The Rice: Apartents At 909 Texas Ave.

[UtterlyUrban]

There are. Number of significant changes planned.

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2014/05/rice-hotel-owners-planning-major-renovations/

[sevfiv]

Rice Urban Lofts? Is that necessary? (the urban addition)..

[Specwriter]

Rice Urban Lofts? Is that necessary? (the urban addition)..

 

My great-grandfather had a rural loft but he called it a barn.

 

[NenaE]

well, unless I'm writing a rent check, I'll continue to refer to it as The Rice Hotel.

[Brian Reading]

well, unless I'm writing a rent check, I'll continue to refer to it as The Rice Hotel.

 

I'm there with ya.

[H-Town Man]

Rice Urban Lofts? Is that necessary? (the urban addition)..

 

It is, because the corner of Main St. and Texas Ave. could be interpreted as Suburban or Rural by some people. With "Rice Urban Lofts," they are capturing that portion of the market that can afford to live in a prime spot downtown and has an IQ below 70.

Edited August 7, 2014 by H-Town Man

[cloud713]

The signage has changed. Not sure how new that is but I noticed it today

[IronTiger]

I thought that name was supposed to be temporary?

[adr]

I live in the Bayou Lofts and face south, towards the Rice.  I noticed lately that there are some stringed lights on the roof there at night that I don't think I noticed before.  They doing some sort of roof-deck improvements?

[aarosurf]

I think those are personal terraces - someone probably just redecorated.

[Mab]

 

The new owner of the former Rice Hotel is launching a major renovation project at the building, intending to give it a more modern look as developers start or prepare to break ground on gleaming residential towers around it.

Renderings for what has been recently rebranded as "The Rice" show a redesigned lobby with sleek new furniture in earthy tones beneath a contemporary chandelier glowing in the two-story space.

"The entrance and lobby space will be totally reinvented," Clay Hicks, managing director of real estate for property manager Greystar, said in an email.

The 308 units will be transformed, as well.

Kitchens will get islands, marble countertops, tile backsplashes and stainless steel appliances. Bathrooms will have frameless glass showers, dual marble sinks, tile floors and linen closets. Each unit will ultimately have new paint, light fixtures and full-size washer and dryers.

Valet parking for the residents will be a new service that will be introduced next month, Hicks said.

The upgrades are being made amid a boom in downtown residential construction.

Aiming to bring more vibrancy to the urban core, the city has been offering developers up to $15,000 for each unit they build in a multifamily complex of at least 10 units. The idea behind the incentive was that it would reduce the financial hurdles of developing in the central business district.

A dozen residential projects - amounting to more than 3,800 units - are now planned or under way.

They include two towers off Market Square Park, a pair of twin buildings branded as SkyHouse on the southern end of downtown, and the renovation and addition at the old Texaco building.

At The Rice, the lobby and common area renovations are expected to be completed by next spring, and interior unit renovations will begin before the end of the year.

The Page architecture firm designed the renovations for the owner, Dallas-based Crow Holdings Capital Partners, which acquired the building earlier this year from Post Properties.

Marissa Yu, a principal at Page, said the goal of the design project was to make the space feel more modern and bright while respecting the historic character of the building.

She described the new chandelier, a custom-made Plexiglass piece that will replace a stained-glass element that resembles a skylight, as "a metaphorical representation of what was there before, but interpreted in a new way."

Hicks said the apartments will be upgraded as they turn over. He declined to provide a project cost, saying the full scope of the renovation project is still being finalized.

Rents on the remodeled units, Hicks said, will be commensurate with other high-end downtown apartments.

Rents have risen sharply across Houston as job growth has bolstered demand.

As one of the strongest apartment markets in the country, the Houston-area vacancy rate was 5.1 percent at the end of June, according to data from CBRE.

The average rent was $939, up almost 5 percent from a year earlier.

Downtown units are generally much higher.

Jay Simmons pays $1,550 a month for his one-bedroom unit in The Rice. His apartment has not yet been renovated.

He hopes he doesn't see a big increase, but he knows rents are rising all over the inner city.

"I'm not going to find an $800 apartment like I did two years ago," said Simmons, 28.

The historic Rice building, originally a 1,000-room hotel, was constructed in 1913 on the site of the former Texas State Capitol building before the Legislature moved to Austin. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At 909 Texas, between Main and Travis, the building is well known for being the place President John F. Kennedy spent time the day before he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

The hotel closed in 1977 and sat vacant until developer Randall Davis and Post Properties, in partnership with the city of Houston, took on the redevelopment of the 18-story building in the late 1990s.

It contains studios, one- and two-bedroom lofts and penthouses ranging from 485 to 2,452 square feet. It has a basement swimming pool and a fitness center that will move to the second floor.

When Post Properties put the building up for sale around the beginning of this year, the company said the property was about 95 percent leased and the average unit rented for just under $1,700 per month.

Over the years, Post had made improvements to the building's exterior and common areas to freshen up the space, but the units have not had any major renovations since the project opened.

The building's first floor houses restaurants and bars.

The operator of Sambuca, a longtime tenant, has leased the former State Bar space on the second floor of the property and plans to open a new concept there, a bar called Lawless.

Simmons, who has lived in The Rice about four months, said he moved downtown in part because of all the new bars and restaurants that have recently opened.

When he's not traveling for his job in chemical sales, he works from home. He likes the lifestyle and doesn't plan on moving from downtown any time soon, even if it gets more expensive where he lives now.

"It would be disappointing if rents go up," he said, but with all the residential units going up, my hope is that I'd be able to find something else."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Modern-changes-planned-for-historic-downtown-Rice-5815285.php#/4

[IronTiger]

Better than "Rice Urban Lofts"...

[Howard Huge]

Holy smokes.

[H-Town Man]

This makes me sad, but it's another symptom of our growing wealth gap (currently about 9% of Americans control 50% of the wealth). When the upper class views the lower class as a completely separate society, they have no incentive to enjoy mingling with them in shared spaces.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/sarnoff/article/The-once-open-Rice-lobby-now-a-private-space-6350230.php?t=578f70d002&cmpid=twitter-premium

 

[Nate99]

This makes me sad, but it's another symptom of our growing wealth gap (currently about 9% of Americans control 50% of the wealth). When the upper class views the lower class as a completely separate society, they have no incentive to enjoy mingling with them in shared spaces.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/sarnoff/article/The-once-open-Rice-lobby-now-a-private-space-6350230.php?t=578f70d002&cmpid=twitter-premium

 

I would think it unusual if any residence-only building allowed the general public to go in and out of its lobby space without a reason to be there.  Given their location, I'd be surprised if they did not get a lot of coffee shop/Chipotle patrons and homeless wandering in and making themselves comfortable that they would have to ask to leave on a very frequent basis. 

 

I don't see it as a shared space, it's a private business that doesn't get any bump from foot traffic.  But then again, I don't get much out of mingling with anyone regardless of class.

Edited June 26, 2015 by Nate99

[BigFootsSocks]

They have to let Minuti shoppers use the lobby though; there's no restroom in the store itself

[LarryDierker]

They have to let Minuti shoppers use the lobby though; there's no restroom in the store itself

 

Shay McElroy's also, i believe.

[Luminare]

Its not exclusive to Houston too, or that building. I was just in New York for a week, and most residential buildings and even big commercial highrise you couldn't access the major portions of the lobby. It is a shame though. I think there could have been a compromise where the bottom floor was a public access lobby and the 2nd floor was an exclusive lobby for the residence, but oh well.

[mkultra25]

I would think it unusual if any residence-only building allowed the general public to go in and out of its lobby space without a reason to be there.  Given their location, I'd be surprised if they did not get a lot of coffee shop/Chipotle patrons and homeless wandering in and making themselves comfortable that they would have to ask to leave on a very frequent basis. 

 

I don't see it as a shared space, it's a private business that doesn't get any bump from foot traffic.  But then again, I don't get much out of mingling with anyone regardless of class.

 

Fair enough, except it's not strictly speaking a residence-only building. The Lawless bar on the second floor (formerly the State Bar) is open to the public. And as mentioned previously, there are several street-level businesses adjacent to the Rice that don't have restrooms, so the only way they're allowed to operate is if their patrons have access to the restrooms in the lobby. I wonder how the Rice plans to identify patrons of those businesses as opposed to _verboten_ commoners intent on loitering in the lobby until they can plant an Occupy flag in a potted ficus? Maybe via restroom/hall passes, like in high school?

[kbates2]

The lobby has been for residents only for months with no problem. The businesses still utilize the bathrooms. No clue why this article just came out.

[H-Town Man]

I would think it unusual if any residence-only building allowed the general public to go in and out of its lobby space without a reason to be there.  Given their location, I'd be surprised if they did not get a lot of coffee shop/Chipotle patrons and homeless wandering in and making themselves comfortable that they would have to ask to leave on a very frequent basis. 

 

I don't see it as a shared space, it's a private business that doesn't get any bump from foot traffic.  But then again, I don't get much out of mingling with anyone regardless of class.

 

They allowed people to walk through the lobby for twenty years after the original renovation, and I don't know of any problems that ever came of it. The spokesman of the company didn't cite any problems, such as homeless coming in.  It's true that most residential buildings don't invite the public into the lobbies, but this building was unique in that it was Houston's most famous hotel for generations, and a lot of people have memories of it. Randall Davis, who redeveloped it in the 90's, speaks with pride in the article of the lobby being a space that people could step into and appreciate. Too bad his civic spirit is not more shared.

[urbanize713]

I was just at Chipotle yesterday and used the restroom with no problem. The lobby looks great! Very high end and like any complex should protect it. Made me want to look at it as my next place.

[Highrise Tower]

The bank had their holiday party here.  I helped arranged the room.

 

 

[hindesky]

[IntheKnowHouston]

Mamajuana Cafe is opening at the Rice. It's taking over the ground floor retail space at 909 Texas Avenue, Suite E. Local Japanese restaurant Azuma was the last occupant.

Mamajuana Cafe is an East Coast-based restaurant serving Latin and Nuevo Latino fare. Locations are mainly in New York and New Jersey. 

Looking at the Instagram pages of their different locations, it seems this is more of a spot for hookah and partying than dining.


https://mamajuana-cafe.com
https://www.instagram.com/mamajuanacafehouston

Edited August 29, 2022 by IntheKnowHouston

[j_cuevas713]

I had to read that name a couple of times 😅

[IntheKnowHouston]

On 8/29/2022 at 12:09 PM, IntheKnowHouston said:

Mamajuana Cafe is opening at the Rice. It's taking over the ground floor retail space at 909 Texas Avenue, Suite E. Local Japanese restaurant Azuma was the last occupant.

Mamajuana Cafe is an East Coast-based restaurant serving Latin and Nuevo Latino fare. Locations are mainly in New York and New Jersey. 

Looking at the Instagram pages of their different locations, it seems this is more of a spot for hookah and partying than dining.


https://mamajuana-cafe.com
https://www.instagram.com/mamajuanacafehouston

More on Mamajuna Cafe leasing the ground floor unit at the Rice; 909 Texas Ave, Ste E. A blurb about it in today's Houston Chronicle:


"Mamajuana Café leased 4,435 square feet at The Rice, at 909 Texas Ave., in downtown Houston, for its first Texas location. Mamajuana Café has nine locations nationwide. Eric Rozelle of Chodrow Realty Advisors represented the tenant. Katherine Wildman and Bunny McLeod of Wulfe & Co. represented the landlord."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/texas-inc/article/Retail-wrap-Gatsby-s-Fine-Seafood-debuts-in-17500319.php

[Texasota]

Oh it seems like it might actually be Dominican. That makes sense and could be a great addition to downtown.

Nuevo Latino from the East Coast sounded potentially like an awful idea, but a northeastern restaurant not understanding that you need to be more specific that just "Latin" definitely tracks.

[IntheKnowHouston]

13 hours ago, Texasota said:

Oh it seems like it might actually be Dominican. That makes sense and could be a great addition to downtown.

Nuevo Latino from the East Coast sounded potentially like an awful idea, but a northeastern restaurant not understanding that you need to be more specific that just "Latin" definitely tracks.

Except it's not a Dominican restaurant.

The restaurant's owners are Dominican and there are Dominican dishes on the menu. However, the dishes served span various Latin countries; thus this would be classified as Pan-Latin fare. Then there are the contemporary and non-traditional takes on most of the dishes, which would lean towards Nuevo Latino. But it's most certainly not a Dominican only restaurant.

[Texasota]

boo