X Houston: Residential High-Rise At 5501 La Branch St.

[004n063]

Since we are all throwing our two cents in:

I agree with the apparent majority that this is an ugly building, and that the godforsaken parking garage is the reason why.

I also agree that big parking garages are not is easily turned into something better than surface lots.

And I agree that, in a vacuum, a neighborhood park is better than a fugly building.

But this isn't a vacuum. And I do think that, in context, this building is a net good. Here's why:

1) Density good, transit-proximate density better, etc.

2) Ground floor retail in a neighborhood that's pretty lacking in walkable businesses. 

3) This is within easy walking distance of one of the city's best parks, so a neighborhood park here would not fill a big need.

4) Underlooked, but important in my opinion: this has a small footprint. It is incredibly frustrating how much of Houston is dense(ish) but still functionally suburban. Whether we are talking about Greenway Plaza or Gulfton, the effect is the same: everything but the dangerous main avenue is private and literally or functionally gated not just to cars, but to pedestrians and bicyclists as well. It boggles my mind that a developer could just buy a chunk of, say, Portsmouth Street or Norfolk Street and privatize it. But because the car-centricity is so deeply ingrained here, most of us don't even think twice about the fact that everybody trying to get from A to B will have to get onto Richmond or Westheimer or what have you. 

To that end, I am gratified when I see a development - even one as ugly as this one - that recognizes and seeks to maximize the value of a half-block or quarter-block lot, rather than trying to build some sprawly and impenetrable castle-campus.

The City View lofts development at Commerce@Chenevert is a better example, but this counts.

[Triton]

Can't stand the building but hey.... at least it makes pretty wind chime music?

[__nevii]

This thing actually should be included in the TOD minimum parking exemption that the city has had since 2020. Either the developers came up with this plan prior to the exemption and haven't changed it since, or they are simply lazy copypastas from national standards.

[cityliving]

Construction has been paused, not sure why?

[hindesky]

I noticed the tower crane hook sucked up on Tuesday and today, they might be shut down.

[Paco Jones]

The general contractor, Hoar Construction, pulled off of the project due to not being paid by the developer. 

[houstontexasjack]

Looks like Hoar filed a lien affidavit claiming they are owed almost $16.5 Million:

I did not find any outstanding deeds of trust of record (2021 deed of trust was released). So, no apparent lenders to step in and finish things.

There have been a boatload of lien affidavits filed by subcontractors in the last month, many of which have 7-figure claims.

 

What a clustercuss

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by houstontexasjack

[hindesky]

So this will be Museum District's version of the Holiday Inn/Days Inn/Heaven On Earth Inn.

[houstontexasjack]

21 minutes ago, hindesky said:

So this will be Museum District's version of the Holiday Inn/Days Inn/Heaven On Earth Inn.

🥶

[Buy-U-City]

Lets see, 
1. Biotech hub win gives Dallas edge to be the next medical research hotbed.

2. 8-Story Residential Building At 829 Yale St. - "Houston Real Estate CEO, Lawyer Named In $15M Fraud, Racketeering Suit."

3. The Ritz-Carlton Residences to be located in the Woodlands.

4. Blocks of cleared empty lots along Montrose @ Westheimer going south. No sign of development in sight.

Feel free to add to the list, seems like Houston is well on it's way to becoming the Detroit of Texas.

[Nate_56]

3 hours ago, Buy-U-City said:

Houston is well on its way to becoming the Detroit of Texas.

Seems like a tad bit dramatic but okay.

[Amlaham]

14 hours ago, Buy-U-City said:

Lets see, 
1. Biotech hub win gives Dallas edge to be the next medical research hotbed.

2. 8-Story Residential Building At 829 Yale St. - "Houston Real Estate CEO, Lawyer Named In $15M Fraud, Racketeering Suit."

3. The Ritz-Carlton Residences to be located in the Woodlands.

4. Blocks of cleared empty lots along Montrose @ Westheimer going south. No sign of development in sight.

Feel free to add to the list, seems like Houston is well on it's way to becoming the Detroit of Texas.

1. It would have been nice, but its legit a glorified customer service center. We have the world's largest medical center and TMC helix park thats more groundbreaking and involves work with countries from around the world. Not to mention the other life science developments in Houston. 

2. It's roughly a 20,000 sqft, I guarantee you, most people don't even notice it driving past it at 40mph. Also, these types of fraud cases happens throughout the US. Clearly you haven't heard about the many cases happening in other big cities. NYC for example had more than 10 cases of developer fraud last year, https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/10/19/brooklyn-developers-charged-with-criminal-421a-fraud/ these are 6 of them. Houston isn't a hotspot for this kind of suit. 

3. I think some of you guys forget that The Woodlands is still part of the Houston metro. Also, yes the Ritz is nice but its not like a jewel to a city or that it holds some kind of value to the city. Some of the most expensive and highly developed cities don't even have a Ritz. For example, Seattle, Vancouver, Las Vegas, San Diego, Sydney, Seoul. I mean damn, they don't even have one in France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands....it would be easier to say which European countries actually have them. In other words, have a Ritz does not mean anything. Even in cities WITH a Ritz, often times, a JW Marriott or a boutique brand hotel will rank higher. 

4. An empty/ undeveloped lot? Again, do you think that Houston is the only city with empty/undeveloped lots? 😂 even NYC, the densest city in the US still have undeveloped lots. We obviously have more considering we're a LOT newer of a city and a LOT larger area wise. The same can be said with many cities in the US.

Some of you guys need to visit/travel to other cities before making outlandish statements like Houston is becoming the Detroit of Texas 😂 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Amlaham

[monarch]

1 hour ago, Amlaham said:

1. It would have been nice, but its legit a glorified customer service center. We have the world's largest medical center and TMC helix park thats more groundbreaking and involves work with countries from around the world. Not to mention the other life science developments in Houston. 

2. It's roughly a 20,000 sqft, I guarantee you, most people don't even notice it driving past it at 40mph. Also, these types of fraud cases happens throughout the US. Clearly you haven't heard about the many cases happening in other big cities. NYC for example had more than 10 cases of developer fraud last year, https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/10/19/brooklyn-developers-charged-with-criminal-421a-fraud/ these are 6 of them. Houston isn't a hotspot for this kind of suit. 

3. I think some of you guys forget that The Woodlands is still part of the Houston metro. Also, yes the Ritz is nice but its not like a jewel to a city or that it holds some kind of value to the city. Some of the most expensive and highly developed cities don't even have a Ritz. For example, Seattle, Vancouver, Las Vegas, San Diego, Sydney, Seoul. I mean damn, they don't even have one in France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands....it would be easier to say which European countries actually have them. In other words, have a Ritz does not mean anything. Even in cities WITH a Ritz, often times, a JW Marriott or a boutique brand hotel will rank higher. 

4. An empty/ undeveloped lot? Again, do you think that Houston is the only city with empty/undeveloped lots? 😂 even NYC, the densest city in the US still have undeveloped lots. We obviously have more considering we're a LOT newer of a city and a LOT larger area wise. The same can be said with many cities in the US.

Some of you guys need to visit/travel to other cities before making outlandish statements like Houston is becoming the Detroit of Texas 😂 

^^^ spin... load... spin... load... spin... load... spin... load... spin... load... spin... load... spin... load...

[KirbyDriveKid]

I considered even the completed vision of this building to be a blight on the area, and I am very worried by the prospect of leaving this uncompleted husk in the center of one of Houston's best areas, but let's not get too carried away in our grief.

To view this as an omen of Houston's collapse, we would have to decide that the financial difficulties of one developer (who is designing some of the worst high rises I have ever seen) demonstrates that Houston and Phoenix---two of the nation's fastest growing urban areas---are somehow doomed.  That seems like a stretch.

Let's be normal sad and not irrationally and apocalyptically sad.

[bobruss]

Buyucity seems a little bit of a debbie downer. Sure something needs to be done about the X situation. They must have known when they named it they wouldn't be finishing it. Why'd they call it X. And if you look at the last cycle of all of the good things that came about you'd be a fool not to be gushing over all of the improvements.

1. Memorial Park overhaul

2. MFAH adds the Kinder the new Glassell school and the Lake Flato conservation department.

3. The ICON

4. Levitt Green

5. The Brava

6. The Ari's

7. Texas Tower

8. The Brava

9. Buffalo Bayou park west and east end.

10 Midway's East River

11.TMC HELIX

12. Methodist new tower

13. UT schools addition in Helix park

14. East End development

15. 3 new Condo towers in downtown

16. Several new condos in the Uptown area

17. The new BIG tower in Discovery Green.

18. U of H campus additions

19. Rice additional buildings

20.Bike lanes

 Feel free to add to this incredible list of accomplishments

Edited October 14, 2023 by bobruss

[LosFeliz]

Honestly, this thing was gonna suck regardless.

There's a huge 3 tower development in downtown LA (Oceanwide) that stalled due to bankruptcy. I believe Oceanwide also had a development in SF too but not sure if it is finished and too lazy to google. 

Crap happens. 

Hopefully somebody like Hanover looks at this as a possibility and we get a Hanover Museum District. They could hide that garage and build it out much nicer than was planned.

Edited October 14, 2023 by LosFeliz

[hindesky]

Maybe Hines or Hanover can buy it for pennies on the dollar and finish it.

[79ta]

3 hours ago, bobruss said:

 Feel free to add to this incredible list of accomplishments

21. The HyVelocity hydrogen hub was awarded $1.2 billion in federal money to build up the hydrogen industry

HAIF thread here

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by 79ta

[houstontexasjack]

I saw a rep for the X Company onsite today. He confirmed they had been self-financing and are looking for a construction loan now. They are hoping for only a 2-3 month pause and for things to get going again in 2024.

🤞

[__nevii]

Damn. I kind of wished that this thing got nuked — start over without the parking garage.

[Ross]

2 hours ago, __nevii said:

Damn. I kind of wished that this thing got nuked — start over without the parking garage.

Where would residents park their cars if there is no garage? Or do you think the owners should risk reducing their potential market by 95%?

[__nevii]

25 minutes ago, Ross said:

Where would residents park their cars if there is no garage? Or do you think the owners should risk reducing their potential market by 95%?

They could at least make the garage less conspicuous, if not drastically reduce/eliminate it outright. The LRT station is literally a few hundred feet from this thing.

[hindesky]

Capitol Quarters in Austin 4 blocks from the capitol with only 30 units was surrendered to the lender because there was too little demand for apartments with no parking.

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/10/developer-of-parking-free-downtown-apartments-surrenders-building-to-lender/

 

[hindesky]

Taken from the MedPlace building at 1315 St. Joseph Pkwy. Looks like the tower crane is being used, the block in down.

 

[hindesky]

The crane was being used to remove rented equipment.

Article in the Houston Chronicle.....

"Construction of a 33-story co-living apartment project in the Museum District has stopped, leaving the future X Houston partially complete and dormant with no clear indication of when work will continue.

This week a crane was still suspended over the high-rise, which reaches several stories into the air. On Thursday, a security car could be seen parked outside the construction site, where a handful of workers appeared to be removing a concrete pump."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/x-houston-coliving-residential-tower-stalled-stopp-18436015.php

[cityliving]

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[hindesky]

Tower crane being used today, I wonder if X has paid the rental fee for it to Morrow Crane or will it be coming down too?

[strickn]

"Several floors into the air" seems like lazy journalistic work.  I haven't been by there to count them but I'm estimating they have poured 30 out of a total 33.  While it might make sense to remove the concrete pump for a bit, I don't see them throwing in the towel.

[strickn]

Speaking of those last couple of floors' worth of construction, if I know HAIF at all I bet a little of the hand-wringing and schadenfreude would both turn to self-congratulation if that flat top just turned into something more architecturally exciting next year.  X Houston needs to team up with X "the everything app don't call us twitter anymore mom" and put some cross promotional fantasy on the roof.