For anyone who's interested and has access, GooglEarth has loaded new mapping for the central region of Houston, from the Grand Parkway inward. The new photos bear an October 31, 2013 date. Interesting changes throughout.

Yeah the slowdown for office space is around the corner, mainly because there's somewhere near 13 million + in office space in the works in Houston presently. It's probably going to slow down now for a couple of years until more is demanded. Although of that 13 million in office space about over 70% of it is spoken for already.

As for residential, most predictions for Houston from both HBJ and Bisnow as well as a few others say that it will be a carbon copy year in 2014 as 2013, some chances of taking it down a notch by Q4 but about the same all around.

They say industrial and retail will be even bigger this year, mainly because retail was the last part of Houston's development boom to take off. Lots of expansions in chains and introductions to new ones as well as more private owned shops surfacing. Sprouts, Aldis, Whole Foods, and others, something like 40-60 grocery stores will surface in Greater Houston this year.

This is the interesting part of the boom now though, for photographers at least, it'll be a thrill getting so many cranes in one picture and following along with the development.

I wish I could take pictures but I wont be there too.

Yeah, Five Allen Center is proposed at 35 Floors now, but the information on International Tower is new.

Streetlights at Midlane

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3709/1...f2886d28_b.jpg

THANK YOU so much for the tip-off. I always love a good Google Earth update, but your statement above which I bolded, well, it doesn't even begin to describe the changes. Literally every part of the city has visible changes, Downtown, Uptown, Midtown, Montrose, Greenway, The Woodlands and Springwoods Village, Eastside, Third Ward, Rice Military and the Heights, Westchase, the Energy Corridor, the Medical Center, the Museum District...it's been said before but the magnitude is staggering. The most exciting thing for me is that we're seeing a new city rise to the ranks of the great American metropolises of yore. It's almost to the point where it's on another level. You know what I mean. :rolleyes::notacrook:

Sidenote: I really like the Midlane development. I think an abundance of developments with more attention to detail like that could do wonders for shaping this new grown-up Houston's cityscape. :cool:

This looks beautiful!!! I like how the façade has been broken into different patterns as oppose to a single pattern façade. After a crappy evening, seeing this just lit-up my face. Thanks!!!

Some of the mapping in the exurbs of Houston is going to show some real changes when the new photos come online. As it is, I've been making trips to town about every three weeks, but the updates that show on the new photos are stunning.

And we've only seen the start of it.:cool:

No problem Shakman. :) It's amazing how the developer has not made an official announcement yet and it's already under-construction. It has a West Ave look to it, and I can't wait to see more renderings of the entire project.

This developer is also planning the 20-Story, 303-unit Chelsea Montrose high-rise. I've been told to not show the rendering yet, but it's approx ~250' ft and construction crews will be on site in Feb/March to demolish the existing buildings on site. Construction will take 2 - 2 1/2 years to complete. The eye doctors office already closed-down, and the address is 4 Chelsea, Houston, TX. It's another one of those projects that will be smack dab in the middle of a residential area, surrounded by homes. I'm not sure if the residents nearby know anything about this project, but they will do everything they can to minimize the inconveniences of construction to the community.

Here's a recent image of the site, taken by Cloud713
http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/...ps38aede10.jpg

Wow, I don't even live in Houston, but that Street lights development is stunning based on the rendering. Very high quality mid-rise development that you don't see too often these days in America.

River Oaks District

Webcam: http://www.earthcam.net/projects/olivermcmillan/rod/

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2810/1...99b4df12_b.jpg

The building looks very similar to Gables West Avenue, where Tootsie's is located. And it should command similar rents.

Alexan Heights: New design.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3815/1...7dc8152e_b.jpg

Sunset Coffee Allens Landing Building: Renovations will finally begin next week.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/1...a5e17270_b.jpg

Verde Parc in Katy:
Alexan Wilcrest:

Updates on 1885 Saint James, the 13 story office tower in Uptown:
the Radius at Shadow Creek Ranch Apartments in Pearland:

Kirby Grove at Levy Park: 1/9 by BaderJF

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/96...90/69/ask5.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/961x541q90/9/ki3o.jpg

I just got off the phone with someone over at Novare Group and I can confirm this will be the second one for Houston. Skyhouse River Oaks will begin construction sometime this quarter, didn't get the exact location.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2848/1...42004d63_b.jpg
Rendered: The Southmore

60,000 multifamily units in the next 5 years means 12,000 per year. In other words, that number is identical to 2012 and 2013.

The office boom is probably at its tail but the residential, industrial, and retail are going to keep going barring any global economic meltdowns.

My question is Houston ready to embrace slower population growth slightly? The higher cost of living and rents for both residential and office properties means probably going from 1.2 million new residents a decade to 1-1.1 million. I'm glad Houston's going the smart growth way. The emphasis on the Buffalo Bayou, White Oaks Bayou, Brays Bayou, and coastal areas is amazing. Sometimes I like the park and greenbelt projects way more than they skyscraper ones but when they go hand in hand, it's even better.

Houston could see bulk of $70B worth of state-wide industrial project starts in 2014:
It's vacancy rate is among the lowest in the developed world.

*bump*

Swamplot now reporting, will be near River Oaks District..

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...n-downtown.jpg

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...ddress-map.jpg

Multifamily units issued permits in 2012: 11,319
Multifamily units issued permits in 2013: 12,587

Multifamily units for 2014: 12,000
Multifamily units for 2015: 12,000
Multifamily units for 2016: 12,000
Multifamily units for 2017: 12,000
Multifamily units for 2018: 12,000

Staggering amount of midrises, highrises, and skyscraper infill in Houston this decade. What's crazy is that majority are poised for the Inner Loop. Along with DC, SF, Dallas, New York, and Miami, Houston will top the country in multifamily infill.

New Rumors: Hines has more in store for Houston (projects for the Galleria area), Uptown high-rise boom on the way (very healthy # of projects planned).

good,growth of highrises and a supertall i feel like were going to see a major change :cheers:

I would of agreed with you a year ago, but Houston has built out a decent bit of office space that should hold us over for the next few years.. Now if we were to get a mixed use tower with hotel/residential components mixed with office it could be doable, or if it were a company like Chevron relocating corporate HQ to a new signature supertall in downtown (the rumored 4th tower..?), occupying the whole building. I just think there are too many proposed towers vying for the same tenants. It would be nuts if Houston got a supertall residential tower, but considering we've barely broken the 500' barrier for residential towers, I don't see that happening.. Lol.

Actually while the bulk of major office development has been announced or is known of, I still think we'll be hearing of more office towers like Saint James (13 stories) being announced and being built. I don't think we will hear of more International towers, 609 Mains, Allen Centers, Houston Centers, or Capitol towers for a bit, the large projects have all probably surfaced already.

According to the Bisnow article I read either yesterday or the day before for Houston, there's a substantial amount of companies shopping for office space right now and have been for 6 months now, many companies that are new to the Houston market as a whole and expanding out there. 13 million square feet and at 70% commitment for it already (and that was about 2 months ago, so probably outdated now), I think this supply is good enough for the near future (1, 2, max 3 years) and then there will be shortage again. I'm taking Two Shell's 400,000 coming on to the market into context as well. As well as the companies moving and vacating old towers for new ones.

I forgot to mention earlier, hotel is in the same boat as retail. Hotel just started taking off and we can expect to hear of more projects on those the next 3 years.

Downtown alone currently has 50% of it's total inventory's worth of hotel rooms in the pipeline (it'll go from 5,000 rooms to 7,500) and there's probably a few more that will be announced to add on. For residential, I think Downtown had 2,300 units before this residential wave and now 2,800 units in the pipeline. So I think literally more units under construction or in the pipeline for Downtown than currently existing. Downtown's residential density will double in the scope of a year and a half.

They will raise the limit from 2,500 to something a quite a bit higher. They introduced the downtown residential tax incentive program a year ago and it's already maxed out.

In the long term, I can see Downtown and Uptown evolving into sibling business districts not unlike and on the scope of Downtown and Midtown in Manhattan...both enveloping the most urban, active, and dynamic parts of the city in between.

I'm ready to witness it! :hmmm::hyper:

The one thing I miss about the 2004-2007 boom are the condo highrises that were planned for Galveston, Kemah, Clearlake, League City, and other coastal towns.

Those haven't made a comeback in the present market yet, I'm wondering if they will. Condos took a hit but they're making a comeback now. Tourism and real estate activity has never been hotter in Galveston.

For all the skylines in the Houston area, there isn't a solid one on the coast yet. Although the highrises in Galveston are underrated, there's quite a few of them, just some on the beach and others in the center/downtown.

Very true, and I completely agree. I was referring to the "80+ story supertall" comment. The residential and hotel sectors should keep up pace in the high rise construction department during the 2-3 year slowdown in the large scale office market.

Here's what I like about CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, and DC/VA/MD. They are a hot place for foreign investors. In 2008 a developer from Dubai attempted to build a supertall in Uptown Houston. If it wasn't for the recession, he would've too. The moral of what I'm saying is that Houston, like Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Miami is going to become a regular "staple" in supertall talks. Foreign investors and developers notice your city, so the hard part is out of the way. It just becomes a question of when rather than if for markets like these.

In the last one year, the city of Houston has received generous gifts from royal families in Dubai and other areas from the Middle east. One family donated a substantial amount of money for Houston's bayou plan. Another family donated a huge amount to build a hospital in TMC.

Arab royal families legitimately come to Houston because of business ties and they actually love the city. I spent part of my summer in Doha and Dubai, Houston's very well connected to both and is pretty well known in both cities.

Houston is really a star when it comes to foreign investment. You guys just replaced us (DC) this year and you just made your top 5 debut last year for the first time.

Another example? At one point China's HSR company approached CA and told them they wanted to build HSR for them but CA ultimately went with the federal government for funding and their alignment. Japan has similarly approached TX about wanting to build HSR between DFW and Houston and for TX, the feds, the state, and the Japanese as well as local companies are working together to make it happen.

Foreign investment is probably another reassuring tool for Houston when it comes to supertalls. You never know who will come into the market and for what reason and what they'll want to build. The city is already on top of a foreign investors watch list.

I think we can handle a super-tall depending on how much office space actually begins to show up due to new construction. This is also causing owners of office buildings that exist today to completely renovate them in (and sometimes out) to remain competitive. I was watching a report on the Houston office market recently and they said we can expect ~10-story office buildings being thrown up as the norm here in the near future. The rumored super-tall for downtown is residential, hotel and office, with the office component being the smallest of the three.

I too miss the high-rises that were planned along the coast, very unfortunate that less than a handful made it through.

Not to mention the billions in bonds approved by Houston voters for parks, drainage, and education; very underrated, renovating and building new schools inside the loop.

Photos by Skylineview on HAIF, 1/12

Hanover Post Oak & BLVD Place

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/...psd29435cf.jpg

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/...ps177d2aed.jpg

Astoria

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/...ps77e38a4d.jpg

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BHP Billiton

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/...psa7bc4521.jpg
http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9cee4c9e.jpg

New Mixed-use Tower Planned for Houston

• 41-Stories, 850,000 square feet
• Residential, Office and Retail Use
• Estimated Start Date: Wednesday March 12th

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...xed-use-tower/

Whats up with all the suprises >.< They are really quiet now on projects. V.v

Intersesting! Perhaps another surface lot in downtown will be going away, thankfully? :)

Aaron (Glowrock)

It's profile sounds Uptown.

I wouldn't bet against it either. It's the part of Houston that's booming at supernatural levels. I believe 20 residential highrises, 8 hotels, and about 4-5 office towers in the pipeline in just this district alone. According to Bisnow.

I'm not suggesting that I'm sure this is where but if we look at it from a statistical point of view, this is where the activity is strongest. Also traditionally the only other business district with talls of this profile too. Maybe Greenway but Uptown, Greenway, and River Oaks are headed into a merge anyway.

Over 20 multi-family high-rises, 8 hotels with 4 planning to break ground this year and 2-million sq feet of office space planned for Uptown.

I as well don't think it's for downtown. It would be on the development map by now.

It seems as though the thread for this 41-story mixed use has disappeared. Anybody know what happenend?

Why is Uptown booming so much recently? Proximity to Energy Corridor (west houston) and amenities?

Well it's geographically closer to the center of the Houston area. It's a very cool place to live. Has over 23 million square feet of office space. Contains Houston's most visited place the Galleria and now has branched off into mass retail areas. Nothing against Downtown as its made the deepest strides of them all.

It's also reasonable distance to other major districts in Houston.

This 41 story was 609 Main but that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect out of Uptown and Downtown anyway.

I drove through Uptown this morning on the way back to Austin. With the sunny weather this morning, Uptown was spectacular from the upper level of the interchange just south of the district.

Main & Leeland

http://i.imgur.com/mAxhl6G.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/NbfdNIX.jpg?1

500 Crawford

http://i.imgur.com/3Bht3Ct.jpg?1

SWN Energy HQ

http://i.imgur.com/8B0cXsH.jpg?1
Updates by Triton on HAIF

Thanks. Just surprising since the traffic is some of the worst for our employment centers.

Texas tower coming down for 609 Main

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3767/1...39623919_b.jpg

Former Houston Club coming down for Capitol Tower

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5500/1...8216579c_b.jpg
Photos by Nate99

The Vue on MacGregor: By Triton

http://i.imgur.com/iEhMDq8.jpg?1

Planning & Designing the New HSPVA:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2817/1...ecfcb945_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5514/1...8bea8993_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3697/1...dfe4d738_b.jpg

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http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5505/1...99313759_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/1...a3bc87d2_b.jpg

Goodness, what a bland-bordering-on-ugly design! Quite disappointing for such a prime site. And I did not know this (from the linked article):

So it's illegal to create a quality pedestrian experience on any major road in Houston? Even in the heart of what should be one of the most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in the city? What is this, like 1980?

The design is OK imo, better than what's there now.