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Project: Tower A (Hotel and Condos) Address: 2701 Main Street Houston, TX 77002 Architect: Preston Partnership Information: A 32-story hotel/condo with exterior amenities at levels 9 and 32. Hotel restaurant/bar (3,200 SF), co-working area with conference room (1,200 SF), and 1,165 SF of retail at level 1 Parking at levels 2 - 6 Ballrooms at level 7 Fitness at level 8 Outdoor dining, dog run, and yoga at level 9 along with two swimming pools Outdoor garden area and pool at level 32 183 hotel units (level 10 - level 18) 191 condo units (level 9 and level 19 thru level 32) 558,000 total square foot Future tower at Fannin side.

Steel Rising.

elevated bike path right down the middle of Memorial.....it could become an iconic Houston structure. Someone call Rich Kinder!

This conversation has gone completely off the rails. Focus, people. . .

Found some stuff from the planning commission. Site Plan: sectioning of the two bottom buildings: 2d rendering of the phase 1 mixed use (4 floors) and a building elevation of the phase 2 mixed use (20 floors) Looks to be another big mixed use development. Probably going to be a pretty bustling lot when completely developed. IMO mixed used = best use for 24/7 activity.

All off-topic comments have been split into a new thread here. For those wishing to continue the discussion about drag racing, and rambunctious youths, can do so there. Let's try to keep it on topic HAIFers. 😎

Crane down.

All of the above. Restaurant/bar, co-working space, and small retail are on level 1.The only other notable space at level 1 is the hotel lounge (approx. 1,900 SF). No, I've heard nothing. If I had to guess then probably 4-8 months, assuming no issues. Foundation should be going out for permit soon, if it has not already. Something like this will usually take about (2) years to complete. Just my opinion. Also, please excuse me if I come across dry in my posts. I am just not able to articulate myself in written word the way I can when speaking to someone face-to-face.

via r/houston on Reddit (u/_jviews). Original link: https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/iatv5k/eastern_glades_addition_at_memorial_park_is_now/

Uploaded this week:

It appears that Texas A&M Board of Regents will be discussing their $109M TMC3 Biomedical Research Building, the nearly complete $87M En/Health Building renovation and the $401M private development TAMU Health Plaza at the upcoming August 20, 2020 meeting (see p250). We’ll learn more during the 4:45p CT session (live stream and agenda below). I’ll gladly share any information that I can gather on the aforementioned projects from attending the standing/special committee reports presentations. https://www.tamus.edu/regents/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2020/08/BOR-SCHEDULE-2020-08-20-rev-8-13-3.pdf https://tamus.mediasite.com/Mediasite/Play/b81c91983b4745a1b74abb48997c7fce1d

Rendering and massing There's an absolute crap ton of information provided by @Houston19514 in that pdf (also includes i-45 redo, and many, many other things). Main takeaways: >> completion sometime 2021!?!?!? >> being redeveloped by Phoenix Development Partners >> includes 482 units with 100 units given the affordable designation >> 345 efficiency (362 sf), 22 efficiency +(467sf), 92 studio (507-585 sf), 22 two bedroom and two bath (1038 sf) >> 482 total parking spaces, also a bike storage area totaling 521 sf on the ground floor. >> 1257 sf of ground floor retail >> Garage roof >> ground floor plan with Bike Storage Again going to quote @Houston19514 for giving us this monstrous amount of information, which also includes much more than what I posted. Including garage floor plan, rooftop floor plan, efficiency/studo/bedroom floor plan, etc.

I rode past it on my bike and as of 4PM, it was still smoldering and they were still putting water on it. But I agree, the damage is surprisingly minor, at least superficially. Hopefully the follow-up inspection will reveal no significant loss of integrity of the wood. I wonder if there was some kind of fireproofing that had been applied to the wood long ago?

I live right behind this , I will post some pics here in a bit. The foundation has been poured. One significant deviation from the plans is they only put in the parking wells on the west side, there are no wells on the east side. So its just spaces for 6 double lifts instead of 10? I talked to one of the guys on the site a while back and he said it was just going to be 2 levels above the parking and not 3. So I am wondering if that's why they cut back on the parking wells?

Per a VP at GT Leach... "Still early on 3723… The Paramount. It’s currently still in the marketing phase. It currently has zero (0) sales, so it might be a while."

Oh no! Somebody doesn't like something you like! They must be small-minded and petty! My criticisms are considered and specific. You don't have to agree with them, but accusing me of being "small-minded and petty" is ridiculous. Again, this is an architecture forum. Criticism is part of the point!

Yep...everyone now has a bike or just wants to get outdoors since there wasn't (or isn't) much else to do! i think that is awesome...but not on that stretch of sidewalk haha!!! 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♀️🤸‍♀️👯‍♂️💃🚴‍♂️ 😵

Just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such a huge presence!!!! 🤩

Oh I rode it before everyone was riding bikes everywhere - I bet it's clogged up with bikes now

Just wait, in 8 months when it opens and the lobby is Paris themed, this thread will seem very prescient

I remember when this went up feeling like 2021 was far away. 2020 has been a black hole for time.

That would be seriously wild if 2020 was the year they redeveloped this thing.

Something is still going in here. Looks like there will be two separate structures on the northern portion of the site.

Yeah the ride between the end of buffalo bayou park and memorial park is not great. 4' sidewalks, uneven pavement. I wonder if a bike path down memorial (or elsewhere) would make sense, or extend how far the buffalo bayou park stretches to meet up with memorial park

continuing to see this park be updated and then there not being a good connection between Buffalo Bayou Park and Memorial Park for pedestrians and cyclists, it's a real let down. I suppose in time this will be a thing.

Hmmmm... I meant to post it here as well (and thought I had). There seems to be some movement here.  Scroll to page 73

Now that is my kind of "ghetto".

I updated my post to read appropriately, Leeland connection is not going away, it will still cross, but the direct connection from Leeland westbound to Bell westbound will be severed. I like a lot of the ideas, 59 from Montrose through to 288 being below grade is long overdue and will absolutely improve safety and movement. if they want to make 59 below grade all the way to i10, perfect, lets do it, it's already below grade through Leeland anyway and they could keep it below grade easily until after Runnels. make 45 below grade from Nettleton all the way to Dallas street in downtown. that would be awesome too. but moving 45 from the current alignment on the rich side of downtown to the poor sides of downtown, all that does it benefit the rich people at the expense of the poor people. no one ever even seems to bring up how this is going to have an impact along the i10 alignment... oh well right?

The other parts of this project, widening 45 north, is a complete mistake and is absolutely going to hurt and disconnect communities. I guarantee you the "poorer sections of town" are much more concerned with that than a downtown highway cap (and are much more likely to use public transit, which is unaffected if not improved by this project). If I could have my way, I'd only do segment 3 and totally shelve the other segments. Leeland is also still in the render posted above, only Polk was severed. Furthermore, this is not about connecting collectors and thoroughfares, or about connecting streets themselves. It's about improving the pedestrian experience by improving sidewalks, parks and buildings in a natural unbroken streetscape that make a city feel like a city rather than skyscrapers separated by deserts of parking lots. Whereas the highway was a barrier to this, the highway cap theoretically unites EaDo and Downtown.

Yeah that is what i call the "danger zone"! from starbucks on Memorial to the shepherd bridge/or path heading down under the bridge...it is near impossible to maneuver that sidewalk on a bike with other bikes or people in your path... yikes!

Over the past few decades, urban planners and researchers have come to realize that urban highways damage the cityscape it travels through in multiple ways, most obviously by physically separating parts of the city with wide, unattractive, unsafe overpasses like we have right now. Cities are now spending considerable time and effort to reunite neighborhoods originally segregated by the highways back in the 60s. You can see the effects of this in places like Dallas, or in more extreme cases like in Boston. The effect of literally, physically reconnecting city streets in place of what was once a highway is hard to understate. The CoH has been trying to encourage unbroken "real city" development to unite different areas of interest around the inner loop of Houston. Downtown, Midtown, the Med Center, and EaDo. Currently, they are separated by the Pierce Elevated, 69, and 288. So, by burying these and building uninterrupted cityscape on top, they can try and undo the damage done by our urban highways. To my understanding you have to build the highways with the pillars and structures necessary to put buildings on the caps from the beginning, you can't do that after the fact. So, they're doing all this planning before they break ground. Finally, TXDOT is doing all the heavy lifting. They're making the highway, the caps, and the pillars and engineering to make it all work. All the city has to do is build and maintain the parkspace, and encourage private development on the caps.

I checked the Phoenix Development Partners site and it seems they have a lot of experience renovating older buildings in the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. I noticed a renovation of theirs for student housing, and considering the small size of the units discussed here, I wonder if that market that might be their focus? https://phoenixdevelopmentpartners.com/#home

New River Oaks high-rise The Paramount announces groundbreaking plans https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/development/2020/08/17/new-river-oaks-high-rise-the-paramount-announces-groundbreaking-plans/

BEAUTIFUL design and work. I can't wait until this pandemic nightmare eases up enough in a year or two to start having incredible concerts and performances at this awesome venue !

Houston's big dig

All of downtown (inside 45/69/10/Buffalo Bayou) is an opportunity zone, as well as Midtown east of Main. All the opportunity zones are on this map: https://www.houstontx.gov/opportunityzones/houstonOZ.html

The Chronicle also has the press release in today's paper. I still think there is a mistake. You don't build a 25/26 story building in less than a year. But as someone who lives just a couple blocks up Westheimer from this, I hope they can. Because you know they're gonna create some traffic issues during construction.

Problem with that if you block the druggies/alcoholics/the ones most likely to trash the place and start fires, those are the ones that stay on the street, furthermore it would just be a way to spend the night, while the day is spent panhandling (unless they are denied doing so, in which case it becomes a de facto jail). That's not to say that the homeless should get nothing, but building housing for the homeless is, at best, more complicated than it seems, and at worse, will just make the problem worse at the taxpayers' dime.

Well, it seems like the article has been written about this and it contains some interesting soundbites: https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/development/2020/08/18/after-legal-resolution-montrose-management-district-takes-steps-toward-comeback/ Oh? It sounds like they may be able to help with those questions in the other thread about the Montrose pedestrian study and implementation of the study and the suggested bike/walking improvements. "Madden’s letter stated that upon reinstatement, the district will better leverage the economic growth in the neighborhood from upcoming developments that are outpacing city-led improvements to the area’s infrastructure hampered by Houston’s budgetary constraints."

idk but i always did like the shaded canopy portion of that building facing Cullen

Fields [Houston's Chief Transportation Planner] said he is looking to work with the city of Houston, the Downtown District and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County to even further expand outdoor dining options along Main Street in Downtown Houston. The initiative would allow restaurants and bars to expand onto the sidewalk and close some of the street to car traffic. “There are a lot of partners involved, we need to make sure we get it right. So [we will consider] things like the traffic signals on that stretch, which not only are used by people driving or walking but also the light rail,” Fields said. “We also need to look at things like our sidewalk ordinance, which says what can be out there. They have to figure out what needs to change, just like we did before the More Space program, to allow this.” Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/economy/houston-joins-growing-list-of-cities-embracing-parking-lots-for-outdoor-dining-105589?utm_source=outbound_pub_4&utm_campaign=outbound_issue_41213&utm_content=outbound_link_15&utm_medium=email?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser

It’s literally across the street from RO. There’s far more egregious uses of RO than this project.

From FB, the crane operator took this, the other tower crane is at the Alta River Oaks.

Found a couple permits going over the core buildings. Wonder if that has anything to do with the lot block off. Both permits are carbon copies of each other, maybe they're going through each parcel of the helix? Now going back to @Highrise Tower post, it's basically the same thing with with the exception of newer date, permit type, and buyer/address. Also does anybody know what these permit types mean? for example the AM and PX ones. Good chance ground breaking is soon, those barriers look oddly ground breaking like.

More info on the TMC Hotel. Looks amazing.

New renderings have been posted. https://www.tmc.edu/tmc3/

Don't forget the pizza place next to the liquor store, it's pretty good! Also, don't know if this has been talked about in the forum, but the big warehouse that got updated down the road (2339 Canal St.) is supposed to have a coworking space (Common Desk) and a cidery/arcade (Bishop) both from Dallas based companies in the near future. https://www.cidercade.com/houston https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/10/28/dallas-coworking-company-heading-to-houstons-east.html I'm excited!