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Inspired by the Editor's post about 20 years of HAIF & Bilbao58's posts in SSC about projects that are less than 20 years old - I present: The Highlighter Google Earth Downtown Houston 20 Years of development image. Green: New Build Yellow: Renovation (saved from abandonment, which is why the Leeland Federal Building is not notated, or the Allen Center). Purple: U/C buildings missing from the outdated satellite imagery. Feel free to add in or ask me for corrections/amendments. A cool visual of the amount of investment in our city! Personally, I'd be happy to see donut apartments fill in every surface lot over a Supertall. But a new Supertall would be nice ;)

Thales Alenia Space and Axiom have signed a $130 million contract to build the pressure vessels of the first two modules of Axiom's station. Thales Alenia built the pressure vessels for most of the American side of the ISS. This is the key piece of the release. At a minimum, Axiom's campus has to be ready in the first half of 2023, so we should see more movement on their buildings soon! https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press_release/thales-alenia-space-provide-first-two-pressurized-modules-axiom-space

The statue of Nike of Samothrace was installed at the lobby. It is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world and a fine example of the late Hellenistic period. The Louvre provided the 4D file for the statue to be sculpted in Greece and was intended to be placed at the Sanctuary of Gods in the island of Samothrace. It represents Goddess Nike landing on the prow of a ship in a fierce headwind. It is 13’ high and weighs 24 tons.

I am not an expert in dimensions but wouldn't a 3D file suffice?

Just look at that beautiful green city!

8 floors

At least patrons/patients visiting for their medical needs will know exactly where their co-pays & out of pocket medical expenses are going.

It looks like the 9753 nine-story office building is slated to start back up the first of quarter 2022. Changes on the exterior, so permits were required.

Wow, thanks. Pretty much confirms that Discovery Green is the greatest idea anyone has had for downtown in the modern era. I am rather surprised that more has not been done in the Historic District, which is most likely because there are few sites large enough to build a large building with a parking garage. We need to learn how to do fine-grained development.

Yep this is going to be a great spot for tourists. Finally something that is very Houston in every way.

This CultureMap article has all the vendors. https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/07-14-21-post-houston-food-hall-downtown-vendors-golfstrommen-seafood-market-saison-cellar-east-side-king-chopnblok/

you have to remember that bride was built for Model T type cars, back when the Old Spanish Trail was the main east-west route in the southern US. It looks like a typical 1920's bridge, you can still find them all over the place, most have been decommissioned

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2021/07/14/post-houston-food-hall-vendors.html Unable to read it but it sounds like Blendin coffee and a few others are coming to Post now.

Montrose, thank you so much. 😃

Thanks for compiling this, really cool. I've been here more often than not over each of the last 20 and it's hard to overstate the change.

Coral Sword isn't too far down Telephone ;) No train track to cross.

Given the amount of money that thing cost, and how expensive it looks, there is no way in hell that garage stays as it is. But, there has been a slowing down on the construction a bit on the weekends/the construction people are less visible, so either they are doing wiring inside or the construction crew has slowed down for whatever reason (prolly vacation, seems like everyone is taking vacation now). It is a bit interesting to hear the MPNA people whine about the noise (particularly music) coming from the site, I'm like...who lives near enough to this that they could hear anything? We all know the Mond is empty 😝

Don't question it. It's what Randall Davis would do.

this is one of the most refreshingly new glass box tower designs I have seen in the last few years. WOW, nice to see some good architecture in the commercial office space!!!

NeNo hahaha. I agree, it will take some time but I think there is a lot of opportunity in Near Northside. I think esp once the stuff in the Warehouse District and East River get going this area will start being between interesting parts of town and be pretty affordable for new developments etc. Plus the Metro means ppl can work in downtown, midtown (the Ion for ex) or even the med center and be an easy commute to home. I know lots of people who are over at WOMH or at Sideout all the time, and those sort of things are leading indicators of further growth.

Give it time. It seems the pandemic gave most development a kick in the gut. I think this area is poised to be the next Heights or mid-town. I just hope the marketing types don't give it a stupid nickname. 😒

The next bill will the massive infrastructure and next generation stuff. Congress will spend a total of 100-200b on public transit/trains/commuter. She needs to holdout for atleast a billion for metro in all together at minimum. I don't know why metro and others aren't lobbying her more. I spoke with her chief of staff they told me she's aware of metro rail expansion and is working with metro. Let's see honestly but with her vote meaning so much ( 5 seat majority in the house) she needs to demand for lots of $$$$. I've donated a decent amount to her in her campaign and she needs to be aware of the situation. Now that earmarks are back in congress let's get some damn money flowing and rebuild our public transit for truly next generation. Congress is never going to ever pass this sort of funding again in our lifetime and she needs to leverage her vote for some truly historic investments. (Not talking politics keeping it strictly bout infrastructure) We need to hold our elected officials accountable bottom line. I urge everyone here to contact her office and demand that she brings us more than bus lines. Grassroots and pressure works. I've had numerous friends and others call her also.

Hello all - This may not be completely architectural related, but I am somewhat of a pass-time historian about NASA's early years in Houston. I am trying to find out the actual route of the motorcade route for John Kennedy’s visit to Houston in 1962. He had two visits, one in 1962 (to visit NASA and delivered his famous speech at Rice University) and one in 1963 (just before he was shot in Dallas). Obviously, I am interested in 1962. Surprisingly, I have tried more obvious avenues of finding this (internet searches, postings on social media groups, contacting the JFK library, etc.) to no avail. I have an email into what I believe is HPDs history department. I know that he stayed at the Rice Hotel, and through pictures and common sense, it seems to get from his hotel to Rice University, he went down Main to the Med Center. It would be great to verify. But what’s really hard to find and what I am more interested in is the route he took to go from Rice University to the NASA location then known as the Rich Building, which is today Ambox (6040 Telephone Rd, Houston, TX 77087). NASA was in temporary locations before the JSC was opened in 1964. I know through a detail itinerary found online he went straight from Rice University to the Rich Building, then from there to what is today Hobby Airport. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

So I guess you've never seen Night at the Museum

i knew i had it seen it before in the standards, i need to do more low speed bridges...found a TxDot rail standard for an aesthetically pleasing rail https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/cmd/cserve/standard/bridge/rlstd021-20.pdf

It did pass at 3.5 trillion

An eight story gherkin with gargoyles?

Winnie's.... https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/07-14-21-winnies-new-patio-bar-restaurant-midtown-benjy-mason-graham-laborde-chris-roy/#slide=0

Hate to sound like Arthur asking about the moose, but where is the head?

I mean. Maybe pay a local artist to do something unique rather than paying who knows how much for something that's just a copy?

I have seen either film or still photos of people standing along the motorcade route on the way to the NASA building. If you haven't already tried it, you might look on the JFK library website for film shot by White House photographers on that day. Let me also suggest you consult with two people. J.R Gonzalez blogs about Houston history for the Houston Chronicle, and he has access to the Chronicle's photo archive. He may know the answer to your questions, or he may be interested in doing some research that he can use in his blog. Another possible resource is a man named Bob Gomel. He's a former Life magazine photographer who now lives in Houston. He covered Kennedy's speech at Rice and he appears in some photos that were taken that day. I suspect he accompanied JFK's motorcade that day. His email address is gomelbob@gmail.com. Feel free to tell him I referred you to him. Good luck. Doug Miller

I have no idea but my guess is that the most direct route from Rice University to the Ambox building would be down Holcombe to OST to Telephone Road. From Ambox to Hobby I cannot think of any route other than Telephone to Airport Blvd. that would make any sense. I too am hoping someone can answer this seemingly trivial mystery. The route may not be significant (or maybe it was) but the president's visit to Houston in 1962 was very important for NASA and what that meant to the city overall.

Glad to see a tenant in this building, and wish that the buildings on the east side of Main Street by the Ensemble Red Line stop would be put to better use. This has the potential to be the most charming stop on the whole rail system.

So cool inside. And Segundo has some solid coffee and baked goods from Koffeteria!

I found an old 1927 copy of the Houston Electric Company streetcar map. It shows streetcar route number 4 as the Studewood. It shows it going past 27th Street then truing back around on what looks like 29th or 30th Street. I'm guessing if you were going to Independence Heights or Acres Homes in those times that was the only route..

Their website says John Georgalos owns John's Xpress Lube. Although I still can't remember it, I'm certain that the John of John's Exxon had a different last name. I checked HCAD but it looks like the John's Exxon property was owned by Exxon, so no clues on his name there either.

That is/was the site of the Family Bingo building. Not sure when they closed, but I'm guessing that the pandemic probably had more than a little to do with the closure.

The Hotel will be a Hyatt Regency. Conroe’s new hotel and convention center will be a Hyatt | Community Impact

"Harmony House broke ground on a new dormitory-style facility next door to the Harmony House Residence that will add an additional 128 beds for working homeless men as well as an expanded Open Access Clinic and other amenities to ensure independence and success to the clients who call Harmony House Home. The expected completion date of this project is February 2022." http://harmonyhouse.org/about-2/

Sharp looking facility for Intuitive Machines! Can't wait to see what Axiom's facility will look like.

Painting pods for the weekend shows at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

Volunteers sign up's are hard at work around the northern edge of the golf course walking trail.

This project has a webcam- currently giving us a view of Uptown and Downtown. https://www.metronational.com/properties/in-development-9757-katy-freeway-residential-highrise