Office Tower At 1111 Travis St.

[burgower4]

http://www.munozalbin.com/21-macy-s-downtown.html

I just saw this about a Macys redevelopment do anyone know if this is going to happen?

[jayshoota]

I saw that in the Levey Park post and was wondering the same thing. Looks amazing.

[jayshoota]

Culture Map did an article about a year ago.

http://houston.cultu...es-for-houston/

Edited December 13, 2012 by jayshoota

[Houston19514]

There was a fairly detailed discussion of proposals for the Macy's/Foley's building in the retail master plan the CultureMap article discusses.

This rendering is a lot better looking than I had hoped for. I hope it is in the works.

Edited December 13, 2012 by Houston19514

[Subdude]

I suppose the idea here is to have a smaller space dedicated to the Macy's store and use the upper floors for office space. In the rendering it looks like the store occupies three floors.

Lol at the face on the side of the building. That is a bit of an architectural rendering cliche now, like searchlights pointed at the sky.

[kbates2]

That looks really awesome. Huge fan.

[j_cuevas713]

Wow, I'm really getting the impression Houston is stepping in to a new phase of development. This is the early 1900's NYC era for Houston. Even with all the new shiny toys Dallas has built, Houston maintains a true sense of organic growth and urbanism that surpasses the lack of authenticity Dallas is creating. So impressed with where Houston is headed.

[lockmat]

Sadly, I don't think this redevelopment will happen. It was a dream.

[Motis B Totis]

The project will happen. The owner of Hilcorp, Jeff Hildebrand the 59th richest American, is wanting to add 5 stories above the revitalized Macy's and move the company there.

[lockmat]

The project will happen. The owner of Hilcorp, Jeff Hildebrand the 59th richest American, is wanting to add 5 stories above the revitalized Macy's and move the company there.

Awesome news. Are you a Hilcorp employee? Any idea of a timeline? Where are their current offices and would these 5 floorss be an expansion for them?

[Houston19514]

I hope that is true. This would be another huge improvement for downtown (and hopefully a new owner would be able to figure out a way to get rid of the pigeons or at least regularly clean up after them).

Hilcorp is currently at 1201 Louisiana.

One note: Motis B Totis said above that Hilcorp wants to "add" five stories. I don't think that is quite accurate. The building is already 10 stories tall. As shown in the renderings, Macy's would consolidate to the bottom four floors (and surely, eventually Macy's will be smart enough to put some retail space at tunnel level as well). The top 5 would become office space. The rendering shows a gym on the 5th floor.

[DrLan34]

it says "Hilcorp" on the bottom left part of the rendering.

http://www.munozalbin.com/21-macy-s-downtown.html

[lockmat]

If you click on the project name, it gives more detail about the project; not much more than we know now, however

Conversion and remodeling of an existin 10 story Macy's Store into corporate office space, retail space and a smaller Macy's department store.

[Motis B Totis]

Ya i guess "adding floors" sounded dumb but I spoke to a Hilcorp employee recently and they said he is pretty quiet about his investments and is probably way out in the future. The employees haven't heard anything yet only what was found on the internet. So...false alarm i guess.

[j_cuevas713]

In my opinion, the resurfacing of many of these projects tells me that something is in the works. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Nole23]

bummer...

http://swamplot.com/the-mostly-glass-building-that-wont-be-replacing-the-downtown-macys/2012-12-28/

[Subdude]

The story is that Hilcorp isn't anywhere near to making a decision about the property. The rendering was a marketing concept, not a real project.

[Houston19514]

Interesting that they say that Hilcorp news owns the property.

[j_cuevas713]

That sucks! Well I still believe in the next 5 yrs something will be done. The urban transformation of Houston is bound to bring new revitalized concepts like this in to actual reality.

[arrodiii]

Even more of a bummer:

http://swamplot.com/macys-announces-it-will-close-downtown-houston-store/2013-01-03/

[Daniepwils]

yup, they are closing

[mkultra25]

Sucks but I can't say I'm entirely surprised. I actually shop there more than at any of the other Macy's as it's the closest one to my house since the Northwest Mall store closed.

[yaga]

Not sure if this is true, but I worked with a lady who worked in the finance department at Foleys right before the Macy's take over and she mentioned that the downtown location was the one of the most profitable stores since they owned the building and didnt have any lease/rent expenses. Sounds like this might be one of those Astroworld type closures where the land/building asset sale is too good to pass up.

[intencity77]

This just in from then mayors office. So is Macys being forced out by the property owner since it states a smaller Macys store wouldn't be feasible in the future redevelopment of the building? http://www.houstongovnewsroom.org/go/doc/2155/1671587/

[Mab]

The Mayor wrote a statement that gives me a little hope.

Macy’s real estate group in Cincinnati elected to close the downtown Houston location because of future plans for the store block, but they continue to believe that the Houston downtown area is a highly desirable location for an urban store. Since early this year, the Downtown District has been working closely with Macy’s, the property owner 1110 Main Partners LP and the Mayor’s Office to identify potential sites downtown for redevelopment or new construction.

“After further investigation by the building’s owner, no financially feasible scenario was found for maintaining a smaller store in the old structure,” said Bob Eury, Executive Director for the Houston Downtown Management District. “A new location is our only option, and quite frankly, a new, smaller store will bode better for downtown in the long run.”

The task force will report to Andrew F. Icken, Chief Development Officer for the Mayor, and will be chaired by Fred Griffin of Griffin Partners. Members include Eury; Jonathan Brinsden with the Midway Companies, owner of Houston Pavilions; George Levan, President of Crosspoint Properties; Doug Kelly with 1110 Main Partners LP; The Finger Companies’ Marvy Finger; Dawn Ullrich, President of Houston First Corporation; Ed Wulfe of Wulfe & Co; and Xavier Pena and Deborah Keyser of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/01/downtown-macys-to-close/

[arrodiii]

Hopefully they will stick to downtown proper, but for some reason I doubt that they will.

And if they do, I really, really hope they do not neglect the new store like they have done with this Macy's - it's sad to think that they thought they will be able to meet any sort of expectations by neglecting the store

Edited January 3, 2013 by arrodiii

[Pleak]

Doesn't Houston Pavilions have a lot of available space........

[lockmat]

I was just thinking about the Pavilions too. I hope they don't move in there, but I guess it seems logical.

[rsb320]

I wonder what they'll do with the bunker/fallout shelter beneath Foley's/Macy's?

By 1968, the government’s focus had shifted to public shelters, and the city had 464 fallout shelters. The largest was in the basement of the Foley’s at 1110 Main, which could hold nearly 39,000 people. There were also shelters under City Hall and underground where the Hobby Center is today.

http://www.houstontx.gov/savvy/archives/spring06/spg06_heritage.htm

Edited January 3, 2013 by rsb320

[Subdude]

Can't say this is all that surprising. It's sad for nostalgic reasons, but old-style department stores in general are hurting, and middle-market ones like Macy's are in an especially tough position. Given the unsuitability of the structure for redevelopment this was probably inevitable. I'm more upset over losing the Houston Club building, if for no other reason than architectural merit.

The good news is that it sounds like they are planning some kind of new development on the site, instead of surface parking.