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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    Seriously? We've determined the building was a five story building and that it had a basement. That is 6 x 37,500 = 224,500. The building was built in 1951 so the HCAD info clearly refers to its conversion to and status as a parking garage. But more to the original point, even if it's only 187,500 square feet it is very likely to be plenty large for Nordstrom. More likely too large than too small
  2. Houston19514
    What square foot discrepancy? 5 floors plus basement x 37,500 square feet = 224,500 square feet. The fallout shelter of urban mythology was supposed to have been something like 7 levels underground, not just a basement. If you are referring to the discrepancy between the 224,500 we have come up with and the Chronicle's quoted 254,000 square feet, I think the most-likely explanation is... it's the Chronicle, where facts are optional. ;-) And as I mentioned in my earlier post, there may have also been a mezzanine.
  3. Houston19514
    I finally found a reference to the floor count: The splashiest entrance was yet to come, though. In 1951, Sakowitz opened an $8 million store at Main and Dallas, across from Foley’s (now Macy’s). The new five-story building was made of white Vermont marble, with a recessed entrance flanked by metal magnolia blossoms. I've also finally found several references to the basement of the Sakowitz building. The best one is one DowntownHouston.org's website: Sakowitz Building1111 Main. Conversion of the Sakowitz Building into a parking garage for the 1010 Lamarbuilding including facade restoration. Designed such that the first floor and basement could beconverted back to retail in the future. Developer: BPF Real Estate. Estimated cost: $3.5 million So it does(did) apparently have a total of six levels. The 225,000 square footage quoted above seems to make sense. (There may have also been a mezannine, which could have led to the higher square footage sometimes seen for the building.)
  4. Houston19514
    Yeah, I did the math. ;-) You had come up with 5 levels at 37,500 square feet per level. I sugggested there might be a another (below grade) level, making six levels. 6 x 37,500 = 224,500. However it was arranged, however many levels it had... we have two sources saying it was 225,000 square feet or more. Oddly, despite significant searching, I have been unable to find any reference to how many levels the store had. I've found many references to the five levels they had in their prior Gulf Building location, but nothing for the 1111 Main location.
  5. Houston19514
    Is there a lower level? If so, your rough numbers would put it at 224,500 square feet. FWIW, my earlier quote of 225,000 square feet came from a New York Times story. This Houston Chronicle story says it has (had) 254,000 square feet.
  6. Houston19514
    That was "announced" back in 2005 and they even announced a coming tenant (American Apparel). Not sure what happened, but judging by the condition in which the property is kept, it seems the owners don't really care about the building or about downtown Houston. Oh and the building has changed ownership at least once since that retail announcement.
  7. Houston19514
    ...and the Sakowitz building desperately needs new ownership. Would it kill them to hose down the windows once every decade or so?
  8. Houston19514
    The Sakowitz Building has (had) 225,000 square feet, almost exactly the size of Nordstrom's Galleria store. FWIW, Nordstrom's new store at The Woodlands Mall is only 138,000 square feet. IF (and it's a big if) we could get Nordstrom interested in a downtown store, the bigger concern regarding the Sakowitz building is that it would be too big for Nordstrom, not too small.
  9. Houston19514
    I think they actually plan to raise the street in the center of the blocks to the same level as the walkways in GreenStreet, to create a more continuous walkway... EDIT: Here's how it was described in the Chronicle: To create more "connectivity," landscapers will install midblock crossings on Fannin and San Jacinto using stone pavers, he said. Those streets will be raised to be level with the sidewalk. Cars will still cross those streets, so some safety features will be added, Boss said.
  10. Houston19514
    ^^ Correct. Harris County had the country's largest numeric increase in population -- 82,890 from July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013. 1.9% That rate of growth is not even the fastest in the Houston metropolitan area. In fact, Harris County's rate of growth was in a 4-way tie for 3rd fastest growth rate in the Houston metro area. (Ft. Bend experienced 4.2% growth and Montgomery experienced 2.9% growth.)
  11. Houston19514
    What about Pickard? ;-)
  12. Houston19514
    A few more details, courtesy of Bisnow: The most unique feature of Hotel Alessandra is the lobby, way up on the 24th floor. Jamie tells us it uses Houston’s skyline as an amenity, and checking in surrounded by the city will be an experience of its own. (Assuming you didn't walk up there using the staircase.) On top of that is the 25th-floor pool, event deck, and destination bar/restaurant. Gensler’s design includes a partially retractable glass roof. Down on solid ground, the atrium will have 10k SF of sunny meeting space and a fitness facility, and will provide views of the whole tower. And of course, having the lobby on the 24th floor leaves open prime real estate on the street level. Jamie tells us they’re putting 7,000 SF of retail along Dallas. The team will be very selective in what’ll go there—they want a five-star retailer to complement the five-star hotel—and in an effort to support the City’s initiative to add storefronts, it will not be a restaurant or entertainment tenant. It’s a benefit to GreenStreet, too—most of its existing retail on Dallas is spoken for.
  13. Houston19514
    New estimated population numbers for metropolitan areas released today: Houston metro popultation as of July 1, 2013: 6,313,158 Increase over July 1, 2012: 137,692 Annual growth rate: 2.2% The largest numerical growth of all metro areas. The 16th fastest rate of growth among all metro areas. The only metro area of any substantial size that grew at a faster percentage rate than Houston, was Austin, which grew at a 2.6% rate. Houston's growth 2012-2013 population increase was comprised of: Natural increase (births exceeding deaths): 56,334 International net migration: 25,504 Domestic net migration: 55,620
  14. Houston19514
    Those 13,000 or so jobs sound great until you consider that "n 2007, about 17,500 aerospace jobs were connected to NASA's space shuttle and Mars programs at the Johnson Space Center." And from the same Feb., 2013 article: "About 5,000 laid-off workers have used the Aerospace Transition Center since it opened in February 2010, said Veronica Reyes, manager for Workforce Solutions, which runs the center."
  15. Houston19514
    Springhill Suites Hotel replacing the Humble Tower apartments. Holiday Inn (Savoy) (The other hotel sharing the Hyatt Place downtown block is Hampton Inn.) I took the liberty of adding the two additional hotels to your list and also added the room counts.
  16. Houston19514
    The article doesn't specifically say anything about a new foundation, but it says demolition is to begin in June. And of course a 25+ story building will pretty clearly require a new foundation. and where Yao's restaurant was.
  17. Houston19514
    It seems the other site currently under consideration is the Glenbrook golf course.
  18. Houston19514
    That April 11 ground breaking for the Marriott Marquis has been public knowledge for several months. Even the Chronicle caught wind of it 3 1/2 months ago.
  19. Houston19514
    any idea when the mat pour will be?
  20. Houston19514
    ^ Very cool. Thanks for posting
  21. Houston19514
    The timeline is a preliminary estimate made by the airport system. They discuss that it may well (hopefully) be less than that. Where do you get the idea this leaves them with only the capacity they need currently? It bears emphasizing that this plan is for 15 wide-body gates, including 4 A-380 gates. There appears to be room for 30 narrow-body gates in the new Terminal D. I recommend watching the videos.
  22. Houston19514
    ^ Yes, I mis-typed in my earlier post when I referred to it as a renovation (and now it won't let me edit). This is almost entirely new construction. The renderings look great! Mario (the HAS Director) has been so great for Houston's airports. If one watches the linked videos one can see he understands how to do great airport facilities in ways that no previous Houston airport director or employee has apparently understood.
  23. Houston19514
    I don't think there is any plan for an additional terminal in addition to this renovation at least in the near term. Hopefully, it is planned for easy expansion. Note that the proposed plan is for 15 wide-body gates. While we currently have 12 (13?) gates, we cannot currently handle 12 wide-bodies. I think we can currently accommodate perhaps 7 wide-bodies at one time.
  24. Houston19514
    ^ Ditto
  25. Houston19514
    Good find. Thanks for posting. To clarify, hotels are not considered "residential". They are typically referred to as "hospitality." He actually never said they would be announcing a residential project. He said they believe good mixed use projects need three uses and they would would be making an announcement in the next 60 days about a third use for GreenStreet. He never specified what the third use would be. So, yes, one presumes it will be hospitality -- Hotel Allesandra.
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