HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[weatherguru18]

Originally Posted by Shasta

OK... what the hell building is that behind the Esperson Tower? There's no building that looks like that in that location.

As for Hines' proposal, it's going to happen and I wouldn't be surprised to see it go taller that 41 floors. Why? Because the rumored potential lease I've heard is for nearly 500,000 square feet. I'd think Hines would feel safer with more spec space on today's market than 300,000+.

Would love to see this one come in at 50 floors. Keeping fingers crossed.

The building directly behind Eperson is BG Place (MainPlace). You're just looking at the spine of it. That's all.

Shasta, I'm not sure where the 500,000 sq. ft. came from. The listed square footage of the building is 815,000 sq. ft. It was mentioned in the press release that the building will be 41-stories but ''perhaps taller.''

[photoLith]

Ok now looking at it next to main place it looks right at about 700 considering main place is about 630 I believe. Either way it will be a kick ass addition to the skyline and help fill in a huge lot along main and fill in the canyon.

[Cory]

Awesome tower! Anyone else notice the Apple Store at the base?

[photoLith]

An apple store downtown? Lol not at this point in time. I don't think that an apple logo, just a window that due to low resolution looks like the apple logo.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by photoLith

I don't think that an apple logo, just a window that due to low resolution looks like the apple logo.

I don't know...

[Shasta]

Originally Posted by photoLith

An apple store downtown? Lol not at this point in time. I don't think that an apple logo, just a window that due to low resolution looks like the apple logo.

An Apple Store in the heart of downtown would make a KILLING. You'd be drawing the following folks;

1) Tens of thousands of office workers
2) Out of town visitors staying downtown (forgot to bring a charger?)
3) Residents from downtown, midtown, montrose, east side, etc...
4) Students at UHD, South Texas College of Law, HCC Central, UH, Rice, Tx Southern (all campus will be connecting by the rail to the new store)

It's also a destination type of store... exactly the kind downtown management is working on landing. Wouldn't be surprised if there's been some $$ enticement offered to Apple...

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

MORE RENDERINGS!

Yeah, that's BG Group Place (Main Place) to the right. That building is 632 feet tall with 46 floors.

Judging the height of this is kind of tricky. In the image above it appears to be about 700 feet tall, but the better image I think is the one below which shows it to be not much taller than BG Group Place. In the image below it looks to be maybe 650 to 660 feet. Of course it's hard to say for sure because they have several different floor counts listed.

I would think a 48-story office tower would be around 680 feet, but it could be taller. That's only using the floor-to-floor heights for office towers from the 80s. Using more recent ones, comparing it to BG Place, it could be 660 feet. Using the 1500 Louisiana Street numbers, it would be 720 feet. 1500 Louisiana Street (former Enron II), is 600 feet with 40 floors.

Anyway, it's a great looking tower. It sort of reminds me of the Eighth Avenue Place tower in Calgary. By the way, this is a 581 foot office tower with 41 floors.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=198319

These two towers will do a lot to change the dynamic of Houston's skyline. I'm impressed.

[photoLith]

An Apple store could work downtown, but downtown needs to get cleaned up a lot. Look at where most Apple Stores are in cities. Usually in post hipster areas or rich suburban neighborhoods, or very busy CBDs like midtown Manhattan. Houstons downtown even at peak foot traffic during lunch hour is still very light due to the shit tunnel system. There would need to be more retail around before an Apple Store would come around. It would be awesome, but I just dont see it happening anytime soon. Houston Pavilions just right down the road is pretty much a retail failure. And from Houston Pavilions all the way to UHD along Main there is nothing but a few lunch type places and ghetto convenience stores. Yuppies dont like downtown, they stick to River Oaks, The Heights, Galleria Area, Montrose, etc. If a new Apple Store were to open up anywhere within the loop, the first place Id see one going in is Rice Village.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

An Apple store could work downtown, but downtown needs to get cleaned up a lot. Look at where most Apple Stores are in cities. Usually in post hipster areas or rich suburban neighborhoods, or very busy CBDs like midtown Manhattan. Houstons downtown even at peak foot traffic during lunch hour is still very light due to the shit tunnel system. There would need to be more retail around before an Apple Store would come around. It would be awesome, but I just dont see it happening anytime soon. Houston Pavilions just right down the road is pretty much a retail failure. And from Houston Pavilions all the way to UHD along Main there is nothing but a few lunch type places and ghetto convenience stores. Yuppies dont like downtown, they stick to River Oaks, The Heights, Galleria Area, Montrose, etc. If a new Apple Store were to open up anywhere within the loop, the first place Id see one going in is Rice Village.

How about Midtown? Not too familiar with it, but might that be a good place for one?

[photoLith]

^
Maybe around post mid town lofts but midtown is still pretty run down for the most part although that's changing.

[Shasta]

Originally Posted by photoLith

An Apple store could work downtown, but downtown needs to get cleaned up a lot. Look at where most Apple Stores are in cities. Usually in post hipster areas or rich suburban neighborhoods, or very busy CBDs like midtown Manhattan. Houstons downtown even at peak foot traffic during lunch hour is still very light due to the shit tunnel system. There would need to be more retail around before an Apple Store would come around. It would be awesome, but I just dont see it happening anytime soon. Houston Pavilions just right down the road is pretty much a retail failure. And from Houston Pavilions all the way to UHD along Main there is nothing but a few lunch type places and ghetto convenience stores. Yuppies dont like downtown, they stick to River Oaks, The Heights, Galleria Area, Montrose, etc. If a new Apple Store were to open up anywhere within the loop, the first place Id see one going in is Rice Village.

You really don't get it, do you?

Downtown Houston is a very busy CBD. Just because you don't see folks at noon walking by you when you're snapping photos doesn't mean they aren't there. The office buildings are packed. The court rooms are full. The class rooms at STCL and UHD are overflowing. The hotels are healthy (enough so that there are 3 more in the pipeline).

The Apple Store is a DESTINATION store. It doesn't matter where they build them; the people still come.

[CB Jones]

Any preliminary floor layouts posted?

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by Shasta

You really don't get it, do you?

Downtown Houston is a very busy CBD. Just because you don't see folks at noon walking by you when you're snapping photos doesn't mean they aren't there. The office buildings are packed. The court rooms are full. The class rooms at STCL and UHD are overflowing. The hotels are healthy (enough so that there are 3 more in the pipeline).

The Apple Store is a DESTINATION store. It doesn't matter where they build them; the people still come.

Dude chill out, the tower isnt even getting built yet and who knows if it ever will be. The Apple logo was probably just something the guy who made the render put in there for shits and giggles. So its silly arguing about a retail tenant in a tower that isnt even near getting built. I am just stating my opinion, and my opinion is that downtown Houston will not get an Apple store anytime soon.

[Selasaur]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Dude chill out, the tower isnt even getting built yet and who knows if it ever will be. The Apple logo was probably just something the guy who made the render put in there for shits and giggles. So its silly arguing about a retail tenant in a tower that isnt even near getting built. I am just stating my opinion, and my opinion is that downtown Houston will not get an Apple store anytime soon.

I agree that the Apple logo was probably thrown in there because it is easily recognizable, and it has the effect of indicating very quickly that there will be retail there. Dubious that they would already have a retail tenant signed on this early in the game. Whether or not the CBD is appropriate for an apple store is another issue.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Dude chill out, the tower isnt even getting built yet and who knows if it ever will be. The Apple logo was probably just something the guy who made the render put in there for shits and giggles. So its silly arguing about a retail tenant in a tower that isnt even near getting built. I am just stating my opinion, and my opinion is that downtown Houston will not get an Apple store anytime soon.

I do wish we could be a little more optimistic. Houston's a boomtown built on optimism.

[Shasta]

Yes, you stated your opinion. AND, I am stating mine; your opinion is stupid.

This is a great tower and it will get built. Hines doesn't mess around. I don't know if there will be retail on street level and if that retail might include an Apple Store, but to conclude that it won't because downtown Houston isn't a "post hipster area" or a "very busy CBD" is laughable. First, they don't make CBD much busier than Houston's. Secondly, I don't even know what a 'post hipster area" is...

[photoLith]

^
Your face is stupid, so there. na nee na nee boo boo.

Downtowns foot traffic except during lunch hour is pathetic at best. Dude, I lived right downtown for over a year, I think I know what Im talking about. You have your lunch crowd and thats about it and most of that traffic is in the tunnels. After work hours downtown is dead, except maybe the area around Discovery Green. Seeing as this tower would be a long distance for suburbanites to walk to from visiting Discovery Green I dont think an Apple Store will work there. Houston Pavilions has worked so well, take a walk around there, its 60 percent vacant if not more than that.

[Selasaur]

Originally Posted by Shasta

Yes, you stated your opinion. AND, I am stating mine; your opinion is stupid.

This is a great tower and it will get built. Hines doesn't mess around. I don't know if there will be retail on street level and if that retail might include an Apple Store, but to conclude that it won't because downtown Houston isn't a "post hipster area" or a "very busy CBD" is laughable. First, they don't make CBD much busier than Houston's. Secondly, I don't even know what a 'post hipster area" is...

I worked in the Houston Pavilions for over two years, and I can say that downtown retail is pretty much a ghost town for most of the day. It's true, there are a lot of people who work in the CBD, but most of them only venture out for lunch, and I learned the hard way that you can only capture so much (very little) business from people who are only shopping on their lunch breaks. Furthermore, given the almost boundless possibilities of Houston shopping, who would want to go Downtown to buy anything when there are copious alternatives with ample FREE parking? An apple store may be a destination store, but the spoiled car-happy shoppers in Houston avoid Downtown like the plague. It's true there are a lot of people who are connected to Downtown via public transit, but that simple fact does not mean that there will magically be legions of apple customers beating down the doors on a daily basis to buy apple products. But who knows, maybe there will be an apple store, either way, it seems beyond silly to me to argue a hypothetical to the point of juvenile name-calling.

[Reverberation]

^^ F*** yeah new building!!

Also noticed;
Two new towers at Bayou Manor (S. Braeswood near Stella Link).
http://brazostowers.com/

A new small retail building at Dunlavy and Westheimer. It isn't big but it looks good. Also, gotta love the Architect's unimaginative fake signage.



http://swamplot.com/the-commotion-at...vy/2012-04-16/

Finally, according to the prophetic words of Nancy Sarnoff, Skyhouse has broken ground. Those guys don't play.

[toxteth o'grady]

From the Chron - and Metrostudy:

Mapping the new office construction