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GreenStreet: Mixed-Use Development At 1201 Fannin St.


MontroseNeighborhoodCafe

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Pretty sure that any it position is a pressure cooker, blackberry server crashes cause its running on 10 year old hardware? Better stay up all night to fix, and when the people who decide how to spend money say that they are going to buy you a new one and that repairing the old from left over parts is just temporary, you smile like you know they are going to come through, but you know that as soon as the old one is cobbled back together, you're never going to hear about the replacement, and you're back to making the old one hobble along.

But hey, it's not that bad really.

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They hire IT people, but from what I was told, it is a serious pressure cooker of a job.

They almost hired me, but I bailed after watching how they operated.

They couldn't pay me enough.

I'm in IT (for now) and I applied there the other day. I might get interevied. How do they operate? It looks pretty laid back to me.... but then again I was stainding outside looking in.

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Pretty sure that any it position is a pressure cooker, blackberry server crashes cause its running on 10 year old hardware? Better stay up all night to fix, and when the people who decide how to spend money say that they are going to buy you a new one and that repairing the old from left over parts is just temporary, you smile like you know they are going to come through, but you know that as soon as the old one is cobbled back together, you're never going to hear about the replacement, and you're back to making the old one hobble along.

But hey, it's not that bad really.

I'm in IT (for now) and I applied there the other day. I might get interevied. How do they operate? It looks pretty laid back to me.... but then again I was stainding outside looking in.

Agreed, IT is a pressure cooker of a job, but when a trader's computer goes down, it has to be done and fixed right then. Literally money is flying before their eyes if a computer has a SNAFU and all eyes are on you.

No thanks.

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Agreed, IT is a pressure cooker of a job, but when a trader's computer goes down, it has to be done and fixed right then. Literally money is flying before their eyes if a computer has a SNAFU and all eyes are on you.

No thanks.

I kinda like it. I work for a power company and get 30 minutes of overtime if I get a call while I'm on-call, and it's usually a 5 minute fix.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having worked on several trade floors in an IT support role I'll agree that it can be a stressful job. However, trading companies pay very well, and in the specific role I was in paid double that of a non-energy trading firm. Your best bet is to find a non-support business analytic or system analyst role so you can avoid the psychotic pace of the trade floor, but enjoy the perks of working for a trading firm.

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  • 1 month later...

Jones Lang Lasalle is calling the HP office space Class B, wow.

http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2012-10-11/2012-Q3_-_JLL.pdf

The directory shows only the large spaces filled, while the second floor is a ghost town.

http://houstonpavilions.com/uploads/120828%20HP%20Fall%20Directory-no%20gift%20card.pdf

Armchair economists, kick back your lazy boy:

1) When/will HP be 100% leased?

2) What will it take to get it 100% leased? Maybe a condo/office mixed used tower across the street on Caroline and maybe another apartment tower on Caroline and Polk?

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Jones Lang Lasalle is calling the HP office space Class B, wow.

http://downtownhoust...12-Q3_-_JLL.pdf

The directory shows only the large spaces filled, while the second floor is a ghost town.

http://houstonpavili...o gift card.pdf

Armchair economists, kick back your lazy boy:

1) When/will HP be 100% leased?

2) What will it take to get it 100% leased? Maybe a condo/office mixed used tower across the street on Caroline and maybe another apartment tower on Caroline and Polk?

Ouch. That's harsh. Then again, this is a newly-built asset in a prime location that sold for only $188 PSF whereas other downtown buildings have set record high prices. Maybe that reveals what I've been saying all along, that the downtown retail market isn't that strong and that mixed-use projects tend to be functionally obsolescent at completion because office building operators don't know what to do with retail and retail operators don't know what to do with office.

More downtown residents can't hurt, but it'd take a huge number to make a difference. Like it or not, I think that substantial quantities of downtown retail organized as single projects just make bad investments.

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I went to Pete's Dueling Piano on Saturday, and it was packed. They don't have food, so I brought up some carryout from Mia Bella, and both Mia Bella and Andalucia had every table occupied. At least on the weekends, business seems to be good for the restaurants. I think the failure of Yao's says more about Yao's than Pavilions.

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I went to Pete's Dueling Piano on Saturday, and it was packed. They don't have food, so I brought up some carryout from Mia Bella, and both Mia Bella and Andalucia had every table occupied. At least on the weekends, business seems to be good for the restaurants. I think the failure of Yao's says more about Yao's than Pavilions.

Yeah, it's a surprisingly popular and active place for the miserable failure it has been pronounced to be. I hold out high hopes the new ownership will make it even better and more successful.

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Yeah, it's a surprisingly popular and active place for the miserable failure it has been pronounced to be. I hold out high hopes the new ownership will make it even better and more successful.

To me personally, it's as unremarkable as nearly any new retail development; but that I'm unexcited by it just means that I'm not the target audience, not that it is necessarily a failure.

My assessment of the circumstances are only from a business perspective. Vacancy is a real problem there, and some stores have struggled with sales and even with paying the rent. It does seem that restaurants, bars, and clubs are the most successful constituents of their tenant base, but how many of those can one development have?

Was the $188 PSF sale price even above replacement cost? If it takes fresh capital to fix new construction, to me that signals a business failure.

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Was the $188 PSF sale price even above replacement cost? If it takes fresh capital to fix new construction, to me that signals a business failure.

Well clearly they failed since Pavilions went into receivership, but new hope for downtown can still spring from it. Even the restaurants on the interior streets seem to do alright...the decent ones, anyway (iii Forks, Guadalajara del Centro).

Edited by kylejack
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  • 1 month later...

Books-A-Million is OUT. http://swamplot.com/...ons/2012-12-26/ For real this time, apparently.

Not surprised...considering the state of brick-and-mortar bookselling in the Age of Amazon. More bizarrely, when Books-A-Million originally decided to close nearly two years ago, there were also rumored reports on Swamplot (link here) that a disability rights lawsuit may have played a hand in their initial decision to pull out before deciding to stay put. Of course, little to nothing has been heard of said lawsuit (I don't even recall seeing this on the news), but nothing changed the fact that Books-A-Million was essentially on borrowed time in the run up to their closing up shop.

Now that they're gone, and as the Pavilions is under new management, I wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to attract one of those "fast fashion" concepts downtown given its glassy, street-corner storefront. Whether or not they will succeed remains at best a hard sell.

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Not surprised...considering the state of brick-and-mortar bookselling in the Age of Amazon. More bizarrely, when Books-A-Million originally decided to close nearly two years ago, there were also rumored reports on Swamplot (link here) that a disability rights lawsuit may have played a hand in their initial decision to pull out before deciding to stay put. Of course, little to nothing has been heard of said lawsuit (I don't even recall seeing this on the news), but nothing changed the fact that Books-A-Million was essentially on borrowed time in the run up to their closing up shop.

Now that they're gone, and as the Pavilions is under new management, I wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to attract one of those "fast fashion" concepts downtown given its glassy, street-corner storefront. Whether or not they will succeed remains at best a hard sell.

Forever 21 is already located directly next door, but I don't know if anyone is aware of how successful that location has been and if there are any restrictions associated with that lease.

IMO, they need to go hard after H&M. Landing them in that space would be a major coup for Pavilions and downtown.

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Forever 21 is already located directly next door, but I don't know if anyone is aware of how successful that location has been and if there are any restrictions associated with that lease.

IMO, they need to go hard after H&M. Landing them in that space would be a major coup for Pavilions and downtown.

I have always thought the Books-a-Million spot would be a perfect H&M. Throw in the speculative Macy's renovation and you would have a great little area. From what I have seen, the Forever 21 stays pretty busy.

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I guess we have the same minds. When H&M announced it was opening stores in Houston, I thought opening it in the Pavilions would be huge. While it sucks that this is closing down, bookstores in general haven't been doing that great lately. Hopefully they can land a huge tenant to occupy this space.

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I think that Forever 21 can probably absorb some losses. They probably get referral business from the other locations when they have someone's size available in an item, and there's also probably some brand value to having a visible downtown presence, even if the store itself isn't profitable.

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Luckily for people like me who relish buying and reading real books from a real bookstore, rather than a reader and downloading an e copy, there's still a few bookstores in town. I don't even like using Amazon, I've never had a package ship in less than 2 weeks from amazon.

I will always prefer real books and shopping for them locally. Though I can say I never went in this bookstore, nor had i any desire to with another bookstore close enough with better and cheaper parking.

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Downtown may look bad right now, but there is a lot of advancement. The new jw Marriott is under renovation downtown, the new convention center hotel is approved, the pavilions seems to be getting a little bit more action (eventhough books a million left), residential units are being made/sold left and right, and the metro line is extending. We seem to be in the transformation stage going from office and work to residential and recreation.

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  • 1 month later...

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