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Condo/Hotel - 42 floors Office Building - 18 floors http://www.hok.com/about/news/2017/05/24/new-renderings-revealed-for-hok-designed-mixed-use-development-in-houston/

45% sold; will break ground by the end of the year http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/05/24/luxury-condo-project-in-upper-kirby-approaches.html

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I've lived in this area since 2001, including 90 days at the Hotel Granduca. I walked through Uptown Park the other day and noticed that for the first time there were a number of vacancies, some with considerable space. In addition to Anejo, there was a restaurant called Champps (?) that had gone black, in addition to the Baker furniture space and several other smaller storefronts. Add structured parking and you could thoughtfully redevelop and intensify the land use.

http://imgur.com/a/Z474L I saw this happening on site today.

Across the freeway from Arabella.

Panchos rules ! (or used to rule...)

Hopefully Houston First will have as much success with the theater district revamp as they have had with the G.R.Brown Disco Green project. This will be a great addition to the neighborhood while adding parking and dining options for the theater district if their plans are to keep it open during the evening. Has anyone heard any more about progress on the redesign of this area?

THIS IS AMAZING!

The foundation is poured and the steel frame for Mastros is being erected. The utilities are being installed for Willie Gs.

The only way it is taller than an office tower would be if there's a crown/spire. Office buildings are universally taller with higher floor-to-ceiling heights than residential/hotels with the same floor count. However, it should break 500 feet.

He has a mural inside the convention center lobby, as part of their public art collection.

Page 27 and 66 (43 and 82 of file) here: http://issuu.com/buffalobayou/docs/bbpmasterplan2002?e=13332866/13696999

Purple City Plan https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Ygq5Ilh865b09XMWQyLWc0M2s/view

1: Yes. 2: However, that runs counter to what seems to be the entire development philosophy outside the loop, which is to drive traffic onto major thoroughfares, and discourage thru traffic on secondary streets. 3: It's really expensive to do this. Take the area bounded by Westheimer, Post Oak, Sage, and San Felipe. To put in 8 east-west streets and two additional north-south streets, with 70-ft right-of-way, you need about 1.5M s.f. of land. At $150/s.f. (current assessed value on HCAD), that's $22.5M in eminent domain payments before you even consider the extra payments for the buildings you need to knock down, plus the cost of building the streets themselves.

As I was driving down 610 it occurred to me that the overhaul which would suit Uptown most (other than a damned train) is turning the malls into street grids. ...also, I want to raise the flag...

Very nice animation.

It just seems that entire Uptown area is getting a major overhaul. You have the Galleria expansion, Post Oak Blvd project, Uptown Park redevelopment, a number of new highrises in the area, and now there is talk about redeveloping the strip centers in to mixed use development. The next 5 years will brings lots of very good change.

Not really. The viaduct was narrow, had no shoulders or sidewalks to safely pull over, and was near the end of its useful life. It was an excellent place to drive really fast, though, at least for a short distance.

Right. But where is the next step going to be? Looking at all the great development along Washington Ave in the 1st/6th wards, the arts district on Summer St., and the redevelopment of the Ravinia rice plant and you have to wonder where else in that area is there space to do something big? It would just be nice to get a development that was looking twenty years into the future instead of something that was more relevant twenty years in the past.

again, agree with all of that...but i do love my little pappasitos on kirby...the chips and queso keep me coming back. and i have lived on mccue across from the galleria for 22 years and worked on sage for 22 years a block away...so i am all for making OUR area better...and i can never have enough good tex mex! hi neighbor!

^^^ well done GONZO247! what a wonderful artist/asset to our great city....

Today

I've been told this site is coming on the market soon either as a whole or a portion of the plot. The entire site is bound by Allen Parkway, Shepherd, W Dallas, and Tirrell. I would guess that the new ownership will develop a high-end mixed-use project.

i was told that this is indeed the intended final product, save for the fact that the scope of phase II/III are not set in stone.

Rail in London works great if you want to go from somewhere in the suburbs to central London. If you need to go across suburbs, then it's nearly impossible. Until Crossrail opens, there's no easy way to get across London on rail either. London banned construction of surface rail and stations in 1846.

I found an old map in a video on the chronicle's website http://www.chron.com/chrontv/this-forgotten-day-in-houston/article/1967-Next-phase-of-downtown-tunnels-complete-6598054.php It shows a tunnel between this block and the garage to the north. I wonder if there are more old tunnels that are abandoned that aren't on this map Edit: For comparison, here's a link to the most up to date tunnel map I could find https://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2016-07-28/2016-AB-MAP-Buildings.pdf

Wow! How cool! Cant wait to check it all out....which, btw, one of my best friends is a guy name Micaiah Walker (formerly the lead singer of the band Versecity and now Polaroid Summer) and he plays White Oak Music Hall June 9th and i think everyone should go see ya there! www.polaroidsummer.com

$70MM Fountain Place renovation includes glass lobby art piece by James Carpenter. Parking garage and retail plaza: DMN

Across the freeway from Hanover Blvd Place

Spent an hour driving around Uptown/Bellaire today. "through the leaves" Parking garage is massive Crane shot Directly across the street. Wonder why this land is still undeveloped. Prime Class-A land The three towers. "Little Dubai"

^^^ avenida houston..... WOW!

Very excited that something like this is being built along Allen Parkway! I work nearby at the AIG Complex, am moving into the new apartment development next door off Dallas (Broadstone Tinsley Park) and frequent Buffalo Bayou Park. Great to add more walkable area and businesses to the area. I am wondering if there will be any type of grocer in this development. I feel like besides Whole Foods, there isn't really any where to shop without venturing into the Heights or Montrose. Also, what are the chances Allen Parkway Village gets demolished to make room for future skyline development? I believe this area is considered historical but this is prime real estate and I could imagine blocks of new development leading into downtown on this very plot. Slow by surely the Fourth Ward is becoming developed.

It takes the help of the city and a number of projects to make an area more pedestrian friendly. The developers of this project utilized the land very well and it's walking distance to Downtown so I don't get the complaints. Also Allen Parkway was recently redone to make it safer for pedestrians, for those who won't use the skywalk. A number of urban projects (Buffalo Heights District, Regent Square) are planned here, so we're off to a great start, it just takes time.

They finished the tower crane installation.

North side. Looks 12 stories high and the tower crane was jumped. South side.

WE have to remember that Houston is a different animal. Its larger than the state of New Jersey. It really started developing in the fifties when suburbia was fueled by flight and the new freeway system. It became a city when the car was king and we DON'T HAVE ZONING. You have to remember that without zoning people are free to build whatever they want wherever they want. No connectivity, no urban neighborhoods, and a lack of continuity will create an incubator for detachment which stymied any sense of an urban public realm walkability. We don't even have sidewalks wide enough to walk on if there isn't a telephone pole or a billboard or other impediment blocking the ROW. If there is even a sidewalk to begin with. Houston's culture has been all about the car, air conditioned comfort, and not having to walk more than fifty feet to get from your car to the front door of wherever your going. Why do you think the roof is always closed in our outdoor stadiums. WE are spoiled and don't want to sweat, get our hair messed up or have to walk in this humidity. Until that changes (probably never), were stuck with these types of developments.

It looks like they're assembling the crane.

Am I the only one that gets disappointed in the suburban design of stuff around Houston? All these cool shopping areas that they build now, ROD, City Centre, this project, are all great but have literally no interaction with the city. It is a place people drive into and out of. it is literally the modern day mall, just that developers have figured out how to skimp on having to pay for A/C. It doesn't invite people to walk to from the outside, only encourages you to walk within the project after you have parked in a 4-6 story garage. I understand it for projects farther out like City centre, but this location? literally not even a mile out from the epicenter of the CBD? I just came back from Portland and Seattle and was shocked by how the developments there actually encourage pedestrian activity and how much better designed those cities are. Portland which is around 1/3 of the size of Houston feels so much more urban and better developed. And seattle even more so. I am Houston born and bred and love the city, but you can see the difference that city planning and regulations make once you visit other cities. I didn't mean to get off topic too much, so I digress. While the designs of the building look cool and I am a fan, the actual layout of these developments leave a lot to wish for. I just want developments to take a more urban approach.