey condo in the southwest side of I-45 and Sam Houston tollway, but yes, clean up the rif raff first, then continue with developement.

m. B)

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  • 3 weeks later...
Taken yesterday:

ma1le3.th.jpg

ma2sp2.th.jpg

I drove by yesterday too, and as noted in the photos, a second crane is building a new structure, this is a surprise to me, but matches the updated rendering shown above. Congrats to the MC area. We need to action on the north side of I-10 now.

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Well, I checked the posts, and I don't think anyone caught this.

They have a website dedicated to the area east of Memorial City Mall.

The area, which includes the office and mid rise residential is called Memorial City Living.

Website is here.

Project arial plan is here.

Some one can add this to the towrs project list, or can anyone edit it like a wiki?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Drove by today and they're starting to put up the facing (siding? flashing? :lol: I have no idea about construction or building terms...) on the office building. It's the same beige, bland, boring stucco they put on the Giant Robot building. Looks like it will go stucco-glass-stucco-glass-stucco (yes, that's the technical term) all the way up. Boooooooooring. :( So, so tired of beige stucco.

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