HOUSTON | General Developments

[toxteth o'grady]

A car dealership site on the North Freeway that had sat vacant for many years started to show signs of construction within the past couple of months. Now, a $12 million building permit has been listed in the Houston Business Journal for a shop and office for an outfit called Doggett Industries (they market construction equipment - John Deere and Toyota). I could not find a press release.

And a new skate park is open at the North Freeway and Rankin Road.

PARK HONORING CHILD'S MEMORY SET TO OPEN IN NORTH HOUSTON



This is the largest skate park in North America. Gnarly.

[toxteth o'grady]

By contrast, the City's efforts to create housing for the homeless on the site of a gutted apartment complex on the Gulf Freeway has suffered a few setbacks...

Homeless housing project suffers another setback

And affordability is a problem increasingly being mentioned in Houston.

Luxury neighborhoods, rising values closing door on affordable housing



And another the struggle over home development heats up...

At the Southern Tip of Timbergrove Manor, Where the Lines Are Drawn for 78 New Lovett Homes

[toxteth o'grady]

More news on the Grand Parkway. It's due for completion, from 290 to 45, in less than 12 months.

Cattle wrangling among challenges of parkway construction project

And developers have responded by buying up HUGE.....tracts of land.

More homes for Katy? Investors snatch up huge property near Grand Parkway

Love the view. From Swamplot.


Speaking of highways, alternatives for the downtown highways are being considered, including the removal of the Pierce elevated and Pierce Street itself in favor of an at-grade parkway. From OffCite:

The Rebuilding of I-45: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Improve Houston



And yet another road project. 249 may get extended.

Texas 249 extension plan gets boost from Montgomery County

You build one town square, and soon everyone wants one.

Katy among places eyeing 'town square' model to draw visitors

There's a lot of interest in the I-69 corridor near Kingwood these days. BisNow reports on a multifamily development:



"Stanmore Partners broke ground on its first multifamily development, Ravella at Kingwood Apartment Homes. Stanmore project coordinator Darci White tells us the Class-A community will sit on 13 acres in the 24-acre master-planned Village at Northpark. That upscale retail center includes the largest Kroger in Texas. Ravella will have 264 units ranging from 709 to 1,689 SF. It’ll feature a dog “spaw” where residents can groom and pamper their pets, and an on-site bike repair and storage shop. It’s designed by Steinberg Design Collaborative with interiors by Moore Design Group. Hoar Construction is GC."

[toxteth o'grady]

The Incredible Shrinking Astrodome. This is getting more and more amusing all the time.

Now Houston Is Considering Replacing the Astrodome With a Smaller Astrodome



Turn the Dome into a skatepark?

Emmett proposes Dome become 'world's largest indoor park'

[toxteth o'grady]

Bridgeland gets garden apartments.

Bridgeland to get its first luxury apartment project

And more details are provided about the Camp Strake property. Only they haven't told us anything we hadn't already suspected, other than the infrastructure will be built beginning in 2015.

Plans (finally) revealed for Camp Strake property

As part of the development on Camp Strake, there are plans for one or more power centers in Conroe.

Camp Strake property to include 750K square feet of retail space

And yet another industrial development.

Small gas-to-liquids plant planned for former Houston power plant site

The Woodlands is getting a Mercedes dealership.

Mercedes-Benz of The Woodlands to open early next year



BisNow's got information about a new partnership in Northside (er, Tampico Heights):

Near Northside Joins Nationwide Initiative

"Avenue CDC started working in Northside 14 years ago, when the area was filled with very poor housing stock, crumbling public infrastructure, high crime, and a leadership vacuum. Five years ago, the org became the convening agency for GoNeighborhoods, a sustainable community project to develop better housing and improve the health of the area. Jenifer says it's had amazing results—the team has built 119 single-family homes and two multifamily communities totaling 193 units: Avenue Terrace, a mixed-income community that delivered three years ago (and which boasts a three-year waiting list) and Fulton Gardens, a HUD 202 project for low-income seniors. Its waiting list is even longer. Avenue CDC is poised to build a second phase of Fulton Gardens to meet demand. New multifamily developments are in the works; Avenue Station will provide another 68 units."

This sure sounds like Camp Strake, but the 2,000 acres is being acquired by Howard Hughes, while Camp Strake is Johnson Development Corp.

The Woodlands, Part 2: Woodlands Developer Buying 2,000 Acres for Community 13 Miles North of The Woodlands

[toxteth o'grady]

Stewart Beach in Galveston may get a boardwalk similar to the one in Kemah (the article is pay-walled)

Park Board gets 1st look at Stewart Beach master plan



Galveston park could have a boardwalk and new amenities within five years

Some stunning time-lapse photos of Houston development over the years from the Houston Press, which pulled the images off Google Maps. They're a little hard to follow from year to year, but you can see how certain areas built up over time.

Amazing Time-Lapse Views of the Houston Area Over the Past 70 Years

[toxteth o'grady]

Art, exhibits and sculpture today. This is out front of Mattress Mac's store:

Mattress Mack Goes Abstract



And a bicycle museum has opened in the Museum District.

Houston Bicycle Museum

[toxteth o'grady]

Lone Star College is in the process of developing a bond package for 680,000 sf of classroom space. It will be on the November ballot.

Lone Star system approves $485 million bond vote

[toxteth o'grady]

This number should surprise no one...

Houston retail construction doubles over last year

And neither should these numbers:

It Is Official – Houston July Single Family Home Sales Set Records, Both Dollar Volume and Number of Sales



More retail is coming:

Retail projects expand with space scarce

As is more residential:

Taylor Morrison part of the action as Bridgeland home building ramps up

Gracepoint Homes debuts gated enclave in Shenandoah with New Orleans flair

New 600-acre master-planned community to rise next to The Woodlands

Houston's getting expensive:

Rents are rising for Houston homes, townhouses and condos

I repeat, Houston's getting expensive:

Houston ranked among least affordable for first-time homebuyers

I repeat again, Houston's getting expensive:

Houston rents increasing at the fastest pace on record, recent data shows

[toxteth o'grady]

Phillips 66 has begun work on a billion-dollar gasworks. I think this was announced previously:

Phillips 66 breaks ground in Freeport

And yet another billion-dollar chemical plant. This one by LyondellBasell. Location to be determined.

LyondellBasell plans new chemical plant for Texas Gulf Coast

[toxteth o'grady]

A half million square feet of warehouse space has just been leased:

Gulf Winds International signs two big industrial leases near Port of Houston



Shoppes at Uptown Crossing. Besides Micro Center and Walmart, there's a TownePlace Suites hotel and a "restaurant" row:

Site Plan Shows New Walmart Supercenter Coming to S. Rice and Westpark, Across from Sam’s Club, New Micro Center Spot

[toxteth o'grady]

Did someone say commuter rail? Kimley-Horn is studying the prospect...

Commuter rail from U.S. 290 area hardly a straight shot

Gulf Coast Rail District Northwest Passenger Rail Route Study

And a low rise office park goes up out West.

Grandway West five building office development underway



Dalfen America buys Sugar Land industrial property as it expands Texas portfolio



And still more industrial - on Rankin Road. Per BisNow:

"Southwest Realty Advisors’ Jonathan McDaniel, Patrick McKiernan, and Marc Drumwright are handling leasing/sales/management of the park for the developer, a private investor group out of Houston and Florida. They tell us the property will include six buildings totaling 90k SF. They’ll front Rankin Road one-half mile west of the intersection with I-45. All six buildings will have 26’ heights, outside storage, and grade and dock loading. Patrick tells us the buildings are for sale or lease, and since these specs fit the needs of most oil and gas groups today, he expects to fill most of them before they’re even completed.

Rankin Industrial Park is directly across the street from the US Armed Forces Reserve Center (how’s that for security?). Patrick tells us it’ll include unique detention ponds—rather than the usual industrial project layout, the developer is designing the ponds as an upscale water feature. The buildings will feature high-end glass storefronts with stone façade fronts. Phase 1 will sit on the west side of a common drive and include three freestanding 10- and 20-ton crane-ready buildings. Phase 2 will break ground 60 days later on the east side. The park is designed by CDA Architects and engineered by JRH. It’s slated to deliver in Q1 ’15."



Industrial is hot, but some markets are hotter:

Industrial construction booms, more to come in Houston

The housing market may result in a record for new home construction in Houston - 30,000 homes.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...struction.html

[toxteth o'grady]

In a case of making lemonade from lemons, a BP settlement fund is helping acquire a ranch for a new State Park in Calhoun County:

Ecologists team up to buy Texas bayside ranch

[toxteth o'grady]

Individual buildings at the Lakes on Post Oak are being sold to various investors. Which is kind of ho-hum. What's not ho-hum is Trammell Crow buying a 4-acre site.

Galleria-area tower changes hands

"...also, the buzz is that Dallas-based Trammell Crow Residential is in talks to buy four acres at the site that are worth about $25 million. HFF is handing that transaction..."

[Wayward Memphian]

Adventure Pointe in Texas City update via facebook:

The Adventure Pointe team is thrilled to announce that a very productive meeting took place this week with officials from both Texas City and Galveston
County.

Infrastructure and grading requirements for Adventure Pointe were discussed in great detail and received favorable comments from all concerns. We are also happy to report that another meeting will take place in the coming weeks to confirm an official ground breaking date.

Stay tuned for more news.

[xbryanisbeastx]

http://www.onlykaty.com/the-grand-ne...-open-in-2012/ hmmmm

[toxteth o'grady]

A mixed bag of projects today:

First it was St. John's, now it's the Village School.

Private school in west Houston plans expansion

Applied Optoelectronics is expanding its footprint.

Sugar Land manufacturer plans major expansion

Pennzoil Place Gets Chick-fil-A to go with its Sonic.

Pennzoil Place to expand downtown retail selection

A new venue is being created by the folks who gave Houston The Orange Show:

A new kind of green space: Houston's first visionary art park features fish-shaped grotto and memory wall



Trammell Crow has a new warehouse under development:

Trammell Crow partnership breaks ground on industrial building for DB Schenker

[toxteth o'grady]

Are you ready for some mixed-use business parks?

Montgomery, Texas, west of the lake.

Large industrial park to break ground near Conroe



Lake Jackson

Exclusive: Lake Jackson's massive industrial growth inspires new mixed-use project

Sugar Land

Sugar Land seeks to turn former prison into business park

[toxteth o'grady]

Homes are selling at a record clip, so it's no surprise that a new community is seeing home construction.

New master-planned community begins building homes in northeast Houston

Meanwhile, the gasworks is underway.

Freeport LNG moves forward with construction, new contracts

[toxteth o'grady]

This guy's a genius.

Houston artist, Austin advocate win MacArthur 'genius grants'