Originally Posted by Hill Country (Post 6311520)

There's no need for Vs. comments among the big Texas metros. :) There's more than enough BOOM going around for everyone. Midland may be putting everyone to shame in the near future with the world's second biggest oil field at their door step. Good times are ahead for Texas.

Originally Posted by Wattleigh (Post 6311931)

Originally Posted by oscarinhouston (Post 6311965)

Originally Posted by econik (Post 6312257)

Hotel W Epsilon: I agree it looks Vegas style. It's kinda cheezy.

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 6312163)

Uhm, theyve had one since it opened.

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 6312163)

Uhm, theyve had one since it opened.

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6313434)

Some Med Center news..
*Memorial Hermann planning 12-Story Trauma Center. Also planning to tear down Robertson Pavilion for something larger and more modern (info from HAIF).

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6311180)

Hotel W Epsilon

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7377/1...5f7c1180_b.jpg

It looks like they added 2929 weslyan in their rendering on the right near the AT&T building.

Originally Posted by shakman (Post 6311624)

Texas has been going through good times. It is only getting better. :cheers:

The design is very unique. I think there is too much contrast between the various types of facade elements; however this could be good Houston.

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 6312163)

Uhm, theyve had one since it opened.

Originally Posted by N90 (Post 6313813)

1 on hold, 17 under construction, and 40 proposed. Basically 18 pushing dirt and 40 on the pipeline.

Look at other US cities and Houston's on fire.

Originally Posted by toxteth o'grady (Post 6313931)

It's about time Houston got a W. What's it going to take to get it out of the ground?

Originally Posted by Ziegler Cooper

The Howard Hughes Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary The Woodlands Development Company has started construction on a 390-unit, multifamily development — One Lake’s Edge — situated in the new 66-acre mixed-use development of Hughes Landing on Lake Woodlands. Hughes Landing will be a dynamic environment within The Woodlands that will feature up to 11 office buildings; shopping, dining and entertainment; a specialty grocer; an upscale hotel; a fitness center and up to 800 multi-family residences.

Located on 200-acre Lake Woodlands, One Lake’s Edge will feature panoramic views of the lake and will be only steps away from the shopping, dining and entertainment venues at Hughes Landing’s Restaurant Row. The luxury apartments will feature one-, one-plus-study, two- and three-bedroom designs, with an average size of 984 square feet. Amenities include a fitness center, oversized pool deck, show kitchen and large club room with elevated outdoor patio overlooking the lake, along with more than 22,000 square feet of retail planned on the ground floor. Upscale finishes include wood floors, stainless steel gas appliances, granite countertops, roller shades and Nest “learning” thermostats. One Lake’s Edge will be pet-friendly with an onsite wash station, kayak and bike storage and covered apartment-level parking.

Construction has started on the 825,000-square-foot, eight-story complex, with pre-leasing planned for fall 2014 and occupancy set for early 2015.

Originally Posted by TowerSpotter (Post 6311233)

It's about time Houston got a W. What's it going to take to get it out of the ground?

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT (Post 6314330)

This is not a W hotel. Turn a W clockwise 90 degrees and you get the Greek letter epsilon.

I'm actually not sure if the name is a placeholder or not. There seems to be no information on Hotel Epsilon in North America. There is one in Ahmedabad, India, however.

To my knowledge, the only W Hotel "proposed" for Houston was in the stalled development just inside the loop on Westheimer (in the River Oaks District)...I forgot the name of this project. It was to have also included a 14-18 story Le Méridien Hotel as well as roughly 300,000 SF of luxury retail, 100+ condos, and 250,000+ SF of office.

In any case, it's an interesting design.

Originally Posted by Hines Press Release

Hines Set to Begin Construction on 609 Main at Texas in Houston

HOUSTON) – The Houston office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today its construction schedule for 609 Main at Texas, the 47-story, 1,050,000-square-foot office tower under development at the corner of Main and Texas streets in Downtown Houston on the Main Street rail line. Site preparation, including the deconstruction of an existing abandoned structure, will begin the first week in November. Excavation and foundation activities will occur in March 2014, and after 36 months of construction, the building will be ready for occupancy.

609 Main at Texas is being developed by the Hines CalPERS Green (HCG) development fund, a partnership that focuses exclusively on developing sustainable office buildings throughout the United States certifiable through the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Core & Shell (LEED®-CS) program. This is the same partnership that developed BG Group Place, an extremely successful office building also on Main Street. 609 Main at Texas is pre-registered LEED, and is expected to attain Gold or Platinum certification upon completion.

Hines President Jeff Hines said, “609 Main at Texas is a strategic follow-on to our success with BG Group Place. We are thrilled to start construction on our second major office tower on Main Street, especially with our partner, CalPERS. We saw the trend coming several years ago when we purchased two key blocks of land on Main Street, and now our strategy has been confirmed with the start of this iconic new landmark.”

“We have already had significant leasing interest among all the sectors that fuel CBD development,” said Hines Senior Managing Director John Mooz. “This project will be a true ‘next-generation’ office building, utilizing best practices we’ve learned from our previous developments in Houston and around the world. While 609 Main at Texas is designed to house multiple firms, there is obviously a significant and prestigious opportunity for an anchor tenant, including options for large trading floors and outdoor space.”

Designed by Pickard Chilton, 609 Main at Texas’ north and south facades will extend skyward, culminating in a dramatic diagonal crown, creating a new, highly visible Downtown landmark. The narrower east and west facades will be slightly recessed, and the subtly faceted exterior façade will be clad in floor-to-ceiling glass with brushed-stainless-steel accents. Vertical blades will be incorporated in the east and west facades, enhancing the tower’s silhouette and offering solar shading. Computer-controlled LED illumination within the east and west recesses, and the tower’s sloped crown will accentuate 609 Main’s presence on the nighttime skyline.

Jon Pickard of Pickard Chilton noted, “Our design for 609 Main at Texas is evocative of BG Group Place – it acknowledges and advances the contemporary tradition of the Houston skyscraper while respecting the historical vocabulary of Main Street’s classic architecture. The tower will continuously animate the Central Business District with its shifting palette of light.”

Amenities at the vertically integrated campus will include: a “hotel-style” lobby with a café and spaces for networking; a 7,000-square-foot high-performance fitness center; an 8,000-square-foot conference center; full-height windows allowing for an abundance of natural light throughout the building; a sophisticated underfloor HVAC system; and private roof gardens in select tenant spaces. Floor plates will comprise 27,500 square feet, and parking for 1,500 cars will be provided in an internal 13-level garage (11 above-grade and two below-grade floors). Situated on one of the most centrally located blocks in Houston’s CBD, 609 Main at Texas tenants will enjoy a variety of transportation options – connectivity to Houston’s tunnel system, and access to light rail, Park & Ride and mass transit. In addition, the Main Street area provides a myriad of restaurants and entertainment venues, as well as a burgeoning residential population.

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6314105)

That's not happening, it was just a feasibility study.

Originally Posted by weatherguru18 (Post 6314649)

So now we have:

Chevron going up: 50-stories (832 feet)
609 Main: 47-stories (757 feet)
2929 Weslayan: 40-stories
Marriott Marquis: 30-stories
Museum Tower: 42-stories
Market Place Tower: 27-stories
Skanska Tower: 37-stories
6 Houston Center
5 Allen Center

And that's just the ones that come to the top of my head. WOW!

Originally Posted by cloud713 (Post 6314873)

did hines market square residential tower get reduced or is that not what you mean by Market Place? that one is 33 stories. along with another residential tower thats supposed to be built on the west side of market square thats 35 stories i believe? and International Tower at 41 stories/651 feet. then there is the cluster of 5 towers that are planned to go up in uptown.. BPH Billiton tower (30 stories), Apache Tower (34 stories), Hanover tower (u/c, 29? stories), Astoria (28 stories), and that other residential tower on Post Oak (26 stories?).. theres lots of stuff coming to Houston!

Originally Posted by Shasta (Post 6312487)

That Epsilon Hotel doesn't look like a real project... or at least I hope it isn't. That thing is awful. It's bad enough that we have to live with that God-awful Memorial Hermann Tower thing out in Memorial City. Bring back the Ritz design for BLVD Park and then we'd be talking!

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6314105)

There's actually more towers proposed for Houston. It's just that we don't have much info and/or a rendering yet. A good source over on HAIF also told us we can expect more residential high-rises & hotels to be announced soon.

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 6314988)

Fuck, they are tearing down that beautiful art deco for 609 Main? There are so god damned many vacant lots downtown, why do they have to keep tearing down historic buildings? I swear, Houston is a lost cause with historic preservation. I mean really, come on, Houston is so far ahead of so many cities yet the city just keeps ripping apart its history. Pisses me off to no end.

Originally Posted by N90 (Post 6315012)

4. 250 buildings above 10 stories

Originally Posted by cloud713 (Post 6315046)

do you mean 250 NEW buildings over 10 stories? because Houston already has over 450 highrises..

and there are only 6 Marriott Marquis in the world now if you include Houston, if im not mistaken. "just" now getting one isnt that bad of a thing.

Originally Posted by N90 (Post 6315012)

That's amazing.

I'm hoping that a Le Meridian, Mandarin, the W, and Ritz Carlton are all apart of that, even though some of them have the same parent company, still.

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 6315052)

^
Look at what they are doing with that Marriot or whatever hotel is going into the that early 1900s highrise on Main. It had been abandoned for decades too and was covered with shit 1970s siding. Now its getting a full restoration. If they did it with that building, Hines could rehab this building and easily build around it, but they dont care, all they see is dollar signs.

Originally Posted by N90 (Post 6315062)

No, I meant 250 more buildings above 10 stories. Houston added 75 from 2000 to 2010. Not bad. Just needs to speed things up.

I know both New York and Miami have a Marriott Marquis, I've stayed in those two but I think more than 6 places in the world have them too.

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6314105)

There's actually more towers proposed for Houston. It's just that we don't have much info and/or a rendering yet. A good source over on HAIF also told us we can expect more residential high-rises & hotels to be announced soon.



That's not happening, it was just a feasibility study. The site is up for grabs though, being marketed as a good site for mixed-use development.

Originally Posted by cloud713 (Post 6315086)

ahh. that would be fantastic. hopefully this current boom last for a while.

and maybe so, i cant recall where i heard there were only 5 (soon to be 6), but when you google Marriott Marquis the only ones that pop up are NYC, DC, SF, SD, and ATL.

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6315071)

Ritz Carlton is actively looking for a location in Houston (makes sense, they were going for BLVD before the recession). He said a few others are looking at Houston as well. Definitely good times for the city. :cheers: