HOUSTON –– Moody Rambin Interests’ Towne Center development won top honors in the for-profit category in the won Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Development of Distinction Awards, which were announced Tuesday night in downtown Houston at the Rice Crystal Ballroom.
The MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theatre Center Houston); Buffalo Bayou Park and McGovern Centennial Gardens were also recognized as top projects.
Moody Rambin’s winning project is a 10-story West Houston office tower with an adjoining auditorium for the Queensbury Theatre, formerly Country Playhouse, a community theater group operating at the site since 1981. Completed in 2016, the project has Microsoft as a major tenant. Kirksey designed the project with Gilbane as general contractor. It is located south of Interstate 10 near the Town & Country center in Houston’s Memorial area.
In the Not-Profit Category, the 2017 award went to MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston) by Jewett Consulting. The cultural anchor for Midtown was designed to meet the needs of Houston’s 540 cultural arts groups. With 46,000 square-feet of indoor and outdoor multi-use theatrical and exhibition space including four theatres
Two projects received top honors for the Urban Open Space award.
McGovern Centennial Gardens by the Hermann Park Conservancy is a new public garden in Hermann Park. The public-private project culminates the Conservancy’s 20-year re-development with a carefully curated 15-acre site that provides a unique visual experience with educational opportunities including edible gardening and healthy eating classes in collaboration with community organizations. Completed in 2015, McGovern was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with Tellepsen Builders as general contractor.
Also, the 160-acre Buffalo Bayou Park by Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the City of Houston is a critical urban greenspace that extends two miles from downtown Houston along Buffalo Bayou. Architecture was by SWA Group and Page Architects. Mills Development and Construction was general contractor.
Winners in the People’s Choice categories included:
The Southwestern Energy campus in Springwoods Village, north of Houston. It was developed by Patrinely Group and designed by Gensler.
CITYCENTRE was awarded “People’s Choice of the Decade: 2007 – 2017.” It was selected from a field of winning projects over the past ten years, and the public chose it as the best among all of those winners.
The 47-acre CITYCENTRE development includes office space, residential, retail, conference
space, fitness facility, and destination hotels. Located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8, the project has successfully brought an urban setting to the Energy Corridor and created a pedestrian-friendly district where Houstonians can live, work and play. Gensler designed the project.
The 2017 Development of Distinction finalists were selected by a nominations panel of Houston real estate leaders that included Alan Bauer, Newland Communities; Joy Horak Brown, New Hope Housing, Inc.; Doug Childers, HKS Architects; Anne Culver, Scenic Houston; Paul Dodd, BGE, Inc.; Anthony Marré, Wilson Cribbs + Goren; and Ed Page, Streetwise Retail Advisors.
A jury of three national real estate experts evaluated the properties: Ed McKinney, interim planning director for the City of Charlotte, N.C; Robert L. Morgan, development director for Greystar Real Estate Partners in Charleston, SC; and Kim Wilson, architecture professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Jan. 24, 2017 Realty News Report Copyright 2017