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They're currently redesigning the master plan. It's going to have more residential and less retail (still plenty). They've said they plan on starting this year but who knows how real that is.

welcome and thanks for the info, but do you have sources? Do you work for the developers or architects involved? You don't have to name names, but would be great to know if this was just a rumor you heard or you are an actual insider involved. Helps with context.

It's GID out of Boston. They were still planning on going forward with it when I met with them a month ago. The "old plan" is dead but the development is still going forward. They claim they are starting by the end of the year but I won't believe them until I see shovels in the ground.

My sources tell me this is dead for now and it might be a long time before anything happens to the Regent Square property. My source was working directly with the development firm. I believe they are from Boston. They were his client and he told me this weekend that it looks dead.

Too much fake news nowadays. Last thing we need is a Buzzfeed News incident at HAIF. /s

I've been thinking about the negativity about the 80s some have expressed in this thread. I remember when I was a kid someone explaining to me nostalgia meaning "remembering the good and forgetting the bad." I'm not sure what the word is for the opposite of nostalgia (forgetting the good and remembering the bad), but I think that's what's going on here. Things really didn't get bad until 1986, and by 1988-89, they were picking back up again. Every decade has its low point, and condemning an entire 10 year period for a 2-3 year nadir is a bit unfair. On the issue of Houston's murder rate, this was happening at a time when crime was at an all-time high around the country (peaking in 1992). Still, white flight had already largely occurred, most murders were happening in low income areas within the city limits, so the average middle class and above Greater Houstonian wasn't worried about being murdered in his own backyard. Unlike cities like LA and Miami, where the crime was more evenly distributed. My grandfather, for instance, was pistolwhipped in his own backyard in Coral Gables, the West U of Miami, in 1988. 1986 really was the watershed year for Houston, because though the price of oil had been declining since 82, 86 was the precipitous price drop, and it occurred at the same time the Tax Reform Act of 1986 eliminated the tax shelters for passive real estate development, even wiping them out retroactively. Suddenly deals done years earlier were much less, bursting the Texas real estate market bubble of the 70s-early 80s, and helping initiate the S&L crisis. So 1986, that watershed year, cleaved Old Houston from New Houston. It precipitated a lot of Old Houston institutions going out of business, like Sakowitz and Jamail's Grocers. Sadly, Houston lost a lot of its unique local character, and New Houston became culturally a lot more like most other major cities - we went from Urban Cowboy to Reality Bites, but it can be argued that this change made Houston more attractive to transplants from other parts of the country, and allowed the city to become as international and cosmopolitan as it is today. But coming back to the "pre-1986" Houston, I think it is worth reminiscing over, because it was the apogee and last gasp of high flying, unique Old Houston culture.

This building has to be in the 500 to 540 ft range.

Hopefully no loss of height or number of highrises!

Wrong topic. Sorry guys!

Some new info about the Space Port this morning on archdaily https://www.archdaily.com/909686/aerial-futures-explores-commercial-space-travel-at-the-houston-spaceport Video:

It seriously is mind blowing how awful Randy’s garages are. At least he’s finally started incorporating (a tiny strip of) glass into them. That wall is so stark without the shopping strip in front of it.. can’t wait for this development to spruce up the view on Post Oak northbound.

I don't think I've ever seen that particular projection. The IAH Master Plan 2035 forecast says 13.55 million international enplanements (so presumably about 27 Million total international). Of course that includes United, which, at least currently, uses Terminal E for its international arrivals. In the most recent Fiscal Year, Terminal D handled about 2.8 Million international passengers (out of about 10.4 Million total international passengers). If we assume the same percentage (27%) of international traffic being handled by the new Terminal D, that would be about 7.3 Million annually using the new Terminal D . . . 20,000 per day?

I stopped reading when he pinned most of his reasoning on autonomous vehicles. There have been a bevy of articles, since CES particularly, that point to a much slower pace of autonomous vehicle introduction. Here's but one: https://www.inverse.com/article/52528-a-tale-of-two-autonomous-driving-timelines-detroit-auto-show-vs-ces I'm still all about autonomous vehicles, I want to watch netflix while I'm on my way into the office, but it looks like many companies are not moving as quickly, so to pin our transportation hopes on technology that isn't guaranteed seems like a gamble that would result in paralysis and not getting anything at all done. edit: more articles... https://gazette.com/business/driverless-cars-tap-the-brakes-after-years-of-hype/article_3ec6668e-1ace-11e9-9b83-c3271a7abfcd.html https://rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/ces-buzz-remains-as-autonomous-cars-take-back-seat/article_6c5a76e6-71e7-581e-9bb6-3cb16b58ebf1.html

Update I heard David Robinson speak at last nights Neartown/Montrose monthly meeting. Many of his remarks were Buget centered and the hardship police- firemen pay parity was putting on COHbuget. When asked about lower Westheimer renovation funding......he seemed to say that the renovations from Main to Montrose and from Montrose to Shepherd were two projects where one was funded one was not. Now those are looked at as one project that is partially funded.

I had heard at Cohen’s townhall that lower Westheimer from Bagby to Montrose is paid for.!! But from Montrose to Shepherd is still seeking funding.

I actually thought that might be the case as well. You could be right. I probably could be wrong. Would still be better to be all one permit and not 6 separate ones. Plus its not like each building is a different occupancy type. Its all residential.

It's almost like the building is mooning you, it's so vulgar. RIP.

. . . And, yet, it is repeated over and over again by RD! He could take a note from Hanover, Hines, Caydon and Camden. . . all of whom seem to have no problem with design aesthetics.

You're missing my point. I'm not saying that we should have rail to please the "train worshipers" (heck, I agree that they should relocate the current extension to hobby airport because they are better served by the future boost corridors). I'm saying that the BRT extensions being proposed cannot handle the ridership numbers for corridors like the University Line. Considering the fact that the University Line plans on going through dense areas and major business districts like Westchase, Uptown, and Midtown, I think it's better off as light rail. Also as for the "other cities", that's just an article on Phoenix. If other cities are saying "enough" with light rail then why did cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles approve for a referendum to build more light rail (and other forms of transit)? And yes, there were huge voter support for it and here's proof. https://la.curbed.com/2016/6/2/11845368/metro-measure-r-data-ridership-transit https://ballotpedia.org/Los_Angeles_County_Sales_Tax,_Measure_R_(November_2008) http://www.atlantaloop.com/699-2/ As for Phoenix, a transit prop was passed with a vote of 55% yes and 45% no (https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/08/25/phoenix-elections-transit-results-prop104/32283455/). As for the anti-rail protesters, this article shows that the anti-rail group are being backed by the Koch Brothers, a company well-known for attempting to kill transit projects https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/09/25/the-koch-brothers-are-behind-a-phony-grassroots-effort-to-kill-hight-rail-in-phoenix/ But, at the end of they day I will admit that there are many problems with public transportation and rail in general. This articles gives a good example on the problem with transit and how we can improve it https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/01/public-transportation-problems-sustainable-mobility-data/580684/ Sorry it took so long to respond.

couldn't have happened to a nicer group of folks.

As consolation, everyone else loses views of 3/4s of the Cosmo.

it was a very supple warehouse, or so I heard.

This thread turns 12 next week. This project has been on the drawing board through the housing crisis in 2008/9, the oil boom in the early 2010's, the oil crash in 2015-7, and now the recovery from that crash. Whatever this project is an indicator of, economy-driven development cycles ain't it.

Game-changer.

Fancy

I have not been to the High Line, but I know Houston, and also know enough to know that downtown Houston is also not Manhattan. I understand the potential, but the highline is 3 or 4 times as long as the maximum possible distance here and its not like theres destinations nearby. I could be convinced if maybe there was at least something at one end or the other of the pierce that people would want to walk to, so it would continue to be a transportation benefit. A park? I'd want it on the ground, then existing real estate doesnt have to interact with it in new and creative ways to begin with.