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I think I'm going to have to start taking my 'puter to work every day so I can post updates... can't figure out how to post Flikr photos to a web page on the android phone

#2

I am a native Houstonian who moved back last year after a 20 year gig in LA. And I traveled back via I10. Yes, I was impressed and had seen the same stretch only 2 years before. I think it's great that thewest side is booming so much. Would it be even greater if the development was more evenly spread across the Greater Houston Area? Yes. BUT, I am amused that we are in a place where we can complain about the placement of said development, instead of the fact that there is any development at all!

The new Complete Streets policy of the City doesn't have any firm rules, actually. It is just a policy of considering all road users when building or renovating roads.

Interesting information about the mat pour next weekend

Wow, and another big high rise, too! It's about time The Woodlands Mall caught on to what other malls in Dallas and even locally at Memorial City already do and that's put parking garages in. The mall parking in The Woodlands is pitiful and that's being polite.

Oxy only has 200 employees in LA. The move to Houston will only bring a few dozen jobs. So, it is unlikely any of this tower will be Oxy.

http://www.elkus-manfredi.com/project/the-woodlands/ i think this is old, but it is the first time i've seen a plan for expansion of the woodlands mall's outdoor space....it extends from i-45 to six pines in between the mall ring road and the existing mall.

wow, the garage went up quick

I feel Hines got their lease at 609 Main since it is U/C and they want LEED Platinum certification. It has been very quiet, Los Angeles will reel form this. We have Exxon and Chevron next. The factors are low taxes. Affordable cost of living, and we will have 2 International Airports. United has more non-stops internationally than any city in the south. Delta could be equal but their hubs are in small cities. American has no presence in Asia but huge in Latin American. We will see who will lease 609 Main.

Agreed. Attached is the actual policy for reference.http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/docs_pdfs/Exec_Order_Complete_Streets.pdf

I really hope this goes up preferably before Feb 2017(SB)....and then hopefully we can start getting some Res. high-rises and Office buildings in Midtown that way connecting the Med ctr to DT skyline....

^Doubtful. This is Hines' town, would be tough for anyone to challenge them. I've wonderd (in this thread none the less) why Steam/Essex doesn't pursue a 20 floor commercial/20 floor residential split for this? Seems like high-rise residential would do well enough? I know mixed-use towers are a tough sell...particularly in Houston, but seems like if any one area would be ripe for one then Market Square would be. They could even market 24 floors of office, 10 residential floors and find some willing hotel for the top 10-17 floors? Would be a game changer if they could do that, but my guess is with all the available land no one (developer or potential tenant) would want to do that. Does anyone here with more connections with the finance industry want to explain why something like this (scaled up/down) wouldn't fly? Or rather is it just because developers in Houston are overly cautious when developing mixed-use?

could this be for Occidental, or is there space in Greenway 3 & 5 for them to expand? Occidental Petroleum Company is moving their HQ to Houston! http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/02/14/occidental-petroleum-splintering-and-moving-its.html

I see what you you did there.

City of houston planning department

The crane is up. It seems really close to the edge of the street. Sorry I couldn't take a picture.

Heck, I won't drive in the right-hand lane on either side of Westheimer in the area around Lamar High School due to the agglomeration of 6-inch to foot-deep potholes that just keep multiplying over there.

I don't believe that's the case. Cite a source?

Those two helicopters at 4:20 were gettin' high.

@ rechlin: (Tim Allen grunting noises...)

They should make it illegal to ever do extensive repairs on Richmond so as not to disturb the endangered and fragile businesses and residents in the area that would not survive any kind of construction process.

Loving the palm trees on the hotel but most importantly the new design.

Yes, Nate99, it appears that they are just pushing everything down the elevator shaft. They cut a hole in the side of the building by that excavator, and they have water jets spraying down on it (which increase in intensity when debris comes down) to minimize the dust cloud. They are using a wheeled Bobcat loader (built in the state where I grew up, North Dakota!) on the top of the building to carry the debris to the shaft, where it's dropped down and then moved to a dump truck by the excavator. Here's a photo of the loader that they are using, when they were using the crane to lift it:

I believe I read that the clear cut area on the south side of 290 between Huffmeister and FM 1960 is going to be for an industrial park of some sort.

second skyhouse planned for River oaks by Novare