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Yesterday's demolition.

^^^ aside from the "medical facility" exterior, the interior design is simply astounding... WOW!

j

The population of the US is roughly 325,000,000. 2% of that is 6,500,000. I am neither a straight-ticket voter nor a Sandernista, but the fact that this and similar viewpoints appear to have gained traction on social media platforms over the past few days as something to be seriously considered leads me to believe that, if anything, we are long overdue for "social unrest caused by economic issues".

Finally uploaded more pics... please, enjoy! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0p9dtc4eugtypdc/AABhxHWhghdS5QlrVctcOxAAa?dl=0

It looks like Gables is branding this property as Crimson.

Being medical offices would this one have a better chance of making it given current events? Can existing office space get easily converted to medical use, or is it more economical to build it new?

If we are being brutally honest, I think that proposed tower in Austin is ugly. It's all the stuff I don't like about modern architecture trends. It's weirdly eclectic and blocky and asymettric and dysharmonious. A generous take would be that form reflects function and that some mixed use areas need different floor plans, but then why arrange it in that particular way? Big towers should have more grace since they are going to be a huge landmark that's going to stick out. It's like if a bunch of kids had access to infinite legos and decided to build a skyscraper.

that's the crane they use to install the facade

Demolition from today.

No going back now, right?

Frank's pizza is staying open. Just frank's backyard is closing. Hard Rock Cafe downtown is closing too: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2020/04/01/hard-rock-cafe-to-close-downtown-houston-location.html

If it improved social utility, I would be all for closing the ramp. I have not seen a suggestion that would benefit thousands of people a day or anyone outside of a very small radius. I'm surprised the city would even consider closing a ramp commuters use to reach affordable housing in order to benefit our neighborhood anyway. Seems pretty regressive.

Franks Backyard has permanently closed

I don't see that as even a remotely possible outcome. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. that is a quote from Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration speech in 1933. While Trump (and any of his challengers) is no where near as capable as he was, the message is still true. we've got car companies gearing up to make ventilators. we've got DIYers 3d printing PPE, this nation is banding together to survive, through the worst of this (and it is still yet to come), we will see the best of humanity come to the top.

I hope this doesn't get harmed by the inevitable recession we are about to have and the city needing to cut spending. Though after reading more about this project, it sounds like the funding is money that was saved or collected from different sources for several years prior. That is going to be an awesome park for people in that part of town. This makes me happier in some ways than seeing whatever new plans for Memorial Park are being released since this facility seems more about active use. I won't ever use this park but its a worthy use of tax dollars I think. Speaking solely on the grounds of the site, that pool should be a model for the aquatics facilities the city runs. The new trend among cities is to have a smaller number of very large public swimming complexes rather than many small neighborhood pools. The bigger facilities can host more programs, they can be open for longer parts of the year, etc. The small square pools have a hard time attracting visitors, have very limited hours, and are just underutilized. Also in a city like Houston many neighborhoods have private HOA pools, so the purpose of having publicly funded aquatics facility is more about ensuring everyone incl. those in neighborhoods without pools has access to the programs(kids lessons, adult fitness classes, etc) and consolidated sites work better for that. The city of Dallas sold some extra land it owned for about $30 million and is building 6 or 7 big pools in geographically logical locations so the whole city is served and will then go back and fill in the tiny old ones in neighborhood parks. I think they've managed to build most of the big facilities by now, so it has been a success.

I was a polio patient there in 1951. I was a lucky one with minor damage from the disease. Like one of the previous commenters, I've had a lifetime of bad dreams from that place. Like COVID19, no one really knew how the disease spread so parents were only allowed to visit for 15 minutes a day. I was 5 years old so that was pretty terrifying. I was only there seven days. I have no historical knowledge of Hedgecroft. john.d.polk@att.net

More people are coming to grips with new realities and Are now realizing that we are just Going to have to adapt and Adjust to having much, much less in the future. We Houstons never knew how good we had it All along. But now we Should really think About preparing for life without a lot of things we used to Help ourselves to without having to consider the consequences. Our decisions and future Actions now could hurt us by Xmas if we keep making excuses for believing excuses.

yes. don't bother getting disposable gloves. go to your local garden center (or if you have some garden gloves, get them out), buy some gardening gloves. wear them any time you leave your home, or your car. I feel very silly walking through Kroger with gardening gloves on, and I feel equally silly when I am pumping gas with gardening gloves on, but it sure is a good reminder to not touch my face with them on. before I get in my car I toss them in the trunk of the car and hop in and drive away. after they've baked in your trunk for a day, anything that would have survived is going to be dead, so you can feel safe putting them on tomorrow. while gardening gloves are porous it's highly unlikely that the virus will bore through the gloves to get on your skin. I say gardening gloves because they are super easy to put on and take off without having to touch things that might have come in contact with the virus with your bare hands. don't use this as a substitute for good hygiene, aka, wash your hands when you get home. anyway, take it for whatever, and be safe out there, and if you see a weirdo wearing gardening gloves in the grocery store, wave at me.

That is awesome! They are bridge riggers, whatever that is. https://www.google.com/search?q=bridge+riggers&source=lmns&bih=1307&biw=2560&safe=active&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwi88MnBhsXoAhVtg60KHbANBa8Q_AUoAHoECAEQAA

This is the Baby Yoda of cranes.

No, Momentum Audi property. The VW place is at 2405 Richmond, this is 2315.

Once upon a time that was Mahan Volkswagen, where as a broke student I got all sorts of help and advice in learning how to fix my purchased with my own money elderly VW (including being given the secret handshake of German cars, knowing the last 7 digits of your VIN when ordering parts).

Looks like the Metro Next rollout will have to wait a month https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Eyeing-COVID-fallout-Metro-moves-slowly-on-next-15154639.php?utm_campaign=CMS Sharing Tools (Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

I have mixed feelings about the park. On the one hand I use Bagby St. when I come home while using the IH10 East Frwy westbound from Baytown where I work. I live in the Audobon Place neighborhood and use Bagby to get off on Hawthorne. But today I rode by the small park on the north side of Camden McGowen and saw lots of homeless people using that park to camp out in. I realize that this park will become a homeless encampment since it will belong to the city and they don't crack down on these people. But the park on the southern side of Camden McGowen is patrolled by private security and they do a good job keeping the homeless from congregating there. I have a feeling this too will become a homeless camp since a lot of homeless people come down Hawthorne going to Covenant House to get free meals. When I come home on 225 I use Pease from IH 45 and don't go by here but use Milam St. to get home. I love parks but this may not the right place for one since the city does little to patrol their parks.

Untitled by Houston Midtown, on Flickr Untitled by Houston Midtown, on Flickr

Looks like the tower assembly crane is going up earlier than expected, awesome view.

Work has started... Untitled by Houston Midtown, on Flickr

199' tall tower crane application approved by the FAA on Tuesday this week. I would guess we will see the crane go up by next week. letter_434486880.pdf

Franks Backyard has permanently closed

I have a tiny repair project at a hotel. They are Howling about price for the repairs and trying to equivocate whether the repairs are needed. I imagine this is related.

Hotel occupancy has collapsed: