The Plaza At Indian Springs: Mixed-Use In The Woodlands

[KatieDidIt]

well, it just gets worse. a little bird told me this evening (tues) that this project has, for the most part, completely fallen apart. the developer is blaming the construction company, the developer is trying to cover his a** and so on. the project will no longer be LEED certified, the fountain(s) will not be what was originally planned. one restaurant may be built along with a separate building for doctor's offices.

Bach, I don't think it will be a Rao restaurant either. He is a friend of a friend of ours and they told us a month or so ago that he was pulling out completely. My guess it that it will be another chainish resturant.

All this is sad for those who just bought in Lenox Hills (across the street) under the illusion that it was going to be a First Class Complex.

[bachanon]

i wasn't to excited about the design of this project. LEED certified was great, but the design left much to be desired. also, i loathe palm trees in the middle of a pine forest. the plans showed extensive use of palm trees.

at least lenox hills will be close to wild oats/whole foods (whichever it turns out to be).

[KatieDidIt]

Agreed. Mitchell should have put in the well ignored bi-laws that palm trees are strictly forbidden in the Piney Woods.

[woody_hawkeye]

Agreed. Mitchell should have put in the well ignored bi-laws that palm trees are strictly forbidden in the Piney Woods.

I agree. At least visible from the street. One of my neighbors said her lawn did not have a theme and planted palm tress to go with her swimming pool in back. Now her tropical theme is a stand-out for all the neighbors to view daily. Of course the Yaupon had to go and some small trees had to be cut down to make way for the palms which are now at the front curb. It onl;y take about 6 years for a pne to start looking like a pine and a yaupon to start spreading out like a native forest plant. Only 14 years until a forest takes shape again but with moderately sized trees. All that is taken away in a single day by the forest killers.

[KatieDidIt]

I understand now the entire complex is in bankruptcy.

[Mom22Blessings]

That's what I heard also from a friend who works at St. Lukes.

[TWfascination]

Info from yesterday's Courier:

Bankruptcy stalls medical and entertainment complex

By Tiffany Williams

Courier staff

THE WOODLANDS - A much-anticipated medical and entertainment plaza has stalled after tenants began dropping out and the developer filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.

But Henry Altman, owner of B&A Development Group, is denying swirling rumors the Plaza at Indian Springs has completely tanked.

"We have issues we have to work out with financing," Altman said.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy means the company will remain in business while a bankruptcy court oversees the reorganization of the company's debt obligations. B&A Development LP, a subsidiary of Altman's company B&A Development Group GP Inc., filed for the bankruptcy protection, which "gives us time to keep all of the creditors on the project covered and keep the property from being foreclosed," he said.

He blamed much of the project's woes on expensive construction that would have given the development LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

"That certification we were seeking is an expensive process," he said.

He still hopes to attain a "core and shell" LEED acknowledgement. World-class designers "Didi" Pei, son of famed Louvre Pyramid designer I.M. Pei, and Fluidity Designs, the architect for the Bellagio Hotel fountain in Las Vegas, are still a part of the project.

Reducing the environmental building considerations and making other alterations, including nixing one of the plaza's three restaurants, adding 3,000 square feet of medical office space and eliminating some of the project's "bells and whistles" shaved the overall expected cost of the development from $30 million to about $21.5 million, Altman said.

But it reduced interested partners as well.

The project will take longer than Altman and the surrounding community originally anticipated, prompting major tenants like St. Luke's Community Medical Center-The Woodlands, which planned to lease its first minor emergency center at the Plaza at Indian Springs, to back out of the project.

St. Luke's, which wants to open a 12,000-square-foot facility this summer, is now moving in across the street at The Crossing Shopping Center, a 22-acre commercial hub at the corner of Woodlands Parkway and Kuykendahl Road where organic food store Wild Oats is expected to locate.

"We felt like we wanted to bring this to the community as soon as possible," said Tyrone Roberts, project manager.

Though he lost tenants, Altman said the plaza's tribulations have given the project "more validity than ever." He said over time the cost of land in the area has increased "$2-3 per square foot more than we were getting a year ago."

"That has created a windfall in revenue for us," said Altman, estimating that in five years the plaza will see $700,000 in revenue "we wouldn't have gotten if we'd executed those (first) leases."

Dr. Gabriel Polo, a College Park-area dentist, said he is no longer planning to lease space at the Plaza at Indian Springs because the project "is a no go."

"I was looking forward to it," he said. "It was supposed to be a great location, and I liked the concept. I was very disappointed to see it go downhill."

Lloyd Matthews, a director on The Woodlands Association board that represents residents on the west side of Indian Springs, said he kept a close eye on the development and noticed when the construction fence was removed in early April.

Matthews said he blames the problems on Altman, who "planned improperly."

He said he anticipated the project was heading for trouble shortly after B&A Development broke ground on the property last summer. Throughout the following months, he fielded questions from residents who were looking forward to the high-class restaurants and entertainment expected at the development, as well as those who were dreading the noise and traffic they thought it might cause, he said.

Altman said he began hearing whispers his development had failed from people in the surrounding community.

He said despite the criticism he is "optimistic this thing will get built."

"We are dissatisfied across the board we could not pull this thing off in its original grandeur," he said. "At the end of the day this project will go forward; it will succeed."

Tiffany Williams can be reached at twilliams@hcnonline.com

[bachanon]

update:

Oct. 24, 2007, 10:46AM

The Woodlands buys site of stalled development

Indian Springs project faltered after bankruptcy

By ADAM BENNETT

Chronicle Correspondent

A stalled commercial development in The Woodlands village of Indian Springs is shifting gears after The Woodlands Development Co., bought the land back from the bankrupt company that had planned the site.

After months of inactivity, the 10-acre site, formerly planned as the Plaza at Indian Springs, will either become a Woodlands Development Co. project or sold to a third-party developer.

"We are preparing now to take it to market," said Tim Welbes, co-president of The Woodlands Development Co. "It's really too soon to say what will be done with it."

The company purchased the site at Kuykendahl Road and Flintridge Drive earlier this month from the B&A Development Group for an undisclosed amount.

full story