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http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Heights-waterworks-plan-now-includes-retail-11206224.php#item-38488

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/article/Upscale-white-tablecloth-dining-planned-for-11206252.php?ipid=houstex#photo-13051346

Lots of active work still on the pocket park; it's hard to even photograph it all. A bunch of trees inside, and some brickwork along the sidewalk.

HSPVA adding to the transformation of DT.

Steady progress...

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/06/08/70-year-old-office-building-to-be-transformed-into.html

Catalyst, Great Southwest, HSPVA... 1) Apt Tower 2) Repurposed Bldg 3) High School...unthinkable for DT Houston a few years ago.

New Virgin Dallas rendering by 5G Studio Collaborative. Façade features diamond-shaped cladding. Also, dirt is moving. DBJ

Found an Instagram page for one of the crane operators Views from the crane:

^^^ if i have stated it once, i shall happily state it again, "HOTEL ALESSANDRA will change the face of GREENSTREET. once completed, it shall become the best luxury hotel in the city of houston". count on it....

Monarch or Crockpot and Gravel any thoughts?

http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Heights-waterworks-plan-now-includes-retail-11206224.php Look like Alliance is buying the Chase property in addition to the empty lot north of 20th while flipping the waterworks site to Braun.

http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/High-rise-builder-pulls-back-on-luxury-tower-11203917.php

a gondola system from starbucks to the apple store would be perfect!!

Compared to the interior of his last couple projects, this is fantastic. Have to look at it through a Randall Davis lens.

I don't see why they would go through the effort of constructing the cinderblock walls if they didn't plan on putting a gate there. Maybe Amashgo can chime in, but I would say they're going to fill in the gap with a keypad gate type set up. Otherwise, the wall is just one more place for homeless people to make shelter behind, and would unnecessarily confine the already small space.

From the web site advertising the available retail space: Additionally, there will be a 4,200 SF “pocket park” for that will open out onto Main street, which will offer restaurant patrons an exceptional urban restaurant experience. On the other hand, the Aris residential website also includes a "private park with direct access to Metro Rail" on their list of amenities. It may end up depending on the response they get from potential restaurant tenants. And I suppose there is no reason it can't be both a "private park" (in developer-speak) and al fresco restaurant dining space.

The 1114 Texas building is 47' 6" wide. And the alley is 10' 10" wide. http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Commissions/docs_pdfs/hahc/App_Materials_2017/March_MATERIALS/1114_Texas_Alt_Windows_APP_Materials.pdf

I've seen a car parked in the capitol alley way. I think they left through the sun roof though. I just looked at the street view and the Texas end is a little bit bigger than I remembered. Probably big enough to squeeze a dumpster into it https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7591544,-95.3612761,3a,75y,206.94h,121.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szU1hbvDqk2b2hNFbdrw9lg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I think this is just landscaping for the Ari's entrance on Main street. They just wanted to spruce it up and create a little green space coming into the tower.

Not a stupid question at all. I don't think we really know. At least at one point there was some information suggesting it would be primarily outdoor dining space for a ground floor restaurant.

Stupid question: is this park going to be open for the public? On a related note, the empty lot next to the Holiday Inn downtown (where the demolished Savoy building was) was originally rumored to be a park, but it's just fenced off. I saw some people in there though measuring

Picture Update

My great uncle was ranch manager here in the 50s and early sixties, He and my aunt Dorothy lived in the big two story ranch house that was right next to the mansion.In the summers I got to go play cowboy on the ranch which belonged to Rice but was leased out to run cattle on. My uncle Buddy was also somewhat a caretaker for the mansion.I had the chance to visit the property many times.There used to be servants quarters behind the mansion that were connected to the main house by an underground tunnel so servants could be summoned to work and show up without being seen on the grounds. It has been a long time, but I seem to remember about a dozen bathrooms each with a different scene done in tile.Much of the original furniture was gone by the time I first saw the house but I remember the dining table being at least 30 feet long with highbacked chairs. the dining hall had a huge fireplace at one end and a very high vaulted ceiling with a hand painted mural. In the master bath there was a very heavy marble rub down table and an old time steam cabinet. I am not sure, but I believe Silver Dollar Jim West lived in River Oaks. There were stories about him [or maybe a brother] who had a tennis court built there with fences and netting that were built on a hydralic lift system to comply with building codes in River Oaks. When not in use they dissapeared underground.

I would tag this place everyday on 311 app if I knew they would do something about it.

Amen!

sorry i haven't posted a photo yet but seriously i can never get the sizing right...someone needs to send me step by step directions haha! anyway...looks like all or most of the stores in the new wing will be open June 30th (not the street facing restaurants of course as they are saying nov 2017 if not by spring 2018), but the ones in the 2 story hallway connecting galleria 2 with Saks! Saks Wing Stores There’s a whole wing full of new boutiques that are scheduled to open at the Galleria by the end of the month. Ted Baker, Lacoste, Sam Edelman, Adriano Goldschmied, Cuadra, Robin’s Jean and Trésor Rare are all set to bow in the state-of-the-art, redeveloped section of the mall on June 30. as stated in this article: https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2017/6/7/6-houston-stores-shop-june-2017

I agree completely and that is why they will always have problems with the Uptown Galleria Post Oak area. An ocean of concrete, with little islands of AC scattered about with no connectivity and way to far to travel with packages or groceries.

This palm look is cool and all, but without any shade trees - you are right. no escape from the sauna.

This is not much different than, say, an area of Millbrae, CA (as an example, of which there are many), where you have a main thoroughfare and then an additional access road that handles the traffic/parking for the businesses on the side of the main road. https://goo.gl/maps/vLM9ioEWjSy

Everyone keeps wanting to make Houston more like NYC. I get it, it's a great city. But it will never happen. There is a reason that city is so unique. Urbanization is great but getting people out of their cars isn't easy. We don't have good public transportation like NYC has. You would be crazy to drive a car into NYC because of traffic and lack of parking. We grow up here under different circumstances when it comes to transportation and it becomes ingrained in how we commute. Plus we have massive suburbs with no better way to get into town than to drive. The schools within the loop that are public aren't great so people don't want to live in the loop. It creates more driving into the loop to do things than walking. In the end transportation and schools have to vastly improve (and affordable housing) for Houston to ever have a shot at really becoming urban. I love what Houston is becoming, it doesn't need to just become a clone of NYC to be great.

http://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/An-early-look-at-ultra-luxe-Arabella-condo-tower-11198983.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop#photo-13036452 ^^^ i shall have to take my hat off to our resident WEASEL randall davis, ARABELLA shall afford some drop dead gorgeous interior design and amenities. well done....

The missing "t" in Hunington is a clue to the quality of the project! Kidding.

Me too. We need the density. As far as I can tell the only way to get Texans out of their cars is to make parking expensive and difficult. New York City is hot and humid in the summer and yet without thinking you can walk 20 blocks. 5-10 years ago you wouldn't see a pedestrian in Houston unless their car broke down. We do need some pedestrian overpasses though for Westheimer at Highland Village, Allen Parkway, Post Oak @ Westheimer etc so we don't get mowed down! I love this city though and we are living here in a very exciting time.

That's a pretty solid argument for urbanism. I'm sure the businesses will welcome more walkup business, and I'm sure the location adjacent to the River Oaks shopping center will be a nice sell for the project. I'm sure it will be a huge success. I do have mixed emotions about changing the scale of the center, but I'll keep an open mind and a close eye on how they connect the public realm with West Gray, and they better keep their hands off of the River Oaks Theater.

Note moved some posts to a new topic here: Health Care

http://www.archdaily.com/872844/steven-holl-architects-break-ground-on-houston-museum-of-fine-arts-extension Archdaily did an article about the building. This really will be a truly significant addition to Houston's Architecture canon. Very excited to walk through this one day.

Dallas Hyperloop Station conceptual renderings:

Mockingbird Diner history, information and renderings: Project Location

retail isn't working there. F21 is doing ok, BCBG closed, Books A Million closed. A shoe store only lasted 6 months. Gatorade had a temporary gym for the super bowl. That's pretty much it for retail there.

Looking at the May 17th posts here and the PDF contained in them, is it fair to assume that greenstreet is essentially now being marketed as an office concept that contains restaraunts and a hotel? There seems to be no effort to attract non-food/entertainment retail in that brochure? wasnt the entire point of selecting Dallas as the new "retail corridor" (and spending millions of tax dollars) to leverage Greenstreet (among others) as a retail location? Has midway now formally moved in a different direction?

I hope they'll paint the buildings to match the crown. https://houston-texas-us.blogspot.com/2017/05/kirby-collection-progress-may-2017.html

Took my mom to dental surgery this morning Photo taken from the parking lot off Richmond Ave.

http://swamplot.com/gallerias-philip-johnson-facade-facelift-now-clearing-the-nosejob-stage/2017-05-17/

Let's see if I understand this right. Currently, the way property is taxed in downtown is at a percentage (I'm going to use k) of the property value. The property value is land value + improvements value (p). So that means that Tax = k * p Total Revenue = sum(k * pi) Under your idea, the total tax would be the same Total Revenue = k * sum(pi) but the tax would be different Tax = Total Revenue / n So say under the current system there are 5 blocks. Block 1 is a skyscraper worth $100 million Block 2 & 4 are midrises each worth $1 million Block 3 & 5 are parking lots each worth only the land ($100,000) Under the current system at a tax rate of 5%, Block 1 pays $5 million Blocks 2 & 4 pay $50,000 Blocks 3 & 5 pay $5,000 The total revenue is $5.11 million. Under the new system, the tax would be on the total value, and then evenly split up for each block. Total value is $102.2 million, and the tax is still $5.11 million. Divide that tax by 5, and each block has to pay $1,022,000 This is a nice tax cut for the towers, but a huge increase for the other blocks. So this might encourage more intensive land use to pay off the tax bill, but more likely it would encourage investors to flee to midtown, east downtown, the galleria, the energy corridor - pretty much anywhere else for new investment. The only way this works is if you have a higher than average land value - and I have a feeling the average is actually quite high for downtown.

I think he said it tongue-in-cheek.