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Site work underway today. Several flatbed 18-wheelers were lined up on Jensen dropping off large concrete culverts for drainage. It looks like work digging the trenches where they will be placed has started too.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Lennar-s-apartment-division-buys-Galleria-area-13841951.php Conflicting account of where exactly the site is located: The Gables project is SOUTH of the parcel that's on the corner of Westcreek/San Felipe and across from Arabella. Based on HCAD it appears that the lot is in fact on the corner of Westcreek/San Felipe. See Parcel A (BELOW)

East End MMD wants to do a streetcar on Clinton. Pending funding of course.

Speaking of the former space.. https://shopcompanies.com/properties/pdf/1314-texas-ave

This is some Virginia Woolf shit

Both Chevron buildings are closed to all employees Saturday and today they placed a giant electronic sign stating Smith is closed at Clay 5am-9pm Saturday.

I wish someone would lease out their old space on Main Street, it’s a nice location and it’s sad to see it all boarded up.

I'll let an architect comment and correct me on this, but doing my fair share of roof inspections for commercial office buildings I think I can explain.The energy code IECC requires a specific solar reflective index for the roof membrane. This is indeed for energy and temperature efficiency reasons. TPO roofs or Thermoplastic polyofin roofs are common roof membrane. Bituminous roofs arent dead though, now and days they coat them to meet the reflective values. If your really want to get into the weeds, heres a pretty decent explainer on 'cool roofs' by national manufacturer. (PDF warning) https://www.jm.com/content/dam/jm/global/en/commercial-roofing/brochures/RS-7651_Cool-Roof-Solutions.pdf

Hopefully there is going to be space to retain a Shipleys somewhere 😢

Yeah, but what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? There is a misnomer that for something to be "accessible" than it means everything. That would be like saying every seat a Minute Maid Park has to be wheelchair accessible which would be insane as there are never going to be 25000 Handicap people in a given situation...ever. Same goes for plaza's, etc... The plaza in this case needs to be full ADA accessible from one point of entry and that is it (which is normally the closest approach from a given ADA parking spot). Thats about it. The transitions between blocks is (as I've stated before) most likely ADA compliant. Now this isn't targeted at you specifically @Timoric. All this hullabaloo just smells of people wanting to complain about something. Its fine to be critical, but this is a bit ridiculous, and I rather presume one of innocence until proven guilty than the reverse.

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From my professional opinion. This is a whole lot of nothing Considering that this must have passed TAS review (Texas Accessibility Standards), my original hypothesis of 1" was probably wrong and it probably is 1/2" transition with a 1:2 bevel at the top or this is a 1/4" with no bevel. Seeing as its being built and it probably passed review then its neither a tripping hazard nor is it inaccessible to wheelchairs. Case closed.

Value Engineered Eye Sore in White Stucco

I rode my bicycle to the top the parking garage next to the Texas build and brijonmang saw me and asked if I was hindesky. Nice meeting you, you're the first one from HAIF to find me in all my years of taking pics. Hope to meet some others in the future.

Emancipation and McGowen might be a good location; its 2 major roads, as well as on a frequent bus line

At the most recent meeting of the Board of Regents for the A&M System there was an item called "Development Tract (~4.5 acres on Holcombe Blvd.‐adjacent to TMC)" in the Public-Private Partnership list with a projected value of $325 million which I can only imagine will be a massive (and tall!) project. http://assets.system.tamus.edu/files/bor/pdf/AgendaArchive/2019-04/Regular Agenda.pdf

We're now into May and no start yet, but there's progress. Senior Living and Multifamily, 415 units https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=16455&MeetingID=361

As someone who has tripped on a polished concrete floor, anything can be a tripping hazard

From the AIG parking garage.

Opening in August

Check it: http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Commissions/docs_pdfs/walkable_places/Walkable Places _May 1st 2019 Draft.pdf This looks genuinely impressive.

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LOL I just found, on the development's website, that the office building is 16 stories. Looks like 10 floors office space on top of 6 floors of parking (plus perhaps another floor of parking below grade). https://theepicdallas.com/office-2550-pacific-avenue-at-epic/

Added it: Also, I'm in complete awe at the lack of grocery stores in the Denver Harbor/Kashmere Gardens area. You know what there are a lot of up there 😕:

You might be referring to The Epic. It has that jenga style..like a mini version of the independent in Austin. I believe it's 15 stories but looks larger. https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1860531 It has an accompanying tower next to it called The Hamilton. It's 28 stories (not 26 like the thread says) https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=157359282#post157359282 Apologies if those links don't work as I'm working off my phone. You can Google Skyscrapercity Dallas and you'll get the full list of many projects with photos. Also:http://dfwu.dallasmetropolis.com/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=0176d5a1c61e90d402ded4b9d9cfc6d8 for the most up to date.

Nice. I had forgotten that. More of a Katherine Mansfield fan. FYI, I would not correct any other poster besides Houston 19514 on semi-colon usage.

The bulk of the district, save for the property with the Shipleys, is located in an Opportunity Zone. I believe Hines used a company provided investment in opportunity zones to get started on the Preston, Downtown. Given Hines' involvement with this development, I wouldn't be surprised to see them use a similar model with Rice involving a ground lease as @H-Town Man suggests.

correction, 5am-5pm Sunday May 19, and ALL surrounding streets to be closed to vehicles and pedestrians, fairly extensive area.....Andrews, Shaw, Ruthven, Smith, Louisiana, Pease and Bell Employees will be allowed if work critical, but no exit or entrance 6am-8am and if necessary 5pm-8pm.

You can't expect a Chronicle real estate or transportation writer to know their directions . . . 🤯 Thanks for clarifying.

They plan a district, not just a building; so of course they want to control the surrounding property. To be clear, this is only 2 blocks north.

True, which is good. But TOD Streets are a much more limited classification than Walkable Places, which can be created anywhere if property owners support it. TOD Streets are, of course, limited to where fixed transit exists, which doesn't cover much of the city. Better than nothing, though.

True. I don't think they count "chronic feet-shuffliing" as a disability though.

There's no way that's the finished product. It's an entire plaza of trip hazards...

That is some serious elitist bs

Well, no need for me to post my phone pics of this or the Preston since we got the same exact ones...Great to meet you earlier!

I counted 17 floors.

Cement pump tower is sitting on Travis ready to be installed.

Glass is being installed on the first of the apartments.

From this afternoon:

Went to Platypus Brewing this afternoon.

Link to Choice Hotels booking page. CAMBRIA HOTEL HOUSTON DOWNTOWN CONVENTION CENTER

From a few days ago.

Riding in the light rail.

After slowly laying bricks for what seems like a year, it looks like they've finally pretty much finished the brickwork around the fountains. Not pictured -- the concrete for the sidewalk along Main has finally mostly been poured:

SUPER interesting about Ethan Allen's move CPG! What do you think will become of their existing building? I always thought that corner of Post Oak and Westheimer was prime and underused space! Wow! Big news!

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/With-Qatar-s-help-Harris-County-to-reopen-13314965.php

I count 8 hotels that are or will be using repurposed/rehabbed old buildings in downtown proper. That's pretty cool. Savoy Holiday Inn Cambria AC Hotel Magnolia Icon JW Marriott Hyatt Place Courtyard Marriott/Homewood Then there's the Days Inn...