Rendering of Zadok development under construction in the Uptown Houston area.
HOUSTON – (By Cynthia Lescalleet for Realty News Report) – The latest gem from Houston’s Zadok family – a mixed-use development sited at 1801 Post Oak Blvd. in Uptown Houston – broke ground this morning at an event highlighting what is to come.
Plans call for a five-story, 112,000-square-foot building on the nearly 1.65-acre property the Zadoks purchased in 2011. Construction is slated to wrap up for tenant buildout at the end of 2020, with expected use a mix of office, retail and restaurants. Zadok Jewelers will call it home after more than 40 years of business next door.
“This was the dream that became a vision that became a plan that is coming to fruition,” said Helene Zadok in informal remarks after a ceremony featuring family members and project team representatives.
Dror Zadok said the family “has waited through iterations” that affected the project’s scale, use, design and collaboration since they purchased the property in 2011. Having considered various partnerships, including luxury hotels and office towers, they ultimately opted for full ownership and control of what rises.
Architect Michael Hsu described his Austin-based firm’s design for the new mixed-use structure as modern with a delicate presence and a multi-faceted façade.
The mix of materials helps define spaces and adds warmth to soften the structure’s presence among neighboring skyscrapers. The design also conceals the project’s parking structure.
At street level, a drive-through arcade rises 26 feet as a sheltered, valet- tended entrance that also forms patio space for adjacent double-height restaurant spaces totaling just over 11,000 square feet. The building also incorporates 68,000 square feet of office space.
As designed, the new building takes advantage of the new 15-foot setbacks along the boulevard for a more connected presence, Hsu said.
The Zadok project’s mid-block location previously held Post Oak Row Center, a low-rise retail strip by developer Gerald Hines from the oil boom era and once home to the tony restaurant Tony’s. (Early site prep encountered — and left alone, for now, — the venerable eatery’s wine cellar, project sources said.)
The couple opened Zadok Jewelers in 1976 and had operated – and expanded — nearby until quietly purchasing the current site for a permanent home for their store, which will be about twice as large, 26,000 square feet.
Helene Zadok said the challenge of more space for their business is keeping the feel of it intimate and welcoming. In collaborating on design, she encouraged the use of gold tones, for example, and a floor plan that breaks up the expanse.
During remarks at the event, son Jonathan Zadok, flanked by brothers in business Segev and Gilad, noted that as their family project took “the scenic route to its destination,” the adjacent built environment of Uptown Houston has been under re-imagining as well.
Uptown Houston’s Bob Ethington, director of research and economic development and project liaison for The Boulevard, said the district has been evolving into a grand boulevard within the city’s second largest business center by way of new infrastructure, beautification and a dedicated transit line soon to debut. The old four-foot sidewalks are gone, for example, replaced by wider ones that are more pedestrian friendly. And the remaining one- and two-story commercial centers along the corridor will likely continue to be redeveloped by their owners, he said.
