Houston19514 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) However, please try to actually back up your claims that the retail district has little to do with "70s and 80s revival attempts" instead of resorting to insults. Already did. The only thing it has in common with the 70's and 80's attempts you reference is they both involve retail. But to spell it out for you: We are not closing any streets. We are not making the proposed retail spaces difficult to get to.We are not building or proposing any glassy malls closed off from the streets and sidewalks.We are not building any pedestrian-only streets. Edited February 1, 2016 by Houston19514 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 The parking lots were mostly from the failure of the original Houston Center, which was supposed to be a massive development with people-movers, buildings cantilevered over city streets, and a whole lot of other ambitious stuff. The demolition of nearly half of the buildings within the 59/45/10 ring was probably the single most damaging thing to downtown.Now that I've gotten that off my chest, of course downtown has gotten leaps and bounds better in nearly all aspects, but I still don't think it's "there" yet based on the little retail that has been built not doing especially well (like GreenStreet/Houston Pavilions). I don't even know what the occupancy levels are like inside the residential apartments either (if it has 2000 units but only a quarter of them are filled, that makes a big difference!). Last I heard, Commerce Towers wasn't doing especially well (I could be basing that on out of date information), and even within the last two years, Humble Oil Building had converted the section of the building with loft apartments into a third hotel. Houston Center was overly ambitious to begin with, then the 80s oil bust occurred, and then its developer was acquired and the development arm was sold off in order to focus on its primary business of gas pipelines. However, as demonstrated by various buildings here and there hanging on for decades in the Parking District, those that Texas Eastern Transmission bought and then tore down weren't contributing much to the economy. Your information is a bit out of date on Commerce Towers. While it took forever to sell out originally, according to the HAR website it has 8 units for sale and one for lease as of this morning, with 14 recently sold. Someone else probably has a survey or something with more complete numbers, but just following the threads in this forum one gets the sense that only the really new stuff has significant vacancy. Regarding the Humble Oil Building, there's been plenty of demand for more hotel rooms - which is also evidenced by the number of new hotels being built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nole23 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 FYI, Skyhouse currently has a 78% occupancy rate up from 40% last April. It was also the first new rental complex to open after One Park Place. It will be interesting to see how fast all of the others fill up once they are delivered. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Houston Center was overly ambitious to begin with, then the 80s oil bust occurred, and then its developer was acquired and the development arm was sold off in order to focus on its primary business of gas pipelines. However, as demonstrated by various buildings here and there hanging on for decades in the Parking District, those that Texas Eastern Transmission bought and then tore down weren't contributing much to the economy. Your information is a bit out of date on Commerce Towers. While it took forever to sell out originally, according to the HAR website it has 8 units for sale and one for lease as of this morning, with 14 recently sold. Someone else probably has a survey or something with more complete numbers, but just following the threads in this forum one gets the sense that only the really new stuff has significant vacancy. Regarding the Humble Oil Building, there's been plenty of demand for more hotel rooms - which is also evidenced by the number of new hotels being built.I believe that commerce towers has lots of empty units. I don't know if they are finished or not, for lease or not, for sale or not, but they do seem to be empty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Humble Towers was 100% leased out with a months long waiting list. It wasn't flipped to a hotel because the model was failing. It's just that Spring Hill probably projected better revenue than the larger apartments. One Park Place runs in the high 90% range with some of the highest PSF in the city. The Rice and Hogg Palace rarely have any vacancies. The smaller lofts (Hermann, Keystone, Bayou, etc..) sold out. Any units currently for sale are resales. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 FWIW, my office was across McKinney and looked over the top of the McKinney/Main parking garage towards Commerce Towers for a number of years. There generally seemed to be plenty of lights on over there once people got home for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 I believe that commerce towers has lots of empty units. I don't know if they are finished or not, for lease or not, for sale or not, but they do seem to be empty. What do you base that on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 5, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2016 2.5.16 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Completion slated for May 28th downtown_property_managers_meeting_011416_final_web2.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Urbannizer Posted February 11, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted February 11, 2016 http://houston-texas-us.blogspot.com/2016/02/alessandras-progress-on-greenstreet.html 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 ^^^ great job urbannizer... beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I ran past you while you were taking those.... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I sure wish they would turn those blank gray things into large video screens. Can't wait to see Green Street finally deliver the promise that the Houston Pavilions made.^^^ i do concur. i am hoping like crazy that those "blank grey things" head into someone's dumpster. it would be a disaster to keep those as part of the overall ambiance.. once this structure is completed... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Looks like the crane jumped in the last couple days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Tower crane looks the same height to me, level with the hole on the building next door. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Sidewalk detail 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post infinite_jim Posted February 23, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted February 23, 2016 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post infinite_jim Posted February 23, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted February 23, 2016 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 What do you base that on?From the NRG building, it is possible to look into this building. From that view there are a number of empty units. The ones I can clearly see are on the upper floors. I don't know why they are empty ( and unfurnished). Perhaps they are owned or leased but unoccupied. Or unsold. But, they are empty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I would blame a lot of commerce towers' struggles on the unit design and comparable price points. Commerce was the one tower that my wife and I didn't even remotely consider when buying downtown. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Nice! At first glance 1000 Main looks like on of the century twins in LA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 They are working on the rooms floors now, so the pace should pick up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 The new sidewalks on Dallas look MUCH better when they're wet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 The new sidewalks on Dallas look MUCH better when they're wet Don't a lot of things look better when they're wet? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Don't a lot of things look better when they're wet?Ayyyyyyyyy lmao Edited February 23, 2016 by BigFootsSocks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigereye Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Pic update from above the site. https://twitter.com/thachadwick/status/702208718532784129 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Looks like it's not going to be quite 21 stories http://swamplot.com/expectations-lowered-another-notch-for-rising-hotel-alessandras-floor-count/2016-02-24/ Only 20 floors-worth of permits were issued, though, and Midway’s partner-in-highrise Valencia Group has updated its online description of the hotel’s specs to match the lower number since last spring. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-TownChris2 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Smh 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate4l1f3 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Looks like it's not going to be quite 21 storieshttp://swamplot.com/expectations-lowered-another-notch-for-rising-hotel-alessandras-floor-count/2016-02-24/Most disappointing downsize in recent years for me, of course this is because of the original renderings were great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 ^^^ there are no words... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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