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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/21/2014 in all areas

  1. Just noticed that half the Binswanger glad building is gone. Didn't know that demo had already begun
    4 points
  2. If I recall correctly, Houston's CBD blocks are 330' x 330'. Which is about average for a lot of cities. I think the reason so many high rises take up the full block in houston is because they can. Plenty of space to build what you want when the existing structures that were there were leveled 30 years ago. That being said, I would opine that once space starts running out in downtown, you'll start seeing less "full block" construction. Thats my 2 cents at least.
    4 points
  3. From earlier today: Marriot Marquis by brijonmang, on Flickr
    3 points
  4. They will soon move on to the facade for the main part of the building
    2 points
  5. Ok I welcomed you on another thread. Dude don't be lazy copy/paste the same exact thing on every relevant train thread....might as well not even post at all.
    2 points
  6. @Howard Huge Thanks for your detailed comments and analysis. We truly appreciate your input. In 2007, when one of Surge Homes’ partners acquired the land on Main, he had the same vision as you did for seeing that the mid-main area would be the “Next Big Thing in Urban Houston Development!” When you say “bang for the buck,” please consider that the cycle of investment is much longer when we build a large condominium project than it is for townhomes. So, it’s not necessarily how many square feet you build on the same site that determines the rate of return for our investors, but it’s also how long it takes to get the capital back to our investors—and how much capital is required. Condominiums need more equity and it takes a longer time to get the investors’ money back plus a rate of return, which is required for our investors to keep trusting us. Nonetheless, your vision is good, and it’s one that’s shared by many adored Houstonians. The Insiders’ Club is filled with future home/condo owners who wish to see more density on this site. We have not finished our Insiders’ Club program, but in January 2015, we will have a clear idea of whether it will be townhomes or condominiums. Please, Howard, keep sending us your input.
    2 points
  7. Here is some info sent out a few months ago about the area next to the lot. "In an effort to improve drainage, mitigate flood damage and relieve traffic flow, MetroNational and TIRZ 17 are working together to redesign the Conrad Sauer Detention Basin, which will not only increase its capacity, but its efficiency. This project will remove an eyesore from the community, improve mobility and help stabilize the properties in the immediate area, while also providing much needed green space with walking and cycling pathways, landscaping, wet bottom and grassy park areas. MetroNational will give right-of-way for the construction of a new road to provide access from Gessner to the detention pond and will donate additional land to increase size of the detention facility. The land being given to the TIRZ is nearly 2 acres and is valued at $4 million. Soon, Spring Branch will have a central meeting space and “town square” in which to gather and do such things as take in a Forth-of-July fireworks celebration as a community." http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/memorial/news/agreement-would-let-metronational-extend-street-detention-basin/article_71af95a7-c173-504d-9238-83ca5e1ee464.html
    2 points
  8. So the first Port-a-Potty is, umm, a "catalyst" for a project to begin?
    2 points
  9. http://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/11-21-14-downtown-houston-is-finally-getting-a-top-barbecue-restaurant-star-studded-team-plans-big/?utm_source=sf_twitter
    1 point
  10. I've only lived in Houston and downtown for two years and I am amazed by the amount of change that has occurred on the restaurant / bar scene. When I moved here, OKRA was not even open / even hinted at. Since then there has been a number of successful openings and it's hard to keep up with the pace of change. I've also been very pleased with the quality of each opening - these establishments are nothing like the typical Midtown / Wash Ave bars where the bartenders do not even know what Campari is. Here are recent openings in no particular order: Prohibition (1008 Prairie). A burlesque event space in back (A beautifully restored theater. You would have no idea that it is in this building. Drop in and ask to take a look) but the front restaurant serves excellent lunch and dinner. Pricey with some entrees > $50. Absolutely worth checking out for the smoked fried chicken alone. Chef Ben McPherson.http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/06/27/foodie-friday-whos-cooking-up-restaurant-news-in.html?page=allMain Kitchen (806 Main). In the new JW Marriott. It's been discussed in the JW thread a lot so won't rehash it here. Chef Erin Smith.https://www.facebook.com/MainKitchen806Bombay Indian Grill (806 Main). Indian lunch buffet.http://bombaygrillhouston.com/Honeymoon Cafe (300 Main). Serves upscale sandwiches for lunch. Downtown's only good independent coffee shop. Always packed for lunch and surprisingly packed for Sunday brunch.http://thehoneymoonhtx.com/Springbok (711 Main). South African restaurant and sports bar serving lunch and dinner.http://www.springbokhouston.com/Nightingale Room (308 Main). Bar and live music space. I visited and the cocktails are high quality. Part of the Anvil mafia.https://www.facebook.com/NightingaleRoomPublic Services Wine and Whiskey (202 Travis). Run by the former Oxheart sommelier with interesting wines and whiskeys. It's in the restored / renovated Cotton Exchange building.http://publicservicesbar.com/New Hearsay Location (1516 Dallas) Also, looks like a formerly empty location on Main Street is taped over with the business named "Beef and Barley" and District 7 Grill is taking over an empty space that spans half a block at Main and Texas. There is some sports bar opening on Main as well. As MAB noted in another thread, a new BBQ restaurant set to open by Brian Caswell (Reef), Bill Floyd and Greg Gatlin (Gatlin's BBQ) is set to open in Q1 2015 on Jackson and Congress near Minute Maid Park. There is now a liquor store downtown called Posh Liquors (http://poshliquors.com/). Based on the name, I'm assuming they are trying for an upscale clientele base. All these join the first wave of restaurants (El Big Bad, Batanga, Fusion Taco) and first wave of bars (Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar and Spirit Lounge, OKRA, Pastry War, Clutch City Squire, Little Dipper, Dean's Credit Clothing re-opening). Yes it would be nice to get a full service grocery, a Target and some retail downtown but I am so grateful for everything that has happened to downtown recently, that I have no absolutely no complaints. I also have nothing but optimism for further development as more residential opens.
    1 point
  11. I thought Robert Eckles used to be a Harris County Judge. But it shouldn't really matter anyway, there's only two stations...
    1 point
  12. and today the high speed rail thread took it's obligatory Hou vs. Dal flame war tangent....
    1 point
  13. So it appears they are playing favoritism towards Dallas?? They acknowledged Houston would have a "terminal", but the (downtown) Dallas station would be "iconic". http://m.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/2014/11/high-speed-rail-station-will-be-iconic-part-of.html
    1 point
  14. I'm all for downtown stations but if the numbers can't work I have nothing against a NW site.
    1 point
  15. The part where Houston Freeways discusses Will Clayton (originally Jetero Blvd.) talks about how even though it was designed to be a freeway in the long run, never had any actual concrete plans to do so. By the time the airport opened in 1969, new urban freeway construction was on its way out, due to public concern over freeways and funding issues. The fact that the east entranceway (Will Clayton) was never very busy anyway led it not be put on any planning documents.
    1 point
  16. I always preferred the Post Office/Grand Central Station location to the Hardy Yards location simply because it already is a train station in layout. Hardy Yards was already separated from downtown, and only had the advantage of being close to the existing rail line. Having lived in the Philadelphia area, it was my experience that most business travelers did not use SEPTA when they left the train station; they would either walk or take a cab since they were so close to Center City already. The Post Office/Grand Central Station site is of similar proximity to Downtown Houston as 30th Street Station is to Center City Philadelphia, and I think the same sort of dynamic would be at play here.
    1 point
  17. High-speed rail station will be 'iconic' part of Dallas skyline, CEO says http://m.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/2014/11/high-speed-rail-station-will-be-iconic-part-of.html
    1 point
  18. Question - Who is in the Great Southwest Building. There are a few lights on, but I thought it was abandoned?
    1 point
  19. @Gator Purify Thank you for the encouragement! Yes, transparency and direct communication with the public is a core value within our company. We've been developing homes for 25 years, and the partners have surrounded themselves with a team that knows, from the first day they start working with Surge Homes, that they have to listen to future home buyers before they finalize a product, and that they must always keep an open channel of communication with the neighbors. Please keep sending us your comments through our website and various blogs. We received many more comments than we expected, and we don’t mind working evenings and weekends to make sure we can read everyone’s thoughts and opinions, and then integrate many of the suggestions into our final product.
    1 point
  20. Notes from meeting today in order of importance to me: 1) 4,199 units under the Downtown Living Initiative have been publicly approved. Two more are proposed and would bring the total to 4,750 leaving only 250 units to go under the 5,000 unit cap 2) No plans or discussion to bring a major grocer to downtown. They expect this to come after residential base is built. Prior year discussions included an urban Target with a grocery component 3) Bob Eury, the Downtown District Executive Director, is flying to New York tonight and may bring back "big news" 4) 2015 downtown district budget is $15mm 5) There is $4.2bn of investment underway or proposed in downtown 6) New branding - Downtown: Something Big is Up 7) They have put in 3 (?) porta potties to aid sanitation efforts
    1 point
  21. I drive through this every day but on the freeway on 45 going south and looks like a base of the crane is already on place and there was some pouring on cement the day before will try to take a pic.
    1 point
  22. Major advancement today. They brought in some equipment this morning and parked it right in the middle of the block. And a Port-A-Potty so its got that going for it.
    1 point
  23. They have moved some equipment on site and started digging asphalt around the perimeter of the block.
    1 point
  24. From earlier today: Hampton Inn by brijonmang, on Flickr Hampton Inn by brijonmang, on Flickr
    1 point
  25. Not at all. Paying for school taxes benefits us all.. even if you don't have kids going to school. If you don't educate ppl, they end up skill-less, unemployed and on the government dole. So its self defeating to make that argument as you're going to pay for it either way. Education is far cheaper than endless poverty / welfare. Teach a man to fish... no free lunch... etc. I really don't know why you made that leap. But we digress from the fact that the ppl who are asking for a costlier alignment are at the same time avoiding the extra costs of being a city by getting an exclusive sweetheart 'township' arrangement that puts more of a tax burden on Montgomery county / surrounding areas while keeping their tax burden artificially low. It reeks of hypocrisy... and the people who live there are too blind to see it.
    1 point
  26. Doubtful, that building looked around 800' (plus there are no swirling rumors that it's anything more than a fantasy at this point), and to beat Dallas' tallest it would have to be 921'.
    1 point
  27. Yea just make sure you don't hire someone who's going to burn down the whole apartment!
    1 point
  28. I'm not even going to respond to bobruss right now, because one....at work, and two I'm going to go on a rant lol. I understand where he is coming from though. A museum is an opportunity for a building to become a work of art, but it shouldn't compete with what is inside. The latest example of a very well done museum is the Perot Museum of Natural Science in Dallas designed by a very good group of architects from Morphosis.
    1 point
  29. It's been there for several weeks. It's for the National Bank renovations.
    1 point
  30. Agreed this is a bonus spin guys - don't be that guy. Chi-Char's rules to not be an a$$hat 1. Every project does not need GFR 2. Who are you? Put up your own money vs being an armchair qb. 3. Everything needs to be saved. Why? In other big cities they don't lament about a shit building like Houston Club being torn down. I cheer the Angel bros yellow iron chomping that steel as we all should. Bigger, Newer, Better. 4. Enjoy the boom. Remember what you used to get excited about 5 years ago. Guys this is a boom town - exciting times quit trying to get in the conductors seat and sit back and enjoy. Time had told us it will be 20 years until this MAY happen again. I ride my bike past this area every day - the area is straight out of season 5 walking dead - the fact that some would argue against this being a huge WIN just shows me and the reasonable majority here at HAIF ; that you are a bunch of complainers. Bottom line this is a cherry - enjoy it and it will hopefully move "the walkers" elsewhere.
    1 point
  31. So im sure a lot of yall have noticed how I enjoy scheming up fantasy developments when I'm bored.. (Lol, there should probably be an entire thread dedicated to my wild proposals and sketches) I had some free time last night to sketch out a Dillard's redevelopment.. (Keep in mind, im no architect, just someone with an affinity for urban development). I envisioned this with the Dillards facade being carried all the way around outside of the new podiums (minus the glass for the GFR), with some slender horizontal openings with that woven decorative screen stuff Dillards uses above the entrance on the upper floors for exhaust ventilation in the garages. Speaking of the decorative front entrance, I would recreate that on the east and west sides since the north side would be surrounded/not very visible from Westheimer anymore. The high rise in the top left is a hotel, the bottom left is a condo tower, and the two on the right are office buildings. View from Post Oak/West View from Westheimer/north This time the hotel high rise is on the bottom left, the condo tower on the bottom right, and the two office buildings on the top. Red - Trader Joes Green - 10 screen movie theater or other 30k sq ft entertainment Black- Apartments (levels 2-4) 5 levels of parking in the southern portion since garages are shorter than GFR & residential, to make all the podiums the same height/look as Dillards. This would be a pedestrian shopping/hang out promenade type of corridor, leading from Westheimer to the front entrance of Dillards, lined with shops, and balconies overhead for bars and restaurants looking out over the promenade from above. There could even be a retractable glass Galleria-esque roof above that they could open and close depending on the weather. Throw in a few water features and some vegetation of course.. Orange - Ground Floor Retail Pink - Second floor restaurants/bars Blue - Parking (part of level 2, and 3-5) Yellow - Dillard's And then of course on top of the podiums there would be a dog run along with the typical amenities for the condo tower, a pool/spa and cafe for the hotel high rise, and a large park with gardens and an area for dogs around the office towers, with a small section cordoned off for the office workers and the rest for the apartment residents. I originally wanted to put stuff on top of Dillards for all the people, but they would probably have to reengineer the roof for that, and I ended up with more room than expected on the other new podiums. Some greenery or something on top of Dillards would be nice though so the people in the towers around it aren't looking down at a bare roof.
    1 point
  32. Historically, the Third Ward used to include the sections near the Museum District, Hermann Park, and the eastern sections of Midtown. Many will forget that 288 ripped that neighborhood apart just as the Pierce Elevated did to the 4th Ward. Project Row Houses is truly one of the greatest things about Houston. If you want to see vision in action, GO CHECK IT OUT IN PERSON. It is amazing.
    1 point
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