New Plan for River Oaks District, major downsize. :(

http://www.olivermcmillan.com/images...1313000053.jpg

http://www.olivermcmillan.com/images...1313000074.jpg

http://www.olivermcmillan.com/images...1313000093.jpg

http://www.olivermcmillan.com/images...1313000115.jpg

http://www.olivermcmillan.com/images...1313000135.jpg

Previous Plans:
http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_34330.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...23_64_2960.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_12775.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_58894.jpg

Looks a little cheesy. Well at least the empty lot will be filled I guess.

Thanks for the updates. Not surprising it was scaled back.

The Horizon- Neartown Luxury Apartment Tower
http://www.gid.com/photos/development/block-d.jpg
http://www.gid.com/development/horizon.aspx
Excerpt:
Source: http://www.gid.com/development/horizon.aspx

35 Story Luxury Apartment Tower for Inner Loop Houston:

Excerpt:
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p....html?page=all

Wow. Where are they going to put it?

Hmm, I thought it was a component of Regent Square, but it looks like one of the articles states West Alabama & Weslayan.

The towers in the Regent Square development are separate from The Horizon development in Houston.
Neartown.

Dynamo Stadium - As of Sept 23rd
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/IMG_2091.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/IMG_2092.jpg

Link

New 35-story residential tower to break ground in 2012 inside the loop!! Apparently it was supposed to be 27-stories when the article was first published in 2008 but has since been increased to 35-stories. See articles below:

2008

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/s...14/story6.html

2011

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p....html?page=all

Great find!

Does anyone know whats happening on the other side of Memorial City mall (opposite to the side of the hospital)? I've seen atleast two cranes there. I think this is the location: LINK

147 Unit Multifamily Complex for Midtown Houston [Elgin & Louisiana Streets]:

Excerpt:
Source: http://innerlooped.com/1291/new-apar...ng-to-midtown/

I like the infill, this multifamily complex will have the same design as the one across the street and will replace a surface parking lot!

Winfield Gate in River Oaks:
http://static.culturemap.com/site_me....350w_263h.jpghttp://static.culturemap.com/site_me....350w_263h.jpg
Excerpt:
Source: http://houston.culturemap.com/newsde...y-ambassadors/

From today's Chronicle: More info on the 35-story tower to rise.

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...te-house-site/

I was told it's being built for Nexen Inc., which is moving their Dallas area office to Houston. I was also told it will be about 15 stories.

I know. This rendering just looks like the proposal for the first Regent Square parcel to be developed.

I'm with ya.

Resurrection of the 23 story Ashbury Apartment Tower:
http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...1/09/Ashby.jpg
Excerpt:
Source: http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...ashby-is-back/

^ they need to build this instead:

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...by-cartoon.jpg

and it needs the arms.

Posed this question on another forum: Why here? Love the tower but seems like a very odd place for a highrise---i mean in the middle of a neighborhood with limited access. For some reason i thought this was to always be built right off the SW FRWY....not blocks away in the middle of a residential hood. I guess I never really thought about it until I looked at a map of the location.

It's a very good place for a highrise. Right on a major thoroughfare, and in a very desirable neighborhood. Houston is going to get denser, we can't have inner-city suburbs forever. To accommodate this, we need to improve our transit system, but that's another topic. There are many highrises in Houston right next to single family homes.

Updates Taken Today by Golyadkin

The Millenium - 237 Unit Apartment Building
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0450.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0216.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0217.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0218.jpg

Link

BBVA - 2200 Post Oak - Rendering

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0222.jpg

Link

BLVD Place - Whole Foods - Rendering

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0195.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0199.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DSC_0200.jpg

Link

Some more info bout previous or new projects.

The Horizon- Supposedly the ground breaking is in February 2012.

The Ashby Highrise- Supposedly is breaking ground in January 2012.

La Porte to get a 16 Story Tower:
Source: https://www.bidclerk.com/project.1100641.html

I hope his new tower is on the Galveston Bay in La Porte so that way other towers could develop around this one and it can create an emerging skyline, an emerging coastal skyline that continues to elude Galveston.

New 23-story tower

Reported 09/30/2011

Status Pre-Construction

Est. Start Date January 2012

https://www.bidclerk.com/project.672794.html#

It seems that there map on there website is misleading it has it pointing at the Houston vistor center? I wonder if this is the Ashby project?

Am for it if it has retail or offices on street level. Putting a one/use type of building in a suburban sort of area does not lead to Urbanism.

Here are some pics of the Dynamo stadium. It is gonna have some awesome DT views. Looking fancy...

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...ex2501/DS2.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...ex2501/DS1.jpg

:yes:

Interesting pdf presentation by Houston Tomorrow about our current and future transit situation. Lots of interesting graphs.

Yeah this is the Ashby Highrise.
I remember posting this yesterday on Houston Architecture, no one gave it a second thought at all it seems. That PDF is nice but its just too long term to matter. 2035 is a long time away and most of us will be plagued by old age by then. Hah.
I agree that at the present moment it just comes across as bizarre and estranged. Two things contribute to Houston's awkward way of urbanizing.

1. It lacks zoning, making projects like these possible to get approved without further questioning.

2. Houston is at a mature post in its growth, over the next 35 years it will be doing projects like these a lot and infilling by destroying detached family structures or low rises. Think of this now in Houston as what Chicago was in 1880 or 1890, except Chicago was quite a lot more centralized.

Basically this tower will stick out like a sore thumb when built but 10 or 15 years from now it will be accompanied by more towers near it. Houston is a fast city to destroy older structures in place for newer and larger ones. There is no doubt that if this gets built other developers will swarm to the area like wildfire to do the same. The area is centralized and has a desirable location, it's pretty much just waiting to star digging dirt and turning shovels on these projects.

I find this exciting! But again can you imagine all these towers going in without retail/office to support these new dense neighborhoods. And your point about Chicago was excellent!

Nope. This tower is completely surrounded by deed restricted neighborhoods. Everything South of Bissonnet is Southampton. Southampton has fairly strong deed restrictions that limit development to single family homes and it also has very strict height requirements that generally limits structures to two stories. Everything to the North is either Boulevard Oaks or Broadacres. Both of these neighborhoods have deed restrictions. Broadacres is VERY strict. North, South, and West Boulevards are probably the most beautiful in the city, with wide parks down the center with towering live oak trees and houses from the 1920s sitting on full acres. Famous houses like the Wortham House which houses the University of Houston president, will now have a huge tower looking down on them.

Bissonnet is the ONLY sliver in that area that isn't deed restricted because it is considered a major roadway, despite it being just a two-laned road between Main St (to the East) and Greenbrier (to the West). Despite the lack of deed restrictions, the road in this area is still largely residential with no structures over 40 feet tall. The few businesses on that street are housed in single family homes that have been converted (antique stores, doctor's offices, etc...). This is a HORRIBLE location for a tower for everyone but the developers looking to make a buck by either a) ruining stable inner city neighborhoods or b) winning a lawsuit

Very true a lot of it is long range. However, there's a lot of interesting info on our current state of affairs, especially where the jobs and density are. If we could just actually get the University and Uptown rail going then we would have the beginning of a real system.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but they have broken ground and the 22 story residential project near Westheimer and Sage (Next to Walgreens) is now under construction.

Renderings (from HAIF):
http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...9850_thumb.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...9835_thumb.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...galleria-area/

Sad that the River Oaks project was downsized, either way it still looks pretty good. Anyone know where it will be located and when they will start construction?

I like. Very informative

I'm glad for the density implied by the Ashbury concept. Deed restrictions may hamper the future for awhile, but time marches on. In the early 20th century 5th Avenue in New York along Central Park was the showplace of industrial age millionaires. Huge ornate single family houses were built, seemingly to last forever. Fights ensued over density and perceived loss of "charm", but the lure of big money won as it always does, and now only a few remain, now repurposed. The Frick Gallery for instance. And in spite of lawsuits, family holdouts and the like, 5th Ave is now home to multi story apartment buildings like the rest of the city. NIMBY is not a new concept.

As cities grow, one generation's "hallowed family hall" becomes the next generations "white elephant". One generation says "you'll get my keys when you pry them from my cold dead fingers". The next generation says "Here are the keys. I always hated this place anyway".

Well I got out this morning to take a few pictures.

Westheimer @ Sage
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01012.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01014.jpg

2200 Post Oak (really started pouring here, so the pics aren't great.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01017.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01019.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01020.jpg

Bonus Transco in the rain
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01016.jpg

Nice, the galleria area will have a few cranes up. Very Kewl...

Looks like The Woodlands is getting another highrise!

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...the-woodlands/

More information about these apartments going up in Midtown are available here:

http://ataps1.pd.ci.houston.tx.us/drc/PC+Meeting+Calendar.nsf/WebDocumentOpen/5CE42489235C6019862577FA006DB2E3/$FILE/Draft+Agenda.pdf

While true, I still disagree to a large extent.

Yes and for a very long time during one of the fastest periods of its growth New York had no zoning but eventually sorted it out as well. Los Angeles during the start of its high growth had lax zoning restrictions.

Houston in the next 40 years wont stay the same, the policies and regulations written on paper today possibly wont exist 40 years from now, nothing is ever written in stone for growth and development is one thing I've learned about cities from their past to their future. Houston's lack of zoning is now because the people vote it down now, its quite possible that in the period of the next 40 years that Houston may adopt zoning and get rid of some regulations and protections altogether. What's historical neighborhoods today through gentrification, growth, and development may end up a string of mid-rises tomorrow.

What I'm saying is that Houston is still dominantly a maturing city now and will be for the next 20 or 30 years, lots of infill will come in, lots of changes, lots of new density and developments. I think we should give the place the benefit of time and let it do its own thing.

Merit Medical Campus, Pearland:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...vation.jpg?v=1
Details:
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...-pearland.html

Then there's also this, which I don't really consider a "true" development because the building already exists but they're renovating it and preparing it for a different use than what it had been in the past. See below.

Former Downtown Houston Cookie Factory to become lofts:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...yLofts.jpg?v=1
Details:
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...on-cookie.html

Houston airports selected for Obama's project:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../FlagPosts.JPG
Details:
Source: http://www.mmdnewswire.com/obama-adm...ion-71164.html

Westheimer Multifamily Apartments
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...Street.jpg?v=1
Details:
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...ject-gets.html

So it seems this is part or is all of the High Street proposal that was put on hold?

New Dynamo Stadium Renderings:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...wntown.JPG?v=1

http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...moclub.jpg?v=1

http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...olobby.jpg?v=1

Houston Buisiness Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...o-stadium.html

New Houston Dynamo Stadium Updates,
courtesy of the Dynamo website.

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k...ayoukid/D1.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k...ayoukid/D2.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k...ayoukid/D3.jpg
http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/20...s-matt-doffing

Yes. Something is better than nothing though. I just passed by the development site today, seems to be headed into brighter days.

Definitely. Personally, I like all the infill that is happening, even if it's mostly 4-6 story apartments.

Katy Area 129 Acre Multiuse Project
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...dering.jpg?v=1
Details
Source http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p...-multiuse.html

Luxury high-rise apartments planned inside the Loop

PM Realty Group LP plans to build a 35-story apartment tower on a prime site inside the Loop, where the Confederate House, formerly State Grille, served diners for more than 50 years.

More - http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p...s-planned.html

An update to the Pleasure Pier in Galveston. They now have their own official website, http://www.pleasure-pier.com/ and Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Galves...77272299004361

It's well underway with construction and is looking towards a summer 2012 opening. Really exciting stuff, a pier is just what the Houston Metropolitan Area was in need of. Now if they can get that theme park underway it would be something else!

Here are some construction photo's via its Facebook page:
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...26566327_n.jpg
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...14933605_n.jpg

Buffalo Bayou Master Plan moving forward in phases:

Details:
Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...t-efforts.html

3 Waterway Square in The Woodlands:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/housto...dering.jpg?v=1
Details:
Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...woodlands.html

More details emerged about the Buffalo Bayou master plan that N90 posted previously:

Swamplot: More Pedestrian Bridges and Other Twists and Turns in the Plans for Buffalo Bayou Park

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...-park-plan.jpg

This is approximately 2 miles in length. I can't wait to watch this progress, Buffalo Bayou has so much potential and now it can be realized.

Light rail update:

Saw this on Swamplot:

East End: Intersection at Harrisburg and Lockwood
• Video Link