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Go to New York, even Austin has its street people. It happens to be an issue that everyone has to deal with in some way but once more people are living down town and more people are out on the streets those folks will move more to the edges. Its a tragedy that we have forced so many marginal people onto the streets either by being released from state run institutions or the drug and alcohol epidemic but in this day and age you will find this situation everywhere.

If 3rd Ward becomes reflective of the diverse UH campus, that would be great. As a long time resident of 3rd Ward, I've said before here that it has good and bad parts like any other place, but let's not make the mistake of thinking gentrification is the answer. Third Ward has too rich a tradition of past and current African American achievement and institutions to be supplanted by more that which is "vibrant and urban" (which is code for cookie cutter gentrification). For those who are new to the area, welcome! Learn about its history and add to it, but institutions like Wheeler Ave, Good Hope and St. Mary's churches, or TSU, Frenchy's, Shape Comminity Center, or Jack Yates are there. Learn about them, their history and current contributions and join us.

I'm actually excited that all the street repaving and new sidewalks for that general area are happening at the same time as this. Those streets were falling apart.

You left out Project Row House, Bert Longs "Field of Vision", and The Eldorado Ballroom, not to mention others. I agree that the area should not be erased of it memories like an etch a sketch, but renewed and appreciated for what it is. But I also think that some of the people who are in control of all of the land that has been purchased by the Midtown Tirz and put into the hands of developers who are putting up these cheap poorly designed and built stucco atrocities should be shot. Not only are the new homes inappropriate to the existing stock of wonderful old homes, but they are shoddily built with cheap materials that will not pass the test of time. I watch these ugly new homes coming up and they look like something out of some of the new cheaply built neighborhoods in the burbs. Its really a shame, and I hate it. They look so out of place.

Talking about an amazing buzz. The combination of the Anime event in GRBrown and the circus Avenidas was incredible mix. packed and the sights were eye-catching. Couldn't ask for better weather. Go tomorrow night!

Nice shots Twitter 1. Its amazing how many new high rises have been built in Uptown galleria area in the last two years. I count about 14 new building over 20 stories or more. Thats some pretty quick infill. BP Billiton Hanover 1 Hanover 2 Wilshire Arabella Skyhouse BBVA compass Amegy Fertitta tower Skanska across from Neimans Astoria Hyatt Regency Galleria Belfiore and the new hotel going up next to bbva compass

Took some photos this afternoon. Too nice of a day not to! The proximity of these two residences is wild. Closer together than the Four Leaf Towers down the road.

I'll share my downtown story as well. Moved downtown 4 and a half years ago and nothing but the old standards existed: Warren's, La Carafe, Flying Saucer, Hearsay, etc. They are all great establishments with a lot of history and character but the scene was sleepy and revolved around the local regulars. Fast forward to today: a complete explosion of literally everything downtown. I can't keep track of the number of bar and restaurant openings, the new hotels and office buildings are beautiful, friends are moving downtown into the Skyhouses. Downtown along Main Street on a Friday or Saturday night is like a mini-6th street. I can drink quality coffee from Honeymoon or Local Foods. Innovative projects like the underground food hall Conservatory choose downtown as home. The projects and growth aren't even wrapped up yet. Downtown has just completely blown away all of my expectations when I first moved here. I am very grateful for the Downtown Living Initiative, the OKRA Charity bar which was one of the first in the new wave of downtown bars and the Superbowl...

609 is not deserving of a total worship. However, it still maintains a spectacular presence on the ever evolving downtown scene. The more I visit downtown the more I desire to move there. Applause to the COH, and continuous vision to transform our CBD into a neighborhood.

Now, fast forward: the crazy people are still there in droves, as are the drug deals. The urinal has moved to new locations around downtown, and the buses queue up elsewhere.

I used to work at 806 Main. Main Street was active but not what the Chamber of Commerce would use to advertise the city. Buses would line up all along Main smoking up the air as they idled. Crazy folks every where. Open drug deals at the convenience store. And yes, the old Rice Hotel was simply an outdoor urinal. That said, there was a fairly busy Foley's, a Woolworths, a Payless and a few other retail places.

I remember catching the bus to the Med center at the old and abandoned Rice hotel. The place a strong urine smell. Would get stuck in the nasal epithelia for some time. Everything north of the Rice was a wasteland. My wife and I used to bemoan that places like Montreal had such lively downtowns but our city which was much larger did not. Things are definitely moving in the right direction.

Get the moles out of the tunnels. They'd be amazed at whats going on above ground!

I think Hearsay was also in the new wave of downtown bars, opening about 5 years ago. So there really even less prior to when you moved downtown, downtownian. 609 Main sits on a block that had a long-vacant obsolete small-footprint office tower (even the Chinese restaurant in it shut down a decade or two ago), and was otherwise a giant parking lot, though there was a weird suburban McDonald's on that block that was also torn down some years back. A block away, 811 Main was on arguably the worst (at the time) block in all of downtown, with a dumpy hotel rife with drugs and prostitution and otherwise a bunch of largely decrepit vacant buildings. Now this several block area is one of the most gleaming parts of downtown. Add the JW Marriott, which revived another decaying largely-vacant building, the Star apartments which are partially open now (though I think their parking garage should win an award for the slowest parking garage ever constructed -- I think they are building it at a rate of one floor every 6 months), two new light rail lines, and more, it's totally transformed the area. I worked downtown briefly in 2004-2005 and again since 2012, and the change has been astonishing. Even over the last 5 years I've seen so much of an improvement in street-level pedestrian presence in the area of 609 Main. Going to lunch today I was once again amazed at how many people there were outside -- this is not the downtown I know, and I love it.

After living and spending all of my time working and playing downtown on the east side across from where Minute Maid was to be built. We moved out in 2004 to the Menil neighborhood. I can definitely say that a miracle has happened on the east side in the last 20 years. When we first moved into the Wagon Works building in 1996, they hadn't even broken ground on the stadium and there was literally nothing between our loft and the Southwestern building except a few vacant two story buildings some county offices and acres and acres of parking district. When I went out on long walks everyday with my border collie we would explore this side of downtown, walk over to see progress on the rail line, check out the construction of the Cotswold project and detour around the reconstruction of every north and south street in downtown. It was quite a mess, but it opened up a whole new frontier. The few people I saw out were either people parking to get to a courthouse summoned for jury duty or street people who lived under the Elysian viaduct. When I walk around the area now I am truly astounded at what has become of my old stomping grounds and it really is miraculous that this much has been accomplished in these last 20 years. I've been here in Houston since 1954 and always wanted for it to become a real city with people living downtown and look whats happening. I am so glad that I'm here to see it come to fruition.

Downtown life has been trending up for the last few years.

Saw this one on Chron.com the other day. From October of 1980. Lots of adult entertainment where we currently have our strip of bars.

http://realtynewsreport.com/2017/04/05/with-foundation-already-poured-new-skanska-skyscraper-will-zoom-onto-houston-skyline-in-record-time/

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7761933&postcount=10090

"Near campus", as in like a cluster of student housing/amenities around a rail stop/intersection in East Downtown?

I can't believe this place is still empty. It's such a nice building.

For f_ck's sake can we please not get another f_cking taco/Mexican place down here. Shit is one block from El Big Bad.

They finished up the 3rd tower crane. FB friend says they are going to run 2 shifts on the project.