This is about the BLVD Place development. It appears that the Ritz Carlton hotel has resurfaced again and is back in the plans. Wulfe Co. has a new PDF with a couple of new renderings on it. As well as a new interactive map. It says that the Ritz (hotel/condo tower) should be completed by 2014 and the Hanover condo tower should be completed by 2013. The Whole Foods will be done in two years.

I think it will be. The reason it suddenly turned on recently is because the building is now officially open. :banana:

which building is that?

The Outpatient Care Center at Methodist Hospital. With the spires, it becomes the tallest building in The Texas Medical Center at 525 feet.

When will this building show up in the SSP & Emporis databases with this height?

M Fifty Nine

http://www.bisnow.com/archives/houst...images/M59.JPG

http://www.bisnow.com/houston_commer...ory.php?p=9684

I like it.

:yes:

I believe it will be located at the the north side of Montrose and 59 intersection.

i'm trying to run though my head a visual of the area..........I can't recall anything that would allow that much open space for this to be built........

.......guess I need to go take a drive

It will probably be behind the sound wall along 59 on one of the sides street off of Montrose. There's an empty lot near Montrose @59 on the NE side on google maps but it certainly could have been built on since then.

I like the location and the building, it looks more modern compared to the mid rises in the vicinity.

Actually the Woodlands has some pretty affordable places to live..not alot but it has it's decent "cheap" places to live..and btw might I add I think it's one of the best looking burbs I visit to in Houston(or in Texas for that matter) It's like a city in the forest or like a more "urban" city in Deep East Texas without the hills and red dirt

The problem is Montgomery County is expected to top 1 million people in the next 20 years or so and with that said, I wonder if The Woodlands will lose the reclusive, quite, city in the woods feel. Already The Woodlands is quite urbanized and becoming more so by the day. The Woodlands population is close to topping 100,000. The trees are falling every day (not to mention the thousands and thousands we lost during Hurricane Ike).

That certainly is a problem. The Woodlands, I believe, is the main economic center of the county. I hope The Woodlands continues to focus on it's "town center" and continue to add office space, not just residential and retail.

Americas Plaza

http://www.studioredarchitects.com/t...d%20Aerial.jpg

http://www.studioredarchitects.com/t...Red%20Plan.jpg

http://www.bisnow.com/houston_commer...ry.php?p=10019

Skanska Office tower planned at 3009 Post Oak has grown from 14 floors to 19 floors.

(Rendering may change)
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_...91-300-0-1.jpg

Link

I like it.

New 28 Story Tower Planned; sister tower later.

http://www.bisnow.com/archives/houst...wholefoods.jpg

http://www.bisnow.com/houston_commer...ry.php?p=10181

Good news. I'm not sure if I'd prefer the high rise or mid rise. Finger's last few high rises (the one's mentioned) add nothing but height to the skyline. But maybe you get two high rises... Well here's his latest two developments:

Museum Tower
http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...seum-tower.jpg
and
One Park Place
http://culturemap.com/site_media/upl....263w_350h.jpg

WOW! :banana:

So basically with this 28-story tower, the "Ritz" highrise and the condo tower in uptown, the 40-story condo tower in the med center, 3100 Post Oak, 3900 Post Oak, Renaissance at Greenspoint, and the Regent Square Tower, we have the possibility to add 8 towers to the skyline in the next few years! Incredible.

Um.. I haven't heard any news on some of those, like the 40 story tower in the Medical Center. I doubt that that will get underway within the next few years. Am I missing something?

Looks like Finger is trying to take advantage of the inactivity from the Regent Square People. If he can this one online before Regent is completed he can take some of the residential market that they were hoping for.

More news emerges about the consolidation of Exxon-Mobil at a brand new multi-million sq. ft. project at I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...091006558.html

Wow, that whole foods is massive, hopefully it will raise land values around there.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/92910063.jpg

I realize this photo sucks but it adequately illustrates Discovery Green's new neighbor. Guess one out of two isn't bad (since the Discovery/Hess Tower is looking good).

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/92910068.jpg

The latter will indeed look great next to the park.

There are no words...

What's the thing on top? Looks like a pot for a plant.

Have yall seen some of the buildings DT? There are some fugly buildings. I realize it sucks this is getting built next to our new park but life will go on and it really isn't that big of a deal.

If there was something taller behind it, I don't think I'd notice much. But yeah. I knew that thing was going to be ugly, but I didn't think it'd be THAT ugly.

An all glass column on the side that faces the park would have been nice. Oh well the only thing i can think of is to build a 700+ footer behind it, a very fancy looking one with a SPIRE.

:wizard:

I may be way off on this one but when I look at that terrible building I just cant stop thinking about ancient Egyptian architecture.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...y/philae13.jpg

Rumor Alert:

Word has it that a big tower crane has now been erected at the site of the proposed Exxon-Mobil expansion at I-45 and the Hardy. Can anybody confirm this? The Washington Post had an article about the move a few days ago that I posted on HAIF.

Rumor Alert #2:

The Woodlands may be closing in on a deal to bring a Neman Marcus to the mall amongst other stores in Market Street.

I can definitely see this part of North Houston blowing up like West Houston around the energy corridor. Along with the Exxon consolidation, many buildings in the Greenspoint area are upgrading to LEED status.

I think the main concern though is what lies between downtown and greenspoint. Strip bars, porn stores, furniture outlets and rundown apartment buildings. I wish somebody would buy them out and demolish everything from 610 N loop to the beltway. Nothing but undesirables there and numerous hideous billboards and eye sores.

Hopefully when they upgrade the stretch of 45 between DT and BW8, it will cleanse the area of some of the more seedy businesses and billboards. However, that might be 10 years from now.

BIG NEWS!

Coventry has announced major plans of a new community at the Hardy Toll Road and 45 (3 min south of The Woodlands at the county line) of 5,000 homes, 8.5 million sq. ft of office space (mainly along 45 from looking at the renderings) and 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail. This is BIG!

In addition, this is the location that Exxon-Mobile is proposed to be. According to a Jan. 28th article in the Houston Chronicle, it will be an elaborate campus with 20 buildings and 3 million sq. ft. of offices.

Renderings:

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...us%20Label.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...0Districts.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...20Corridor.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...20Corridor.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...ng%20South.jpg

Ugh! Another "new town" that adds nothing but sprawl and traffic to Houston's fat and clogged arteries. If this is intended to be a bedroom community for Exxon-Mobil, then I will have better views on this development.

I will give it props for considering a vast mix of housing types and uses.

Out that far it doesn't matter much, and props to The Woodlands for at least aspiring to be something besides just another suburb.

Changing subject a bit, I was driving into downtown from the Eastex and noticed that MainPlace looks great lit up at night.

This is very near where the Exxon expansion is to be. I'm wondering if the 'corporate offices' along 45 in the rendering IS the Exxon complex? It's interesting that the Chronicle stated that it would be a complex of 20 buildings and if you look in the rendering, there is approx. 20 buildings being depicted budding right up next to 45.

I am all in favor of new urbanist type developments like the one above but why do they have to build them in such random places? Why couldnt they have decided to build something like this in an already built up place like inside the Woodlands? So, that is pretty much just sprawl. They need to revitalize parts of town, not ignore run down areas and just expand out.

^^^^ Looks neat. I'd certainly be happy to live there. Specially with all those beautiful parks in between.

My question is...why not build it? It's convenient to The Woodlands, IAH and at a soon-to-be major intersection between the GP, 45 and the Hardy. It's not built inside The Woodlands because there is nowhere else to build. Second, The Woodlands is its own city (or soon will be) and clearly this 'master planned community' will be in direct competition with The Woodlands. The developers are out for their own successful 'Woodlands.' With Exxon-Mobile setting up shop very near this site, it only makes sense to capitalize on the thousands of employees that could potentially call the area home.

This new major proposed development, called "Springwoods Village", is located in the Houston suburb of Spring, TX.

Spring, TX is right next door to The Woodlands, another Houston suburb.

With Exxon-Mobil's upcoming exit from downtown Houston into its planned suburban office campus of 3 million square feet anchoring the I-45 corridor of Springwoods Village this development proposal is a pretty sure bet to happen for Spring, TX.

The Woodlands is going to benefit enormously from the development as well.

Here's more information on the coming project and a tid bit about Exxon.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...s/7234185.html

Exxon-Mobil isn't leaving Downtown. The Downtown offices and Exxon-owned buildings are safe and employees won't be moving. All others (Greenspoint, ALL of Fairfax, Virgina, and possibly Irving) will be moving to the shiny new corporate campus.

How would they build this in The Woodlands? Besides, at least they aren't building further out, but filling in the gaps between North Houston/Spring and The Woodlands. And Coventry has owned the land since the 1960s. Springswoods Village looks really nice from the renderings though. Exxon bought land from Coventry for the campus, and now Coventry has unveiled their big plans for the rest of their land. I highly doubt they build this if Exxon does not move to that location. The northern side of the metro is getting a lot of new things, between Exxon/Coventry development and EarthQuest.

So in the rendering, is the 'corporate offices' hatched in purple near the freeway the Exxon campus?

Yep. It has to be. That's the exact location where Exxon is slated to build their new campus.

Houston loses out BIG TIME. Exxon-Mobile has scrapped plans for a campus in Houston.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...t_houston.html

Houston losses out on a corporate HQ relocation. I'm pretty sure this means that DFW will keep the corporate HQ. I doubt Exxon is going to move it's ~30,000 employees out of Houston and I don't think this means Exxon won't be consolidating it's offices in Houston (besides the HQ).

Read the article. Houston only lost on the possible relocation of the Exxon corporate HQ, which was a slim chance anywhere. The campus (and Springwoods Village development) are still happening.

Was in Houston this past week and took some pictures:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/...0b5acce9_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/...ef57f850_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/...b3de8c07_b.jpg

This building looks soooo old (even though it's brand spankin' new)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/...0fdfdfdf_b.jpg

I also really like all the infill going on throughout the midtown area:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/...524031bc_b.jpg