HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[nmed]

Originally Posted by Dale

Millennials tried to kill the mall. Generation Z is bringing it back.

Examples please. Out side the snowbelt.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by nmed

Examples please. Out side the snowbelt.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...he-way-they-do

[nmed]

Originally Posted by Dale

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...he-way-they-do

The story is more about brick and mortar than malls but, yeah, that's great. I love brick and mortar, but I hate malls. And malls like Northline or Sharpstown are never coming back. Think the CBD or the Heights. Go Bulldogs!

[Cory]

Construction has started on a 600-unit apartment complex at the southwest corner of West Dallas and Dunlavy, the latest phase of Regent Square, a planned 24-acre development just south of Buffalo Bayou Park.

Boston-based GID Development Group said site work is under way on eight acres where the company will build a six-story apartment complex with 50,000 square feet of retail space. At one time, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was planning to be part of GID's project, but the deal fell through, the developer confirmed in May when it announced the apartment complex would break ground this year.

https://www.chron.com/business/real-...photo-17465592

[Urbannizer]

River Oaks District Phase II Office

- 14 floors
- 225,000 sq ft

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

IAH to break ground on expanded international terminal

What crap. China is building all sorts of futuristic alien looking airports... and this is the best we can muster????? UGH.

[JManc]

China doesn't have to worry about taxpayer/ voter concerns like Houston does.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by Cory

https://www.chron.com/business/real-...photo-17465592

How long before this gets torn down to make way for some kind of highrise?

[Urbannizer]

Houston Endowment’s new HQ will become architectural ‘jewel’ for the city

Houston Endowment, the $1.8 billion philanthropic institution founded in 1937 by developer and entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones, has selected a team to design the group’s new headquarters, culminating a monthslong competition that attracted local and international firms vying to create Houston’s next architectural landmark.

Los Angeles-based Kevin Daly Architects, along with Productora of Mexico City and TLS Landscape Architecture of Berkeley, Calif., won over the selection committee with their design of an airy glass building set amid a grove of oak trees and sheltered by a latticed rooftop canopy.

The building, which is expected to have a $20 million value, is planned for a 1.5-acre site near the intersection of Memorial and Waugh, north of Buffalo Bayou and overlooking Spotts Park.

The competition, which launched in June, sought proposals for a 40,000-square-foot building that would offer a well-planned workplace in a structure that would be “visible, but not showy.” It would take into account the Endowment’s mission, Houston’s climate and its urban location bordered by Buffalo Bayou, Montrose and the Houston Heights.

The winning team had a “strong sense of Houston’s DNA,” said Ann Stern, president and CEO of Houston Endowment, which announced the winner Thursday morning.

The design, which will evolve as the project progresses, envisions a steel-framed canopy with photovoltaic panels sheltering the building. The interiors were designed with public and private workspaces and connectivity to the adjacent park through a series of exterior terraces shaded by awnings.

The new building, which could open in 2022, will go up in the 3600 block of Willia Street on land that was once home to a YWCA. It will house the Endowment’s staff of approximately 30 people, who will relocate from 16,000 square feet in 600 Travis, the downtown skyscraper formerly known as JPMorgan Chase Tower.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by JManc

China doesn't have to worry about taxpayer/ voter concerns like Houston does.

Perhaps. What do taxpayer/voter concerns have to do with the design of a terminal?

[DanielG425]

Originally Posted by The Best Forumer

Perhaps. What do taxpayer/voter concerns have to do with the design of a terminal?

China has more capital available to complete projects like this, they have an abundance of low-wage labor, and they have the ultimate say in things like design and budget. In Houston, and the U.S. in general, it is in the taxpayers interest to build as economically efficient as can be built. Now this project isn't being funded by taxpayers, but it is still in the interest of investors and local/state/federal entities to build as cheaply as possible so as to get an asset that provides a return in investment while checking off the list of necessities. Anything else (design, vanity) is additional and not as highly valued here in the US. Whereas the Chinese don't mind massive amounts of sunk-costs and no return on investment since its the totalitarian government who absorbs the costs and not the people directly which affords them more room to design and build their incredible feats of architecture and vanity.

[JManc]

The Chinese racking up massive amounts of debt; they just shift the burden from the national government onto the local levels but all those massive airports, maglevs and other trophy projects are adding up fast.

[Pedestrian]

McDermott shares dive to new lows in the wake of a report that work on the company's Houston headquarters building has been stopped after MDR allegedly fell behind on payments to its general contractor.

MDR allegedly was $14.2M behind on its payments for work performed on the building as of Oct. 30, according to a lien filed by the builder, which told its subcontractors to stop work at the site due to the non-payment.

MDR is working with the contractor to finalize the remaining schedule for the construction and buildout of the space, a company spokesperson says . . . .

https://seekingalpha.com/news/351730...ortedly-halted

Don't know anything about the project personally, but ran across this tidbit.

This is apparently the building:


https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...tml#i/11170197

[N90]

Doesn't matter. Energy Center 5 was built in 2016.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by N90

Doesn't matter. Energy Center 5 was built in 2016.

The building shell may have been finished then--I wouldn't know. But this article is from this past August:

Permits: Energy engineering, construction co. to spend nearly $50M building out new Houston HQ

And the article quoted is definitely current--dated yesterday. Incidentally, McDermott itself, which in the past was an important energy sector engineering company, is looking shakey:

The risk of a bankruptcy continues to rise at McDermott following a "disappointing" Q3 earnings report, Citi analyst Andrew Kaplowitz says in cutting his MDR price target to $1.60 from $2.00 and keeping a Neutral rating on the shares.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/351471...i-analyst-says

As an outsider, I find it curious that a building that was completed in 2016 would be unoccupied and "unbuilt out" inside still in 2019. That implies to me the office market is terribly overbuilt. Just sayin'.

[N90]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

The building shell may have been finished then--I wouldn't know. But this article is from this past August:

Energy Center 3, 4, and 5

http://i.imgur.com/ZS5s34b.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jX8OZzS.jpg

And the article quoted is definitely current--dated yesterday.

Yeah and the article is wrong.

As an outsider, I find it curious that a building that was completed in 2016 would be unoccupied and "unbuilt out" inside still in 2019. That implies to me the office market is terribly overbuilt. Just sayin'.

The energy corridor is the submarket that this building is in. The energy corridor's office market slipped in 2014 during the oil bust and it remains the only market in Houston that's still struggling with some vacancy as a result of that. A lot of projects began construction when oil was $115/barrel because the energy companies needed the space then but with the sudden downturn and downsizing that occured from 2014 to 2016, the space became vacant. Houston's office market recovered in 2018 but Energy Corridor is still a step behind the rest of the metro area.

Energy Center 3 and 4 are occupied but EC5 was always a different story.

[The Best Forumer]

Interesting,

[Urbannizer]

Morgan Group to Break Ground on 13-Story Tower in Houston

The developer behind a Pearl-branded apartment project where a new Whole Foods is opening in Houston's midtown area this week is already planning to move forward with another project about a half-mile away that has been on hold.

Morgan Group, a Houston-based developer that has built $3.1 billion worth of multifamily projects nationally, is reviving plans to build a 13-story luxury apartment tower at 102 Dennis St. in Houston.

The project is tucked on a quiet residential street in one of Houston’s hottest neighborhoods for apartment and retail development.

Construction on the new project is expected to start in December or the first quarter of 2020, Philip Morgan, vice president of the Morgan Group, said in an interview with CoStar News.

The developer's proposed Houston project will include 298 apartment units on top of a parking podium. The total project will be 260,000 square feet, Morgan said.

[TexasPlaya]

BisNow: First Look At Midtown Ion Innovation Hub's Plan For Surrounding Area Revealed

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/...medium=Browser

The public finally has a sense of the scope of Rice University's proposed redevelopment of the former Midtown Sears. Dubbed The Ion Innovation Hub, the project looks to be a game changer for the surrounding area. In a variance request first reported by the Houston Chronicle, plans show 13 proposed structures with green space connecting them...

...The plans indicate Phase 1 will focus on the three parcels adjacent to the north, east and northeast of the Midtown Sears site, where three buildings totaling roughly 102K SF and a 22.5K SF civic plaza will be developed. Plans for the rest of the project will come in future phases.

There's a link to the PDF in the article to view the entire plan.

[Pedestrian]

More on McDermott International, the energy engineering/construction company whose new headquarters is discussed above:

McDermott - An Update On Recent Events - Prepare For Bankruptcy
Nov. 18, 2019 11:57 AM ET|61 comments | About: McDermott International, Inc. (MDR)
Henrik Alex

Summary
Company reported abysmal Q3/2019 results and failed to make a $69 million interest payment under its 10.625% 2024 senior unsecured notes.

Long-standing CFO surprisingly resigned, potentially in conjunction with the company having concealed an ongoing SEC investigation from superpriority lenders.

Work on the company's new Houston headquarters has reportedly been stopped after McDermott fell behind on $14.2 million in payments to its general contractor.

New superpriority loan agreement could end up being converted into debtor-in-possession financing.

My expectation is for the company to default on the 2024 notes after the end of the current grace period on December 1 and subsequently file for bankruptcy.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/430...are-bankruptcy