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Pearl Marketplace At Midtown: Multifamily At 3120 Smith St.


DrLan34

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Nice pics BeerNut. That last one makes me wish they'd keep all of that color. Now that would be such a great fun combination of colors It's a little reminiscent of a Mondrian. Although I like the skin and textures a lot, that red yellow and green would make it pop.

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4 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Nice pics BeerNut. That last one makes me wish they'd keep all of that color. Now that would be such a great fun combination of colors It's a little reminiscent of a Mondrian. Although I like the skin and textures a lot, that red yellow and green would make it pop.

Thanks.  I totally agree on the color thing, I wonder which future Houston developer will be take a chance and expand their palate.  

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7 minutes ago, urbanize713 said:

Love the development, hate that the power lines were not buried. If the City wont do it why don't they ask the developer to do it as an improvement on these new builds? Anyone have any insight? 

 

Many developers do bury them.  I'm surprised this one did not.   (Sometimes, I think it seems to be done in the later stages of development/construction, but I think it would have been done by this point...)

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2 hours ago, urbanize713 said:

Love the development, hate that the power lines were not buried. If the City wont do it, why don't they ask the developer to do it as an improvement on these new builds? Anyone have any insight? 

Underground is expensive 

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On 3/8/2019 at 4:24 PM, LBC2HTX said:

Underground is expensive 

True, and it can come with its own problems (especially in flood-prone areas).
Still, the rebuilding of Elgin St from Main St to Brazos St was a window of opportunity that is now closed. Now that that seemingly endless project has been completed, it's unlikely that anyone will propose digging it up to add underground utilities in the foreseeable future. 
Imagine downtown Houston with above ground utilities; the very idea is absurd. Given that Midtown is experiencing a rapid transformation into a densely developed area, it seems likely that someday utilities will be buried. IMO, it would have made sense to take the plunge while the street was being completely rebuilt. 
Could-a, should-a, would-a....

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14 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Water getting into the conduits...

 

 

Has that proven to be a large problem here in areas where lines are buried?

 

On balance (taking out the cost part of the equation, which is clear), when installed correctly to , over their life-cycle, are underground lines preferable to above-ground in terms of service availability?

 

https://www.tdworld.com/intelligent-undergrounding/flooding-and-underground-cables-myth-or-reality

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1 hour ago, mattyt36 said:

 

Such as . . . ?

With above ground utility lines, often the source of a problem is clearly identifiable (i.e., a limb across a power line).  A short or break in an underground line can be difficult to pinpoint, and may require extensive digging to track down the problem. Obviously, repairs would be further complicated if the problem is in a flooded area.
Full disclosure: my experience with underground service is limited to residential areas and occurred several years ago. That being said, there were problems caused by Houston's gumbo soil, including degrading of the insulation covering the wires, and stress caused by the expansion and contraction of the soil.
edit: Didn't see your second post before making my reply. The shortcomings I described above can largely be eliminated if sufficient precautions are taken. 
We agree that these measures don't come cheap.

Edited by dbigtex56
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38 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

 

Has that proven to be a large problem here in areas where lines are buried?

 

On balance (taking out the cost part of the equation, which is clear), when installed correctly to , over their life-cycle, are underground lines preferable to above-ground in terms of service availability?

 

https://www.tdworld.com/intelligent-undergrounding/flooding-and-underground-cables-myth-or-reality

 

My uncle is an electrician and says it's not a matter of if, but when water will enter the conduit. This has more to do with the high water table and large amounts of rainfall than flooding.

 

I would take the link with a grain of salt; industry publications tend to promote and be overly optimistic about technologies and services in the industry. This is because they live on advertising and the advertisers are selling the products/services they write articles about. The article reads like an advertisement and does not include any stats on the historical performance of buried lines, just a bunch of explanation of how well the lines are designed, therefore they could never take in water.

 

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4 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

My uncle is an electrician and says it's not a matter of if, but when water will enter the conduit. This has more to do with the high water table and large amounts of rainfall than flooding.

 

I would take the link with a grain of salt; industry publications tend to promote and be overly optimistic about technologies and services in the industry. This is because they live on advertising and the advertisers are selling the products/services they write articles about. The article reads like an advertisement and does not include any stats on the historical performance of buried lines, just a bunch of explanation of how well the lines are designed, therefore they could never take in water.

 

 

First part of this I get and understand.

 

The second part sounds like something I would read from some postmodern literary crit class. Of course they are optimistic. They wouldn't write about it or promote it if they didn't think it would be profitable nor be a benefit for others as well (yeah man this process really sucks lets write an article about how terrible this process or product is!). Thats like if in the Post Oak thread where I'm talking about needing to bury trees below grade because its better for pedestrian infrastructure and the take away from that would be that I'm not really advocating for what would be a public good or sound design, but I'm a shill for Big Tree companies and Big Dirt companies. Come on man. Give people the benefit of the doubt. The first part was legit info and the second was just speculative bs.

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2 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

First part of this I get and understand.

 

The second part sounds like something I would read from some postmodern literary crit class. Of course they are optimistic. They wouldn't write about it or promote it if they didn't think it would be profitable nor be a benefit for others as well (yeah man this process really sucks lets write an article about how terrible this process or product is!). Thats like if in the Post Oak thread where I'm talking about needing to bury trees below grade because its better for pedestrian infrastructure and the take away from that would be that I'm not really advocating for what would be a public good or sound design, but I'm a shill for Big Tree companies and Big Dirt companies. Come on man. Give people the benefit of the doubt. The first part was legit info and the second was just speculative bs.

 

There should be nothing controversial about skepticism of articles in trade publications. I'm not saying they can't write the article and promote the technology, I'm saying that such an article shouldn't automatically override conventional wisdom on potential problems with burying electrical lines in soggy areas.

 

My sentence "I would take the link with a grain of salt" was pretty modest, nothing like how you're caricaturing me.

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