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They started adding glass and the LED "V" on Monday (March 20th). Picture taken by me on March 21st in hellish West Loop South traffic. ALSO! Randall Davis' site updated the floor count by one to 34 (and reduced units by 3) http://www.randalldavis.com/current-developments/single/arabella

worst update ever

https://houston-texas-us.blogspot.com/2017/03/houston-chronicle-takedown-update.html

https://houston-texas-us.blogspot.com/2017/03/one-huge-market-square-pit.html

I really like the building from its narrower side.

Very glad the little house was able to hold out, it benefits the block.

This is an example of how Houston has invested in its people by re developing it's green spaces to which it gets back it's investment with developments like these popping up. We Houstonians know how great this area is and it's potential. Well outsiders now see what we see.

On the Rusk side by the mural...

you may have seen an earlier rendering as there are two floating around... the initial one definitely had more of a wow factor but the current version was scaled back a bit. still a handsome looking building but less zaha hadid-ish if you will.

Way to go kbates2. I hope everyone will take it. I had a terrible time using the trail marker and Im sure my routes looked like a drunken soldier, but I really took advantage of the comment sections for each question. I highly recommend all HAIFERS take the survey. Its your chance to make a difference. Don't miss this chance to let them know how you feel.

Dallas' Old Parkland campus is getting another building DFW Real Estate

Its called a jib (if its a tower crane), not a boom And since they don't like to build jibs in the air one section at a time, they normally put the entire jib together on the ground and install it in one lift, as seen in the pictures above. A tower crane isn't strong enough to fly the entire jib to the top of another tower crane, much less the counterweights, it would be out of chart.

News like this gets me a lot more excited about this project.

now, if we could only get that International Tower or Theater Tower going up at 50 plus stories, I could stop asking so many questions like "are we there yet, are we there yet ?" LOL.

And now some more info on the other "40 story" tower. The Flora Street Lofts. This new literature is now stating the tower could be 41 stories. According to the article it should begin this fall. Awaiting Tax credit approval this summer. Yes this will have Section 8 housing for starving artists. One wonders how you prove youre an "artist" to receive this tax credit. Haha. Whatever. She's gonna look good. http://dallas.towers.net/2017/03/22/creative-housing-for-creatives-flora-street-lofts/

I'm in 700 Louisiana and haven't seen any building memos to that effect yet - and we get memos about road closures in the burbs from them on a regular basis .

Less Zaha Hadid..? Thats blasphemy!

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/03/22/photos-tour-hines-luxury-apartment-tower-in.html Which may explain:

Construction has begun on The Epic. From my Photobucket: Via UCR:

Interesting view of the Aris which I don't believe we've seen here recently.

Today.

Definitely not, this building sure is one of a kind. There's three tiers to this building and it's more of a rounder type of building. Hard to describe

the garage is done, they're working on the residential floors now. The columns are higher

I think he should leave it yellow and green.

Took it. Marked the Days Inn. My downtown was barely visible with all of the markers.

Proforma states construction schedule is to be from July 1, 2017 to March 1, 2019.

HOT TAKE ALERT. I would like to point out that it's 8:14 PM and there are still crews out demolishing the building at this very moment in backhoes. Do you really do two shifts (presumably with hazard pay) if you don't have a deadline? And, as a contractor, if you didn't have a deadline with your developer (Hines), wouldn't you have put in your bid that you could spend less to tear the building down if you took more time doing it? Like "Say Hines, if you got more time, we can tear this down for cheaper which lets us put our second-shift team on another job which lets us make more money during the same stretch of time, and it costs you less, chill?" And wouldn't Hines have said "Great idea. We have no plans for this but to immediately turn it into a surface parking lot, sales on which we would pay tax on this a heckuva lot more than if we had a condemned building just hanging out. I mean, look at the guys who own the Days Inn Building - they figured it out. MAD TAX SKILLS." Am I crazy? UPDATE: It is now 12:07 AM and they are still working on this.

sidewalk on capitol has barriers on it now too. I guess it will be closed entirely soon. guess that Mural is going away?

"Hoist" is construction speak for the external temporary elevators, right?

My understanding is that they're still planning to build their tower on the northern half of the block at some point, not above the garage. If somebody else someday decided to build over the garage, I'm not sure if that could be done, although I imagine they don't make the footings etc. much stronger than they need to for a garage.

This is the property for which there was a replat for a townhouse development. It is somewhere in another thread. I'll try to find it.

i know right?? my memory is already fading a bit but i recall it incorporating offseting balconies similar to Hanover's U/C blvd place highrise or even the W in Austin.

would this be deep enough to support a highrise at a later date? i guess it would have to do with how deep the pour the footings/piers for the foundation.

^^^ i'd have to concur here. it took a few seconds just to realize just what building it was. cool....

Does anyone know the history of this property or why Its being demoed? Apparently its called Element Materials Technology. http://swamplot.com/daily-demolition-report-broom-clean/2017-03-21/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/222+Cavalcade+St,+Houston,+TX+77009/@29.8024218,-95.3702543,794m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8640b8ec6c850c91:0xb534a8d736d0a64d!8m2!3d29.802709!4d-95.369224 I was wondering if a new development is going in. Thanks!

More news on AMLI Tower: 46 story, 562ft. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2017/03/20/developer-buys-site-new-downtown-dallas-skyscraper

I got to see the renderings today...and what I can describe is a 38-40 story building, and 3 other shorter towers ranging between 10-15 stories. From what you saw from previous renderings, the buildings look nothing like that. I would say the main tower is also within the 450-475ft range based on what I saw. There is a lot of glass and it is a very sleek, modern looking building. That's all I can say...there's also this little sky bridge that goes over Allen Pkwy to the park.

http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/New-crane-at-Capitol-Tower-signals-Skanska-s-11014566.php

Helluva post, hombre. I am privileged to be the first to like it. Good work!

Yes, the first tower crane is going up and according to a rigger and some Skanska workers, 2 more tower cranes will be going up in the next couple of weeks. The office portion is going up too!!! They are going to add 5 more floors to the existing parking garage and several more parking floors in the rest of the area with a ground level lobby and the office portion above that. I asked if the rumor was true that BOA was the new tenant but they said that was privileged info but the new tenant would be announced in a couple weeks. Keep an eye on the Houston Business Journal for news.

I did also. Hopefully if enough of us mark it they will do something about it. It sure cant hurt if everyone marks it as a avoidance area. Take the survey.

I put a marker down on the Days Inn: "Ugly needs to be demolished"

Thanks. Now, don't get me wrong, it can be quite tacky if palms are the ONLY plants used for landscaping. However, I see nothing wrong with planting them along with other types of flora. In all honesty, I prefer if many landscaping features of the city not shy away from non-native plants. Not only are there obvious aesthetic benefits, it also is another way/mean through which the city can demonstrate its "worldliness." I also have preference for evergreen plants, although deciduous trees are good in certain contexts (i.e. those that are more "semi" in nature, those from subtropical/tropical dry climates, etc).

Someone remove the Botanist posting for HAIF; the position has just been filled.

I'm not sure why people have a problem with palm trees being planted. While SE/coastal areas of the metro feature the most optimal growing climate (and with the largest varieties of species), everywhere in the Houston has a climate warm enough to support the planting of many types of palms. There are two native palm varieties specifically to the Houston area (sabal minor and sabal brazoria), but even if there weren't, it doesn't matter, since many palms have been shown to do well in Houston's climate, from dates to washingtonias to sabals. No palm is native to coastal California, doesn't stop places like LA from planting loads of them. It really doesn't matter if a plant is native or not; if it can grow well, then there is no problem using it. Crape myrtles aren't native to the US, yet they grow just fine in Houston, and no one throws a fit at their presence.

Lower Westheimer is narrow enough. The 4 lanes to 3 lanes set-up is good because the four lane set-up is/was useless in several cases (buses and larger trucks cannot stay in one lane). A turn lane would really help there.

It's a bit drab. If this was by Randall Davis, it would be considered a home run but I have higher expectations for Hines' projects. That said, Hines' first residential project in Houston was rather underwhelming (the midrise on Westheimer @ Shepherd)