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Pearl Marketplace At Midtown: Multifamily At 3120 Smith St.


DrLan34

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Well, this is part of the central Pearl cluster, if you will. This will be perfect marketing for almost all of their units in this area since the Whole Foods will be part of their development. I am sure Pearl struck a deal with WF to build here. I wouldn't worry though lockmat... we could see Sprouts and HEB come to Midtown too.

 

Good observation, that makes sense.

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Well, this is part of the central Pearl cluster, if you will. This will be perfect marketing for almost all of their units in this area since the Whole Foods will be part of their development. I am sure Pearl struck a deal with WF to build here. I wouldn't worry though lockmat... we could see Sprouts and HEB come to Midtown too.

 

Or maybe come to the southern end of downtown, once more of those apartments come online.  There's a few vacant lots right next to the freeway and everything

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what a brilliant / ultra ambitious way for PEARL to venture upon the scene in midtown.  this particular development, shall certainly raise the bar, as per all mixed used development moving forward....

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I don't think it needs to be on Main, but a more central location would have benefited Midtown more as a whole. This is really on the fringe of Midtown, right next to a huge single-family area.

I don't know if I would use the word fringe. Going north to south it is smack in the middle of midtown. East west you have midtown to the east, montrose to the right. If these management groups combined this development will be smack in the middle of a huge developing area

sM1J4p8.jpg

Edited by HoustonIsHome
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I don't think it needs to be on Main, but a more central location would have benefited Midtown more as a whole. This is really on the fringe of Midtown, right next to a huge single-family area.

 

While it is still a big-time boost for Midtown, I think a central location would have been better if the goal is to grow the entire Midtown area and to create a more walkable area.

 

But it seems Whole Foods is trying to serve the single-family area as well, especially with placing it right next to the 59 spur. After all, their first priority is to make money, not create a walkable urban environment.

 

It's an incremental process, hedging the potential pedestrian traffic by ensuring proximity to the single-family homes nearby. It reminds me of the development that's been done on Connecticut Ave in DC, given the similar mix of apartment buildings and single family homes nearby. 

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http://swamplot.com/new-midtown-whole-foods-market-will-stand-apartments-on-its-head-shut-down-a-street-become-center-of-universe/2015-05-08/

 

The more I look at this, the smarter this seems.  It's going to have an entrance on Smith, so people leaving work from downtown can shop on their way home.  That's three markets they can capture with this location (pedestrians in midtown, single family homes in Montrose, and the workers from downtown)

 

The article mentions that the entrance/exits are aligned with where Rosaile is now, so I wonder if they will even touch the street or just build over it

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Also, for anyone interested, I found an article about when the Social Security office closed.

 

 http://houston.culturemap.com/news/real-estate/01-17-13-15-15-social-security-administration-plans-to-close-office-after-losing-lease-on-1940s-midtown-building/

 

I'm intrigued by the idea of llamas wandering around outback - I wonder if Whole Foods would be interested in having llamas?

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this is a much better location than on the rail line. at this point the focus shouldn't be to try and force these things to meet some sort of urbanist ideal, it should be geared to guarantee it's success which in turn encourages other similar developments. near the spur, near montrose, well established part of midtown.... this is exactly where it should be. people seem to forget that succesful projects beget future successful projects.

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Take note BLVD Place Whole Foods. This is what and urban grocery store is supposed to look like.

 

density & activities in the neighborhood make its appeal.  here's an identical concept whole foods near the george washington univ. and the foggy bottom metro station.

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Whole Foods this week had its stock hit pretty hard after its earnings release. As part of that dialogue, Whole Foods came out and said that they are rolling out a new type of store --- geared for Millenials ---- around the country. The store will have "lower price points". (Or something like that.....)

I wonder if this is envisioned to be one of them?

Edited by UtterlyUrban
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Talked with the artist doing the new mural, he said he had a one year contract to create and maintain the murals or until the building came down. It's not finished yet, he said he had a few more days if the weather cooperates .Said he just came from Miami's Art Basel. Gorilla has been up for a while in connection with Houston Zoo's new gorilla habitat.

 

SabColh.jpg

 

BLoHZZ1.jpg

 

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Way to throw cold water on us, Mr. Mojito! This is clearly a much more ambitious project, but it makes sense. Uptown Dallas is a functioning urban neighborhood and Midtown at this point frankly isn't. McKinney Avenue, where this is being built, can be counted on to have throngs of people on any pleasant evening; Midtown has no such street. This is partly because efforts at density are currently scattered in about half a dozen locations across the vast expanse of Midtown, while Uptown Dallas long ago found its focus along McKinney. Zoning helped this, along with an incredible development of townhomes and apartments on a massive scale by a single developer in the late 90's (the State/Thomas district), embodying urban principles of attractive, inviting streetscapes and sidewalks rather than the treeless soul-killing lanes of the Midtown/4th Ward townhome areas.

 

What else can you say? The streets in Uptown Dallas are not five-lane-wide, one-way aspiring freeways like the ones in Midtown. Historic houses in Uptown Dallas are protected by landmark ordinances and lend charm to their new urban surroundings, while the remaining ones in Midtown are targeted by developers for demolition. There seems to be a lot more (and bigger) trees in Uptown Dallas for whatever reason, despite its being a climate less congenial to tree growth.

 

I think Midtown will catch up and even has the potential to be a more interesting, because more gritty and less planned, urban neighborhood, but it will take time for the scattered pieces to develop synergy.

 

It's also interesting to note that the Dallas Whole Foods has a streetcar line in front of it. Just throwing that out there.

 

(Mods please don't delete this one, I think the comparison with Dallas Uptown is genuinely useful for understanding Midtown's challenges and possibilities.)

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yawn. that looks terrible.

seriously though. what was the point in posting that?

 

Like Bigfootsocks said...there seems to be a trend going around in other cities. Its great to see that finally coming to Houston.

 

Such as these:

 

DC:

 

wholefoods-hstreet.jpg?uuid=5YDF9EZtEeO2

 

Seattle:

 

Whittaker_big.jpg

Edited by TowerSpotter
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