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I've wanted to stop in a number of times, but I'm always on the other side of Fannin, so I use the little non-denominational meditation room on the second floor of the outpatient center.

The stylized caduceus is interesting.  It doesn't match the rest of the building.  I wonder if it's an artifact from a medical building was at this location before the parking garage was built.

Looks similar to a parking garage near where I once lived.  Here's the Apple Maps street view:

This one was built for the IBM Center (Now a Langham Hotel).  Perhaps it's the same architect.  Certainly looks to be the same era.

This may be HAIF's first four-star review for a parking garage!

That is kind of cool.  Maybe for emergencies?

I know a medical facility out west where the employees are always complaining about the quality of the drinking water.  I should send one of them this photo.

Pre-cast concrete rarely ages well without a lot of maintenance.  Especially in moist environments, like Houston.

Care for the concrete, and let the landscaping die.  Very Houston!

I saw this mentioned in the Chronicle the other day.  Sometimes it strikes me as weird that the federal government has to pitch in to fix things that should be basic city services, like sidewalk repair.  

I wonder if that tower was built for future expansion.

I've seen buildings where all of the pipes and elevators and other utilities are put in a tower like that in order to maximize the floor space for the office.  They build the tower to the height they aspire the building will achieve, then build enough office floors to pay for the tower.  In time, when demand was high enough, the remaining office floors would be added.

This was more common back in the 1920's — the adding floors part, not the utility tower part.  But in the 2010's I watched a building built in the 1980's to 36 floors expand to its original design height of 64 floors.  Around the same time, a building a few blocks away built to around 18 floors in the 1920's gained another five floors to reach its design height.  I guess some buildings take longer than others to grow up.

On 3/15/2024 at 9:07 PM, Highrise Tower said:

Should we just use the current VA hospital address? 2002 Marlborough Drive?

If Houston has an online GIS system, you should be able to find the Marlborough Drive address.  In some cities, you can click a plot of land on a map and it shows you a list of all the legal and alternate addresses.  But I haven't looked for Houston's yet.

But for now, I think use the current building's address just so it can be mapped.

On 3/17/2024 at 3:36 PM, Highrise Tower said:

I do wonder if a patient could apply for a monthly parking pass, just as an employee of the TMC would.

Possibly. It likely depends on if it's operated by the Medical Center, or contracted out to a private company to run.

But speaking as a Medical Center frequent flyer, if I ever got to the point as a patient where I needed monthly parking, that would be truly depressing.

Ugmo.  Looks shiny and new, but hopefully it will eventually be demolished and replaced with a proper building.

Thanks for posting those.  Coincidentally, just a couple of weeks ago I was looking for this park, but couldn't really see it on the street views. 

I wish there were more parklets in the Medical Center to sit in between appointments, or just as a refuge when you're waiting for someone or get some bad news.

I saw an episode of 72 Hours a few months ago where a hospital converted the roof of one of its parking garages into a park for doctors and patients and visitors.  It would be nice to see more of this sort of thing.

21 hours ago, samagon said:

I have to wonder if there might be enough room for a roundabout?

That's an interesting idea.  I've seen mini-roundabouts in tighter locations than that in other cities, so maybe it's possible.  

But since there's so much pedestrian traffic, there would need to be some lights or other means of causing traffic breaks for non-motorized traffic.

12 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

There are now information kiosks scattered around. The graphics appear to have a new 2024 TMC Helix Park Master Plan! 

I assume you drove there, but do you have any sense of how far it is from the Red Line?  One of my doctors might move there, and I'd rather change doctors than have to take an Uber down there.  (If I'm visiting this particular doctor, walking is difficult, and driving is not an option.)

11 hours ago, steve1363 said:

Nice pics.   Not sure if you changed cameras or changed how you upload images but I can no longer view your images on my Apple tablets.  I can see them just fine on my Android phone.   I have this same problem with other blogs.  

I can see everyone else's images just fine on my Apple tablets.   🤷‍♂️

Works fine on my devices, including an iPad.  

Checked with:

• MacBook Pro (M2)
• MacBook Pro (2018)
• iPhone X
• iPhone 14 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy (an older one)

And various combinations of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, plus Safari, Firefox, and Duck.  

Seems to be something with your iPad.

On 3/10/2024 at 6:21 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

Cullen Middle School is not located in Third Ward or South Park. I'm not sure of the actual neighborhood it's located in, but this is more so in the South Union vicinity. I think the school is located in either the Lasalette Place or Foster Place neighborhood. 

The Houston Super Neighborhoods Map has it as Greater OST/South Union

https://mycity.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=e87cdc21ac3a43ecb2cdf2c31d75ca8e#!

On 3/10/2024 at 7:57 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

Sophie shared a little more details about what to expect when it makes its debut this spring. In an Instagram post yesterday, the bar posted the following caption:


Renowned French artist, Philippine de Richemont, boasts a diverse painterly range from bold & colorful to powerful monochromes. She draws inspiration from the constant movement of our world. Her work, deeply influenced by comedy, ballet, & dance, will grace the walls of Sophie Cocktail Bar & Terrace, offering a captivating journey from life to abstraction.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4TYJpPMVbI
 

So they serve word salad. Yum!

On 3/11/2024 at 9:02 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

@goofy the Modera Oak Forest topic should have been merged with this one. That's how it usually works and how other moderators go about doing it. However, @Highrise Tower took it upon himself to move this topic out of the Other Neighborhood forum or the Heights forum last year and into this one - Holy Places. He did the same thing last year with the topic about the downtown church transformed into the nightclub by Cle Group. He's always sneaky about it by changing his online status to hidden and making all these changes without any reason (like changing everyone's topic title even shortly after the topic is created, moving topics often to the wrong forums, and on and on.) None of the other moderators do this. 

Both topics were started because the churches were up for sale and likely were going to be repurposed (or in this case, demolished.) Still, for whatever reason, Highrise Tower decided on his own to move both topics to Holy Places when the discussions in those topics clearly were about redeveloping the properties or buildings.  

As for "sneakiness," Highrise Tower has the same right to change his online status as any other HAIFer, including you.  And I'm not sure how it would be "sneaky" since there is a record of every change made to the thread.  

It makes sense to me that it would have been put into Holy Places, since at the time that was what it most recently was, and the future plans for the location were not yet clear.

Now that there is an indication of it being something else, @Triton is correct to move it to the Heights section.  If construction starts on something substantial, it would make perfect sense for it to then be moved to Going Up.  

This is HAIF, not a Tom Cruise film.  Not everything is a conspiracy.  

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

Shell has also been putting more emphasis on gaining revenue from non-fuel sales. Several years ago, they said they were aiming to get 50% of their revenue from non-fuel by 2025. And they have at least tested a "Shell Select" c-store model with a heavy focus on food.

I think Exxon or Chevron is doing the same thing.  I read something in the Chronicle about it buying a bunch of convenience stores and the fast food chain attached to them.  The name escapes me, but I've seen them elsewhere in Houston.  So maybe this is Shell's version of that.  

But I like @HNathoo's EV charging station idea much better.

37 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

even if it just a convenience store, I don't think that's a reason to give up all hope. Plenty of good gas station taquerías in the city and Downtown continues to desperately need decent breakfast taco option. 

It makes me a bit sad to think that all downtown Houston can aspire to is gas station tacos.

Does anyone see a way this can end up improving things?  Or are we looking at Main Street Market all over again?

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that parking lot was closed and locked.  I guess now we know why.

And I guess that if it's no longer earning revenue, construction shouldn't be too far off.

1 hour ago, steve1363 said:

People still do it anyway.  I lay on my horn when cars do that.   Makes me so mad.   Some people feel so entitled that the law doesn't apply to them...like the people that walk their dogs without a leash... "special" people... 

I do the same.  But I think at least part of it is that people are used to turning there, and it's been my observation that No Left Turn signs across Houston are often not very prominent in size or placement.

Here's Westheimer at Avalon Place, where a few days ago I sat behind someone trying to make an illegal left turn.  (I didn't honk this time because someone was between us.)

If someone is making a left turn from the left lane, they're not looking for the No Left Turn sign all the way over on the right sidewalk.  The geometry of the curbs should be some indication that this isn't a good place to turn, but there should be more to it than that.  Whatever good citizen placed those cones on the sidewalk when the Apple Maps car went by knows it's a problem, but those cones were long gone by the time I was there last week.

It's just part of the Houston ethos: "Ah, that's good enough."  No, it's not.

There should be a No Left Turn sign on the little concrete island along with a Do Not Enter sign facing southwest.

And if that doesn't work, we should get all Washington, D.C. with it: