[PAC]

The entire part of the building facing Main Street is retail space.

The Walker-Main parking garage is NOT a Hines development. The owner of Pennzoil is the owner and sole decision maker on the project, and Hines is the development manager only.

[Jax]

Glad to know there will be retail.
The renderings didn't make it totally clear.

[Trae]

How much retail space are we talking?

[musicman]

Trae, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 5:31pm, said:

How much retail space are we talking?

there's so much empty retail space now trae that this really doesn't come into play...at least at this time. be grateful you like the building.

This post has been edited by musicman: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 7:16 PM

[pm91]

i dont understand what they are talking about when they say it will break ground on earth day '08 and open on earth day '11. are they talking about the parking garage? because MainPlace is going to break ground this year if im not misunderstaken.

[NewMND]

Looking at the map of proposed towers, it appears that the Brookfield site is on the west side of downtown. Isn't that the most photographed side of downtown? Of all the proposed towers, I think the Brookfield one will need to be the most architecturely significant one if it's going to be right out there in front, on the most seen side of downtown.

[pm91]

i just wish they would give us some more info on the brookfield building just so we can have a better idea of the project itself.

[Montrose1100]

I love its light blue facade. It will really stand out in the Historic District, and the Brown BofA, the Grey JP Morgan Chase Tower, and the Black Houston Centers.

[Houston19514]

pm91, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 9:19pm, said:

i dont understand what they are talking about when they say it will break ground on earth day '08 and open on earth day '11. are they talking about the parking garage? because MainPlace is going to break ground this year if im not misunderstaken.

The Earth Day 2008 event is a "ceremonial groundbreaking" and, while the building is scheduled for completion during 2010, they plan a "Grand Opening" on Earth Day 2011.

[ricco67]

I think it's a very bold design with the somewhat limited space (they only have 75% of the block, right?) they have to work with. Even if it is ONLY 46, the lines will make this building soar from the ground. KRIV had a brief mention of this building tonight and actually showed what the building would look like from the east. it would definitely stand out.


Construction should prove fairly challenging because of the tight spaces involved, not only will Main street traffic be closed off in the section for a year, but the potential of interference with Club Quarter's Valet should be a bit of a nuisance as well. If the building is set to be completed by 2010, I would suspect that they are working on a rather tight schedule for their materials. I hope the Project Manager wasn't overly ambitious.

Not to be a downer on an otherwise terrific project, I kinda' hope they thought it through with the park near the top as well as the parking garage (both touches I DO admire). If we get a hurricane, the winds can cause some serious havoc (The winds are at a higher velocity with the increase of altitude). Those are really my only concerns about the project.

[Trae]

Well, move in the benches that will be up there.

[KinkaidAlum]

Hines' own press release said site work actually began today. Remember, they have to demolish at least 3 buildings if not more (been a long time since I have been on that block).

I really like the design. It is something different without being too outlandish.

I am also liking the early rendering for the Discovery Tower. It is simple but certainly not just a boring box of a building.

I am holding my breath on Brookfield's "Gateway Tower" that is rumored to have Devon Energy's interest. I know it won't be a super-tall (most likely 30 floors) but I am hoping we get a spire. I think the far Southwestern corner of downtown right on the Pierce Elevated could use a spire as a demarcation between downtown and the 4th Ward/Midtown areas right across the highway.

[ricco67]

Trae, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 11:00pm, said:

Well, move in the benches that will be up there.

Well I'm sure benches and such will more than likely be bolted down, I'm more concerned with the shrubbery/trees.

After Hurricane Alicia (if I remember correctly), the city determined that the majority of the glass broken on the highrises were caused by the debries on various roofs, which turned out to be gravel. I BELIEVE they have an ordinance would solve the majority of the problem. but the question is of the trees/heavy brushes up there.

[wxman]

ricco67, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 12:33am, said:

Well I'm sure benches and such will more than likely be bolted down, I'm more concerned with the shrubbery/trees.

After Hurricane Alicia (if I remember correctly), the city determined that the majority of the glass broken on the highrises were caused by the debries on various roofs, which turned out to be gravel. I BELIEVE they have an ordinance would solve the majority of the problem. but the question is of the trees/heavy brushes up there.

That would be correct. Keep in mind that Alicia was a mild hurricane compared to Rita, Katrina or most recently Dean. The City of Houston no longer allows gravel rooftops but who knows what on top of those things! I doubt the city enforced the code and made every building replace it's roof. Only time will tell and I can tell you...I won't be here to experience the next hurricane.

As a meteorology major, I can tell you that it is also true that wind increases with height. Also winds increase dramatically when funneled through DT streets like that. In the event of a category 4 or 5 hurricane, gravel roof or not, MANY windows will be lost. But like anything, developers will continue to roll the dice. We haven't been hit by a "powerful" hurricane in 24 years (since Alicia). How long will our luck continue?

It's interesting to note that during Hurricane Katrina, one of the meteorologists that work in New Orleans issued a grave statement that read partly:

"Buildings will sway violently and then collapse!"

This post has been edited by wxman: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:24 AM

[Houston19514]

KinkaidAlum, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 11:32pm, said:

Hines' own press release said site work actually began today. Remember, they have to demolish at least 3 buildings if not more (been a long time since I have been on that block).

I really like the design. It is something different without being too outlandish.

I am also liking the early rendering for the Discovery Tower. It is simple but certainly not just a boring box of a building.

I am holding my breath on Brookfield's "Gateway Tower" that is rumored to have Devon Energy's interest. I know it won't be a super-tall (most likely 30 floors) but I am hoping we get a spire. I think the far Southwestern corner of downtown right on the Pierce Elevated could use a spire as a demarcation between downtown and the 4th Ward/Midtown areas right across the highway.

Where did you find Hines' press release? I can't find it on their website...

[Trae]

Imagine the Hines tower in this shot:

[PAC]

http://www.mainplacehouston.com/

[travelguy_73]

ricco67, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 10:44pm, said:

I think it's a very bold design with the somewhat limited space (they only have 75% of the block, right?) they have to work with. Even if it is ONLY 46, the lines will make this building soar from the ground. KRIV had a brief mention of this building tonight and actually showed what the building would look like from the east. it would definitely stand out.


Construction should prove fairly challenging because of the tight spaces involved, not only will Main street traffic be closed off in the section for a year, but the potential of interference with Club Quarter's Valet should be a bit of a nuisance as well. If the building is set to be completed by 2010, I would suspect that they are working on a rather tight schedule for their materials. I hope the Project Manager wasn't overly ambitious.

Not to be a downer on an otherwise terrific project, I kinda' hope they thought it through with the park near the top as well as the parking garage (both touches I DO admire). If we get a hurricane, the winds can cause some serious havoc (The winds are at a higher velocity with the increase of altitude). Those are really my only concerns about the project.

Hines specialty is taking on complex projects (two good examples are South Station in Boston and Cannon Street in London), so I imagine that they know exactly what to do to keep the parking garage and building terraces in good order as well as minimizing inconvenience to surrounding businesses. FYI, the Hines-built Calpine building has a garage terrace as well.

[Trae]

PAC, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 10:36am, said:

http://www.mainplacehouston.com/

If a large tenant comes in, do you think they will change the name?

[Highway6]

They got some significant demo work to be done there... either the Montague previously mentioned, or the other bldg coming down on that block.. one of them is 11 stories i think.

Also...
As much talk as we've had in other threads about building heights, supertalls coming or not coming to Houston, and the resounding disapointment from some, every time a building looses a level....
I think this photo goes to show that even just a 40 story building... if designed well and put in the right place... can have quite an impact.
Even if this thing gets 10 levels knocked off before built.. it's location and juxtaposition will still make it a great addition.

This post has been edited by Highway6: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:26 AM

[KinkaidAlum]

Houston19514, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 8:40am, said:

Where did you find Hines' press release? I can't find it on their website...

It came via email. I will see if I can find it although I am fairly certain I erased it.

[sevfiv]

Highway6, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 10:59am, said:

They got some significant demo work to be done there... either the hotel previously mentioned, or the other bldg coming down on that block.. one of them is 11 stories i think.

significant and careful - Stowers is connected to Bond which is connected to Montagu which is connected to the one/two story retail behind it which is connected to Bond on the other side, which is connected to the West building, which brings us back to Stowers

This post has been edited by sevfiv: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:21 AM

[ChannelTwoNews]

KinkaidAlum, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:07am, said:

It came via email. I will see if I can find it although I am fairly certain I erased it.

Would it be this one?

[Jax]

Doesn't say anything about retail...

[musicman]

Jax, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:21am, said:

Doesn't say anything about retail...

would the project be a failure otherwise?

[Pumapayam]

HtownWxBoy, on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 @ 4:01pm, said:

Ditto on that, it is like those emails where you have yo scroll down to see the answer. . . damn you Trae!That was cruel!

Highway6, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 10:59am, said:

I think this photo goes to show that even just a 40 story building... if designed well and put in the right place... can have quite an impact.Even if this thing gets 10 levels knocked off before built.. it's location and juxtaposition will still make it a great addition.

Let this on grow, not shrink. . .I hate when they shrink buildings.

[Highway6]

sevfiv, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:09am, said:

significant and careful - Stowers is connected to Bond which is connected to Montagu which is connected to the one/two story retail behind it which is connected to Bond on the other side, which is connected to the West building, which brings us back to Stowers

Helpful pic... yeah.. the Montague is 11, West is 8, i think...

Surrounded on all sides by buildings just as high, not to mention the rail...

Should be interesting.

I don't know much about demo... are there other ways besides implosion to take down a 11 story building ?

[Pumapayam]

ChannelTwoNews, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:17am, said:

Would it be this one?

I take that back, it already lost a floor since the story broke, now it is 46 stories, not 47.

[Houston19514]

ChannelTwoNews, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:17am, said:

Would it be this one?

That would be the one. It wasn't posted on their site earlier this morning.

I too noticed the press release does not mention retail. I hope that was just an oversight. We need some street level retail along there.

[Pumapayam]

Quote

The west façade will be shaded from the low-glancing evening sunlight by vertical glass fins, which will soar 630 feet from Main Street’s sidewalk level to the crown of the tower.

The tallest building downtown is about 1000 feet, so it is amost 2/3 the height.

[Jax]

musicman, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:22am, said:

would the project be a failure otherwise?

I didn't say that, all I said is they didn't mention retail. Somebody on here told me there was going to be retail, and I am personally interested to know whether that is true or not. The Chronicle didn't mention retail, and neither did the official press release.

I don't think retail could make or break this project, but retail could possibly benefit main street. Even with all of the empty retail space, it takes empty space to make something great in the future. If everybody designed their projects to have no retail space, there will be no possibility of a vibrant street in the future. At least with empty space, there is a possibility of it filling up in the future.

I think retail might factor into the LEED certification somehow. The Chronicle mentioned that the Discovery building was going to have retail, as a part of it's LEED certification, or something like that. But until we get some real credible information, it's all speculation. Unless somebody has insider info that I don't know about.

This post has been edited by Jax: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:48 AM

[sevfiv]

Highway6, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 11:30am, said:

I don't know much about demo... are there other ways besides implosion to take down a 11 story building ?

i don't know much about it either, but another option is wrecking ball.
it doesn't seem that there is a whole lot of room for the swing of the crane, line, and ball...

[Highway6]

sevfiv, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 12:01pm, said:

.. but another option is wrecking ball.

Fun

[lockmat]

Either I can't find it, or Pickard Chilton, the architecture firm designing it, has not put it up on their site yet.

where did that other link come from? Hines' site?

[wxman]

sevfiv, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 12:01pm, said:

i don't know much about it either, but another option is wrecking ball.
it doesn't seem that there is a whole lot of room for the swing of the crane, line, and ball...

I would imagine implosion would be the way to do it. Another option would be to dismantle the building floor by floor.

This is being done right now on the 40 story Deutsche Bank Building in NYC. The building was severely damaged by the collapse of WTC 2 and tore a 26 story hole in the facade of the building. During the disaster the sprinkler system filled the building with water. After not being inhabited for over two years, black mold grew over everything and on top of that, over 300 human remains were found in and on the building. Therefore the building is being taken down floor by floor, piece by piece. The once 40 story building is now down to 26 floors.

[pm91]

hey quick question, how tall is MainPlace in FEET?

[HtownWxBoy]

This is going to be a great building... w/ great views from many sides of the city. Coming in on I10 from the east yesterday I noticed that you will have a great view of the building.

[Houston19514]

pm91, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 1:45pm, said:

hey quick question, how tall is MainPlace in FEET?

630 feet

[fandangoeggplant]

Considering the age of the buildings to be demolished, asbestos may be a primary factor in evaluating methods of demolition.

We'll see.

[PAC]

Look back at the Chronicle's main picture of MainPlace. See all that clear glass store front on Main Street? Thats retail. It also has retail back on the corner of Fannin and Rusk, though its not much (think Starbucks or something of that ilk). Total retail SF is roughly 10k.

As for the site...the buildings are not interconnected around Stowers. The Stowers does not touch anything else...there are alleys on all sides. The Montague, which is 12 stories, will be imploded, while the West Building may or may not be imploded.

[Jax]

The photo of Main Street looked like a huge glass lobby entrance to me. I'm glad I may be wrong.

This post has been edited by Jax: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:58 PM

[Gary]

Jax, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 2:57pm, said:

The photo of Main Street looked like a huge glass lobby entrance to me. I'm glad I may be wrong.

It seems to me that this tower is a win, win situationn regardless of whether it has retail or not. What I mean, is that this tower will house a few thousand workers, which in turn will inject money into the surrounding Main street area. Main already has a number of boarded up retail spaces, so this could help revitalize those locations... At least during the work week.

[Jax]

I totally agree. But I'm still curious.

[Highway6]

PAC, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 2:52pm, said:

Look back at the Chronicle's main picture of MainPlace. See all that clear glass store front on Main Street? Thats retail.

No.. that's lobby. Big, overthetop lobby space like every other new skyscraper has.
The only place there might be retail would be the smaller glass area at the base of the garage.. so we're talking half a block along Main maybe.

[Jax]

Jackson,

There will be retail space along Main Street…we fully intend to address the Main Street component of this project with landscaping, retail frontage, etc. While we don’t have anything of the scale of the Pavilions, we do have as much as is possible given the layout of our 3/4 block site.

I appreciate the thoughts and comments. We are very excited about this project and Pickard’s design.

Sincerely,
Philip Croker
Project Manager

[sevfiv]

PAC, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 2:52pm, said:

As for the site...the buildings are not interconnected around Stowers. The Stowers does not touch anything else...there are alleys on all sides. The Montague, which is 12 stories, will be imploded, while the West Building may or may not be imploded.

Beatty-West is extremely close to stowers -



and even closer to Bond:

This post has been edited by sevfiv: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 3:33 PM

[Highway6]

Jax, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 3:20pm, said:

Jackson,

There will be retail space along Main Street…

Sincerely,
Philip Croker
Project Manager

Okay.. so maybe a little more than half of Main St frontage... at the garage.. thats pretty good. (first pic)

Still the lobby is shown all along Rusk and along Main in the 2nd pic...
and in the third pic, at the end of the int lobby shot, you can see lobby window opening to Fannin.. so it doesnt look like to me there will be any retail actually at the lobby of the bldg, in any direction....... just the garage, which.. if thats 60% of a block along Main.. aint so bad.

EDIT: I guess that lil corner at Rusk and Fannin could be something pretty small retail... though i dont know why they would want to mar the corner of their shiny new bldg with clear lobby all the way through.. with a starbucks.

This post has been edited by Highway6: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 3:38 PM

[sevfiv]

PAC, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 2:52pm, said:

Jax, on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 @ 3:20pm, said:

Sincerely,
Philip Croker
Project Manager

i think we're all getting our information from the same person

This post has been edited by sevfiv: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 3:38 PM

[Jax]

He said their minimum LEED goal was silver, but they are hoping to do ever better.

[Boris]

If I'm not mistaken, this is the block that will be demolished?










On the bottom:










And to the right:





And this is what I found on Windows Live Local, the block in the middle:






If so, though I prefer older buildings than new glass skyscrapers, I think this new office tower will be an improvement here.

..

This post has been edited by Boris: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 5:31 PM