Leaderboard

Here's a super wide panorama of the site, showing most of it. The center of the photo is roughly facing east with S Braeswood Blvd. on the far left, and the hideous Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences building to the far right. It seems like there has been no effort made for site-prep for the hotel location, which I'm guessing is at the north-east corner of the project.

I talked with 2 gentlemen who were in the process of determining what it's going to take to get the train engine in working shape. According to them a lot of parts were pilfered from the train and possibly taken to other like engines to get them running. They said that even though this train is about 100 yrs old there are about 300 railroad museums in the United States and the parts can be manufactured. The train was moved to the rail tracks near 2 warehouses and the eastern warehouse already has about a dozen antique rail cars. They also said the tender car was given away and they said that was a very stupid thing for whoever gave it away to do. It's like taking the gas tank off a car and expecting the car to still run. One of the guys said his ultimate goal would be to get it running and taking to Commerce St tracks into downtown, I'm pretty sure he was joking. He said he grew up in the Heights but now lives in Goliad. They also mentioned the Railroad Museum, said it would be on the other side of the warehouse, I don't know if he meant at Marmon Park or exactly where. The train was only lowered on the tracks that came with it and not on the rails below it. I also took pics of every train car on the rails except for the compressed helium gas car and an open top freight car.

Dual tower cranes!!

North bank bike trail next to the McKee project.

Elysian has no workers on Sunday so I get to ride it.

I would think they're part of the building. Here's a look at part of the Ismaili Centre in London.

The building reminds me of the entrance to the Shah's palace overlooking the great square in Isfahan. one of the treasures of the Safavid era. I was last there in 1977 , but I remember an elevated open air terrace under a roof supported by tall thin columns facing the irrigated gardens in the center of the square ( more of a rectangle ). The fractal geometry of the tile work and niches and other decorative elements were at least impressive those one might find on a Gothic cathedral in Western Europe. It's nice to see the continuation and modernization of an architecture that has historical resonance with this religious sect.

Across the street.

No top out tree yet, looks like they are working on the utilities floor on the roof. Looks like they are removing all the steel from the old building next door before demolition. I've Googled Buffalo Park Dr. and nothing comes up so I'm guessing it's one of the 3 new streets in the Hanover Autry Park project.

The gap between the Elysian and LaBranch has been filled in.

Crawler crane has been driving piling sheets into the ground in downtown portion of the Buffalo Bayou trail. This is near the north end of Austin St. They are in the process of welding a steel supported trail under the old building since the ground below is slanted so much.

I like the way Aspire helps define the front plaza of Four Leaf Towers. For many in our condo it was a view killer. Luckily my unit looks out over the top of the Cosmo and Aspire just frames the view instead of blocking it.

I like the street signage. Also their Crown Castle's logo.

I counted 8 of these on the ground on the north side, some weigh 6700lbs and the some weigh 6600 lbs they were a few that were even smaller behind these. I wonder if they are part of the roof top fins or something else.

The buildings are very nice looking and look ready to go. Seem to just need the exterior landscaping. Looks like and antique train car is going to be left on site.

I could smell the crawfish boil from Leeland St. Went to see where it was coming from. Cool Coog's mural.

I asked the guy with the wheel barrow when they were going to start the parking garage, he said he hopped they start building it this month and it was going to be a precast garage. He had a pump and another guy was bringing some hoses to pump the water out. More fencing has been removed from the patio area.

The surprise find of the day, a tower crane base in the middle of the project.

I counted 30 surveyor flaggings.

Patio railings.

Nothing yet.

Took a pic from the Elysian and then rode down to get closer views.

Did this project actually start? Edwards had gotten a bit long in the tooth and needs work to be competitive with the newer complexes (compare to the Cinemark Memorial City). The needed renovations come at a time when there’s been a shift away from the Megaplexes of the 90’s. The AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale recently closed. It’s just tough to get a good number of people in the multitude of screens these theaters have. If this renovation didn’t move forward last year, I wouldn’t be shocked if the owner determined the cost of the renovation wouldn’t be worth it in the long run given the shifting tastes in cinema attendance.

wow!!

I wonder why they are taking core samples by the track and field grandstands?

Not topped out but all the floors are up.

Hanging windows.