Ground broken for $170 million downtown Houston project

[Complex01]

Ground broken for $170 million downtown project


By NANCY SARNOFF
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Houston Pavilions, a four-block shopping, restaurant, entertainment and office development broke ground today in downtown Houston.

The project's developers celebrated the start of construction at a ceremony alongside city, county and other government officials, including Mayor Bill White and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

"This is another turning point in our city's revitalization," said White, adding that the project will attract more visitors and convention business to downtown.

The $170 million project will have 360,000 square feet of retail space and a 200,000-square-foot office tower.

The newest tenants include clothing retailer Forever 21 and Books-A-Million. Both will build urban flagship stores and join House of Blues, Lucky Strike Lanes and seven restaurants, including McCormick & Schmick's, Red Cat Jazz Cafe and Lawry's, The Prime Rib.

"We will be the people place to see and be seen in the city of Houston," said William Denton, who is developing the project with Geoffrey Jones.

The Pavilions will be built on three surface parking lots bounded by Dallas, Polk, Main and Caroline streets.

Buchanan Street Partners of Newport Beach, Calif., provided $47 million in equity for the project, and North Houston Bank provided $120 million in construction financing.

The developers also lined up an $8.8 million development grant from the city and $5.5 million from Harris County in additional funding.

Some renderings from www.houstonpavilions.com (http://www.houstonpavilions.com/)

http://www.houstonpavilions.com/renderings/ar-Skywalk.jpg

http://www.houstonpavilions.com/renderings/ar-HOB.jpg

http://www.houstonpavilions.com/renderings/mr-ModelAerial.jpg

http://www.houstonpavilions.com/renderings/mr-Model5.jpg

[Complex01]

I really like this project. I just dont know about the Forever 21??? Oh well...

:cool:

[GoldenBoot]

I cannot wait for this to open! It's such a cool project!

[TexasBoi]

About fuckin time.:tup:
Congrats Houston.

[JAM]

Anyone have the story on the sky rings that connect the building? Do the represent something or are they just being consistent with the Enron towers?

[glowrock]

Wait a minute. Four city blocks, and only 560,000 total square feet of leaseable space? What's wrong with this picture? Or is this only Phase I of several phases for this entire project?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Great_Hizzy]

The fourth block is dedicated to a parking garage, so it's three blocks of 360,000 square feet of retail and 200,000 square feet of Class A office space.

[Complex01]

According to the press release (http://www.houstonist.com/attachments/houston_lauren/pavilions_release_022707.pdf), there will be 360,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 200,000 sq. ft. of office space, and a parking garage that beats 'em both: 480,000 sq. ft. with 1,525 spaces. Of course, if you aren't coming to HP from your downtown loft or office and you don't want to park in the garage, you can ride the rail in - the Bell or Main St. Square stops are nearby.


Cited from the Houstonist.com (http://www.houstonist.com/)
2-28-07

[glowrock]

That is still VERY tiny comparatively... 560k sf on three blocks is very, very small, unless of course the blocks are very small, which is always possible.

Denver's Pavillions has something in the range of 350k sf of retail, without the office/residential component, but is on the equivalent of only little over one block (2 blocks long, about 2/3 of a block wide), with the parking being all underground. And no, Denver's Pavillions isn't anywhere near what I'd call dense, either...

Regardless, it's good for Houston to lose a couple of big surface lots. I'm just thinking the total square footage is really small given the area it's going to take up...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Saddle Man]

Houston downtown blocks are small. The condo towers aren't part of the mix anymore. The pix above are out of date.

[Great_Hizzy]

Instead of three towers (two residential) there's only going to be the one office tower (in the middle).

[Cory]

Updated model courtesy of stjnky

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/404733940_0c19fe7add_b.jpg

[Trae]

Will we get some moving hdtv's?

[JManc]

About fuckin time.:tup:

was thinking the same thing.