Leaderboard

Williams Tower by russell.hancock by Flickr

Construction 2014.05.05 2460-70 2 Cropped by ThirdCoastRyan on Flickr

Surprised better pictures haven't been posted yet:

They just shifted their construction walls around to reveal the escalators from the tunnel up to the lobby. They are reconfiguring the space in front of Schlotzky's now with new temporary walls up in front of it. The two Asian food places reopened with a more food court-esque design, perhaps they will be adding more slots in where that seating used to be.

Jax beat me to it...

20140505_192146 by Not.Larry.Dierker, on Flickr 20140505_192241 by Not.Larry.Dierker, on Flickr

We needed better pics of this: I guess I forgot that they also own the southern lot as well?

How are we going to lose anything? The oaks will be there still. North blvd will be there still. The mansions aren't being torn down. You won't see the highrise from North or South blvd. To me it'll be no worse than Maryland Manor. The only difference for me will be that in the future I can take visitors for a bike ride under the oaks and then potentially stop off at a cafe or restaurant at the ground floor of the highrise for a snack.

Here are some pictures from my site tour today.

They use it to stage stuff from the 2nd floor to be lifted to the 3rd. The crane can't grab it otherwise.

The dug some piece of equipment (a boiler or something) out of the basement. I caught the excavator making short work of it.

Edit: Latest photos of this project are on the second to last page.

True, maybe after Phase 2 this lot will be cleaned up for a potential Phase 3? Here's to holding out hope...

This is the only plausible explanation I can think of. But seriously guys, GP has a lot of potential and hopefully we'll see some stuff on the new college moving in. They haven't announced anything but if you search for the right thing on Google, you'll find some juicy info.

Kinkaidalum: You have made a number of statements here which tells me that you are passionate about your dislike for this project. But, when you are challenged on some of your points, you sometimes don't respond and just move on to other points. May I ask you to address this one? You made an unequivocal statement that the City of Houston's declaration regarding Bissonnett somehow eviscerated the neighborhood's Deed Restrictions. You might be correct or the poster above might be correct. Please be so kind as to present your facts regarding your very specific and unequivocal statement as I would like to better understand how this could have happened. Facts?

I think what he meant was, looking down South Blvd, you wouldn't see it. Like this: Can you convert your house in Southampton to a Barber shop with a striped pole the size of an oil drum or pave the yard for parking? They did that years ago right across the street. Scale may be your thing, but what if I liked grass in front of every house like structure I see and the absence of red, white and blue spirals? Restrictive boundaries have to end somewhere, when your property abuts (or is within sight of) that boundary, you take your chances with what might happen with the visual aesthetics around your property. Either that or you pay lawyers to find some way to effectively extend that boundary through any means they can come up with. All fair game I suppose, those attorneys can get quite creative when billing by the hour. It would be nice if we could all respect our neighbors' every wish, but it would also be nice if we could do what we want with the stuff that we own, sometimes the two niceties collide.

I guess they could have simply built parking lots - since they have quite a bit of land?

Because building a sprawling corporate campus on the prairie complete with surface parking, a massive garage, and multiple low-rise structures and then turning around and replanting some shrubs to show you care about the environment is laughable. If you truly care about rain run off, stop paving the damn prairie.

"That vision thing" is quite the question, particularly in the context of the Bush the Elder statute across the street.

Why the LOL? Aren't prairie grasslands more environmentally effective when it comes to rain run off, more economical with less need for mowing and maintenance, and gives the more natural look that can feel more inviting?

"To stand at the foot of South Boulevard in Houston is to look down what is perhaps the most magnificent residential street in America. Staged rows of soaring live oaks form the vaulted arches of a great Gothic cathedral over a grassy esplanade, lined with imposing yet graceful mansions from the 1920s by such eminent architects of their day as John F. Staub and Birdsall P. Briscoe." This is what was written in The New York Times in 1987 about the area. Boulevard Oaks is a special place. It's one of the few largely unaltered places remaining that helps make Houston feel unique. I simply do not think this project is worthy of the location. It doesn't fit the area at all and it actually threatens one of the few jewels this city has. I don't live in Boulevard Oaks, but I've strolled down North and South many times. I've posed for family photos under the oaks. I've entertained out of town visitors with a walk that always amazes. We're about to lose this, and for what? A generic apartment tower built by people who don't even reside in the City of Houston?

Weren't they actually relying on the legal system? Isn't the redress of (real or imagined) wrongs why we have a legal system? I've never felt strongly one way or another about the tower, but I've also never felt that the residents were somehow wrong in taking it to the courts.

Lots of activity today on the site. I took a photo but don't know how to post from my phone.

For some reason Afton Oaks has always been against anything to improve mobility. One thing I remember them saying was they were afraid it would increase traffic without the train to stop people approx 28-32 times a day.

The Williams Tower is 901 feet tall, of course it is tall! LOL!

Williams tower looks so ridiculously tall in this photo!

I've always like the deep dish "hanks" from Star and they have a decent basic margarita. Pinks I found to be vastly overrated and wouldn't imagine paying for it myself (friends bought it).

I think you're thinking of the photo of them called "the twin towers" in which they are on the roof of City Hall with the Louisiana Street skyline behind them (1100 Louisiana, Wells Fargo, 1 Shell Plaza). I've seen it on Pinterest and Tumblr. I'll try and search for it later. Edit; There is this onehttp://www.thesportsbank.net/college-bball/can-gophers-ralph-sampson-iii-follow-dad-to-the-nba/ But the one I was thinking of was this one http://spacecityscoop.com/2013/08/12/houston-rockets-dwight-howard-and-omer-asik-twin-towers-2-0/ On both links you have to scroll down as they are both the second picture on the page.

The side of the field closest to the Alexan will have a small park-ish area, with the actual Superblock Park on the end farthest away in the picture above. Camden will be be built in between. See this forum for more info: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/26186-midtown-superblock-park/

Let's move the jail to the unsold Astroworld site. ;-) It would free up prime land and occupy that empty field.

They had planned that in the eighties and Afton Oaks fought it successfully. Now they will be trapped with all the mid lane commercial etc.

From that angle it reminds me of the design for new Ford dealership showrooms.

Here are images from yesterday5/4/14

IMAG0550 by Not.Larry.Dierker, on Flickr

I dig this station. Imagine it overlooking the bayou. http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/zaha-hadid-melbourne-transportation-center This sounds like a really cool project similar in scope to what the post office site could be http://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/17/high-speed-train-station-in-logrono-by-abalossentkiewicz-arquitectos/ And I agree, there should be something tall and architecturally striking from all directions at that site, a la the shard, maybe around 5-600' tall.

From an hour ago, by me

That was probably one of the worst ideas. Thank goodness city council agreed. We already have someone putting out tacky concrete public sculptures and we don't need any more.

Except for one or two details, you've basically just described the Spirit of Houston statue.

It's a little difficult to see, but it's on the right, just above the AT&T building.

20140427_105918 by Not.Larry.Dierker, on Flickr

2014 04 26:

Didn't realize it was posted already but I'll just drop this here anyway:

Downtown Austin is currently the only area in the city that is zoned for major highrise towers though that will change once the remaining lots open for development are snatched up. There is a series of Capitol View Corridors that radiate from the State Capitol Building. In these areas, buildings are not allowed to be built over 15 floors.However outside of the CVC's there are lots that have no height limit therefore a developer could build as tall as they deem feasible. There are also some other specific height overlays such as the Riverfront Overlay which keeps highrises from being built right up to the Colorado River. It is mostly a step back requirement. There is a height limit within the Warehouse District as well. I used to think these were limiters for tall buildings in Austin but they actually create an environment that requires development to build up rather than out. There CVC's are a great example of this as we have highrises such as the 360 and Spring Towers which part of their lots have are within a CVC. The result being the developers had to build up. Instead of 360 being a 26 floor residential building, it rises to 44 stories. Spring rises to 43 stories, it is actually wedged between two CVCs. There are a couple of CVC's that could be removed but overall they have been beneficial to the city. The Warehouse District is one of the many entertainment districts within Downtown. The cool thing about the Overlay is it has created an island surrounded by highrises on all sides. You can go to the many rooftop clubs and restaurants and enjoy awesome views of the city.

It is really good to see these projects going up in the rougher areas of Midtown and the average height seems to be increasing as well.

Thats the only info I have atm. Yes, the one for the Fire Museum site is by Trammell Crow Residential. 1/22