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Jan. 22, 2008, 5:28PM
Developer's gravity-defying design begins to take shape
Retail, office complex slated for October finish
By BETTY L. MARTIN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Almost a year after the Valentine's Day 2007 ground-breaking on The Houston Pavilions, an entertainment, retail and office complex in downtown Houston, the heavy construction has begun over San Jacinto and Fannin to create its gravity-defying design within seven city blocks.
Ninety-foot-long trusses of 15 to 18 tons recently were carried through the air and put in place by crane. They will become the foundation for part of the mixed-use, $170 million center expected for completion in October.
The center — 360,000 square feet of retail, 200,000 square feet of offices and a parking garage with 1,600 spaces headquartered at 1001 Fannin St. — is already about 65 percent leased, said William Denton, co-developer of the development team with partner Geoff Jones.
Signed up so far to fill the retail space are the House of Blues, Lucky Strike Lanes, Forever 21, Books-A-Million and seven restaurants, including Lawry's, the Prime Rib, McCormick & Schmick's and the Red Cat Jazz Café.
"We have three city blocks under construction now ... (for) a retail building that has a common pedestrian mall running through it. To connect those three city blocks, we have connecting blocks and bridges over the streets," said Denton, who recently moved to the River Oaks area.
The structural trusses and two connecting blocks will support the retail building that is hung from them, as well as support the walkway sky bridges over San Jacinto and Fannin, he said.
The trusses with pedestrian walkways over the major downtown streets will be "a signature of the project, an architecturally designed roof uplighted at night and seen as you drive toward town from either direction, a stunning feature," said Denton, 56.
The Houston Pavilions is similar to a project Denton and Jones developed in downtown Denver, where Denton said he developed the "pavilions concept" in which the retail building projects out to bisect project space.
Architect on the Houston project is Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum; general contractor is Harvey Builders.
The Houston site is particularly fortunate given its neighbors, including Metro's light rail line, a planned central park and the 37-story, 346-unit residential high rise under construction, One Park Place.
Denton first became familiar with Houston when he developed Deer Park and Willowbrook malls in the early 1980s. After seeing Houston's oil-bust decade at close range, Denton left unimpressed. When he returned a quarter of a century later to consider it as a spot for the new project, he found a different, more impressive and more vibrant city.
"A close family friend convinced me at the time to come back to downtown. I was reluctant to come, but when I got here I was pleasantly surprised," Denton said.
That was when Minute Maid Park was still under construction and the Toyota Center was still a dream, "and now we are putting a major component into Houston, the fourth largest city in the country," he said.
The city of Houston and Harris County have provided, in total, $16 million to The Houston Pavilions for infrastructure improvements in the form of cash and future tax abatements.
Denton said he was so impressed with the changes Houston has made over the quarter century he decided live here.
betty.martin@chron.com
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On the other hand Avrim Baykal is cute though. Next time I'm there I will check to see if they still have it.
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